F##@ing Estate agents - bag of boll@@ks!!!

[aqua0]

Ok, need some help from the legal people out there.
I put my house on the market with a local well known estate agent. I gave them the spare keys to the house and asked them to do accompanied viewings. To cut a long story short, they lost the bloody keys! According to their system, they had been handed back to the vendor. Obviously this caused me considerable worry as I'm the vendor and they sure as hell didn't give them to me.
They did offer to change the locks for me but I declined as I didn't want another of their monkeys sorting things out. I also stated that they would be getting the bill which they said they would pay.
I took the day off work and did it myself and then claimed for the cost of a days loss of wages, fuel to check on my property, the locks and finally the postal charges to get the new keys to them.
They've just informed me that they're not willing to pay for anything other than the cost of the locksmith.
Anyone know where I stand on this one? I also want to know if this would also be a breach of contract on their behalf? If so, I'll happily pull the plug on them and take my business elsewhere.
HELP please

[warmwaterdiver]

unless they specifically stated they would pay YOU to change the locks, I can see their point of view, you'd have been better just to instruct a locksmith to do it and forwarded the bill to th estate agents

you can of course cancel the sales contract you have with them, subject to any cancellation policy they may have, you should have signed one on confirmation of the sales instruction (generally its free to cancel at any point upto agreement on a sale)

if they are a member of the NAEA The National Association of Estate Agents, you can complain to them

[Gram43]

Ditto as above, however check your contract and see if there are any hidden clauses first.
If the estate agent hasn't done any advertising and printing of brochures for your property etc., etc., you should be able to pull out fairly easy. If they have they may be able to claim for their cost.

If I were you I'd get a locksmith to do the job and issue you with a bill and see if he/she can't include a little extra for your time, if you know what I mean!

[Sixsquid]

Don't get me started !!

After 3 estate agents I gave up. The stress was killing me !

They ripped the cable from an expensive electronic catflap, continously left lights & a ceiling fan on and the final straw was leaving the back door unlocked while I was away for the weekend !

And that's just viewing stuff I won't even start on the disloyalty with investment buyers, incorrect pricing, arguing to advertise at the price I, the owner, wanted ..............

All a bunch of charlatans but I'm gonna have to find another one in the summer as I still need to move

[Diving Dude]

l can't see why you're annoyed, they lost the keys and agreed to replace the locks or pay for the locks to be replaced, which seems fair to me.

You then try to charge them for a days lost work to replace how many locks? two or maybe three, about an hours work.
So you try to overcharge them, they realize this and refuse to pay.

[up 4 it]

I agree with the dude, you should have taken their offer. Although annoyingly incompetent on their part, they made a reasonable offer which you declined. As stated above, changing a few locks, a couple of hours tops, which could easily have been done in the evening and certainly didn't require a day off work.

Lessons to be learned here, take it on the chin

[Fiji Dave]

I'd have to say, I think they're probably right...
Are you self employed?
If not then trying to charge them for a days lost wages could be difficult.

If you've already done the work then I don't think they can be expected to pay for more than it actually cost to do it. The cost of the locks and the postal charges I can understand, but if you chose to do the work on your own property I'm not sure you could charge for the fuel to drive there. (Is it a long distance to the property?)
And as i say, I don't think you can try to charge for a days lost wages unless you do actually lose the wages by taking the day off.

If you do lose the wages then you could try and offset some of this by bargaining with them - get a couple of quotes from a locksmith and see what they'd charge - the EA may be willing to refund this much back if it's less than you're trying to charge them.

[Sipadan]

you have my sympathy. i'm currently using an agent to sell a property and they haven't got one thing right yet. there must be some good ones out there surely?

[Midnight]

Originally Posted by Diving Dude

l can't see why you're annoyed, they lost the keys and agreed to replace the locks or pay for the locks to be replaced, which seems fair to me.

You then try to charge them for a days lost work to replace how many locks? two or maybe three, about an hours work.
So you try to overcharge them, they realize this and refuse to pay.

Although I agree with you in principle Howie, I have one question:

Have you seen the charge you would get from a locksmith? I would say the value of a day off work taken by your average Blue Chip CEO would still come a tad short of an hour and a half of charges from your average door security engineer!!

The estate agent might be shooting themselves in the foot!!

Midnight

[Diving Dude]

Originally Posted by Midnight

Have you seen the charge you would get from a locksmith?

l recently paid £65 total for labour, materials & vat to change a lock in a flat l own when the tenant didn't return the keys.