Purplebricks shrugs off negative reviews on allAgents

Purplebricks has shrugged off negative reviews on allAgents.

Of the 24 reviews, almost all give the lowest possible one-star rating.

A spokesperson for Purplebricks said: “More than any other estate agent we actively encourage our customers to leave feedback, good or bad, and we will always listen to it, improve and make amends where necessary.

“We focus our customer service efforts on feedback received through Trustpilot where we can ensure customers are genuine and avoid issues of mis-use.

“With over 11,000 Trustpilot reviews and a rating of excellent – compared to just 24 reviews on Allagents – it is clear that this is also the preferred channel for the vast majority of customers.”

Martin McKenzie, of allAgents, said: “It is not unusual for allAgents to be an attraction for customers who may feel they may find it difficult to get their critique heard especially where their agent has thousands of five-star testimonials.

“In addition allAgents has an excellent dominating presence on the main search engines when the public are searching for reviews for any UK agent by name, including Purplebricks.

“To date Purplebricks have never contacted allAgents to request the removal of a review.”

McKenzie added that this coming year will be one of accelerated growth for allAgents.

He said: “Our website has been discovered by millions more users in recent months because of our website development, search engine optimisation and Google’s changes.

“Not surprisingly, many of these new users are agents who are finally sitting up and accepting the influence that ignoring customer feedback could have on their bottom line.

“We are also keen to keep passing on the message to the public about general review websites where there is a ‘closed platform’ and where feedback can only be posted by ‘invitation’.

“This is what allAgents have been battling since 2006 – agents cherry-picking reviews and the customers who write them.”

https://www.allagents.co.uk/purplebricks/

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32 Comments

  1. AgentV

    A spokesperson for Purplebricks said: “More than any other estate agent we actively encourage our customers to leave feedback, good or bad, and we will always listen to it”

    So why then do you remove negative reviews from Trustpilot and why don’t you ask for reviews of your service at the time when it really matters ..just after completion of the sale?

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    1. Bless You

      100% Agree.

      Can someone forward this story and comment to Govt, watchdog, trading standards, trust pilot, advertising authority…list goes on.

      Also…

      Instead of dealing with complaints internally Trading Standards needs to start fining these online agents. No warnings..the agents should be the ones consulting solicitors before they sell their false claims. Just acting like naughty school kids at moment seeing how far they can push the truth.

      Get it wrong £10k and public apology…thats how local/ honest agents have to work so why are they so special?

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  2. PeeBee

    …or after withdrawal – it would be a rude not to give what, after all, Mr Bruce publically stated was a tiny minority of their listings a chance to tell of their experience…

    …wouldn’t it?

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    1. AgentV

      Absolutely…..learning why the odd person here and there (as they claim) has ditched your service would be highly valuable to help improve your service.

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  3. Robert May

    Small point the firm has 11,000 reviews after trading for 4 years,  about 27 months since its proper launch when it said by now it would have 10% of all transactions (that’s 89,000 exchanges for the year just gone)  If it is exchanging on 88% of all it lists  and is saving vendors thousands and thousands of pounds, why has it got so few reviews? why have they censored their reviews on Facebook and why have they  got anything at all to defend or shrug of on allagents?

    I’m not so sure  everything is going to plan;  we were told they have to list 3000 properties a month to make a profit, that is  4 properties per hour every hour. From what I can see the number of new listings as opposed to the re-listing of  sales that have presumably fallen through ( re-listing  within 14 weeks on Rightmove breaches their T’s & C’s so they won’t be  doing that  will they?)  is no-where near that volume. I guess the only  real transparency we can expect is the trading figures for the year which are due in a  few short months.

    Has anyone else noticed how time flies when you’ve made a prediction, aren’t actually doing what you told the boss last month, the market is against you and your annual review is  immovably in the calendar?

     

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  4. Eamonn

    i heard once that tech students in Germany where making a massive amount of cash.   The cash was received  from companies in return the students  givie them 5 star reviews plus using software to change their IP address so they could leave hundreds of reviews that look like multi customers and pass any low level quality control.

    not sure if this is a fairy tale but I wouldn’t put it past some people,

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    1. AgentV

      When such a high proportion of reviews about something are totally favourable, surely most people smell a rat…or do they assume the general public are stupid enough to believe the stats and the latest tv adverts which insinuate they sell your property without charging anything.

      It is treating potential customers with contempt!!

      #CONmisery

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    2. Robert May

      The @Purplebricks Twitter account 8th December 2016 show an insight into their priorities. It looks (from low res photo) like there is a cash prize   for the  most instructions, TP? (Trust Pilot reviews)  SB Selfies (Picture with sale board?), price reductions, sales and  what looks like re valuations.

