Strongly suspect EA "forgot" to submit our Best & Final to vendor. Anyone been experienced this?
We are 99% sure the EA failed to pass our best and final offer to the sellers. We offered the asking price initially, then were called for our best & final, where we increased our offer by ~3% (12k)
This morning (two days later), we received a formal rejection email. It stated that our offer was rejected and a higher one selected. However, it included our original offer, not the best and final figure.
We phoned to challenge this straightaway. They claimed it was a "mix-up" and the letter should have shown the higher figure, but said the higher offer was definitely submitted. We then email asking them to re-issue the rejection letter with the correct Best & Final amount for our records. Silence.
We don't actually suspect malice, rather incomptence and now a cover-up, but we really loved the house and so wanted to make 100% our offer was at least seen by the seller. This evening, we hand-delivered a letter to the sellers with our contact details, reaffirming our interest, and a printed copy of our final offer email that was sent to the estate agent.
I understand that EAs are legally obliged to submit all offers and that, ultimately, we could go to the ombudsman...but what's the point? We won't get the house and will likely be seen as difficult. The EA has roughly 50% of the market here and even my house is sold (STC) with them. Is there anything else we can do? Should we just let it go?