An agent was told this week by Rightmove that it is expecting traffic levels to increase as more people work from home and are on their computers – “a bit like Christmas”.

An email was sent by an account manager to an agent who had written querying their Rightmove costs.

The email went out the day before Rightmove announced its deferred payment plan to agents.

“Sent: 17 March 2020
Subject: RE: CD19 – CORONAVIRUS

Hi

Thank you for your message regarding your Rightmove payments, I completely understand your concern and would like to think that we can assist you at this uncertain time.

The heads of our business are currently finalizing plans as to how we will support our agents through this challenging period, so I will be able to update you on this very soon.

We predict that our traffic levels will increase over the next month as customers will be at home and on their computers – a bit like Christmas.

So we need to keep you visible so that you are pushing your branding out to the increased volume of traffic. It may be a good idea to explain this to your customers too.

We will be offering ongoing training and support to ensure you guys are making the most of future potential business opportunities as always & the changes that may be required during this time.

Please see the link to some of these webinars here that might offer some practical advice going forward https://hub.rightmove.co.uk/

I’ll be in touch soon when I have an update on this situation.”

Meanwhile, another agent has suggested to the portal that the person whose pea-brained idea it was to introduce the deferred payment scheme should quit.

Chris Willey, of Wilsons in Taunton, Somerset, quite Rightmove yesterday. His angry email described the move as “frankly idiotic” and said: “It is pretty obvious Rightmove has become so obsessed with making money it has lost touch with the reality of our business.”

“It would appear likely those who conceived the ‘gesture’ regarding fees, have committed commercial suicide on behalf of your company.”

He said he felt sorry for the “foot soldiers” having to deal with “a barrage of dissent and countless resignations”.

He received a polite response in return from the customer experience team, saying that if he changed his mind, he could always return.

But Willey said in his response that he has no interest in membership at any price.

He told Rightmove: “It will give me, and many others, pleasure to learn of the resignation of whoever came up with the pea-brained idea of offering such a derisory concession.

“As a result of Rightmove’s greed and lack of empathy, I forecast a continued exodus of members, leading to the ultimate extinguishing of what has been a leading light in the world of business.”