Spicerhaart and another agent, Matthews of Chester, have both informally resolved complaints made about them to the Advertising Standards Authority.
A regional press advert for Matthews of Chester stated: “Rightmove ranks us 1st out of over 186 agents for New Instructions and Available Stock in the following postcodes…” It then listed 27 postcodes.
A member of the public challenged whether the use of some of the postcodes was misleading because they understood that these were PO Boxes and not residential addresses.
As a result they believed that their inclusion gave a misleading impression as to what areas were covered by the service and how successful the advertiser was in those areas.
The advertiser explained that they had requested data for certain postcodes. However, all postcodes in the area had been generated and included by Rightmove in data collected by that website.
The advertiser agreed to alter the ad to only include the postcodes where the data was requested specifically.
Spicerhaart
A member of the public challenged whether a claim they had seen on a leaflet posted through their letterbox for SpicerHaart Estate Agents was misleading and could be substantiated.
The claim was in relation to a property in the Sisters Avenue area near Clapham Junction, which was advertised as being sold for £1,325,000.
Once contacted about the complaint, the advertiser altered the claim and the matter was considered to be resolved informally.
Comments (3)
“With regard to the ASA and their comments on our messaging, you are also well aware that numerous other agents such as Purple Bricks, House Simple, Spicer haart etc have also had similar interpretations levied. It’s a revolving door of administrative bullshit.” – Russell Quirk – LinkedIn http://bit.ly/28EfrB9
A measure of how seriously the ASA is taken by the likes of Mr Quirk. Care to respond ASA?
these are all too common now.
Print lies, get caught out, slap on the wrist, no penalty
When the ASA make a ruling the estate agents in breach of the regulations should have to print a retraction of their previous advert.
Those that read these adverts and were/are misled are the ones who should be informed that the advert was WRONG!
Either that or they should be printing an ASA compliant leaflet with accurate data after the fact stating that their original advert was misleading.
ASA: Hi Mr Smith, we’ve got another one. Would you mind resolving this one informally for us, we’re a bit bogged down at the moment.
Smith: Yeah no worries, the advert will not appear in its current form again.
ASA: Thanks mate.