Purplebricks has strongly refuted claims that it has tried to skew Trustpilot reviews in favour of positive feedback.
It has also denied that it invites customers to post their reviews at too early a stage of transactions.
Its comments come after publication Wired ran a highly critical story under the headline: “Are Purplebricks’ glowing Trustpilot reviews too good to be true?”
The sub-headline says an investigation has “found evidence” that Purplebricks “selectively screens” reviews.
The article says that of 69,000 reviews on Trustpilot, 89% are as positive as they could be.
“[They] achieve the top rung of Trustpilot’s five-point rating system: excellent.”
There are 7% ‘great’ reviews, 1% ‘average’, 1% poor, and 3% ‘bad’ says the article.
The article compares Purplebricks’ reviews on Trustpilot with those it receives elsewhere, including on allAgents.
Wired says it asked KwikChex, a website it describes as tackling “online distortion”, to investigate, and says it found evidence that Purplebricks is mostly likely “gaming the system”.
KwikChex director Chris Emmins said: “That doesn’t necessarily mean that thousands of fake reviews are being published, but there are ways to game or manipulate the system to achieve very strong results.”
It claims that customers suspected of being dissatisfied are not invited to leave reviews; others are asked to post reviews before their homes are sold; and staff are incentivised to obtain reviews from customers, including “multiple” reviews from satisfied customers.
However, a Purplebricks spokesperson said: “Everyone selling with us has the opportunity to leave an honest review of their experience.
“We do not pick and choose which customers should leave a review – and we do not seek to get reviews removed.”
The spokesperson went on: “In keeping with Trustpilot’s best practice policy, we ask everyone selling with us to leave a review of their experience with Purplebricks at the Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC) stage via a customer email.
“Lettings customers are asked for feedback at the ‘move in’ stage also via email.
“We work closely with Trustpilot to ensure our policies and practices are market leading, fair and transparent.”
A Trustpilot spokesperson told Wired: “If we find that any company is violating our guidelines, we investigate and take appropriate action. If a company is found to be in breach of our guidelines, we can issue warnings, formal cease and desist proceedings and ultimately a consumer alert on its Trustpilot page, letting the world know of attempts to mislead consumers.
“Our compliance team is currently undertaking a full investigation into the invitation methods being utilised by Purplebricks.
“We have previously sent a legal letter to the business requesting further explanation around some of their invitation practices and a meeting is scheduled to take place next month.
“Should it be deemed that the company is in breach of our guidelines, action will be taken.”
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/purplebricks-trustpilot-reviews
Yesterday social media was alive with chat:
If it smells like ????? then it is most likely ????? !
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Quite.
There are other points…
1. Why, exactly, do PB use Trustpilot and Feefo?
2. By using two reviews sites (and PBs marketing only references Feefo) it is possible to ‘gate’, which is illegal (gating, BTW, is the practice of using one mechanism to establish who is likely to write a five star review – it can be a ‘customer survey’ or a reviews site, and then asking only those who write the glowing reviews to go on to post on the site that’s more important).
3. Why not Google? Google reviews are a) more visible in search – by a mile b) have much more credibility with potential clients and c) are free!
4. Trustpilot claim “If we find that any company is violating our guidelines, we investigate and take appropriate action. If a company is found to be in breach of our guidelines, we can issue warnings, formal cease and desist proceedings and ultimately a consumer alert on its Trustpilot page, letting the world know of attempts to mislead consumers.” I would love to see just one instance of that ever happening!
5. “Our compliance team is currently undertaking a full investigation into the invitation methods being utilised by Purplebricks. “We have previously sent a legal letter to the business requesting further explanation around some of their invitation practices and a meeting is scheduled to take place next month. “Should it be deemed that the company is in breach of our guidelines, action will be taken.” This is a very damning statement, coming as it does from a commercial entity about its client business.
The CMA, as the regulator, should be taking a long hard look at both of these businesses. They have told Propertymark that they are in the process of doing so. Agents that are in breach – mostly by cherry-picking happy customers to write reviews, should not be sleeping well.
