INFINITO REAL BUYERS BEWARE EX MRI OVERSEAS PROPERTY CON MEN Vilamoura, Portugal
BUYERS BEWARE!!!!!!!!! INFINITO REAL STAFF ALL EX MRI OVERSEAS PROPERTY STAFF!!!!!
I was contacted by Infinito Real Portugal to fly to the Algarve on one of their discovery tours. What a discovery it was. I and my wife arrived and was met at Faro airport as promised. I have to say at the beginning all was fine and it was going fine until i asked if i could think about it over night to discuss with my wife and family back home. I cant explain how much Simon who was showing us property changed when i asked for this time. It became clear to me and my wife that he seemed overly keen to sell me one of two developments which alarmed me as he said it was reduced by over a 100,000 and a mortgage would be no problem. I just didn't feel right and after lots of pressure he agreed to let us sleep on it.
That night we discussed the options together and with our family over the phone. I then went to the marina in Vilamoura and as a real estate office was open asked for some advice. I was shocked to find out that all the staff were all con men and well known in the area as being the managers who ripped off hundreds of brits. I was told they all worked and ran the Vilamoura office for MRI Overseas Property and that they still only sell developments and property where they recieve 10% commissions. I was feeling sick but relieved at just how we escaped. We were planning on spending up to 450,000 so they were going to pocket 45,000 plus vat.
I explained to Simon in the morning what i was told and gave him a chance to explain and this was my second mistake. He went crazy and started abusing me and my wife until my wife was in tears. I am currently seeking legal advice and intend to take this further and never let it go. I hope i save others from this horrid ordeal. The staff are Steven Anderson, Simon Hobson, Simon Quinton and Davina Sweeney.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
IRP
Boliqueime,Internet,
Portugal
Missleading and libellous
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sat, June 23, 2012
Dear Sirs,
It has just come to our attention that this complaint has been listed on your website. While we welcome the role websites like yours play exposing rouge businesses, we are concerned that the impact a post on your website can have on a small company like ours, especially if placed by an unscrupulous competitor or individual with an unfounded grudge.
Roger McGuire posted on (((REDACTED))) as well as your website back in April of this year. We only found out about this when we did a Google search on the company to see how our PR Company was performing and found we came top of the search as a Scam on your website!!
We are fully licensed Real Estate agents in Portugal AMI 8687 and APEMIP 4566. These Associations frown very seriously on malpractice and have very clear and concise complaints procedure that we would be very happy to pass on to anyone
who feels they have had a bad experience with our company. What is seriously worrying is that we searched our records (which are held for 5 years) and found that Mr Roger McGuire has never even contacted our company and has not been out with our company. We have checked all our sales database and hotel records, as, (like most sales based companies), we would wish to speak with any client we have let down or failed and obviously apologize if any distress has been caused, if indeed, this was the case. Our worry is that this entry is the work of a Mischievous competitor or maybe a disgruntled ex-employee.
What seriously worries us is that the information is clearly not true and it is easy for us to prove that the individual who posted has not been on one of our Discovery Tours, yet this information and its serious negative impact on our
business, is listed on your website!
We note that some of the comments made by Mr McGuire refer to the staff that works for our company are Conmen. Surly this is a libellous remark and something that your organization would discourage. Again most readers would
find it hard to believe that anyone intending to spend 450,000 on a property is likely to be someone who is easily upset by any Estate Agent! Portuguese conveyance law is one of the strictest in Europe and protects the buyer in
every aspect of the purchase, and would make a Con virtually impossible.
Commission structures in the Algarve are very clear and open obviously this has to be the case as many people buy and then sell properties. It is well know that the SELLER pays the commission not the BUYER. These commissions vary from 1.5% for Bank Repossessions up to 10% where the Agent would be staffing site offices, paying for marketing brochures and attending overseas exhibitions all at their own cost. Anybody running a business will know that 10% to get any product or service to market is actually quite low and very few Agents will take on this responsibility for this
commission in these uncertain times. Nearly all sales commissions are a fixed 5% plus IVA. This sounds a lot, but in Portugal Estate Agents share properties with each other and in most cases sellers with have multiple Agents working for
them and as a result this commission is usually split two or three ways. Also, in many cases foreign clients come through web portholes like Rightmove, Primelocation, The Move Channel, etc. These companies also need paying for their services and this is also paid from this commission.
With regard to the background of the staff of our company, yes, the shareholder all left MacAnthony because they we unhappy with the way that company was operating in other countries like Spain and Bulgaria. All the staff are committed to and believe in the properties they sell. All our shareholders and many of our staff have bought properties in the developments we sell. One shareholder lives in a development with over 80 of his own clients, and the other two have multiple properties in condominiums with existing clients and all have shared the ups and downs of the recent crisis.
Many of the companies who, like us, are now regarded as the industry leaders on the Algarve are owned and run my people who left MacAnthony for the same reasons. David Rowat, Colm Wilkinson and Mike Vincent are with Portugal
Property, Chris White, Francisca Barros and Sergio Bolivar are at CFS, Adam Guise-Smith with Pestana, Andre DeVilliers with Divine Home. All these, like our company, are well respected, fully licenced and controlled by Portugals governing body AMI and are all honourable members of APEMIP.
We are all proud of the properties we sell and in the vast majority of cases are acting as Realtors not Estate Agents. (a Realtor finds what his client is looking for, usually by trawling all other agents properties to find exactly what the client wants. A Estate Agent sells his clients property there is a big difference as a Realtors are cherry picking the best
properties from all other Agents and Builders to create a shortlist for their client. In this case their commission is nearly always split!) Simon Quinton has never worked with our company which again is easy to prove, but I do believe he also works for a well-respected company.
It may be possible that Mr McGuire has us mixed up with a company called KBS who were ex MRI staff from Spain and did set-up on the Algarve for 6 months and leave with a less than perfect reputation, either way our company have no record of this man! Please forgive us for posting this on your site, but we feel this individual has broken a number of legal conditions linked to site like yours and it is clear that it is a malicious act by someone with a grudge against the company or an individual.
We are sure Ripoff Report does not knowingly allow incorrect or factually incorrect information to remain posted or:-
Want people to defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy and publicity) of others.
Create a false identity for the purpose of misleading others as to the identity of the sender or the origin of a message.
Can we make it very clear that we are devastated that these libellous comments are so highly listed on search engines when linked to our company name? We are an honourable company, with a good reputation for following the strict rules
and regulations linked to Real Estate in Portugal. If at any time we have upset a client we would automatically want to put things right, but we have never had a complaint!
We obviously understand that your organization is not responsible, but we would want to pursue this further with the individual if the post is not removed and ask that you forward any contact details you may have.
Kind regards
Infinitoreal