The costs ordered to be paid to Agents’ Mutual by Gascoigne Halman were yesterday described by the judge as a “safe minimum”. Meanwhile, Gascoigne Halman must continue to list on OnTheMarket and pay its listing fees, as well as comply with the ‘one other portal’ rule.
Gascoigne Halman must pay the sum, £1.24m, within a fortnight. In addition, the funds that Agents’ Mutual had to pay into court last year in the event of its losing the case, are being repaid.
The sum that Connells brand Gascoigne Halman must pay, £1,243,248, is an interim amount, while the definitive payment has yet to be decided, said the Honourable Mr Justice Marcus Smith, sitting alone in his dual capacity as a chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and Judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court.
He said the figure represented the minimum of the costs that would be incurred.
The Judge also said that he would be issuing an order that the £1.33m which Agents’ Mutual had lodged with the court as security (for the eventuality that the CAT judgment had been in favour of Gascoigne Halman) be returned to Agents’ Mutual.
Similarly, he said that he would be issuing an order for a further £500,000 fortification of costs, which Agents’ Mutual had lodged, to be returned.
The rulings were made in court yesterday in the aftermath of the Competition Appeal Tribunal ruling regarding OnTheMarket’s ‘one other portal’ rule.
The Tribunal ruled last week that the rule was not anti-competitive but indeed ‘objectively necessary’ as part of OnTheMarket’s entry into the property portals market and a case management conference was set last Friday for yesterday to discuss costs and the next stage of the wider case regarding a breach of contract dispute brought by Agents’ Mutual against Gascoigne Halman in the High Court.
Yesterday’s hearing was expected to take just two hours but lasted six, with at times intense deliberations over costs and whether the non-competition proceedings could or should be progressed before there is clarity as to whether Gascoigne Halman will apply for leave to appeal.
The agent would need to apply in the first instance to the Competition Appeal Tribunal, specifying the issues it wishes to challenge, and, if this application were not accepted, it would then need to apply to the Court of Appeal for permission to pursue its appeal there.
The interim payment was based on what QC Alan Maclean, for Agents’ Mutual, had earlier suggested to the hearing and said was a “conservative estimate” of the overall costs, especially as it was based on a budget which was agreed several months ago and which explicitly excluded several defined areas of costs, even without taking into account incremental costs incurred since that time as the case evolved.
QC for Gascoigne Halman Paul Harris initially rebuffed this as a full schedule of costs hasn’t been submitted to the hearing.
He told the hearing: “It is unprecedented for a party applying for costs to come and say they want costs without a costs schedule.
“Instead they have made reference to historic material that don’t show what is spent.
“They are asking you to make an order in respect to what has been spent without showing what has been spent.
“Your lordship has to be satisfied that the costs sought have been incurred. You can only be satisfied with a statement of costs.
“It is unprecedented to come to court when you haven’t even satisfied the court that you have spent that.”
Yesterday, Mr Justice Smith also gave his judgment on whether the non-competition issues should be stayed pending Gascoigne Halman’s application to appeal the CAT judgment.
This application to appeal would be made to the CAT. If the Tribunal does not allow it, an application could then be made to the Court of Appeal.
The Judge yesterday determined that a stay of the non-competition issues should remain in place, pending any potential appeal process because of what he described as “the nexus between the two sets of issues”.
If leave to appeal the judgment is not granted by the CAT or the Court of Appeal, it is expected that there will be a further hearing for directions as to whether the non-competition issues should be pursued within the Chancery Division.
There will be liberty to apply, meaning that, even if leave to appeal is given, Agents’ Mutual would have the option to go back to the court to ask for the non-competition case to be restored in the event that leave to appeal is given on matters which will not affect the hearing of the non-competition case
The Judge also made it clear that the stay was ordered on the basis that Gascoigne Halman would continue to list with Agents’ Mutual’s portal OnTheMarket, continue to pay its listing fees, and observe the ‘one other portal’ rule.
Ha! Now stop sitting on your hands AM and become a real contender to rm and Z.
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Here here..
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Where? Where?
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There! There!
Wake up agents, now’s the time to support OTM, the only portal for committed and real agents. The others are the homes of online for sale by owner sites. Protect your intellectual property and your clients data (in the case of Zoopla/uSwitch etc) before your data creates another £billion of value for Zoopla and Rightmove
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Daddy,,Agents have committed to on the market…its their market strategy that is invisible.
I am not coming back until they prove to me that the public know who they are…and i dont want any **** window stickers..i need tv advertsing slating rightmove and purplebricks…time to play dirty or die!!!