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Love point 2). Had not thought of that before now. Thank you.
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One very high profile agent (not PB) did that by using allAgents as their primary review mechanism and then inviting those that posted a 5-star review there (and only those) to copy their review to Google. They have now replaced this with an in-house gating system. Illegal. The CMA should be taking action.
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I’ve never been concerned about PB only asking people who have had a good experience to leave a review. That might be against the spirit of it, but thats just life What has always been a concern is due to the vast number of reviews and how difficult it actually is to get someone to leave a review…..and that so many of the reviews say exactly the same thing word for word…..whether many reviews were even from real people? That is what TrustPilot should be looking at, but i suggest they arent really bothered.
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Agree. It’s almost like bricks customers were ex agents, they are so knowledgeable about the industry .
Must be giving money off fee to give a 5* review.
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And the constant use of the word “knowledgeable” by ‘customers’ speaks volumes as to the origins of the reviews…
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“I’ve never been concerned about PB only asking people who have had a good experience to leave a review.”
Except that it’s illegal.
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Review sites are not regulated by the Government – it is scandal.
No proper vetting of the reviewer takes place, so anyone at all can leave a post. And to allow reviews to be removed is evil – and so misleading to the public.
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“Review sites are not regulated by the Government – it is scandal.”
Except they are, by the Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA). What is astonishing is that there are still agents out there that don’t know that.
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How can they explain a 5/5 rating on Trustpilot and yet only a 1/5 rating on AllAgents? From my experience I think the latter is more accurate!
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As a TO I can confirm we are all targeted for Trustpilot reviews. We get them at valuation stage and instruction and even on viewings. (Never when they withdraw).
If we ever need underpinning and have not achieved Trustpilot reviews we do not get the money.
If we get a below 5* review we are forced to call the customer to get them to increase the rating, offering incentives (although the RDs say “we didn’t say that”).
customers reviews are removed constantly. The last number I heard is that there was over 350 complaints lodged last month with PB.
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Please contact Emanuele Midolo* the author of the piece (and a really nice chap) in total anonymity. Another article is planned due to the extent of what was uncovered during his research.
*@manumidolo on Twitter happy for PIE to pass on your contact info via me if required.
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Chris: have you spoken to the CMA?
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“We ask everyone at the sold STC stage”
How about that for manipulation? What about all the customers who never get to that stage? And also what about once they’ve experienced the lack of Sales Control?
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As someone who used to work on the Lettings side, I can only offer my experience of the Trustpilot scheme. I had a number of occasions where I had customers of mine leave reviews with mis-spelt names or just initials and surname and compliance we’re on it. If I couldn’t prove they were my customer or they couldn’t prove who left the comments (5 star or not) then they genuinely removed them. We had a situation too where prior to investing, to test the validity of the Trustpilot scheme, the said investor left ten 5 star reviews and they were all removed by compliance. The investor bought in having seen this. Again this is only my knowledge having been there for 15 months but I can honestly say I was not financially rewarded for reviews and was proud of my reviews which were indeed asked for. They were however only asked for after I had fulfilled my role in finding a suitable property for a tenant or let successfully the property for a landlord which were the prompts for me to ask.
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Any business that only asks for a review at a positive stage in the transaction is not only fooling those who read the reviews but is also fooling itself. ‘Look at that! 5 stars! We are great. Everyone loves us!!’
What the clever business does is to ensure it gets feedback from those customers who don’t get a positive outcome. How else will it ever improve?
But then for payanyway PB why would they even think to ask those people?
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The Article quotes me and I worked closely and at length with Emanuele via phone, social media DMs’ and email along with a number of other contributors however, there is an unsung hero of the piece who must remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
LPEs and territory managers are getting in touch with me, in total confidence, on a weekly basis now expressing a range of concerns, including but predominantly disgust, worry, financial problems and genuine fear of legal action for whistleblowing and of the investigations by HMRC (as published in PURP s’ annual report).
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HMRC advises if you are only invoicing 1 client on a regular basis that you should be employed not self employed which I find interesting. This would support those not earning minimum wage & those working too many hours. I do wonder if HMRC have ever reviewed this & what the NI, Tax & pension costs would be on such a masssive scale.
