The Sunday Times piece also relates how Christian Warman, director of newly-launched Tedworth Property, experienced at first hand a problem with viewing a property he would to buy that was being marketed by an online agency.
“I wanted to make an offer and was told I had to make it online. I asked for guidance from the agent but she didn’t know the client or their circumstances. Nervous of-overpaying I made a very low offer online but before the offer was submitted they tried to sell me add-on services (conveyancing, insurance, mortgages, surveys etc) which I suspect are where they make their money.”
“The only feedback to the offer was that it wasn’t high enough and would I like to increase it? There was no negotiating, no coercing to make an initial offer, no enthusing to make a (higher) offer, no confidence or reassurance given to make a (higher) offer. It was a tick-box exercise on a website, a bit like buying something on e-bay. I lost interest and didn’t make a higher offer and that was the last I heard – the call centre located hundreds of miles away called about two months later to see if I was still looking but knew nothing about the property I viewed or whether it was still available” he says.
