Seconds away! War of words as eMoov gets in almost all of its £2.6m crowdfunding

| Rosalind Renshaw

Almost all of the £2.6m money pledged on eMoov’s crowdfunding campaign has been paid.

The news may confound critics of the online agent and its founder Russell Quirk – but is unlikely to silence them.

During the 14-day cooling off period, which has now closed, only £1,650 of the money failed to materialise – a low drop-out rate of just 0.06%, thought to be a record, and which compares with the normal evaporation rate on Crowdcube of about 10%.

The news has now sparked a challenge from Quirk to EYE reader PeeBee.

Yesterday, PeeBee posted: “I have been reliably informed that there is a 14-day cooling off period.

“Anyone care to guess, that being the case, how much the actual grand total ‘invested’ come the end of the month amounts to… ?

“I’ll start the sweepstake with ‘less than a million’.”

Throwing down the gauntlet, Quirk said that PeeBee was “woefully” wrong in his prediction.

He added: “PeeBee should be prepared to back his bets. And so I suggest that he now agree to pay to a charity of my choice the sum of £100 for every £100,000 that he was wrong.”

Quirk said that the sum should be £1,600.

However, PeeBee said: “Mr Quirk is mistaken. I made a guess, not a bet. I got it wrong, but so has he.

“So I’m afraid his charity, the Russell Quirk Home for Destitute Estate Agents, will just have to wait.”

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22 Comments

  1. Tristramboris
    November 12, 2015 at 07:00

    I Think we should settle this with a white collar boxing match and the loser pays £1600 to the other’s charity of choice. PIE, you can get behind this surely?!

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    1. wilko
      November 12, 2015 at 09:49

      Don’t think either of them are fit enough.

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      1. PeeBee
        November 12, 2015 at 10:25

        I’m a lover, not a fighter, wilko! ;o)

        Report
    2. smile please
      November 12, 2015 at 11:00

      I like this idea!

      We could all do an eye sponsored “White Collar” fight night.

      All the people you clash with on here you can now do in the ring. Being as most of us are anonymous you don’t get to see who you fight until the night for extra spice!

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      1. PeeBee
        November 12, 2015 at 12:21

        Ahhh… you’re too young to remember, smile please – but nobody wanted to know who Kendo Nagasaki was when he wore his mask on Saturday afternoon World of Sport!

        And when we found out that ‘The Masked Singer’ was in fact PJ Proby it was an enormous let-down.

        Some things are best left unseen – and I’ve got a great face for radio!

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  2. Robert May
    November 12, 2015 at 07:03

    “And so I suggest that he now agree to pay to a charity of my choice the sum of £100 for every £100,000 that he was wrong”

    Who scripted that, Charles Dickens?

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  3. PeeBee
    November 12, 2015 at 07:50

    I have to give Mr Quirk – or at least someone in Mr Quirk’s organisation – credit where it is due.

    They can spot the remotest chance of column inches from a country mile and engineer some positive spin around it.

    The above quote from me was posted on 2 October, not yesterday, by the way.  And yes – I ‘got it wrong’.

    Incredibly wrong, it seems.

    But as can be clearly seen from the quote, I did not “wager” a penny on the outcome of my guess.

    And Mr Quirk had plenty of opportunity from 2 October until yesterday to challenge me to put my money where my keyboard is on the subject – but didn’t.

    He only wants to parlay when it suits him.  When he thinks he’s got the upper hand.

    Which isn’t often.

    Mr Quirk – let’s settle this in the same manner as you’ve started this “war of words”, shall we?

    My bill to date for facilitating this PR stunt for you as part of my ongoing project is £22,845.50 INCLUSIVE of VAT.

    I’m sure you will agree that is a reasonable amount considering the amount of time I am putting into the project – which hasn’t even changed into second gear yet.

    But I’ll tell you what – why don’t you pay it all to the charity of your choice instead.

    Kinda apt – don’t you think?

    Don’t forget to give me credit for at least £1600 of it.

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    1. Robert May
      November 12, 2015 at 07:54

      Careful Peebee as the maps of Cornwall  once showed “Ere be Dragons”  Don’t you be messin with James Caan now, not if yew nose wots gud for e!

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      1. PeeBee
        November 12, 2015 at 09:55

        WOW! Robert – that’s quite a response from our merry band of ‘Dislikers’!  Think you’ve trodden on a corn there – either them’s Cornish folk don’t loike yew summoning up them’s dragons…

        …or they want nothing said about the ‘other’ Dragon.

        Their recent PR column inches seem bipolar on the subject – in some describe him as an “initial backer”… in others they are “backed by…”.

        Answers, on a postcard, please…

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        1. Robert May
          November 12, 2015 at 11:21

          Are you hinting that James Caan is no longer a high profile investor at Emoov?

          Normally the Emoov PR machine keeps us fully advised of  every event, if true how is it that this significant announcement got overlooked? Given the projections  put forward with the recent crowd funding, why would a  Dragon not want to reap the full return on their seeding? No farmer makes jam till their plums are ripe

           

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          1. PeeBee
            November 12, 2015 at 12:25

            Hinting?  Me?

            How very dare you!

            Making an observation, mores like…

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            1. Robert May
              November 12, 2015 at 12:49

              You could start an argument in an empty room, you!

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              1. PeeBee
                November 12, 2015 at 14:07

                I once tried – but Mr Mealham invited himself in to change the subject.

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  4. smile please
    November 12, 2015 at 08:40

    I wonder if any “Loans” will be paid in this round of crowdfunding?

    Being the skeptic i am, i would not be surprised if somebody associated with emoov invest a large lump sum to get the ball rolling. I would also not be surprised if they received their money back now the funding has been paid ……………

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    1. Ben Redway
      November 12, 2015 at 15:13

      spot on!

      Its called seeding the round!

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  5. wilko
    November 12, 2015 at 09:33

    Russell…….. Can you tell us how much you paid back to your customers who lost money on their properties that they bought from your previous firm? You remember that stunt…when you said you would cover any losses buyers made in the recession if they bought property from your firm?

    You actually pledged those shortfalls back then…….Pee Bee made a wrong call, but he has no outstanding debts from his comments!

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    1. PeeBee
      November 12, 2015 at 10:24

      Thanks, wilko.

      I hope for the sake of every ‘little man’ who gets involved with numptyfunding exercises like this that it is only ME who made the wrong call, wilko.

      Time will tell.

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  6. Ben Redway
    November 12, 2015 at 15:11

    There’s the phrase ‘dumb-money’ and the phrase ‘smart-money’. which one this is – only time will tell.

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    1. PeeBee
      November 12, 2015 at 16:04

      Which do you think it is, Mr Redway – and why?

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  7. Ben Redway
    November 12, 2015 at 19:24

    Well let’s just say that there’s a pattern emerging of a herd of sheep (retail investors) following the seeders (angels). There is comfort in the crowd and imho they may all be short of a shirt or two in 6 to 12months !

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    1. PeeBee
      November 12, 2015 at 21:06

      Then we do seem to enjoy some commonalities after all, Sir! ;o)

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  8. Woodentop
    November 12, 2015 at 20:18

    I hear through the grapevine that crowd funding is coming under the spotlight. The authorities have a growing concern of the returns being offered.

    Report
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