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 25 Buyer beware! (Read 68017 times)
Nigel
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Buyer beware!
Jul 23rd, 2014 at 6:57pm
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I was asked by a member if he would be able to post the following.
I agreed as I think it is important for potential purchasers coming to the área.

He has spoken to his lawyer about the posting and his lawyer has not advised him not to post his message:

Dear Nigel,
                 I have attached something that I would like to post on the forum but I am concerned that you might consider it defamatory. I went to see my lawyer, Tom Batlle on Monday and, after reading the relavent e mails and text messages, he suggested that I contact you.



I have also taken the oportunity to post an email I personally received following the 'Three Witches' posting last year. This posting was taken down at the request of a Miami Playa lawyer as it referred to three differnet parties. I must admit to being somewhat suprised to receive the email. I have also posted my reply.


I bought my house on 22nd November, 2013. Myspanishome were the estate agents. Steve and Stephanie were extremely helpful. They took me shopping and helped me buy a car. They live near me and I became friends with them. When I wanted some work done to my house I asked them for advice. They told me that they knew some fantastic Romanian builders who had completed their extension in nine days.

The builders were a nightmare; they kept on upping the price and the work was very shoddy. When I complained Steve and Stef organised a meeting and seemed to be on my side. In reality they were just keeping me in the project.

The work took months and when it became time to pay they were very much on the side of the contractors and, I'm ashamed to say, I was intimidated into paying what they wanted.

   I didn't want to be friends with them after this and they reacted  with great indignation.  They sent me the following bill. 


   The bill is ridiculous. Even if one gives them credit for the legitimate things that they did (ie going to the dog kennels) they are still, retrospectively, charging me 96 Euros per hour for activities that they volunteered to do. A few days later I got the following e mail.

myspanishome.com <stephanie@myspanishome.com>
     May 21
   
     to me
    
Dear Mr. Bailey,

To date the sum of 3.552,00 Euros, being our last invoice for work carried
out on your behalf has not been credited to our bank account.  We therefore
ask you to remedy this situation within three working days from today
2/05/2014 or you will leave us no alternative to ask our Abogado/Lawyer to
resolve this matter.

Please understand that we will set this in motion on Monday 26th May 2014.
Please understand also that if this action is taken you will be liable for
our Lawyers costs.

We therefore hope this matter can be resolved without the above action being
taken.


MySpanishome Estate Agents
43500
Tortosa
+34 977446655
+34 639041277
info@myspanishome.com
www.myspanishome.com

   After that I had some threatening text messages from Steve and he made it clear that he wants to force me out of Tortosa. I have heard that they are spreading vile rumours about me.  For this reason, and because I want to help other newcomers, I think it's important that we take a stand and resist the bullies.
« Last Edit: Jul 24th, 2014 at 5:33pm by Nigel »  
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Nigel
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #1 - Jul 23rd, 2014 at 6:59pm
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Here is the email I received..

From: myspanishome.com [mailto:stephanie@myspanishome.com]
Sent: 06 June 2013 21:06
To: admin@tortosaforum.com
Subject: Nigel Morton
Importance: High

Nigel,

We have asked you to remove the lies you have allowed to be printed and remain on the Forum - you have not responded!

You have had a solicitor's letter which you have also ignored!

I am warning you now to inform all people who advertise on the Forum who do not pay tax or are not legal to remove their advertisements.  You have one week to do this, I are only informing you now for their sake.

I am also informing you in this email that we have – with our Gestoria - over the last few weeks been investigating how legal your businesses are:

Plumbing & Heating
Eurona
Satellite
Tortosa Forum – payment for advertisements etc.
Apartment let in L’Ampolla
La Yedra 2 bed apartment near Tortosa Spain | Self Catering Breaks
Sola Panels etc.

We now know how legal you are.

We have 27 affidavits on work you have carried out right across the board.  You have had a lot of unhappy customers my friend. 

We with our Gestoria are going to Hacienda on the 12th June.  I hope it has been worth you backing the lies on YOUR Forum – you mug!

The three Estate Agents are coming after you, Renata & Eddie for damages! 

We also have three clients who were shown what was said about us on the Forum by other  Agents, but they still came to us – but we know that there will be lots more who did not!  The three have made statements regarding this – we will be seeing you in Court!

I will be seeing you personally on this matter for a cup of tea and a biscuit of course.  I thought you had more brains – you yourself have opened a can of worms – like I said before – I hope it was worth it.


MySpanishome Estate Agents
Av. Generalitat 70
43500
Tortosa
+34 977446655
info@myspanishome.com

And my reply..

