An agent has been expelled from the Property Ombudsman scheme.
Purfect Properties in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had been a voluntary member of TPO for both sales and lettings.
But following a decision by the TPO Disciplinary and Standards Committee, the firm now only has the minimal registration necessary under the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 (CEARA).
The agent had not dealt with a customer’s complaint within the time period laid down in the Ombudsman’s Code, and then allegedly failed to co-operate with the Ombudsman’s subsequent investigation into the complaint.
The nature of the complaint has not been disclosed.
The firm was ordered to pay redress of £250 but apparently did not do so, and did not respond to correspondence.
Gerry Fitzjohn, deputy chairman of the TPO operating company which is responsible for implementing DSC decisions, said it was not possible to avoid registering Purfect Properties under CEARA because the problems that had come to light were not serious enough to ask the Office of Fair Trading to ban the company from estate agency work.
He said: “What we are now doing is monitoring this firm’s activities very closely for at least the next 12 months to ensure it meets the standards expected.
“We have informed other trade bodies and the OFT of our decision and the Ombudsman will still be able to investigate complaints brought against Purfect Properties for residential sales matters after the expulsion.
“It is disappointing to have to take this action, but Purfect Properties did not respond when complaints had been made and, although it had paid restitution for a separate lettings complaint when required to do so by the Ombudsman, it had failed to respond when a similar request was made following a sales complaint.
“The firm has also failed to cooperate with our monitoring process.
“It’s unsatisfactory to have to expel a member agent from our voluntary scheme and allow them to retain CEARA registration but there is nothing else we can do.”
Purfect Properties was co-founded by Derek Hall in 2005.
They were invited by EAT to comment.
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Comments
The guy mentioned...Allan Vogel...hasn't been involved with Purfect Properties for a number of years.
No. I'm just sick of the smug git thinking all Estate Agents are garbage. If agents are bad, the fee paying public will shut them down, by not using them. We don't need this waste of space. AND HE CHARGES YOU AS WELL!!!!. Are you mad?
Jimmey- all said with feeling, I support most of your posts, however, were you Purfect Props!?
@hamptoncourt. It's not a customer service issue. By pampering to this behaviour you are guilty of making it worse. Therefore I blame you, and people like you for all the stress put upon junior staff by panicing, weak management. You can't stand up for yourself so you shit all over your employees instead. Seen it many times. So now who needs training?
Or a buyer put forward an offer on a repossession, was told that due to the nature of the sale it would still be available up to exchange.
During this period a higher offer is put forward and the buyer loses the property, telling everyone he has been "screwed" by the agent when he knew full well what the situation was in the first place.
Buyers should be banned from making complaints!!
@Jimmy
Blimey! I think we've identified some customer service training needs for you.
Mental note: Don't use Jimmy as an estate agent.
Out of interest, would it not have been better to deal with the complaint and expectation of the applicant, rather than just ignoring them?
Reputation in our business is everything.
or, a waste of space failed applicant complained that their riduclous offer hadn't been accepted, complained and was ignored, complained to a higher level, and still got ignored, agent ignored TPO (another waste of space) and got on with the day to day running of a difficult business? Got sent a fine of £250 which went straight in the bin, and got on with the day to day running of a difficult business? Got thrown out of TPO and couldn't care less? Don't blame you. More to follow I suspect.