High street agent Romans slams allAgents after being named second worst after Purplebricks

| Neil Gerrard

Romans has hit out at reviews site allAgents after being ‘named’ as the second worst-rated agency on the controversial site.

It said is “disappointed but not surprised” at the ranking but says it has been encouraging its customers to drop the reviews site for some time in favour of Feefo and Google.

Romans, which has repeatedly won many industry awards, told EYE yesterday evening that it will  be looking into the negative reviews it has received on the site and “taking any necessary actions”.

Vincent Courney, managing director of sales, said: “Although disappointed, we are not surprised that our rating on allAgents Reviews has come out lower than we would have hoped.

“We are aware that in recent years we have moved away from asking our customers to use this site. As a result, in the last six months we have only received 25 reviews on allAgents.

“We instead measure our customers’ satisfaction using Feefo and Google and in the last six months received 480 reviews across the two platforms.

“We encourage anyone thinking of using Romans to review our scores on the aforementioned sites where we have scored 4.5/5 stars on Feefo and 4.2/5 stars on Google.

“We made the conscious decision to utilise Feefo and Google over allAgents as we felt they were both widely recognised by the public as being trusted, independent review sites, with Feefo offering the added bonus of only genuine customers being invited to comment.”

Romans’ statement suggested that it is readying itself to take a similar approach to allAgents as the stance adopted by Purplebricks.

The response came as allAgents revealed what it judged to be the best-rated and worst-rated firms on its website over the past year, according to the reviews posted there.

Yesterday, it listed the five ‘best’ as:

1. Bradleys Estate Agents
2. Ryder & Dutton
3. Northwood
4. Manning Stainton
5. Reeds Rains

Purplebricks, with which allAgents has been engaged in a public legal dispute over the legitimacy of its reviews, topped the list of the ‘worst’ rated companies on the allAgents site.

The ‘worst’ list is:

1. Purplebricks
2. Romans
3. Entwistle Green
4. Farrell Heyworth
5. Goodchilds Estate Agents

Late last year, allAgents reinstated reviews of Purplebricks on its site after a period of removal which followed legal letters questioning the authenticity of a number of the reviews.

Purplebricks has been using Trustpilot, where it has around 35,000 reviews listed, and also announced the launch of a second review platform with Feefo starting early this year.

At the time, it said: “In the overall scheme of things allAgents is now listing just 73 reviews of Purplebricks (which may or may not be authentic), covering a period of over three years, which represents just 0.07% of the over 100,000 customers Purplebricks has acted for since it was founded.”

Purplebricks declined to comment about the rankings released by allAgents yesterday.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Belvoir, which owns the Goodchilds brand and which is a sister company to Northwood which scores well on allAgents, said: “Goodchilds is a small west midlands-based network that is 100% franchise operated.

“The Belvoir Group acquired the network in October 2015 and is currently in the process of rebranding the Goodchilds offices to either Belvoir or Newton Fallowell.

“A renewed focus on generating genuine, positive reviews will become part of this rebranding process in the coming months, as their trading style changes to be in line with their new respective brand.”

Entwistle Green and Farrell Heyworth have also been approached by EYE for comment.

Alongside its lists of the best- and worst-rated agents on the site, allAgents also made the accusation that more than a quarter of estate agents get property valuations “completely wrong” in the view of consumers.

It claimed that of the vendors who posted reviews on its site in 2017, 27% thought agents were “way off the mark” when it came to valuing their home, up from 20% in 2016.

AllAgents claimed 60,000 consumers posted reviews on its site last year.

AllAgents also claimed that 38% were unhappy with the fees they were charged, up from 30% in 2016.

Martin McKenzie of allAgents said: “When a consumer gives a negative score for valuation accuracy, this means the estate agent has got it completely wrong.

“Everyone accepts a little wiggle room over price, but this sizable increase in valuation dissatisfaction is extremely worrying for the consumer and the industry as a whole.

“If estate agents are getting it so wide of the mark, questions need to be asked about why they’re overvaluing a property so significantly. Are they doing it to try and secure the business? Or because they don’t have a proper grasp of the real state of the market?

