My husband and I made an offer on a home on March 28. Riu Murphy of Remax Premier in St. Louis was our agent. At first, he was busy but we always heard back from him eventually. One of our frustrations from the onset was that we didnt feel he was helping us decide what was the best offer to make on the home, etc. The seller made a counter offer. My husband and I were unclear how exactly the counter offer worked so we didnt know if we wanted to accept until we got some answers to our questions. We emailed Murphy on 4/5 to get answers but did not get a response, so we went into his office that evening. The way that we understood what he told us satisfied us so we accepted the contract. Everything was fine and we were set to take possession of the home on May 1.
On May 1, the sellers agent contacted me regarding something we were working on together (that our agent knew about). I asked her a question about something specific because she mentioned something that didnt agree with what our agent originally told us when we accepted the counter offer. She told me to contact him. I immediately did. On 5/1, my husband and I went to his office to ask about it. He again told us that we were right and that she was not correct. He indicated that he was going to contact her to discuss it with her. On 5/2, I emailed him to follow up with no response. On 5/7, I emailed again with a response that seemed to us that everything was fine since he told us that the seller agent was incorrect. I followed up with two emails clarifying the issue trying to get a clear answer with no response. I emailed him again on 5/8 with no response. On 5/9 I contacted his Broker/Owner Todd Haney and explained the situation so I could try to get an answer from him. He told me that he would have to look at the contracts when he is back in the office and get back to me. On 5/9, Murphy contacted me. He seemed frustrated with me asking the question again and advised me that if I didnt like his answer I should contact an attorney because his answer wasnt going to change so I emailed him on 5/9 thanking him for his patience because I didnt understand. He emailed back immediately with a no problem response. On 5/11, I contacted my attorney and asked the question and he told me that Murphy was wrong about what he had told me and that I should get it in writing so that there would be no issues down the line when we closed on our home so I emailed Murphy on 5/14 with an explanation of how I understood the issue and could he please confirm it in writing because that is what my attorney suggested that I do. I also forwarded the email to the broker/owner Todd Haney since I had contacted him regarding the issue and hadnt heard anything from him. Monday afternoon I contacted Murphy via telephone to follow up with him and make sure that he didnt have an issue with the request.
He said that he did not and that his office was closed on Saturday so he was backed up but would get to it asap. I forwarded the email to him on Tuesday, 5/15, to make sure that it was close to the top of his list. I followed up again on 5/16 because I still hadnt received a response from anyone. Murphys response at this time was disrespectful, immature, unprofessional, and completely uncalled for. I was trying to clarify something that he told us even though we are hearing other things. He would not give an answer, he would only simply continue to say over and over that he has answered this question and I still dont understand, etc. Etc. (all of these emails are attached for your review). Finally, on May 16, Todd Haney contacted me and said that how we understand it is not correct. Why couldnt Murphy ever tell us this? Obviously, I had been contacting him NUMEROUS times to make sure that we understood it correctly and he would NEVER give us an answer in writing, but only over the phone. Todd Haney then defended Murphy and said that he gave us the right answer but we misunderstood him. He gave no second thought to how this situation has progressed. He never even made a comment regarding the way that Murphy was speaking to me. If we misunderstood it, why could we figure that out from the seller agent, but not from him? Between all of this contact we had with him, it would have come up at least once that we were thinking wrong. He never even made a comment regarding the way that Murphy was speaking to me. During this, Murphy also indicated that I was micromanaging him, barraging him, and disrespecting him. This could not be further from the truth. As evidenced by my emails that
are attached, I was looking for confirmation of something and could not get it from him. I was always professional and respectful but I was also getting nowhere. He suggested that maybe we work with someone else; however, we paid him for his service upfront and unless that is refunded, I will not be paying another person to assist us. I have worked in a customer related professional environment for more than 10 years and if I had ever treated someone like this, I would have been
reprimanded.in addition, I believe that the way he acted throughout this whole transaction from start to finish with his not contacting us and unresponsiveness and unwillingness to put something in writing, but tell me something over the phone shows that he misled us and gave us incorrect information which led us to sign a counter offer with incorrect knowledge.
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