An agent who was a founding member of Agents’ Mutual says he is now very upset to be facing court action.
The agent, who has asked not to be named, claims he heard nothing for three years despite repeatedly making his views known about the OnTheMarket portal.
The agent told us: “Two years into my relationship, I contacted them to advise of my dissatisfaction with the number of leads I was receiving. I received no response so contacted them again, copying in their CEO.
“I still received no response, so wrote again, advising that I was considering withdrawing from the contract.
“Again there was no response, so I wrote and asked to terminate my contract. Again, there was no response.
“I have had literally nothing other than a monthly invoice.
“Now, some three years later, I have received a response – it is for a court action over £13,000.”
He said that he stopped paying subscriptions to OTM in January 2017. “By then, I had spent £4,000 a year, £8,000 in total, and received only one converted lead in two years,” he claimed.
The agent says that says that he signed up for reasons and a business model which are no longer valid.
Key attractions, he says, included a transparent rate card, meaning that all agents would pay the same. There would be agents only on the portal, and no developers.
It was also intended that there would be no features such as spotlight properties – the agent says properties would simply be listed in price order.
The agent says that all these early policies have now been reversed.
A spokesperson for OTM said: “It is standard practice for any company to seek outstanding payments from customers when they are in arrears. We work to ensure that everyone in contract with us meets their obligations for the benefit of all agents.”
Comments (14)
I signed as a Silver member with Agents Mutual on the promise that the fixed fee, as on their contract for £295 plus VAT. would give me the advantage above other agents joining later would not qualify at a lower fee. Two years later ( Oct 2016) an agent in my area was offered to advertsie with OTM for £50 per month. I gave notice to withdraw on this basis.
I heard nothing from OTM until October 2019 when OTM asked me to sign a further 5 years and they would dismiss the £13,806 in past 3 years advertsing fees. In the meantime another agent in my area mentioed they had advertised for free for the 12 months.
I have refused to pay the £13,806 and have now received court papers from OTM solicitors. I refuse to be blackmailed and will take my chance at court. No one from OTM had been in touch for 3 years until the request for money was made.
I would be grateful if any agent with simlar experience/ or a court date against OTM would contact me 07980626502 Thank you Jill
All claims I wonder how many of the anonymous agents claims are actually true!
Fools and their money ……….
It’s a funny thing Estate Agency…. We want change, We talk about change ….however, most often, we do f&ck all about it …..and the record plays on.
I bought into OTM V1 because I wanted to help change the Portal Landscape. I did so on the basis of worst case scenario – losing my money.
Without people stepping forward, things never change.
OTM burned me financially. That’s it. Move on. Tried. Failed.
I would rather have tried & failed, versus sitting on the sidelines throwing post-match comments about why something was always going to fail?
Hey Ho …… we’re all different. At least I can still be TRUSTED.
With experience I have learned that agents cannot and will not collaborate. For example, in our town every agent agreed to ditch the local paper as it was £500 a page 25 years ago….. we all agreed to join a new publication charging 20%
The biggest agent run by a horrid little man did a deal behind everyone’s back at a rate reserved only for him.
The new regime failed.
Sound familiar? Corporates et al v Estate agents v Rightmove
I haven’t heard anything from OTM in the last 3 years either…………….
I haven’t paid them any money in that time either……………………………
I haven’t been threatened with legal action however because i didn’t buy the b***s*** and sign a contract.
I think the deal is is we all went to the same PowerPoint Presentation that promised 30Million worth of Advertising, we were shown how they would collect money given insight into proposed operating costs, it all made sense.
But they never delivered on the Advertising they stopped engaging with new Agencies and trying to grow their business, once this court case started, that is all they focused on.
What upset me the most is the total lack of interaction with dissatisfied customers.
V2 OnTheMarket is nothing like we were promised
“V2 OnTheMarket is nothing like we were promised”
PRINT that a Million times Anthony, it’s absolutely true when comparing the Utopia of the OTMV1 Sales Pitch versus the ” F&ck that, we’re doing this now! …and you’re locked-in and you can’t do anything about it “.
Time will tell. All I witness is a 3rd Portal sucking more money from subscribers and a fading impact on the portal landscape.
If OTMV2 closed down today ……what difference would it make?
Answers on a microdot
These stories do make chuckle – no one put a gun to your head to sign a contract, no portal guarantees leads. You made a business decision to sign a contract. I would chase a vendor if they failed to meet their contractual obligations, why do we have contracts if they are not worth the paper they are written on!
What happens if you agreed to advertise the property but you didn’t, surely the client can withdraw with no penalty?
Chuckle off. 3/5 years stuck in a contract where the whole point was to make rightmove weaker is a misleading contract.
Just use righmoves share price and monthly subscription as proof.
Hey ChucklesHJ12,
For those of us that paid the OTM Subscription despite the fundamental change in what we were sold/mis-sold, OTMV2 sure had plenty of Chuckles at my/& others expense.
The CHASM of difference between OTMV2 and Estate Agents like me is TRUST!
I have sympathy for those that chose NOT to pay because what they signed up for is NOT what they ended up with. The best course of action for them is to form an Action Group to argue their case that they were mis-sold!
Chuckles may be your reaction however it’s a dumb reaction if you understand the facts – clearly you don’t.
Shuffle off and re-apply your Clown Face that way we can all have a Chuckle at You.
……..Oh, and for a final Chuckle …… those much promoted flotation £5 Shares?!!! ……. who is chuckling now?
……..at last I’m free of the shambles that is OTM, last month, as one of the founding Gold Members, I exited having paid for OTMV2 which i never voted for and didn’t want to be part of.
I was sold a utopian dream of a portal for Agents ……not just another portal.
The reality was being forcibly locked-in to an OTM contract which was for a service provider who had changed their product/service, it was no longer what I had originally signed up for.
So, my Trust in OTMV1 was pummelled into dust by OTMV2.
I’m free of OTM. Free of paying for something I didn’t want. It was the unwanted gym membership from hell!
However …my freedom cost a lot of money in wasted monthly subscriptions.
You won’t be the only one of the 1,300 that have chosen to move on and it will be interesting to see what the next set of branch numbers look like from OTM / Zoopla.