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His LinkedIn profile is no longer visible to the journalist who first contacted him on September 26 with a series of questions about his involvement in what was described as a “mystery shopper” ploy. Mullery O’Gara, the firm that was instructed to handle the sale of a house in a leafy suburb of south Dublin, has since apologised after it arranged for someone to pretend to be the owner without the real owner’s consent. Deirdre O’Gara, a well-known estate agent who has been in the industry for two decades, claimed in a text message to her now former client that she only wanted to find out what fees her rivals charged. The firm also insisted that mystery shopping – where businesses hire individuals to act as secret shoppers to gather information about the quality of service – is “common practice”. However, while industry experts have said that mystery shopping is common, the events in this case were unusual. Lynn Carr, director of operations with Customer Perceptions, one of the biggest providers in Ireland, said: “Mystery shopping is used to measure operational and customer service standards, it is not used to uncover sensitive information, or as a spying tool. Today's News in 90 Seconds - Saturday, October 25 “In terms of assessing a competitor’s performance, there are certain ethical standards that apply. That [pretending to be the owner of a client’s house] would be extremely unethical because the homeowner wasn’t aware. That, in my experience, is not common practice.” The Irish Independent reported this week how an Englishman called Steve contacted three prominent agencies in Dublin to arrange a valuation on a four-bedroom house he claimed to own. He did so on behalf of O’Gara. Agents from Sherry FitzGerald, DNG and Lisney Sotheby International Realty all met the businessman at the property and valued it between €1.3m and €1.4m. Mullery O’Gara had initially suggested a guide price of between €875,000 and €925,000. This was later increased to €1.1m after the real owner provided comparables of other properties in the area and raised concerns about what he deemed to be a low valuation. It can now be revealed that the businessman who pretended to be the vendor is Steve Davies. While Mullery O’Gara did not respond to questions about who he is or his connection to the firm, it is understood Davies is known to O’Gara. Davies, originally from Manchester, is the ex-husband of Irish actress Leigh Arnold, best known for her role as Dr Clodagh Delaney in RTÉ drama The Clinic. The pair married in Ibiza in 2014, but separated in recent years. “Deirdre got it [the valuation] wrong and we hold our hands up. There was no ulterior motive nor would there ever be” According to LinkedIn, he is the sales director of a company that delivers new customers to mortgage advisers. He is also head of partnerships with a business that states it helps to address “pressing inefficiencies in the UK’s social housing sector” by working with landlords, councils and providers to “create a fairer, more efficient housing system”. His employment is not connected to the mystery shopper incident with Mullery O’Gara. When contacted for comment, Davies said he could not speak at the time and told this reporter to call him the next day. However, the phone number would no longer ring and a text message with questions did not deliver. He also blocked his profile from view on LinkedIn. Following the article’s publication, another Irish estate agent sent a circular to staff clarifying that what happened with Mullery O’Gara “bears no resemblance” to how mystery shopping is conducted by its firm. The email explained that the practice is used for research to help improve the quality of its service. Estate agents mystery shop their own employees and other firms to benchmark standards across the market. The process can involve hiring an independent research company to recruit the mystery shopper, who will use their own homes when contacting estate agents. They are fully independent, do not have any personal connections to the estate agent, and it does not involve visiting a client’s property. Carr, of Customer Perceptions, said the practice is used to “take a dipstick” of all operations from both the vendor’s and buyer’s side to see what areas a business can improve on. “When it comes to estate agents mystery shopping their own processes, that’s more common and would be normal enough. In terms of assessing competitors, it’s not as common, and there are a lot of ethical considerations. “We have been approached about doing competitor assessments. That would often be a phone call enquiry at a high level and we’d look at how the estate agent handled the phone call and the level of customer service. “It would also maybe involve attending an open house viewing to get a feel for the general experience and the agent’s rapport. I would say guide pricing is fair game, but we would never record names or personal information about a competitor’s staff or team, and never get into specifics in terms of finding out their commissions.” Mystery shopping is mainly used in sectors such as retail, hospitality, finance and travel. Regulatory bodies, like the Central Bank, also use it to check compliance. Mullery O’Gara is a relatively new firm that was founded by O’Gara and colleague