HOLD….HOLD….
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Im only with Rm. I know that they do not have our back and probably support the onliners with a preferential rate scheme, not the branch scheme applied to us. Nor the Membership ‘colour’ scheme that ensures a minimum spend or basic rate goes up. Zoolpa may be the first to share and sell our data. Is Rightmove really going ton ignore the option of vendors selling direct?
I did not jump on AM as I knew it would struggle to get enough agents to realise that we need to act collectively to thwart the onliners. In theory OTM is perfect but why do we not just as an industry jump on board I dont know. in theory, forget one other rule and just list with OTM but it can only be outstanding if we all did it. And sadly, in reality Im not convinced we could ever all join forces and take our power back.
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You answered your own question Certus. ‘I did not jump on AM as I knew it would struggle to get enough agents to realise that we need to act collectively to thwart the onliners.’
And why wouldn’t it get enough agents? Because so many like you (no criticism) have hung back instead of having the foresight to act on the fact that OTM is the one and only chance for the majority of the industry to survive in the long term. You have created your own self-fulfilling prophesy.
I have said it before and repeat it now. OTM needs to dramatically up its game and shout from the rooftops about what can be achieved if agents like you, Certus, get on board and build the critical mass. They need to go on a massive charm offensive with really positive messages and convince the fence-sitters and late adopters that the project can win through.
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Until onthemarket make it impossible for me ( fence sitter) to use them, they will fail….that takes marketing.
And before u say chicken and egg,,need to support so they can spend…they had everyone 2 years ago and their adverts and launch were appalling.
why dont they just ring up company that create the purplebricks P>R. and get them to make some clever adverts…
Ontehmarket needs to :
1)have corporates on
2) tell the public why it wont let purplebricks PAYANYWAY model on it..
If it cant do it it needs to close down and let zoopla crack on.
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For someone with the moniker ‘Certus’, you seem decidedly uncertain about what to do. If you really think OTM is perfect, join up! Simples! If everyone did that we would soon have a real and dynamic force with which to take on RM/ZPG. Then we could all ditch the ‘one other portal’….
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Sometimes you do lost the will to live with all this. OTM and some of its members (some contributors here) miss the most important thing; or should I say person….. the homebuyer or home seller! They use Z or RM in their hunt for their perfect new home or agents who use these portals to market and sell ” THEIR” home!! OTM is not known in the market place by that vital white elephant and it’s about time agents stop believing it’s their properties and do what is right by their clients!
You want to get at RM for it’s excessive costs; all take basic membership. All refuse to pay more… but maintain your clients properties on there. You want to maximise opportunity and exposure for your clients, get their properties also on Z….. because it is clearly the second biggest portal and used partially by a unique audience with not just proven track record but one of inventiveness and very much a rounded offering!
As for the online agents; suck it up because we live in an online world! Hasn’t prevented Savills one of OTMs main instigators heavily investing in YOPA; probably as a back door to listing some stock on Z! It hasn’t preventes many online agents taking on many new instructions in all our areas! How do you counter that; by the amazing service, local area knowledge and a desire to achieve the best offer for your client you can…… so how is that helped by not being on RM or Z….. go figure!
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Home buyer or home seller go to where the agents advertise. It is agents who made RM and they can do it with any other web portal like OTM. If you don’t know who OTM is …. then that is down to agents promotions but the public do know who OTM is, it is plastered in most towns, in many agent windows (7000 ish). It is the same agents continuing to use RM that is the problem and compounded by the big corporates not realising that their destiny is to join with OTM, not for some as shareholders in RM or Z.
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Hi there, as an OTM member I can honestly say that my clients have not been disadvantaged by dropping Zoopla. This is primarily because I am somewhat ‘old school’ and still don’t understand the fact that some agents (I am not saying you) feel that everything is governed by the ‘leads’ offered by portals. In the current market conditions I have switched focus away from prospecting and moved it more to keeping in better contact with my database of buyers, trying to understand their trigger points and providing relevant information to them.
Of course OTM is new to the game and of course in the eyes of the public it is not as recognised as RM or Z but they have come a long way in a short period of time. Even Z see this, they have radically changed their business model and are less reliant on agents fee than ever before.
I challenge anyone to explain to me why it is not a good thing to have an agent owned portal where we are in charge of our own data. The rest will come in time, the only reason the general public use R is because of our property, remove the property and they will switch.
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Sheepman, you get a like from me.
