Problems Getting Refund Following Cancellation

[lovesquadsue]

Originally Posted by dave99

Hi

Anything new - I think there are lots of interested people waiting to see how you progress this.

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Hello!

Yes we have made a bit of progress last week.... the lawyer has been over in Egypt and has told me on Wednesday that he has been in to see El Riad and the refund has been arranged. El Riad were to transfer the money to him by close of business yesterday and subsequently he will transfer to us as soon as it hits his account next week. So, El Riad are refunding the monies that were paid to them less a canx fee of circa £1300.00! So, progress on that point - providing we get the £13K as promised next week.

My next obstacle is with the agent who have received £3600 commission and are so far refusing to refund it. They have told me that they are having a meeting with the lawyer next week and until the meeting has taken place they are not prepared to do anything.

So, as it stands at the moment our main priority is to get the bulk of the monies back into our account hopefully throughout the course of next week. By then we will know the outcome of the meeting between the lawyer and the agent. We can then wrangle with the agent safe in the knowledge that there is only £3600 at stake as opposed to nearly £17K - plus as its a smaller amount the small claims court is a more feasible option!

I will update more next week as things progress.

[lovesquadsue]

Originally Posted by Rivermead Global Property

Hi Lovesquad, see if the agent is a member of AIPP the new proffesional body for this industry. Even if they are not a member someone in the chain of agents/developers might be. Even if your agent says they are not involved in the problem they should still be fighting your corner and using their contacts within the industry to help you. If this is the way the solicitor works then a word of warning from the agent/s to them that they will not be receiving anymore business should make them listen. Hope you get it sorted out.

Thank you so much for the info! I have checked this out today and unfortunately they are not a member of AIPP and as far as i know there is only the UK agent, the Egyptian developer and the Egyptian lawyer in the chain..... We do not feel that the agent has helped us out as much as they could have and certainly I have been the one doing all the ringing around - im sure i must have spent about £300 on ringing egypt to speak to the lawyer and the developers in this month alone!
Hopefully we can finally get things resolved next week (I'v just posted another reply in this thread with an update of where things are up to!)

I will be so glad once this is sorted - its taking up sooooo much of my time. And to think - we used a reputible local based agent to avoid this sort of thing! LOL!
Thanks again, sue x

[Emu49]

Who was your agent? It would be nice to know so that if someone is thinking of buying with the same agent they get something in writing to protect themselves.

[dave99]

Originally Posted by lovesquadsue

I will be so glad once this is sorted - its taking up sooooo much of my time. And to think - we used a reputible local based agent to avoid this sort of thing! LOL!
Thanks again, sue x

Hope this does not stop you buying into Egypt.

There are plenty of trustworthy developers and I'm sure you'll be better able to judge this in future.

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[lovesquadsue]

Originally Posted by dave99

Hope this does not stop you buying into Egypt.

There are plenty of trustworthy developers and I'm sure you'll be better able to judge this in future.

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Doesnt put me off at all! Just got to put it down to a bad experience and move on! Will defo be buying in Hurghada - but cant do anything til I sort this situation out.! Cant cope with any more stress at the moment!

Sue x

PS - the lawyer is finally back in UK today so I am hoping for some good news this morning! fingers crossed (again!)

[queenie40something]

Hi Sue keeping them crossed for you too.

[Rivermead Global Property]

Good luck Sue.

[queenie40something]

Hi Sue - any news yet??

[realestatemart]

Originally Posted by queenie40something

Hi Sue - any news yet??

Sue What is up we hope eeything ok with you now

[lovesquadsue]

Hi all!
thanks for all of your support with this nightmare!!
Well, here is a little update for you - unbelievably it has proved easier getting a refund from the Egyptian developer than the UK agent that has received circa £3600 commission. We have now received a refund from the developer (El Riad) with no problems at all (other than it took them a while) and we negotiated a canx fee with them of just over £1000.00 - which we found acceptable.
Anyhow, the UK BASED AGENT who we thought we could trust and we thought we would not have a problem getting a refund from have now said that they are not prepared to refund the £3612 commission they have received as we have cancelled and its in the contract - yes, thats the contract that we havent signed!!!!
SO - I WOULD GIVE EVERYONE THIS WORD OF ADVICE. JUST BECAUSE A DEVELOPER OR AGENT IS FROM THE UK DO NOT TRUST THEM ON THIS ASSUMPTION ALONE!! AND, NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE TOLD DO NOT HAND OVER ANY MONEY UNTIL YOU ARE 100% HAPPY WITH YOUR CONTRACT.
This case is now being dealt with by my solicitor and trading standards. I would think that this will drag on for some time to come however on the positive side we have at least received £12,000 of our monies back from the developer!
On an even more positive note we have just purchased a 2 bed apartment on the British Resort after visiting Hurghada last week! AND - its ready to use! YEAHY!