Pat Mullery in 2021. The firm has offices in Terenure and Ranelagh, and has become a significant player in the south Dublin market. O’Gara and Mullery have over 50 years’ combined experience as estate agents. In August, O’Gara was asked to handle the sale of a house by a client whom she had previously sold two other properties in 2018. The 2,000 sq ft house has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a high energy rating and is in a highly sought-after area. It was bought new and had been rented to medical professionals for 11 years. When it was vacated, it was freshly painted and carpets were replaced so it could be presented for sale. When concerns about the valuation of between €875,000 and €925,000 were raised with O’Gara, she responded by voicemail. “I think we should go on at €950,000. It’s not where we start, it’s where we end up. I think we don’t tip it too high or too low, it’s that balance isn’t it. I think we should go on at €950,000 and let it take off from there. The general lift around the area is €100,000 to €200,000 over asking anyway. I’d play it safe at €950,000 and go from there”. O’Gara then said she would arrange for photos to be taken and advised him that “people would be coming and going from the house” over the coming days. She was given the keys to access the property for any viewings. Still uncomfortable with the valuation figure, it is understood the businessman decided to ask an expert in the industry for his opinion. Keith Downey, managing director of Platinum Group, which specialises in renovations and new-build construction, described the valuation as “mad”. “The house was definitely worth around the €1.3m mark and I thought the initial valuation seemed incredibly low,” he said. Downey encouraged him to go to Sherry FitzGerald to seek another valuation. And this is where matters took a turn. When the businessman contacted the firm, he thought the estate agent seemed off. The estate agent told him that he had already been in the house, met the owner and valued it between €1.3m and €1.4m. Davies had contacted Sherry FitzGerald, claiming to be the owner of the house, and wanted to put it up for sale. The real owner subsequently texted O’Gara to say: “Deirdre hold off and [sic] doing anything. Someone called Steve brought [redacted] from Sherry FitzGerald into the house on Monday and said he owns the house. I’m on the way to the garda station to make a report. Something very strange.” She replied saying: “[Redacted] Stop. That was me!!! I need to explain it to you. It was only me checking Sherry’s out for a fee. I meant to say it to you but I honestly didn’t think you would mind.” It would later emerge that the pretend owner had also arranged viewings with two other estate agents – Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty and DNG. When he contacted these firms, they also confirmed that a man called Steve had arranged viewings, claimed to be the owner of his house and sought a valuation. Both Lisney’s and DNG valued his house at between €1.3m and €1.4m. On August 26, the businessman contacted Pat Mullery, partner with Mullery O’Gara, to make a complaint. Mullery sought to meet in-person, but the businessman insisted on keeping everything in writing for “transparency”. Mullery then responded to say: “I can 100pc assure you Deirdre had your best interests at heart when she was giving her opinion on pricing. It is not exact science and we prefer to price realistically to bring price up, which happens in most transactions.” In another email, he said: “My understanding was you and Deirdre were close friends. I am not happy with how this has ended and not how I do business.” When the Irish Independent contacted Mullery and O’Gara with a series of questions – including why they arranged for someone to pretend to be the owner, who was Steve, and why did they initially value the property so much lower than DNG, Sherry’s and Lisney’s – Mullery responded to say: “Our solicitor will deal with this matter. We have tried to engage with this person but to no avail. If anything gets printed here we will then take legal action”. Following this, Mullery emailed an apology to the businessman. “The mystery shop should not have happened without your permission. “Re the value – Deirdre got it wrong and we hold our hands up. There was no ulterior motive nor would there ever be. I want to express my sincere apologies which is why I would have liked to have met you at the outset of all this.” In a statement through a PR firm, Mullery O’Gara said: “The company has sincerely apologised to the individual concerned for issues that arose in relation to the property. With regard to the guide price, after the property was improved the agency revised its guide price to €1.1m. The agency had just sold another property in the immediate area which achieved 30pc above guide price.” It also said the mystery shop process “should not have occurred without seeking the consent of the vendor”, but claimed it is “common practice”. The Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA), the regulatory body, said that it “does not condone the behaviour” of mystery shopping without a vendor’s consent. “Were the PSRA to receive a complaint regarding the nature of this query or similar, it would carry out an investigation into the matter,” it said.