In London, Kent and Essex, I believe RM and Z are the market leaders. Yes they are expensive. But they produce results. Maybe if we all moan about corp. tax they will bring it down? Of course not.
I really wanted OTM to work but it hasn’t and doesn’t. In an ideal world, they would have got all agents on board and to instantly dump Z and RM. Free subscription for 6 months. That would have been a true disrupter.
Currently most of our vendors have never even heard of ARLA and they have been banging away at the branding drum for years (ok, maybe tapping it softly would be more appropriate) so what chance have got OTM got? I have seen the blank expressions when we try and sell OTM. It is hard enough getting an instruction, yet alone also having to sell a luke-warm (at best) property portal, that no one has heard of.
“Yes Mr Vendor, we are ethical, professional, super hard working and experts in our area. We are also going to advertise your property on the third placed property portal.”
“Really? Its called On the market. Its an agent owned portal which we are pushing because its cheaper for us. Yes the coverage of your property will be lower but my BMW doesn’t run on air you know. Times is hard”
Who thinks that is a good idea? Which vendor would EVER go for that?
OTM should have simply settled this matter out of court. Maybe even, god forbid, release them from the contract subject to an NDA. Result? no bad PR, no stupid legal fees, no massive increases in agents PI insurance. No one wins in litigation, generally, apart from the lawyers.
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If one man can do it, so can another.
A saying that seems all to often forgotten. ONLY AGENTS made RM & Z. If your argument is that OTM is small and of no interest to the public … who’s fault is that and in who’s hands is it to make it number one?
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‘docklander52’
You left the last room – firework duly lit and chucked in – but you didn’t wait to see what happened to it.
Just as well – it was comprehensively wazzed all over. You’d have been gutted when it fizzled, f@rted – and went out with barely a PHUT.
BUT – you’re back (today at least) once again with banger in one hand and Swan Vesta in the other, frenzidely swiping it back and forth over the striking surface of the box… but the emery is either wet or worn out, and the match won’t ignite.
SO… seeing as I might have a chance of catching your EYE, I will copy and paste my most recent post addressed to you, that I would much rather presume you missed by some quirk of fate rather than that you simply didn’t have the decency to afford the common courtesy of responding to.
Here it is – second time lucky:
“A future where an agency owned portal would charge everyone the same…”
That’s utter b0ll0cks and you know it, ‘docklander52’. And here’s why:
As an “early adopter” (certainly NOT the ‘founding member’ status you claimed in a post yesterday) Gold Member you were to benefit from a pre-launch rate which AM – OTM was not in existence at this point – guaranteed would be lower than that offered to later entrants. There were also additional tiers of Membership which were not, at that point, finalised in terms of cost but again it was stated that these would cost more (minimum +15% I recall *) for less in return.
Unless you can prove to me otherwise, THAT NEVER CHANGED.
What DID change however is that ‘non-Member’ listing-only options were offered, at greatly reduced monthly fees, but without any Member benefits, in order to increase stock and potential full Memberships.
“Vendors and landlords would, generally, laugh us out of their property if we told them on vals that we were with OTM.”
WOULD? Don’t you mean DID? It must have happened – because you WERE with OTM. For well over a year, unless I am mistaken. Surely you wouldn’t make up that sentence just for effect? Is it some bizarre attempt to add flavour to the crock of b0ll0cks you’re trying to get the likes of me to chew on?
Or just some cockamamie attempt at self-convincing *********** (credit: Jonnie) ‘cos we ain’t swallowing it!
Let’s assume that it’s the former not the latter – that would be the end of the match and I’m just starting to feel warmed up.
Must’ve been a real canine female – all those months with no new instructions to populate the site you were forking out all that money for, was it?
All that business… lost without a trace…
…because your staff couldn’t sell THEMSELVES or your company and its’ benefits without BOTH of what you refer to above as “the big 2” for crutches.
* I have a presentation Pack somewhere if you want me to quote verbatim – but that will just make your embarrassment deeper, seeing as you will have received (at least one hard copy AND don’t forget the PDF copy that was distributed also); watched the presentation on a six-foot screen at one of the ra-ra Membership drives we all attended in 2013 /14 AND read all about it when splashed all over the trade press – including here, EAT, The Neg to name but a few – like we all did.
Oh – and let’s not forget all the bumf you WILL have had shoved down your throat at every opportunity through your NFloPP Membership – seeing as the MD sits on the Board of AM…
I’d like you to read the following quote found on one of the above sites, ‘docklander52’. The author – clearly passionate about his business and the future of both it and the industry – sums up perfectly the need to stick with and support OTM – but I’ll let his words, from April 2016, do the talking:
“You know, I really dont get agents some / a-lot-of the time! We all moaned about the duopoly that ZooplaMove enjoyed.
