Back in May we decided to list with Foxtons, we did use them for the purchase of this home and were happy with that agent we were assigned 2 years previous. We were told at the time of signing the contract that Stacy would be our listing agent and she would be conducting our open house, as they are now a full service company. We were told that someone would be onsite to take pictures the following week and then our listing would be posted not only on Foxtons webpage but also MLS and realtor.com, along with getting the foxtons for sale sign put on our property.
Well the following week someone came to do the pictures but no one came to put up the foxtons for sale sign, i called to follow up on the matter, and they said they have no control over the signs department but they would reach out to them to inform them to do this within the next 24 hours. Well 24 hours later still no sign, again i called and got the same response. After the 3rd phone call I finally got the sign, but this should have been my sign to the upcoming issues that me and my husband were about to be faced with.
Well it was now 2 weeks later and our open house was to happen but guess what we get a call from a guy named Steven stating he would be doing the open house, when we asked why he said buyer agents only do this not listing agents. So we said ok, then 2 weeks after this we get a call from our selling agent stating she feels we should reduce the price of the house 10K, we said ok as long as we have another open house. She agreed to the open house. Again Steven was assigned and the last time he was there he informed me that he a knew a few clients that would be interested in this house, i asked him when he arrived if they would be stopping by and his answer was "I was suppose to be on vacation today but was told you wanted this open house, so no I did not contact any of my clients" also they only put up one open house sign that day when they promsied numerous signs, whats even better is they put the one sign up in front of my neighbors house behind a bush so no one could even see it. A week later i called her because i went on realtor.com and realised the house was not listed there, i then went to MLS and noticed that the house was listed but incorrectly along with no picture. 5 weeks we had been signed with them and nothing. Stacy said that MLS was responsible for this picture not foxtons, i told her that is not true it is their responsibilty, she then called me "insane". Nevertheless it magically appeared on MLS the next day.
We then had a foxtons agent Danielle come to the house to show a listing, we were asked to have someone home to let her and her client in even though their is a lockbox on the house. My husband went home and did this but he also gave the tour of the house for the realtor he said because she was clueless on how to sell a home, the clients seemed interested and they were asking my husband how fast we can close, etc. 2 days later i called Stacy to get feedback from the client that came to see the house, her exact words were " obviously they are not interested if you didn't get an offer" i said " it's not obvious, i would just like to know as they seemed interested" she told me to call Danielle directly to get feedback. So I called Danielle and she said her clients were interested and they were thinking of an offer and would get back to us after the weekend. After the weekend i called Danielle and she said she didn't have a chance to call them but would follow up with them shortly. I then called Stacy and informed her of my conversations with Danielle and her response was "i think you should reduce the price of your house again" I told her do you think this is neccessary when we jsut did this 2 weeks ago, she then continued to yell at me rudely as to why we need to reduce and to clear my head as the market is bad right now.
My husband then got upset with the way i was being talked to and called Dan Colantuoni the manager and demanded a new agent that was actually going to work and do her job. We were reassigned to Dan, we spoke to him and decided to go ahead with another price reduction this time an additional 20K. We then asked for an open house since this was a dramatic drop in price, he told me that it was to late for the 15th but we could do the 22nd of July. We said ok, we then had an agent come show the property a few days later after reduction again we were asked to open the door from Foxtons, my husband left work and went home again. Then a few days later i get a call at 1 pm telling me that a agent from a different county wanted to come in and see the home, but since they could not access the lock box we had to go home and let them in. I told them that a 1/2 hour was not enough time, plus we could not keep leaving work as this is why i have a lock box, i asked them to have my agent open the lock box, they told me this was not Foxtons resposnbility, that it was the homeowners and that we should reschedule then. So we did, we set it up for the very next day (at least i thought) Carol the rep on the phone advised me that it was confirmed to find out the next morning after taking a day off of work it was not confirmed and turned out that the realtor and her client were not available to see the home now. I was upset and called Carol and asked her why she would do this she swore it was confirmed even though someone else in her office confirmed it wasn't, i told her this was getting ridiculous now and i want to speak to a manager, she hung up on me when i asked to speak to one.
I finally got a hold of Dan After leaving 8 messages for him and he informed us it was not his comapnies responsiblity to open the lock box when we asked him then why we should have them list our home his answer was "that we should not be so quick to say yes to coming home and letting people in and we should say no" After 1 hour and a half of arguing we asked to get out of the contract, he stated he would not allow, even though George agreed to giving us an unconditional withdrawal. He also told us going forward he would make sure not to notify us before coming in our home and they would come in whenever they want, even though we specifically state that we must be notified. He also told my husband to come down to his office in "west long branch and face him man to man" I then called Robin who is his Dan's boss and she told me she would address the issues and let us out of our contract but they paid already to advertise us and would like it if i could please keep the open house. I agreed and she informed me she would call me Friday and monday.
When contacting Robin on Thursday as a follow up she states she will not allow us out of the contract now and that we made Dan's emotions flair and that is why he got so out of the control on the phone with us. I told her this shouldn't matter we are the customer and i do not expect a manager to treat me and my husband this way and she has left me with no choice but to have the lock box removed. She promised that within 24 hours it will be removed.
It is now Monday, I showed the house my self yesterday as the signs were wrong it said 2 - 4 opposed to 11 -1; so people stopped by later, the one guy was really interested and insisted i give him my listing agents number, i did and he told me he would be contacting George immediately. When following up with George he informed me that no one contacted him, i also informed him that the lock box is still not removed and we want this done immediately for our safety. We feel we are already coming home to show the house, so why not have it off anyway since i do not want them to come in whenever they feel like.
I then asked George to setup another open house then in the meantime (since they told me it takes 2 weeks to coordinate this) he has refused to do another open house unless I reduce another 5 K. I don't see what 5 K is going to do and how this will benefit, so i told him i refused to reduce the price but they need to schedule another open house, he came back and said Dan refuses to pay to advertise my home.
They still will not allow me out of contract but yet, they have been breaching theirs since day one, I have now contacted the NJ Real Estate Commission and wrote a report for ethics, breach of contract, etc. There have been many more instances of issues, but these have been the most serious occurences. We have now left messages for Phil Felice the next level of management before CEO to try and get out of contract.
Main point here they are ripoffs, liars, do not list your home with them, I am sorry for listing with them and still regretting it at this point as i still cannot get out of my contract.
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