Cheated By Housing Agent - Ro***d Y**

[Cloudy 0]

Finally the first appointment today, agent was 45 min late and we had to do our own registration and nearly had to go into the resale room without the agent. Reason given: He could not wake up on time.

Then suddenly have new changes which we werent aware unfolded. We questioned the agent and he told me that he did tell us some 'white lies' and hid some stuff from me. Reason being that he knew that if he told me all the details, I might not have signed the contra form which HDB has informed us that we do not need to sign as first apptment date is already fixed.

HDB said 6 weeks can complete and have the 2nd apptment date but suddenly the agent jumped in and say that the seller requires 8 weeks. This was not wat he told me when he was trying to get me to sign the form (contra form). He specifically told me that if HDB can do 6 weeks, with the contra form signed, the seller will follow accordingly as they have a house that is move in and no reno required.

**** sad..nothing I can do now since I already signed the contra form. To be honest, I am fine with the seller needing 8 full weeks before the 2nd appointment. it is just that i felt cheated as the agent himself admitted that he dint tell us this requirement cos he feels that we might not have signed.

He should have been honest to me and let me decide.....now i felt manipulated and cheated.

[DSA 0]

Lodge a complaint against him with his agency? Or even with HDB?

[Cloudy 0]

i was thinking that it might be pointless as we don't have anything black and white to prove anything...

Have read other forums about some unethical and unprofessional agents but there's nothing they can do either...

Read about cases whereby the agent just disappeared into thin air after the 1st appt, call them no answer, 2nd appt didn't turn up either... agents are really very horrible nowadays and because there are no relevant authority to govern them, they get out of hand and resort to despicable means.

Seems they are no different from con men and there's no professionalism to talk about anymore...

Lesson learnt: i will be my own agent in future.

anyway, here are some of the other things that had happened...

1) Lied to us about what the offer he gave the seller and nearly made us lose the house. Reason cos he know if they don accept my offer, i will appoach owner directly with a higher offer and do my own paper hence bypassing him.

2) Never tell me of the other upgrades going on in the house. Only say lift and say only a few hundred bucks. But I checked with HDB, its more than 1k cos non lift floor

3) Never tell me have other upgrades gg on for that unit which I will be required to pay. e.g. toilet upgrade. ask him check when i read online, he ask me call HDB myself (at that point i already appointed him as agent)

4) Found out everything the terms, the requirements all by myself by reading HDB cos he knows nuts and doesnt wanna help me find out

5) Made lots of assumptions on behalf of the seller but in actual fact, its all wrong. E.g. that they will take HDB loan to get new house, will move out and not delay th house even if they cant find house.

6) After exercised OTP, signed all papers at seller's house, suddenly 2 days later say 4got give me a form to sign. The form is an acknowledgement form with guidelines required by HDB to say that the buyer agent informed us of etc etc..in actual fact, he nvr explain much to us. most is we find out ourselves but cos have to sign b4 he can submit so i sign

7) after get first apptment date, suddenly ask me sign dunno what contra form. When i refuse cos scare delay he put the blame on me say if i don sign, will cos the seller to lose their dream home and that they will lose the deposit that they paid. In actual fact, its his fault that he advised them to pay the deposit without consulting me or informing me. Why should i sign anything they want?

8) I had to go thru the terms and engage a lawyer to tell me what the contra terms are. He merely say its super common, no delays, etc etc and thats it. He cant be bothered to explain but want me to sign

9) When i refuse to sign, keep pestering me day and night saying its to my advantage etc to sign. Ask him how, he keep saying that it will enable the seller to move out fast and also they can get the house they want. however, i don see anything for me other than a possble delay as informed to me by my lawyer and HDB.

10) Told me the following when i refused to sign

a) seller may angry and refuse to turn up for 1st apptment and delay me

b) Ask me to take back my 5k deposit and he will find another buyer.

c) Can complete in 4 weeks even cos house seller buying is live in condition (apparently this is a lie now)

All this i find is not to my interest loh..he is only thinking of his comm. and he has the cheek to say i don trust him as my agent...

11) After much tussle, he promise 6 weeks completion and as required by me, got the seller to sign an assurance letter that they wont delay and the date will be set by HDB. but at first apptment today, he suddenly say there was a request for 8 weeks.

12) when confront him, he say he hid it from me cos he knows i will not sign...and that this is actually for my own good as it will prevent further issues.

13) Late for 45 minutes cos he cat wake up in time. Ended up i had to figure out how to register and get queue number for my first appointment. Even the HDB office helping me register ask where is my agent....nearly ended up gg into the room without him.. he came 5 min b4 our number was called

and some more......sigh...

[CutePinkElephant 0]

u sign the agent form already? if yes u hv no choice need to pay his comm liao, if hvent then dont pay any cent

1% comm is alot ler....when i havent start reno, think that 1% is still ok...but when start reno even $50 already alot of money liao

its very heart pain to pay 1% comm, and the agent attitude is like that

[dalabe 0]

hmm sound so poor thing...

wat a horrible agent .. so irresponsible and tell so many lies to make u sign contract

of cos will be unhappy to pay comm to him la..

unacceptable attitude

i am just worried that he will create more trouble for u if u lodge a complaint against him

sigh...

[DSA 0]

All the more he should be taken strongly to task over such shoddy & irresponsible conduct. Escalate this matter all the way up to the division director and CEO of the agency if needed. Commission is for good service, not for being a middleman.

[Cloudy 0]

we will write to the comapny and also CASE and see if they can help us with anything.

But, seriously, i don't have any high hopes on this.

yes, it's heart pain to see your money going to the pockets of people like him.

When we are signing the comm agreement form, he still can say so loud, if his service is not good, he will not take any money from us. only say for fun loh... got money to take he will don't want meh...

and the worst thing he says by his standard, he feels that his service is very good already.

Yes, this is by HIS standard. how 'high' his standard is sia...

[Zc31 0]

At the end of the day, you'll see yourself in a situation like "LL".

I"ve been through it. =(

[DSA 0]

I am not sure CASE is able and will resolve such issues that relates to shoddy service.

[Cloudy 0]

I have the feeling that there is really nothing i can do. However, i still hope to highlight this incident to add another item into the long list of errand agents.

hopefully, one fine day, some agency will enforce a bill or something that will protect us buyers or sellers.

[Cloudy 0]

Agency reply was **** SOP.

just say agent apologies for being 45 minutes late and that they have investigated and that the agent had not lied or misrepresent the contra form and that i have signed it willingly.

Sigh. If I had signed it willingly, I wouldnt even bother about writing to the agency at all.

Anyway, i managed to talk to the agent again who feels that he did nothing wrong as both parties get their house due to his works.

I also found out that he is only thinking in terms of his ownself.

Apparently, the house belongs to a friend of his godmum. Hence, he realsies that he made a mistake with regard to the contra and hence, if I had refused to sign the Contra form, he will have no face to see his godmum and that they would view him in a different like.

sigh. what has that gotta do with me? does this mean that if it were to be another buyer, he would also do his best to make sure that side gets a better deal out of it and can hack care the buyer side despite him being both buyer and seller agent? I mean, he was definitely selfish and unethical as well as unprofessional. I feel like some sacrificial lamb that was used to atone for his own mistakes.