Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

David Andrew - Estate Agents and their slimy tactics!

A few weeks back whilst strolling up to Sainsbury's on Stroud Green Rd I was pretty shocked to see they had a large photo of my patio garden on full display up in their window. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, my house is available to rent... immediately! Surprising that, considering I've never been in touch with David Andrew and have no inclination of moving. I then looked on their website to find they had incorrect specs of my house and outdated photographs of each of the property. I called pretending to be interested in renting the place and surprise, surprise was told it had just been rented but they had another garden property just like it! I called back the following day and made a complaint to which they responded it was just their way of drawing in future landlords.

Slimy tactics like these is what gives Estate Agents a bad rap. Shame on you!

Tags for Forum Posts: estate agent review, estate agents

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hatch on November 25, 2011 at 9:32

It's a sign of a poor agent plain and simple... It's unimaginative, deceitful, and it serves only to insult peoples intelligence. The whole business of estate agency has moved on rapidly (no pun intended) and standards with it. With social media and personal recommendations being the catalyst for so much of our business, especially in the current financial climate, any agent with a reasonable level of professionalism will go to great lengths to avoid this sort of thing.

Reporting it may make them think twice next time. The majority of decent agents work so bloody hard to raise the profile of our profession, I find it extremely irritating when any agent (in any area) lets themselves down with some old trick or other. There's no call for it.

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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on November 28, 2011 at 8:19

I doubt it amounts to fraud in legal terms, as no money has changed hands. It is deceptive for sure, but is better characterised as aggressive (possibly time-wasting) marketing, intended to lure in the punters to a place where different deals can be put to them.

A typical "bait & switch" would be for a supermarket to advertise an attractive price for product A; on asking about product A, the punter is then told there's no more product A available, its all sold out, but would they like some product B.

(BTW you can't be switched until you've taken the bait: it's bait, then switch!

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Permalink Reply by Julia on November 27, 2011 at 22:36

Hmm this has prompted me to contact the agent we used for our purchase - we moved into our house over a year ago yet the house is still listed on their website as 'under offer'. This kind of trick seems more common practice than I'd have imagined...