      One of the trustpilot reviews mentioned how the listing reps get holidays in return for 5 star reviews.

      The impression all this gives me is one of painting a distorted positive impression that is not reinforced by true performance or factual reviews.

      I feel strongly anyone making  any claim in advertising, on websites, on the telly, in interviews on the radio ought to be able to substantiate the claims being made.

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      1. Keyser Söze

        “One of the trustpilot reviews mentioned how the listing reps get holidays in return for 5 star reviews.”

        I heard from a source that they had a competition running where they would send the top 5 LPEs to New York for the most amount of TP reviews.

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        1. AgentV

          So no incentives to encourage unbiased feedback then….so they can listen and learn. I am surprised!

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  5. Stubby26

    If the company send out a pre filled form on instruction and again when an offer is accepted, then chances are it will be filled in positively.

    Then when the property is withdrawn or the sale falls through an effort is needed to find the link to the site and upload your own review or edit the review, this will be too much to bother, unless you are that incensed and some are.

     

    Its all done automatically and designed to be positive. Answer is push allagents and hope they are the ones with the links as they state.

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  6. ansesyb18

    Folks through time purplebricks will become disused bricks!!

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    1. PeeBee

      Do you mean like #purplerubble ?

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      1. Shaun77

        #purplerubble – brilliant!

         

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  7. PeeBee

    SOME Trustpilot “reviews” get through wit less than 5* adoration – take THIS one for example, hot off the press so as to speak so be quick before it’s potentially taken down:

    https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/587731a00dc2f608ec545ccf

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    1. AgentV

      Well spotted PeeBee. We need a ‘Review Watch’ on this……to see how long it takes to be policed and taken down.

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      1. AgentV

        Obviously having been paid at the start they don’t really care about customer or  service towards the buyer (the CONsumer)…cos it doesn’t matter to them if the sale doesn’t complete.

        Has anyone out there got any links to any of their completed sales please…..say a link to a property on the ‘sold house prices’ on rightmove?

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      2. PeeBee

        Hang on – ‘Review Watch’?  I’m on permanent #Portaljuggle Watch – so count me out!

        More #portaltricks today – welcome a ‘new’ form of activity…

        #UNarchivejuggling

        (yes, perpetrators – we’re on to it already…)

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        1. PeeBee

          Feel free to follow this on Tw@tter, folks…

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          1. AgentV

            I’ll do the review watch….every few hours!!

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            1. AgentV

              11.40 Review still there!

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              1. gk1uk2001

                Review still there (or at least the link is still working!)

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                1. AgentV

                  4.15 still there!

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                  1. AgentV

                    10.40 still there.

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                    1. SE27

                      Reply:

                       


                      Reply from Purplebricks UK
                      Published 2 days ago
                      Thank you for taking the time to leave your review, Nafisa. We are very sorry to hear how let down you feel byt he service you have received and we would be very keen to discuss your experience in more detail to understand what has happened. At present we have been unable to locate you as a customer based solely on the details provided to Trustpilot, and we would be very grateful if you could contact us on the below email address so that we can arrange for a member of our Senior Management Team to contact you. We very much hope that we are able to speak to you and see how we can help. customersupport@purplebricks.com”

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    2. wardy

      sorry PeeBee just linked the same, its awaiting moderation ironically

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  8. wardy

    https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/587731a00dc2f608ec545ccf

    https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/5876d0e38a103103cc1a9561

    A couple of recent ones which will no doubt be removed and marked up as in review when the PB police wake up this morning.

    Somebody at Trust pilot must of decided that the exposure PB give them is worth selling a bit of credibility for. But don’t worry guys, I’m sure the ASA are all over it.

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    1. gk1uk2001

      If the ASA are all over it then no doubt it will be “resolved informally” with no sanctions for anyone involved…….

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  9. Shaun77

    Is it possible to set up a “Purplebricks Complaints” page on Facebook and Twitter, much like the numerous anti Foxtons pages you can already find on Twitter? This could become the sounding board for the many disappointed vendors who were foolish enough to believe the hype and then have to pay for the privilege.

    Just a thought….

     

     

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    1. AgentV

      Shaun please do. Twitter one is PeeBee’s   #CONmisery

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    2. Bless You

      Awesome idea..educate the public about these pay anyway agents.

      i think they are trying to look good by cutting back on adwords…

      i also think new adverts with ‘no commission’ could be sign of desperation.

      soon purplebricks may be like the Go Compare adverts..people will switch off.

      the second they stop TV advertsing they are dead…..just depends on the investors waking up now.

      Report
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