We moaned about the increase in prices. We moaned about the lack of choice. OTM then arrived. A portal owned by agents with the express aim of disrupting the duopoly and bringing our costs down. Did we agents embrace this? No we MOANED. I admire OTM’s aims and remain in support of it as a portal. I hope it will continue to gain momentum and market share. Clearly neither of these things would happen overnight but give it time and it should/could continue to grow. Just my thoughts based on 20+ years as an agency owner in one of London’s most demanding marketplaces.
Give it a chance guys, the constant whinging is a little pathetic. If you don’t get it or want to support it, thats fine but the constant negativity feels a little playground-like….”
Powerful words – wouldn’t you say? Pretty d@mn compelling argument.
But apparently not to every Tom, Docklander52 and Harry in our industry…
There you go. Saves you going back a whole week in the Archive trying to find it… not that you’ve tried before now, apparently.
But let’s just box that off, shall we – and hope that, this time, you might grace us with a response.
Maybe?
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>This application to appeal would be made to the CAT. If the Tribunal does not allow it, an application could then be made to the Court of Appeal.
>The Judge yesterday determined that a stay of the non-competition issues should remain in place, pending any potential appeal process because of what he described as “the nexus between the two sets of issues”.
Best waiting to find out what happens before signing up with OTM.
There will be a reasonably short time limit in which an application to the tribunal can be brought. Then a further short period in which an application can be brought to the Court of Appeal.
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The question is can Connell’s afford to appeal. In the year end 2015 accounts they had £8.7m cash at bank down from over £9m the previous year.
I’m sure their own costs were on record with the court as being £2.8m which when added to the £1.2m means about half their cash reserves are already spent, with of course more costs to come as the £1.2m is only an interim payment.
Can they afford to appeal and cover any further costs and damages if they lose?
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They must be seriously considering applying for an appeal because otherwise they would have drawn a line under their exposure to more costs by not arguing for the stay to continue.
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Or maybe they haven’t the money to pay out the fee’s and are looking for a way out. All hot air, while they work out the dilemma. Appeal is not automatic, it requires an application which is vetted and have grounds, either accepted or will be refused grounds to appeal. Going broke isn’t one of them. This is a civil case not criminal.
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“Sheepman, you get a like from me.”
Why? docklander52… TELL ME WHY?
Ignore my previous posts if you wish (obviously better that you do, to be fair…) – but have the courage of at least ONE of your convictions – and talk your audience through your stated appreciation of the post by TheSheepman73.
The floor is yours… and I’ll Tweet you a nudge.
Hate to think you missed this one as well…
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PB, sorry you will have to excuse my terminology, founding member, gold member or early adopter, I had hoped you would know what I meant. But, to be clear, I was one of the first to sign up and also one of the first to part with several thousand pounds by way of a loan to AM/OTM. What does that make me? (polite answers preferred but not essential).
As per my previous post, please replace WOULD with DID. Try going to a val and selling OTM when you are up against Foxtons. We did lose instructions based on the fact we were not with the big 2.
Maybe I was just unlucky (lucky?) but I never went to a presentation nor had a presentation pack. Perhaps the slick sales person forgot me once they had my money?
You mention “member benefits”. I am not being smart, but can you let me know what these are? I genuinely do not know. Happy to learn.
And yes, in April 2016, at such an early stage I had got sick of the negativity on this very forum about OTM. “At least give it a chance” I told myself and others. But don’t you see, that really kind of proves my point PB? If a staunch believer in the principle feels that he has been misled and lied to, what hope do OTM have of retaining and attracting new customers? If it WAS working for me, why would I leave in the first place? Why wouldn’t I want to stay? Its cheaper than RM and Z.
The answer is simple. It was not working. It was not producing enquiries. Nor was I going to continue to financially underpin other members of OTM when they were paying as little as £100 (or less) per month for the same service.
Some vendors may well buy into the co-op nature of what we are/were trying to achieve. They may like the idea of OTM. But, when the next agent comes in and explains some home truths, the chance of getting that instruction NO MATTER how good a salesperson or agent you are, well, it is an almost impossible objection to overcome.
I still hope that OTM works, thrives and sticks it to the man, man. When that time comes I will gleefully admit I was wrong. I will shout from the rooftops that, despite being misled and lied to by my sales rep, I gave in too early.
I fear that day will never come.
