Direktlänk till inlägg 4 maj 2013
Just after christmas Tina Marhofer from Germany came with her daughter to view two horses. After email correspondance several she decided she was interested in Halagador and FEI PRE stallion Nr 389, Marismeño XXX. As I was going to be in Sweden over christmas we had sent Halagador to a friend of Javier's so that he could keep him fit whilst I was away. I had arrived the day before to be able to attend Tina. She tried him and liked him alot, thought he looked bigger than what she had imagined. We had a long drive in front of us to next horse and we had a nice chat about being a woman in horsebusiness etc. Tina has a absolutely beautiful farm called Hufhotel which I congratulated her on having had achieved. After a couple of hours we arrived to the second horse, this one horse was being shown by the owner and trainer was also present. This time it really clicked between her and the horse, it was just the kind of horse that she was looking for. I left Tina and her daughter at airport, she did not offer to pay me the daily fee but I did not charge her either as she was seriously interested in buying the second horse from us. Normally clients pay a daily fee of 100Eur/ day to cover expenses but if the client buys a horse from us we return this fee. So after having agreed on the price of the horse we arranged for the vetting by a german vet as this made communication easy for Tina. The horse passed the vetting and we started to arrange the paperwork, sent invoice, salescontract etc. The horse did not have the ownership card (CT) up to date, as is many times the case, the CT is a subsidory document. So we initiated the procedure for this card, discussed with owner etc. Tina told us she wanted CT cleared before she sent the funds, fair enough and not a problem at all.
Meanhwhile the owner told me Tina had contacted him directly over the phone and email via her translator Petra, it seemed she made an attempt to buy the horse from him directly. It was the german veterinarian that had facilited the contact to the owner. Obviously Tina had conciously contracted us and our services but now it seemed she did not know how to respect this. I started to recieve emails in a conflictive tone, Tina told me she could not buy the horse from us as it was not ours. Obviously none of the horses selected us are our property, this is nothing new when you are buying from brokers. So I politely explained the proceedings and that we always and without no exception sell the horses formally to our clients to guarantee the sale is correctly made and they don't have to worry about owners, documentation of the horse or anything else. There is a clause in contract that states we have the right to sell the horse and we declare all sales. Everyone that has bought a horse from us knows it is pretty straightforward and easy process and that they can rely on us and our services. We use the same contract draft for olympic clients as for pleasure riders, it is easy to understand, correct and for everyones equal advantage.
To let Tina know and clear any possible doubts she may have, the owner also sent a letter of recommendation for our services confirming we are transparent in our work and with a respected reputation as professionals in Spain;
'Dando continuidad a la conversación mantenida esta mañana vía fono, debéis estar tranquilas con el gran trabajo que hacen los Señores de la empresa Horsespre. No sólo en la gestión, que es incomparable, sino en la ejecución. Eso debe ser vuestra garantía, Horsespre y su equipo humano goza de una gran reputación en España por un valor muy importante “La transparencia”
(client + broker + owner = 100% warranty)'
Now Tina stopped answering my emails but I held her informed about the proceedings of the ownership card. We spoke with ANCCE regards the CT and informed the owner. The card was arriving a week later and Tina had not responded any of my emails. The owner wrote a message saying that he had travelled to Miami, that he would not be coming back until in 2 weeks and that he had not heard anything from Tina either.. It seemed a little strange as he had been eager to sell his horse and had been communicating with us on a daily basis. So we waited for his return and meanwhile we went to see another horse in Marismeños stables and realized he was no longer there. So I sent another email to Tina, asked for status of Marismeño and included the invoice for the 10% commission fee. No reply. When we later met up with owner we confirmed that Tina and owner had made an agreement to avoid paying us our commission. So again I sent another polite email giving Tina the oportunity to make right. But no answer. So after several emails we informed Tina that if the agreed comissionfee was not paid for by next week we would be taking action and make public her attempt to fraud. I am happy to say that this is the first client in 8 years that has acted in this incorrect way.
Now I got an answer from Tina saying she did not understand me. We had been communicating over emails since november and we had could communicated perfectly during her visit. She told me her translator would contact me a week later. I answered she would have to find a way to communicate herself as I was not going to wait any longer and that my emails were very clear and not difficult to understand at all. I then get a reply with an offer (?) of a much lower amount than the agreed 10% comission fee. Which we certainly will not accept.
Here below Nr 389 http://www.horsespre.com/product/product.asp?id=1188&fn=true&scid=2&cid=0 and a link to the blogpost I made after her visit; http://vikingapre.bloggplatsen.se/2013/01/15/9317430-tinas-pre/