Manchester Estate Agents Second biggest rip-offs in Britain and Europe

As Stephen Fry once famously remarked: “Estate agents? Love them or loathe them, you’d be mad not to loathe them.”

 

Estate agents have had plenty of bad press over the years in terms of their fees, charges and competency. Now, a report from the European Commission has underlined this fact, placing estate agents second to bottom in a continent-wide survey of the ‘biggest rip-off’ merchants.

 

Second biggest rip-offs in Britain and Europe

 

The study from the European Commission found that estate agents were second only to financial investments as the continent’s worst ‘rip offs’. Alongside used cars, these are the three markets found to be the most likely to fail consumers, according to the 2010 Consumer Markets Scoreboard.

 

Research was undertaken among 500 consumers in each EU member country, all with recent purchasing experience in each of the markets. The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers annually ranks 50 markets in all 27 EU member states.

 

Respondents were asked about such factors as ease of switching, cost, trust, customer satisfaction, and complaints.