PS PB – STILL waiting for someone to come forward and tell me about their glowing success story with OTM. I think someone, in fairness did mention something along the lines of “my business hasnt suffered as a result of dropping RM (or Z; I can’t recall) but hardly a golden recommendation.
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If you need to talk about the portals as part of your pitch you really don’t understand how to sell agency.
If Foxtons make a big deal about Z and PL and you don’t know how to combat it, give up. You’re not selling estate agency, your selling the same nonsense as Purplebricks et al
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docklander52
Please forgive the delay in responding. This is a re-paste of the reply I tried to post this afternoon at about 2pm (and you will therefore need to read it in that context…) – but for some reason either my PC or EYE was playing silly bu99ers and it just wouldn’t format, and read completely wrong as a result (although you may wonder why I think how it looks now makes a jot of difference – believe me, it does!
SO… without further ado…
You may well not believe me – but I’m genuinely sorry that I had to be seen to ‘smoke you out’ in order to get some form of response.
I am also genuinely grateful that you have grasped the nettle and responded primarily to my repeat post. Better to get it out of the way now – it was only going to come back to haunt you in future. It still might…
I won’t keep you waiting.
In between take-ons, I’ll try to rattle off my response to yours.
Hang on… wait a cotton pickin’ minute!
Did I say “take-ons” there? I do believe I did!
Unless I’m mistaken, that’s the plural of ‘take-on’. More than the sum of a single.
AND…
I’M…
ON…
OTM!!
Shock: horror!
Okay – that’s a tiny bit of frivolity… but I’m now going to state something that I will potentially regret in future… but here goes.
Three years ago I was standing on my soapbox doing exactly what you are doing now. (I’d just like to think I was doing it better – but that’s me being me.)
What I wasn’t doing, however, was making a complete mockery of my own words from just a few months earlier. In fact – there was a pivot point where your opinion of Agents Mutual / OTM must have appeared to do a complete 180 in an instant. You don’t seem the kind of bloke to break bad news slowly… wouldn’t bu99er about telling people their dog’s got a warm nose – I reckon you’ll come straight out with the grim news that it’s lying on its back with its legs in the air, ready to take its’ rightful spot in doggie Valhalla.
But – three years or so later – DESPITE my earlier beliefs; DESPITE my outspoken predictions when I was ‘debating’ my fears for the industry with those I labelled “The OTM Collective” every minute, hour, day and week – I have to now admit that I have not lost a single instruction to a competitor because of my company’s choice of portal.
As many know from past postings, I’m in an area where a Connells acquisition also has branches. The MD of the company was, for a short time, a Board Member of Agents Mutual. Now, their portal allegiance has swung back in favour of Zoopla who they dropped to comply with the OOPR. Their change in tack is frankly laughable – as I’m sorry to say is yours from that rousing, passionate call-to-arms.
As for me… unlike you, I was an unwilling conscript to OTM. Press-ganged; beaten into submission. Believe me, I fought against it – proper kicking and screamingI
And then… I woke up a Gold Member. A text-book ‘late adopter’ if ever there was one. And as precariously balanced ‘on the fence’ as can be.
And I’m still there, on that fence. My thoughts haven’t changed to any great extent; my issues are still as relevant as they were three years ago – BUT……I don’t broadcast it. I put my efforts into making it work – because for us it has to work.
Could we be happier with it? Yes – of course. I’ll say exactly the same about Rightmove – but to a far greater extent. Not that Rightmove give a fuppenny. They couldn’t give a rats @$$ what I… you… or any Estate Agent in the land thinks. And if you think that’s harsh – you’ll love it when I say that Zoopla makes RM look like the empathy centre of the universe.
OTM has its’ faults – check.
OTM has an awful long way to go – check.
OTM may well have to make some fundamental changes to achieve anywhere near its’ hoped goals – AMEN to that.
But to those that said ‘how passionately they believed in it’ on Day #1; that they were “backing it all the way”; that OTM was Agents’ last chance to stand up against the might of the behemoth portals – the viciously despised duopoly (credit: Robert May) – the least they could do is to actually stand by it while it finds its feet when the elephants around it try to stamp it into the ground.It may fail.
But that won’t be because of those that tried hardest to make it succeed.
At some point, we may have to admit defeat. There are plenty who thought that this case would be that point.
But I’d rather stay at my post and try to keep in the air – and potentially crash and burn – than bale out the second the first engine stutters on an every-man-for-himself basis.
