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”.