From: Nigel Morton [mailto:nigel@ntpworld.co.uk]
Sent: 06 June 2013 21:49
To: 'myspanishome.com'
Cc: 'davidpique@advocatsreus.org'
Subject: RE: Nigel Morton

Stephanie/Steve,

You may or may not be aware but I was on holiday from 7th to 21st May, had no email and saw nothing that was written on the forum during this time.

I only today received a letter from David Pique and intended to investigate and call him tomorrow, I had to collect the letter from the post office this morning  – could you not call me directly?

I can assure you that all of the activities I carry out are legal and that I have been continuously registered as self-employed in Catalunya for the last 7 years, submit all my accounts and pay my taxes.

I do not and never will respond to threats. That is bullying, something I absolutely detest having suffered from it during my school days.

As for the people who posted their views, I have no control over then or what they write. Participation on the forum is open to anyone but each person is responsible for what they write.
The forum has 2 moderators and I do not spend my life reading every post, scrutinising it, editing it etc.

If you like I will happily post this on the forum pages for anyone to read as I have nothing to hide.

As for the advertisers, it is entirely up to them whether they are working legally or not. I do not police their legality. If they wish to advertise and work illegally then that is up to them.

I have copied in your solicitor as I understand that he speaks English.

Nigel


  
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coldalba
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #2 - Jul 23rd, 2014 at 11:09pm
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Cojones grandes Nigel (or something like that)
No to bullying and threatening emails.
  
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Smidge
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #3 - Jul 24th, 2014 at 12:46pm
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Informative thread, Those wishing to move here would do well to study and understand it well. It is easy to misunderstand the motivations of people you may meet or whom may befriend you when you first move here. It can also save you a lot of problems to understand what the different reactions of people maybe when disputes arising from the misunderstandings come to  a head. It can be the difference between enjoying and not enjoying your new life.   Smiley
  
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munkonminor
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #4 - Jul 24th, 2014 at 2:51pm
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Thank you for publishing this thread Nigel.

I am sure all right minded people will be able to decide for themselves if they want to deal with "professional" people who issue such thinly veiled threats.
  
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Nigel
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #5 - Jul 24th, 2014 at 4:46pm
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I published it as it was sent, complete with details. I didn't want to be accused of editing ot tampering.

As for the accusations against me, I did ask David Pique for details of all the supposed unhappy customers as I was totally unaware of them. As of now, over a year later, I'm still waiting and am still unaware of them...
  
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Tony
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #6 - Jul 24th, 2014 at 10:30pm
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Well, I now know who I will not be using to sell my property. The impression of good business practices has gone right out of the window with that threatening posting.
With regards to Nigel whenever he has done work for me before and since our move here in 2005 I have always received properly written invoices together with all the necessary legal registrations etc. that are required.
  
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robo
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #7 - Jul 24th, 2014 at 11:22pm
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I think they have just shot themselves in the foot, no doubt with in 12 months they will be trading under another name, one thing is for sure in spain there are more hands in your back pocket than you need
  
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Snowhitsky
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #8 - Jul 25th, 2014 at 2:45am
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Interestingly, despite claiming on their website to be "a fully registered property estate agency for Spanish Property sales in Tortosa and the surrounding areas of the beautiful COSTA DORADA" My Spanish Home doesn't actually provide that number.

Checking on the Agencia de l'Habitatge de Catalunya I couldn't find them either: http://www.agenciahabitatge.cat/wps/portal?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=ca/ahc/web/serveis...

I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation as all estate agents MUST register with that agency. Failure to register would leave MySpanishHome wide open to customer complaints to:

Servei Territorial de Terres de l'Ebre

Carrer Maria Rosa Molas, 41
(accés per Passeig Joan Moreira)
43500 Tortosa
Telèfon 977 92 35 98

From what I understand (I'm not a lawyer) from reading the relevant legislation, there ¡s a fine of 6000 to 12000 euros for those who work as estate agents without registering.

See article 124, 2a and 2b: http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/portaldogc/menuitem.c973d2fc58aa0083e4492d92...

  
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brennie
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #9 - Jul 25th, 2014 at 10:10am
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I don't see the obligatory registration number required by Habitatge either:

http://www.agenciahabitatge.cat/wps/portal?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=ca/ahc/web/serveis...

Humm, legal registered???
  
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JamJarChris
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #10 - Jul 25th, 2014 at 11:46am
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Hmmm... Not too sure how good that Agencia page is - according to it, there are only 5 'Registered' Agents in L'Ampolla, and an agent that I know to be registered was not in the system, so as usual, I would not read too much into it.