“There are clearly some rogue agents out there, trying to deceive vendors by hiking valuations in order to get their business.”

Meanwhile, McKenzie, whose site claims to have seen a 23% increase in traffic in 2017, said the increase in the number of consumers who were unhappy with fees was a “very worrying trend which the industry needs to address”.

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24 Comments

  1. ama18
    January 18, 2018 at 07:28

    ‘High street agent Romans slam allAgents after being named second worst after Purplebricks’

    Well they are not exactly going to be praising them!

    i was supprised to see Romans on this list as i thought they were highly rated

    it appears to me that as these firms focused on expansion over the last 12 months, they have taken their eye off the ball on their customer service. Then as they struggle to control this drop in service level, they try to combat it by using ‘closed’ review platforms like Feefo (where reviewers have to be personally invited by Romans to post a review) in an attempt to mask it from the public eye.

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    1. Curious george
      January 18, 2018 at 08:03

      it never came across to me that there eas much ‘slaming’ going on. I personally thought Mr Courney Accepted the critisim. He should have however, had more empathy for his firms critiques.

      For a balanced opinion, Its a shame PIE didnt ask the top rated firms ro comment.

      Report
  2. DayBook93
    January 18, 2018 at 07:31

    For consumers Google Review’s are what matter. It’s the first thing they see on search and if your not showing reviews on Google you should be.

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    1. DonShore93
      January 18, 2018 at 10:31

      Agreed re: Google, but why Feefo? Virtually invisible and Rightmove’s brand recognition rated them at 2%. I think some agents use them because they can cherry-pick ‘happy’ clients to write reviews.

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      1. fluter
        January 18, 2018 at 11:38

        DonShore93. Clearly you are unaware how Feefo actually operates otherwise you would know that they automatically receive the email addresses of all our sales and lettings clients and they then contact them direct, we have no involvement whatsoever. All we do is let our clients know this will happen and gain consent. Never do we “cherry-pick” as you claim, we are far bigger than that and are happy to hear constructive advice as to how we can improve our service where possible.

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        1. DonShore93
          January 18, 2018 at 13:31

          Hi fluter – I’m sure they ‘they automatically receive the email addresses of all [your] sales and lettings clients’ – I wouldn’t know, because I don’t know who you work for (so don’t take my comment personally). All I do know is that their system is reliant on agencies doing just as you say you do.

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  3. dompritch134
    January 18, 2018 at 07:41

    Mr mckenzie says there has been a 27% increase in traffic.

    The PB spat is the best publicity this terrible review site has ever had, pointless trophies on desks is all it’s worth.

    They are currently requesting reviews directly on twitter from any dissatisfied PB client, yet they fail to do this to any other agent. How can they be unbiased and independent when cultivating reviews in this fashion?

     

     

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  4. PropConsult73
    January 18, 2018 at 07:52

    Any agent celebrating or getting their knickers in a twist about All Agents needs to take a long look in the mirror.   For years its been known as the place where rogue reviews are pushed typically by other agents and their families in the absence of anything else for customers to leave reviews.

    The point though to a Feefo review is that it is at least a customer of the business.   The downfall of All Agents can’t come quick enough.   Why on earth a firm as good as Bradleys would associate themselves with this low level brand of review site when there are much more credible and recognised review sites is madness.

    That said, its evident for all to see that Romans is turning itself into a big corporate machine and as a result is there eye really focused on the customer or is it all about the profit to keep their shareholders happy.

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    1. Curious george
      January 18, 2018 at 08:15

      PropConsult73 You hit it on the nail!
      Bradleys is a good firm hence why they are recognised as that.
      whilst there is a lot of criques of allagents from within the industy, would it not be fair to say that the majority of it is coming from the poor rated firms??