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Funny should say that….
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They were also asking at the point of listing but that might have stopped. As I understand it, it’s not unusual for companies to ask for reviews at the best points of a journey however I don’t think it’s fair or right.
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…or legal. The CMA rules (which have the force of law) specifically state that if a business invites any reviews at all it must allow all of its customers to write a review, at a time of their own choosing.
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Exhibit ‘A’:
propertyindustryeye.com/forums/topic/as-seen-on-twitter/
I rest my case.
Funny thing – y’all saw it here first…
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says it found evidence that Purplebricks is mostly likely “gaming the system”.
Not new news, If we remember some years back it was common practice for vendors to be asked to complete a review at time of listing and which was misleading about the overall service and then followed some horrendous 1 star cases of what happened next. Many had targeted responses from PB. A 5 star actually became 1 star. How many vendors took the trouble to change the original rating or even knew they could?
It is an unregulated wild west show and reviews should not be allowed until after the customer has finished with the traders services with a three stage view = At start, during and the end.
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“It is an unregulated wild west show”.
Agree with ‘Wild west’, but reviews are regulated. If anyone knows of any business abusing (cherry-picking happy customers, for instance) them they should immediately contact the CMA.
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I’m not PB’s biggest fan but this article is nonsense. I worked for PB. Got many 5* Trustpilot reviews. All of which are audited & must be real clients. It’s impossible to get a non client review to stick. They’re all checked. The discount on fees comment seems silly to me when fees are agreed upfront. The conspiracy theories are childish & nonsensical. LPE’s have so much work on. Including targets to get good reviews. I once had a 5* review from a client I advised not to sell their property as it was not worth what they needed to move on. I had valued the house but the 5* review was audited & removed as they were not a proven client. If people focussed on their own work as much as they do PB they might have more success.
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Here’s everyone’s favourite verified review, word-for-word, which is totally normal:
“Wonderful service by Tom at Purplebricks
I just wanted to say that the way Thomas Monaghan from purplebricks dealt with us was so professional.
We initially went for the first viewing and really liked the property so we went back for a second look.
Booking it with Thomas Monaghan was so easy and there were no issues. He even sent a text reminding us of the booking and even letting us know when he arrived at the property!
When we arrived he extremely polite he allowed us to really take in the property and not rushing us and, allowing us to take our time.
Thomas Monaghan also walked around with me answering all my questions regarding the different rooms multiple times!
Thomas Monaghan was also very honest when asked frank questions and allowed me to feel at ease because it did not seem like he was trying to
sell us a property purely based on commission and that was a lovely added touch.
Thomas Monaghan went above and beyond to find answers to questions going as far as asking the seller and getting back to us in a timely fashion.
The service was A* by Thomas Monaghan and would definitely recommend using him again. Thank you Thomas Monaghan aka Tom.”
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Again, I’m not PB’s biggest fan but this is nonsense. The Trustpilot reviews MUST be audited. PB rely on the audit process as it effects how much investors cough up. I had many 5* Reviews while with PB & none were in that format.
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Blondage
Please explain the link I posted earlier as “nonsense”.
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Clearly a very normal review.
“it effects how much investors cough up” is something that will be revisited before the end. Collars are going to be felt.
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Mark Walker 2
Not to mention…
trustpilot.com/reviews/5c522c0797afa1091c73a952
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PB reviews have to be audited. They must be real clients. You’ll see the pattern of reviews escalate usually on the cusp of pending investment usually. Their is a pattern.
Not all reviews have the template you claim. Including any I had myself during my time at PB. Again I’m not a fan of PB but it’s best to deal with facts when debating.
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“PB reviews have to be audited. They must be real clients.”
“Audited” how precisely, Blondage?
“You’ll see the pattern of reviews escalate usually on the cusp of pending investment usually. Their is a pattern.”
Oh.
Dear.
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I’ve given you facts that are indeed issues that need to be addressed rather than the hearsay & propaganda that’s often spouted & you still seem to want a keyboard warrior session? Stop being weird. We’re on the same side.