I guess that’s what separates us all when it comes down to it – attitude. Willingness to fight… and be prepared to lose – but to at least stick with the fight.
To you…
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First off PB, that dislike? Aint from me. That means, equally shock, horror, that, wait for it…
someone
else
may
not agree
with
you.
I know right?
Shaun77 I agree, in part with what you are saying. If portal advertising is the ONLY part of your patter, you may as well give up. But, the fact remains that many of our vendors and landlords either find us on Z or RM OR expect us to be on them. That, my friend, is an inescapable truth.
PB, you old romantic. Hanging on to the idea is not ideal but I certainly applaud the imagery. Tally ho slack-bladder!
With over two decades in the industry, and multiple industry awards, I would like to think I do, in fact, understand agency. I consider myself and the brands I represent amongst the most forward thinking in our industry. I do hope that OTM works; in my opinion it will always be, at best, an also-ran. But hey, what do I know?
Anyway, I am not off to a listing, or an appointment or a meeting.
I have a pleasant, long weekend ahead of me with my lovely family.
I wish you all the same x
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If you’re counting ‘Dislikes’ – have a look at your post a way up. NONE of them, by the way, are from me. If you want to wear them as what you see as badges of honour – you seem to like pointing out your multitudinous awards to people – then feel free… you lean on whatever gives your conscience the biggest crutch.
I wish you a good weekend.
You don’t get a kiss, though – regardless of how much of an old romantic you think I am.
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Shaun77 – Spot on.
OTM, RM or Z, in whatever order are simply a window for the nosey and not so serious buyers! and we need to call the hot buyers before they call us.
The true buyers who are motivated to find a home and who want the early steer on a new instruction etc, are typically registered and we need to ensure we do a better job promoting that we call buyers and market/sell homes that way, with the internet being a great shop window but reminding vendors that the list of competing buyers will be the reason we get that premium in sale price.
The reason and ONLY reason we find ourselves in a world of reduced service agents, is we have promoted the importance of being on RM and Z, more than getting on with what we do best. Problem also is; many High Street agents do just sit back and wait for the phone to ring and when the buyers eventually buy and one day become sellers (or they speak to a friend who is thinking of selling), they remember no agent kept them posted and they found property themselves by looking on the websites, so any thought process of why use an agent is compounded by sell it yourself cheap headlines.
Our industries worst enemy is without question the Estate Agent.
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I am The Ghost of OntheMarket past…….
I am on record on PIE many moons ago….. with my OTM/Agents Mutual Megaphone, borne out of the frustration of suffering from Shaftmove and the inept effort of the pseudo No 2 Poo Hoopla!
I retired Battle Weary as OTM became less vocal, less communicative, less promotional and Mr Springett seemed to retreat to an OTM Bunker somewhere? ……then bogged down with the aforementioned Court Matters. I do congratulate Mr S and AM/OTM on their legal achievement as it seems many dark forces were at work to hole the OTM Portal Ship.
So? ……where am I now??
Mr Springett, Agents Mutual, OTM will either rise from the almost dead ashes of the Mutual Survival of our Industry, as we remain chained to Shaftmove and merely their servants! …..or they will crash in a ball of portal failure flames!
BIG Announcement etc due from Mr Springett and Co….. and I will attend The Gathering….. however, if I hear empty promises, echoes of what we have heard already…… then those in the same room as me will see me rise from my seat, walk back up the aisle, open the door and I’m gone…… I’ll see out my Contract and then I’m gone.
I remain resolutely a Basic Shaftmove Member and once again this year they merely wrote to my business and increased their annual cost simply to boost their profits! I despise Shaftmove as they are simply a Dictator and a perfect illustration of when you keep feeding a monster then it simply grows unchecked! Their corporate/member behaviour is shameful on every level however the are The Portal Vulture towering over our industry and feeding from it….. when they have picked it clean, they will move forward with a different strategy.
We stand on the edge of the Portal World……
I’m sad to think that we consistently armed our Dictators and expected any mercy?
Mr Springett & Co…… the platform is now yours, either step up and lead the way….. or step aside.
Maybe This Ghost is best left in the other world.
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…..and picking up the thread from others
My business is doing business the old fashioned way with considerable success however Portals are a Feature of our industry, so we do still need to address that aspect of our industry….. blindly ignoring Shaftmove has left our industry being a servant to Shaftmove.
Apparently it would be a start to see a Shaftmove Free Day – hide all properties the 1st Day of each month? ……imagine logging on and seeing nothing on Shaftmove! That’s what the New Doctor Who suggested to me when she did a test spin into the future?
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