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      1. PropConsult73
        January 18, 2018 at 08:27

        Precisely, so what on earth is going through their head in aligning their brand to All Agents which is frankly gutter end of review sites compared to most.   I suspect its because they have got lots of positive reviews and I don’t think for one second that they are the type of brand who would get into the unscrupulous fake reviews that many many agents do on All Agents.   
        All Agents seem to be quick to come out looking for sympathy from agents, however I can’t remember at any point the person behind All Agents has actually prominently come out in person and explained how robust their systems are.   Have they got offices, or is this just like a couple of keyboard warriors on here everyday, that in reality its just a business run from his back bedroom.   All Agents is absolute nonsense and in a world where its all about the customer experience, companies should either be seeking the reviews via Google (lets face it, its not quick and easy to set up one account let alone 10 fake accounts) or actually just focus on getting video testimonials from clients and being transparent when things have gone wrong.   Most people forgive things going wrong if the way its responded to is constructive and positive.   Bradleys please wake up and smell the beans, you’re doing more favours to All Agents than you are to yourselves as franklly you’re better than this nonsense.  

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      2. DonShore93
        January 18, 2018 at 11:34

        Bradleys are going to need to take a long hard look at their relationship with allAgents. It will be tough give up all those ‘Awards’ but they have a virtual blank in search and on Google.

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  5. ArthurHouse02
    January 18, 2018 at 07:54

    Whilst any open review site can be open to abuse, you have to have confidence in your company, staff and reputation. I agree that google is the most effective place to ask people to post reviews, yes your competition could, if they wanted, leave a negative review, but that is only going to happen a small amount of times. Other estate agents or whoever aren’t going to sit there hour after hour making up fake accounts to keep your rating down, if your service is good enough the positive reviews will make these look insignificant over time. Have the faith and dont stress about a negative review or two.

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    1. DonShore93
      January 18, 2018 at 10:32

      Agreed, Google all the way.

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  6. ralphie35
    January 18, 2018 at 09:32

    Personally I would take first hand recommendation way before relying on any of these review sites.. From my own experience of comments from those who have had dealings with Purplebricks, I am amazing how they achieve such high rating on some of these platforms. 35000 postings?!! how on gods earth can all these be genuine?

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    1. DonShore93
      January 18, 2018 at 10:33

      Because they ask for the review ON INSTRUCTION.

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      1. fluter
        January 18, 2018 at 11:39

        and, I beleive, they are targeted and rewarded to do so.

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      2. PropertyGirl2074
        January 18, 2018 at 14:27

        You are absolutely right, having worked for them some of the LPE’s literally watch the clients put the review on whilst they are there, hence why they get so many edited reviews.

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  7. GeorgeHammond78
    January 18, 2018 at 10:06

    Why do agents whether rated ‘good’ or ‘bad’ by allagents even respond. It’s not often I bother reading Dompritch’s posts but I actually agree with him on this occasion. Why give a poxy little review site run out of a back bedroom in the back of the scottish beyond any credence whatsoever. The sooner this tawdry little mc’flea ridden enterprise is put out of it’s misery the better.

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  8. Estate_Agent_Memes
    January 18, 2018 at 10:47

    YAWN

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  9. J1
    January 18, 2018 at 12:02

    Do the public actually look at this site or is it for agents to self-generate reviews by getting their staff to beg for their bonuses?

    Agents who then promote themselves off the back of the reviews, rather than use a publicly known site that is more transparent; which is what Romans have moved over to.

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    1. DonShore93
      January 18, 2018 at 13:39

      ‘Publicly known site’ – these figures from Rightmove’s Home Movers survey: Trustpilot: 11%, allAgents: 6%, Feefo: 2%. I’m only Guessing, but Google: 100%?

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      1. J1
        January 18, 2018 at 15:23

        I rest my case

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        1. AgentV
          January 18, 2018 at 16:50

          DonShore93

          I know you are always on about google….do you have a connection with them? If so perhaps you could help us with something?

          in@agentv.co.uk

          Report
  10. Herb
    January 18, 2018 at 16:51

    Feefo Trustpilot all these will remove reviews if their customer doesn’t agree WITH THE REVIEW for any reason at all

     

    Report
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