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Wow – if that’s your idea of being on the same side I’d hate to be the opposition.
In the meantime, you have addressed NONE of the issues that have been put forward which challenge your opinion – which is what it appears to be, and based purely on your personal experience.
The fact that you didn’t personally engage in gaming the system for reviews doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
If you have genuine “issues that need to be addressed” then I and/or others are more than willing to assist if required.
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Imagine a scenario where fines of £10,000 per false/fake review were applied, increasing from £10,000 for each offence…..
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The CMA has the power to do just that. The last time they fined an estate agent, BTW, it was £375,000.
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I have posted on this issue several times. Its an absolute joke and tremendous work by Chris Wood to actually uncover what was clear to those of us in the industry, but not the public who see the PB marketing machine promoting this mickey mouse rating.
The system is abused on an industrial scale to blatantly mislead the public. And the reason that is so unsavoury is that PB have claimed to be the white knight of the property world from the get go, saving the public from unscrupulous agents. Its not ironic, its blatant double standards.
I would add they are not alone – go to any of the on line agents and they all claim 5 star ratings that are showing on their website home pages.
Finally, the scam is not just about the agents, but the rating sites themselves. Trust Pilots, All Agents and so on have no system for vetting whether reviews are genuine clients or not. Agents can abuse them for good, or for bad by targeting a rival agents, as has happened to me in the past. My business, Imagine Group, stick to Google reviews as at least every reviewer has to make themselves open to scrutiny.
Good luck pushing this Chris
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Thank you but much of the work was done by another on this one.
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their shares are still above £1.00
Grief
When will investors learn.
Fake News
Fake Reviews
Fake business
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All online agents are incentivised to get 5* TP reviews, either directly or indirectly. When I worked for one of the onlines – not PB – we were rewarded for 5* reviews but told we were never to tell anyone! Customers were asked at valuation, go live, SSTC and completion, so potentially one customer could give 4 reviews. Viewers were asked for reviews on first viewing/ The whole system is ridiculous in my opinion.
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A branch for one of the large corporates can top this. They get 5* google reviews to be left at valuation stage, even when the property never comes to the market. Commenting how good the valuation was! Impressive to have more reviews from vendors who never went to the market than houses they’ve sold in the last 2 years.
Falsification is rife in a difficult market. We have agents re-listing property the day after it completes so it comes up as a new instruction and sits on the websites for another 6 months. Whilst one agent is re-listing old completions from 6 months ago as new.
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And you are doing what about it, DB999?
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“All online agents are incentivised to get 5* TP reviews.”
And any other agent paying a reviews site? Ever seen an agent score less than 4.5 on Feefo, for instance?
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As a former TO, leaving late last year, I can 100% attest that we were asked to ask for TPs at the take-on stage (of course they’re happy, we just made them live).
In the early days there was also also a rally cry email to get TPs to bury a bad one. The common trick was to remove a duff TP for checking, and by the time it was proved genuine it went back on (but now buried).
Speaking to some of my former colleagues who have also now left, this is a house of cards that is about to fall, especially with the Bruce bros having no involvement now.
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This, if true (and I’m not remotely suggesting it is not) is a serious breach of the CMA regulations – not just by PurpleBricks, but also by Trustpilot. Trustpilot must have been (must be) aware that their ‘quarantine’ system is being abused in order to eliminate, or at the very least suppress, negative reviews. The CMA needs to launch an investigation – without delay.
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Think the tide has well and truly turned now.
BSOS23PC
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I see that PB are to trial new fee strategies. Perhaps one of them will be no fee at all if you pay upfront in 5* reviews?
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Amazed that we have not been honoured with visits from Prophet’n’Loss, Michelle Lockwood and various other fully paid-up Members of the official PurpleFriends and PurpleAssociates Collective.
Orders from above, perhaps? Maybe the Big Giant PurpleHead has ordered his minions to STFU in light of the weight of evidence and not wanting to draw any more attention to the fact that they are out there, walking amongst us…
…barking at the PurpleMoon.
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