Oystons Estate Agency was the subject of a complaint to the advertising watchdog about six reviews that appeared on its Facebook page.
Four of the six reviews awarded five stars to Oystons.
The complainant challenged whether the reviews were genuine and could be substantiated.
Oystons removed five of the reviews and provided evidence to the Advertising Standards Authority that the remaining one was written by a client.
An ASA spokesperson told EYE: “As the other reviews had been removed we considered that the matter had been resolved and closed the case informally on that basis.”
Oystons has four branches in Lancashire at Blackpool, Preston, Fleetwood and Cleveleys.
The firm yesterday had seven reviews on its Facebook page, four of which give it five stars, one giving it two stars, and two giving it the lowest one-star rating.
The firm was founded by Owen Oyston, majority owner of Blackpool Football Club.
- The Oystons case comes as, entirely separately, the Competition and Markets Authority has published two open letters warning against the publication of fake online reviews. One letter has gone to publishers, and the other to marketeers. Publishers are warned that any reviews which they are paid to publish should be clearly marked as ‘paid for’, to prevent consumers being misled. Marketeers who write or commission fake reviews are told the same thing, and also advised that “writing or commissioning a fake review – in relation to your own products or someone else’s – is a breach of consumer protection law and may lead to civil or even criminal action… Businesses should not offer incucements to customers in return for writing positive reviews about their businesses”.
Were people not taught to tell lies as children. I thought it was one of those things as soon as you can talk…
Maybe just me.
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Presumably the NTSEAT will take action against this firm?
….only kidding, we know they won’t
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5 STARS for misleading.
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The best reviews I find are word of mouth from people to people…. this is where I gain the majority of my business.
Are intelligent, informed people really taken in by the rubbish spouted on so called review sites, marketing blurb, etc. Or is it just the plain gullible.
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“…the Competition and Markets Authority has published two open letters warning against the publication of fake online reviews. One letter has gone to publishers, and the other to marketeers. “
WHY, can someone please tell me, has a THIRD letter not been issued to COMPANIES – such as Estate Agents – whose “reviews” are the cause of the problem?
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We live in an age of excess. A review will almost always be five stars for good, and one star for bad. As a result I find it very hard to trust online reviews, genuine or not. Talk to somebody and you’ll find out that everything is subjective, including the expected standards of service from all kinds of industries.
Trust nobody. Except estate agents. They know what they’re doing. Except when they’re putting up fake reviews. Which are hard to tell as real/fake anyway.
See what I mean!!?
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