Whilst I feel threats and bullying are despicable acts, in the interest of giving this thread  balance, it may be enlightening to hear  'another side to the story', if there is one.

I am not suggesting a trial by forum by any means.
  

quod ambit, redit
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Eddie_Torres
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #11 - Jul 25th, 2014 at 2:59pm
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We have been here before... http://www.tortosaforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1366369534/0

A shame this old thread got edited, I posted a (non specific) warning about dodgy Estate Agents in Tortosa and the very same people we see here threatening a homebuyer, Nigel the TTF Admin and "all businesses who advertise on here" showed up in the thread and identified themselves as "fitting the bill" for the scumbags I was alluding to.

Somehow the phrase "shooting yourself in the foot" is not enough !

Strangely the same things appear to be happening again. Or maybe it is not so strangely, you can draw your own conclusions....

Fantastic work by snowhitsky, how funny it would be if they themselves got denounced and hit with a large multa, after threatening everybody else.

Please do not edit this thread Nigel, people need to be informed of what goes on around here.
  
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nester
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #12 - Jul 25th, 2014 at 3:31pm
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did you get denounced by them then Eddie?

you should be careful- "he did used to be a boxer"  rofllmfao
  
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nen
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #13 - Jul 25th, 2014 at 3:47pm
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i think you all should mind your own on this one .the two lots involved should be able to sort this matter out on there own and this post should not be on here at all how do we know what went on between mr Bailey and my spanishomes ...we dont...mr Bailey may have said he would pay for the services he got we dont know .all i know is myspanishomes have sold three propertys for us and we have also bought one from them so 4 dealings in total and no problems so come on give it a rest it gets very boreing at times.and i am pleased we have now got two propertys back in the uk so that we can get away from all the back stabing that gos on on here i have had my say so am now going
  
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Nigel
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Re: Buyer beware!
Reply #14 - Jul 25th, 2014 at 4:03pm
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I'm sure there are many 'happy' buyers and sellers out there. From what I can gather even in the current financial climet they are successful in selling houses.

It is a pity that when things do not go their way they have to resort to threats, abuse and bullying tactics.

Anyone who deals with these people need to be aware that should things not turn out as expected then they may well become the recipient of similar abuse and bullying. I personally had no dealings with them and made no comment about them so the original email I received with all the accusations and threats was somewhat shocking and unwarranted.

I also just received an email from another buyer, a single woman who was forced to pay the sellers fees and then received abusive texts late at night and threats of denuncias.. here is her story..


This is one of the very very mild ones, threatening to denounce me re workers ; Im trying to find from xxx who worked for me as a sec the other emails and texts as I asked her to keep them on file.

They were much worse than this.

I am happy to make a statement re them if that helps
Essentially, they did not sign a proper agreement with xxxxxxx when he placed the farm with them for sale (I thought under Spanish law they were obliged to do that) and so when the offer was made etc they told me that I would have to pay the 10,000e commission as he would not.

I offered to pay half, under sufferance; xxxxx negotiated with them to pay only 3k so I ended up agreeing to pay 7000 WHEN we went to the Notary.
When I sent the deposit on the farm of 20,000e (to them) they deducted without my permission or xxxxxx 3500 from me and the 3000 from him, this was before we went to the Notary.

Then the sale slowed down, and before I moved to the farm I was receiving threatening texts on my phone, often late at night saying they were going to come after me in a really nasty way and all the things they had ‘found out’ about me.

From: myspanishome.com [mailto:info@myspanishome.com]
Sent: 19 December 2013 14:46
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Importance: High

Dear xxxxxx,

We at MySpanishome would like to inform you that we have now passed all documentation regarding the purchase/sale of xxxxxx, including emails received from you promising payment, to our Lawyer – once again!

We have known for a while now that you have been working and employing Rumanians at the stables.  We thought we would give you time to contact us regarding the 3.500euros outstanding on our commission as promised in your emails, but of course nothing has been forthcoming.

We feel we have been very patient in this matter but we must tell you now xxxxx, that if we do not receive the outstanding payment 3.500euros (within the next 7 working days/upon receipt of this email) we will instruct our Lawyer to make a denuncia against you forthwith.  We will also ask for costs.
We ask you once again - please pay outstanding commission as promised in your emails to save more problems.

With regards

S. Dempsey

MySpanishome Estate Agents - Office hours of 10:00 – 17:00
Av. Generalitat 70
43500
Tortosa
+34 977446655
+34 639041277
info@myspanishome.com
www.myspanishome.com

  
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