Office jobs all have their quirks. Here’s one that some real estate agents might find familiar.
I work for a real estate company that has offices in two states. We have just adopted a new website platform and have had a lot of frustrations with the transition. One recurring issue we are having is that the pages showing specific property listings will display names and contact information that do not belong to the agents representing those listings.
I opened an email ticket with support to get this addressed.
Me: “There is an issue affecting some of our property listing pages. For properties listed by [Agent], the page is showing someone else as the listing agent and a phone number that is not her cell number, nor our office number.”
Support Person #1:“I just took a look at your account, and [Agent #1]’s ID number was entered incorrectly in our system, so I fixed it. As for the phone number, that is a number assigned to your company by our system to capture customer contact information. It can’t be changed, but don’t worry; sale leads will still be directed to the agent representing the property listing. Have a great day!”
This explanation suffices for my team, and the fix they applied seems to do the trick… until I realize the same issue is happening with a handful of other agents. I reach back out to support.
Me: “I had a ticket open about agent information displaying incorrectly on property listing pages. I have now discovered that this is still happening for the following agents: [list of names].”
Support Person #2: “I see the ticket you had open with [Support Person #1]. Unfortunately, you cannot change the phone number displayed on property listing pages. It is a number assigned to your company by our system to capture customer contact information. Don’t worry; sale leads will still be directed to the agent representing the property listing!”
Me:“Okay, that’s fine and actually not what I’m concerned about. There are a handful of agents who are not showing up on their own listings. The last support person applied a fix to correct this for one agent, so now I just need that same fix applied to these other agents.”
Support Person #2:“I have put in a request with our developers to allow you to change the phone number in the future, but unfortunately, at this time, it cannot be changed. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Me: “Okay, as I already said, I understand that the phone number can’t be changed, and I’m not concerned about that. I need to ensure that the correct agent is displaying on property listing pages. For example, [Property Listing] is currently showing that [Agent #2] is representing this listing, but they’re not. This listing is represented by [Agent #3], so [Agent #3]’s name and photo should be on this page.”
Support Person #2: “That information is actually all random. The agent displaying on the page won’t always be the agent representing the listing. If you don’t want an agent showing up on these pages at all, you can turn that off in Settings.”
They send me a screenshot showing that they have ALREADY DONE THAT in my account. I rush into my account and turn that setting back on.
Me:“Actually, we aren’t allowed to turn that off. Our regional real estate commission requires the correct information to be there. I know for a fact that it’s not random because the last support person already fixed it for me once. Also, in the example I just shared, the agent displayed on the page is not even licensed in the state the property is located in, so they couldn’t even legally represent a buyer for this property. I really need these specific people’s information to be fixed.”
Support Person #2: “Unfortunately, at this time, the phone number cannot be changed.”
They go into the same spiel about the assigned system phone number.
Me: “I understand the system phone number, and that is fine. I really need the other part of my issue addressed.”
Support Person #2: “I have put in a request to allow the phone numbers to be changed, but at this time, they can’t be. I understand that this is not an ideal solution for you, and I apologize.”
Me:“Okay, is there someone else I can speak to about this? Or maybe we could get on a video call? It seems that my actual concern here is still being misunderstood.”
Support Person #2:“Sure, I’d be happy to get on a video call with you! Here is a link…”
We get on a video call, and I am able to share my screen, show them the exact place on our website where the incorrect information is being displayed, and prove to them that in most cases, it IS displaying the way we want to and not randomly.
Support Person #2: “Okay, I do apologize for the misunderstanding. Let me reach out to the first support person you talked to and find out what fix they applied so that we can correct these other agents.”
I breathe a sigh of relief, thinking I have finally gotten through to this person… until a day later when I get this response.
Support Person #3: “Hi there. I spoke to the previous support person on this ticket, and they were able to explain that they assigned you a system phone number to match the area code of your primary office. Unfortunately, at this time, this number cannot be changed, but I have put in a request with development to allow this in the future. I understand that this is not an ideal solution for you, and I apologize for the inconvenience. Have a nice day!”
I don’t think I’ll ever head-desk any harder than I did at that moment. This conversation was primarily over email, and it would sometimes take days for Support to respond, so this entire exchange took well over a month.
I still haven’t found out how to fix the problem.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of overwrite.ai and its owners.
This story has been published from Not Always Right on July 2023.
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