Review of the Week – and please excuse our grammar, as it should really be Reviews of the Week, all in one generous helping.
The reviewer, one Connie Doull, appears to be based in America but can only be described as a super-fan of online agents, especially the British variety.
Yesterday on Trustpilot, she posted a glowing five-star review of Purplebricks.
She describes her experience as “the easiest purchase of a house”.
Only last week, on September 18, she posted up a glowing five star review of Yopa. She liked the speed with which she was sent an email.
Back in February, she let EweMove know what she thought of them – and it’s what you might call a full house, with another five star rating.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/users/58a481f30000ff000a77ce4c
So what genuine reviewer writes like that?? Honestly this does more damage than good.glad it’s a screenshot before itheir removed
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The hybrid agents send automated requests for feedback on service levels received, the client had experienced this with these agents and left feedback as so.
Why this is even an article is questionable. But we have a good idea that this is driven by the social media clique, with Rod Jane and Freddy willing to oblige.
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There you go, folks – thanks to EYE, dom-boy now has a second thing to do in the mornings.
Clearly we are in the presence of a man who can turn his hand to a number of challenges…
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“But we have a good idea that this is driven by the social media clique…”
Hmmm… do we?
That yet another Ratner moment from dom-boy there?
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Why on earth would an agent automatically send a request for a review when all they’ve done is email somebody some property details, which in itself was probably redundant given all the details were online anyway.
It’s ridiculous and highlights their desperate attempts to use reviews as currency.
And why would anyone want to review this action anyway? Its like giving a 5 star review to a restaurant after you’ve just booked the table.
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“Why on earth would an agent automatically send a request for a review when all they’ve done is email somebody some property details…”
Because at that point the ‘reviewer’ is pretty much unable to give much other than a positive comment. He/she requested… Persephone/Alphonse obliged – what’s there to moan about?
And don’t forget that the investors must luuuuurve the scores on the doors – ‘cos every City update quotes the latest #NUMBERS_GAME total…
…which is why dom-boy gets all hot under the collar and shouty whenever we call the bluff on review site f*chwittery (credit: Jonnie – whose presence these days is sorely missed…).
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Dom, do you just troll this publication and it’s comments? Even viewed through the most rose tinted spectacles you can’t reach the conclusions that you do in support of online. So troll it is.
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Mark I leave rational opposing points of view from an incredibly bitter industry. Just take a step back and look at the articles churned out of this site and ask is this really a fair and impartial take.
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The site itself is impartial, but the majority of readers and the comments are from industry professionals defending themselves against misleading claims and erroneous reports. If there were fairness the national medial would verify the claims they seem happy to regurgitate.
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Never believe every review! There is no way of knowing if they are true or trumped fake news.
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The reason this sort of thing creates suspicion is people dont tend to leave reviews for anything let alone estate agents. 26-27,000 reviews is an absurd amount and it is clear to anyone that the vast majority should be looked at properly. I wonder if this lady has left reviews for any non-call centre estate agents. If not you’d have to assume she is part of the group people have suspicions about for leaving reviews. Obviously i would like to say more, but for legal reasons i cannot be more specific.
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“I wonder if this lady has left reviews for any non-call centre estate agents.”
Nice and easy one to answer – no, of course not.
By the way – not that dom-boy will give a shizzle about this and will no doubt come up with some half-@r$e ‘perfectly logical explanation’ – when you register with @Trustpilot the default setting for your location is United Kingdom.
You therefore have to change the location to have it say anything else. Like, “United States”, as a random example.
In the case of the YOPA … review…, the “honest and fun to talk to” chap has dozens of similar gushing comments over phone conversations he has had with adoring ‘reviewers’ – over ninety percent of them are seemingly based in the United States… just like Connie… apparently.
EYE has the relevant details.
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I believe the numbers are short of expectations, apparently 80,000 people have listed with Purplebricks apparently 88% of those have sold and saved £thousands. In doing so they got one over on apparently hated estate agents. Add to that reps are apparently rewarded for 5* reviews and TP reviews appeared as a training target with a cash prize on a tweet on the PB feed, 27,000 reviews from 70,400 happy customers with a clear and targetted strategy of asking for reviews seems a bit low if you ask me. There again the Trustpilot review counter did manage to get stuck 12 months and didn’t rise at all despite there being a no delete policy
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“27,000 reviews from 70,400 happy customers…”
Shouldn’t that be 140,800 happy customers, Robert? For every happy seller there’s an equally happy buyer – even happier, some might think, when they’ve negotiated a cracking deal direct with the seller and “cut out the middle man” like they’re always quick to crow about!
And that figure doesn’t take into account all those that can’t wait to bleat about the #shamazing valuation/viewing/telecon/Live Chat/’website experience’ they’ve just had with Percephone or Alphonse… or whatever unfortunate handle today’s newly qualified ‘Expert’ was lumbered with by their dysfunctional parent…
…the real numbers in the ‘review-fodder’ pool must be into the millions by now, surely?
If nothing else, that would put it more in line with ‘The 1/9/90 Rule’ that businesses NORMALLY achieve.
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‘Connie’ by name; ‘Con’ by nature.
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“trust”pilot, my eye.
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There are people who get paid to leave reviews, not by the company being reviewed itself but by their marketing people.
You know all of those calls you get about websites, SEO, Google Rankings, Testimonials, etcetera from companies that will give you guaranteed results in just 4 weeks?
This is the result of that (the web designer’s version of Purple Bricks).
If you’re a regular on Amazon you will have seen it a lot in the past where dodgy sh*te is reviewed up to persuade people to buy it.
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The only people who like online agents are those that sell through them and don’t understand that a local agent could have got more money for them, or could they? Some of our competitors simply don’t provide a better service so where’s the real issue?
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This is all a bit odd? Not sure why this is even a story as some others here have suggested.
The Connie Doull who left a review for us certainly doesn’t live in the United States. Perhaps when she left her first review she ticked the wrong box on the Trustpilot screen. I shall ask Trustpilot to investigate…..
The facts are as follows: She got in touch on 5th Feb and had a few engagements with our franchisee Derri and met her at a property we were selling when she viewed it on 10th February. If she felt satisfied enough to leave a review then I don’t think this is a newsworthy event in itself, but I’m happy she did.
Chrispy makes an interesting comment re local agents being able to get more money versus online agents.
Firstly, Ewemove isn’t an online agent if you define online agents as charging an upfront fee for ‘listing’ a property, as an increasing number of high street agents now seem to be offering to do by the way!
Ewemove is a Hybrid agent. We charge nothing up front, have no hidden fees and only charge when a property sells. And added to that, we typically get more on sale than the ‘high street’ agents do (as reported by Getagent) and last time I looked 2% more than popular online agents.
How do we get more money? – by engaging carefully and fully with our vendors and our buyers – hosting all of our viewings – 100% – every time – which means we know everything there is to know about our sellers and buyers, so we can negotiate the best deals between the right people. You can’t do that if you leave your vendor to host viewings themselves – a common habit of both High Street agents and on-line agents!!
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Head_Shepherd#2
You state
“Firstly, Ewemove isn’t an online agent…”
From a search:
“Looking for the best online estate agency franchise opportunities in the UK? Ewemove is the most trusted estate agent in the UK. Enquire today.”
Maybe you need to amend the messages you post on the web?
I didn’t see you or your predecessor telling the other pub that they were making incorrect statements when they wrote this in an article in May:
“EweMove, the online brand owned by the Property Franchise Group…”
While we’re on the subject of your predecessor – don’t you think it’s about time that you update your website and company info?
Messrs Laycock and Ayckroyd are looooong gone – you’re meant to wield the crook now.
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