Does this ring true? or a con?

[altafica]

ok house on market since late aug with local agent, been very good untill last few weeks. Plenty of viewings but no offers. Then 2 weeks ago rung to say a relocation co has made an offer? they had never used them before. The offer was a bit low but wanted to move so accepted, but said I wanted ea to look into person/company properly. One of conditions was I move in 6/8 weeks, so found a house and all was well. Then I got my first contact with Capital Funding in Manchester, and was asked for admin fee, refundableif sale goes through, and noted that it said they will only complete when they have 3rd party buyer via appointed agent!
I search on the net to find a item about them from their local trading standards, for taking money then readvertising, and only complete 5% of the purchases. Seeing I am in the south of uk, they have little hope of selling my house. The co say they have a buyer, but are not coming up with any proof. My agent, sees to feel that they are ok if handled with care. When i gave them my findings they were shocked. but surley I should not be doing this, should they not have check this firm out before putting it to me? They have introduced him to my sale, therefore are they no liable for his actions? They are members of naea.
Intrested in your comments.

[omostra06]

We are a government registered estate Agents based in Tomar, Central Portugal, (AMI 7856) we often get approached by companies offering various services from finding us buyers, advertising agencies, banks, insurance companies etc etc.
Before I would recommend ANY company that I had not had personal experience of to any of my clients I would do (and I often do) carry out extensive checks to see if they are a reliable trustworthy company to be associated with our company, we put a very high value on our hard earned reputation and are very careful about the companies we recommend and Partner with.
In the situation you have explained I would be worried that I was telling my client that `I didn’t find a buyer but someone else had` not a good thing to do to keep your client confident in your abilities as an agent that will successfully find a buyer!

[co-buyers]

if in doubt, then throw it out - in this case them.

[altafica]

Thanks for you comments. I did in fact tell my agent today that I was under no circumstances going to give anybody money "up front", and if they thought that is was genuine, then they could put up the money! I could hear the hands grabbing the wallets over the phone.
I have asked another agent to give me a market apprasil next week and will most likely go multi-agency, may-be a bit of competition will drive both of them.

[brian]

Definitely sounds like you agent is letting you down - try other services.

[bonetti consultants]

A load of tosh, Get another agent!!! Go Joint Sole and dont pay anymore money!

Good Luck

[ajwt2]

as one of the other guys says, if in doubt, dont fo it, too much money at stake!

[slimshady@live.co.uk]

Hmmmmm. Sounds like you have an agent problem. You should put them in their place and not let them mess you about. Throw them out the window and find a different agent who offers a more efficient worth-while service. (somebody who knows what they are doing). Good luck

[cadavari]

Ah I hate these kinds of scams. If it smells fishy, it probably is bad!

[denis]

Smells fishy to me...