Master Build Guarantee Issue and Disappointing Complaint Handling | Ray Chan, Ray & Co

As first-home buyers, we trusted the Ray White brand and expected professionalism, transparency and accountability. Purchasing a home represents years of savings, financial sacrifice and one of life’s biggest milestones. Discovering that a significant advertised feature was not valid was extremely concerning. Ray Chan’s listing advertised the property as “Under a Master Build Guarantee” valid until 30 May 2028. This influenced our decision to buy. After settlement, Master Build confirmed the guarantee had never been properly transferred or registered in the previous owners’ names and was not validly in place as we understood it to be. We emailed Ray on 5 October but received no acknowledgement. Only after escalating to the branch manager and principal did he contact us the following day. He said the agency had relied on vendor documents and that the director would respond to my concerns within five working days. On the 5th working day, Director Jenny Quiambao repeated that the agency had relied in good faith on those documents and referred us to our solicitor or the vendor’s solicitor. Our request for clarification received essentially the same response. Our key question remains unanswered: what checks were undertaken to verify the guarantee before advertising it? Relying on vendor documents is not the same as verifying a significant marketing claim. Thirteen days after our first email, we still had no satisfactory explanation. Having to escalate for a response and then being referred to solicitors was frustrating. We expected our concerns to be addressed and the agency’s verification process explained. Advice to buyers: Exercise caution and independently verify significant property claims, especially guarantees and warranties marketed and advertised by Ray & Co / Ray Chan. This experience has seriously undermined our trust in Ray Chan, Ray & Co and Ray White Parnell. We would hesitate to use them for a future transaction.