Orleans STAGER takes advantage of real estate agent!!

This get's me soooo mad!

One of my real estate agents I work with recently obtained a listing where the home owners have requested that they use their "friend" who is an interior decorator as their home stager. The agent we will call Agent X said sure I will look into it. So she contacts the "Friend decorator" and asks her fees and decides to agree to let her client use their friend.

After the appointment the home stager sends an e-mail to Agent X and says "Hello Agent X I was at your clients home for longer than expected i was there from 6-9pm and your first invoice is $398.00. For the rental of accessories your second invoice will be XXX.XX"

Agent X was COMPLETELY Blown away because the home stager A) did not stick to her quote and proceeded with the consultation into "After hours" with out obtaining permission prior. and B) TOLD the home owners that Agent X will cover the cost of the accessory rental. C) charged her 5x the price of what her usual home stager charges as well as provided Agent X's clients with unnecessary recommendations that really did not apply to the home.

I AM ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED not at the agent but at this so called "HOME STAGER" her business ethic is sooo poor i do not know how she remains in business.

1) The home stager should have NEVER proceeded past the discussed hours set by the agent this is not acceptable. When I go into a consultation I tell the agent that the average home will take me 2 hours to finish my report and discuss it with the client. SHOULD I require more time I will first of all contact you to discuss why I need more time and if you are ok with it and if you ARE NOT then I will FOCUS my time on the most important area's within the home EX: Kitchen, Bathroom, Living, Dining, Bedrooms and the basement usually last.

2) This stager should have NEVER told the clients that Agent X will be covering the cost of the inventory rental especially when the "stager" didn’t even discuss this with the agent.

3) The invoice should NOT have been increased because she dilly dallied through her appointment if she said to Agent X the apt will be 2 hrs but it took her 4 hrs and DIDNT tell the agent then that is her own fault and the "Stager" should NOT have invoiced for that un-estimated time.

This is a hard industry to be in, tight deadlines, scared clients because they might be offended etc. WE DO NOT NEED TO ADD POOR STAGING SKILLS AND BUSINESS ETHIC to this list! so this Home Stager in the ORLEANS, "Ottawa" Area should take a close look at her business because if she keeps doing this to her agents then eventually she'll have no clients left!

AGENTS PLEASE TAKE NOTE DO YOUR RESEARCH ON YOUR HOME STAGERS and find out...

a) Do they have an education in the home staging & decorating field?

b) Do they have insurance?

c) Ask them how long their consolations are and for how much...also ask what happens if you need more time.

d) Ask the process in their staging company, each company will do things different and this does not mean its wrong just know WHAT the process is.

e) Are they members of the RESA (Real Estate Staging Association)?

f) Do they work alone or do they have help to move items around if needed?

g) GET REFERRALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

With in my own company customer service is #1! I am sure many people hear that but we MEAN IT!! We are the ONLY Home Staging & Interior Decorating Company in OTTAWA ONTARIO To have won the Better Business Bureau's TORCH AWARD for Marketplace Ethics. We will ALWAYS provide everything that we say we will provide as well as NEVER invoice for something we have NOT Quoted for unless we have discussed it prior to implementing it.

Please real estate agents use your stagers, do your research and form relationships with great companies.

-Kristy