Agent reported to regulator gets good marks on comparison site – but slated by some reviewers

The agent reported to the industry regulator, the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team, after complaints by customers has an average four-star rating on comparison site GetAgent.

Berkshire Estate Agents has been reported to NTSEAT by The Property Ombudsman, as EYE’s story said on Friday.

According to TPO, the firm, in Slough, has not made payments as ordered to customers whose complaints have been upheld.

However, on GetAgent the firm is described as achieving 97.4% of asking price, with an average sale time of seven weeks.

According to the site, the firm has listed 15 sales properties over the last six months, advertising them on both Rightmove and OnTheMarket, and has an aggregate rating from reviewers of four stars out of a possible five.

A facility on the GetAgent site allows members of the public to get an instant quote from Berkshire Estate Agents and “four other top performing agents”.

However, Get Agent also allows reviews on its site, and only the 12 most recent ones are visible. The very latest ones are damning, warning potential customers not to use the firm.

These one-star reviews go back to September and follow five star reviews placed between May and June.

While the one-star reviews are described as having passed GetAgent’s “basic verification procedures”, the five-star reviews have apparently not been verified.

Colby Short, of GetAgent, said: “GetAgent’s agents performance statistics are purely objective and are calculated using a variety of sources. Likewise, the star rating afforded agents is an aggregate score from the agent’s Google reviews and reviews left directly on our site.

“As part of our commitment to objectivity it is impossible for us to vary these stats ourselves and whether or not an agent is registered to work with us also has no bearing on how they are presented.

“However, GetAgent does not refer leads to this branch and this will continue to be the case unless the allegations are proven untrue.”

https://www.getagent.co.uk/branch/berkshire-estate-agents-ltd-sl1/24201

On Yell, where the firm describes itself as priding itself on its professionalism, all the reviews are one-star.

https://www.yell.com/biz/berkshire-estate-agents-ltd-slough-6491837/

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One Comment

  1. Woodentop

    ALL reviews sites are misleading and should be banned. Not one of them will confirm that all the reviews are genuine, which defeats the whole object of the consumer looking for confidence.

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