Hamptons
high street Estate Agent versus online Estate Agent eMoov
High Street Agent - Hamptons of Country Wide fight it out with an online estate agent attempting to get them to take down a testimonial which says that Richard Davies, of Bloxham, Oxfordshire, saved £8,000 by using the online estate agent. The testimonial adds:
"Not bad when Hamptons valued my house at less than £500,000 and wanted to charge me £7,500 plus VAT in marketing fees. eMoov sold it for £540,000 and charged me just £395 plus
VAT. "Hamptons lawyers make the case that the comment is clearly misleading as it fails to take account of the different levels of service between Hamptons and
eMoov". However, the online agent sold the house and saved the seller £48k.
eMoov founder Russell
 Quirk,
replied "eMoov have not questioned the ability or the range of services that Hamptons may or may not offer. In any case, such a comparison would seem wholly academic given that eMoov were indeed successful in selling the property in question, in spite of the features that you attribute to Hamptons
- and that you incorrectly argue gain some advantage over
eMoov. "For the avoidance of doubt, you should be aware that eMoov offer a comparable service to Hamptons and we would caution you as to attempting to contend otherwise, as to do so would amount to a defamatory suggestion which may be actionable in law."
Quirk also drew the Hamptons' lawyer's attention to the recent ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority which went in favour of another online agent, Hatched.
Quick also said that eMoov's marketing material is not false or misleading, and he concluded:
"I should make it clear that I believe it to be wholly improper to attempt to censor competitors in the way that you are seeking...
Our industry is changing albeit that it remains a level playing field. Hamptons must try to keep up by fair means alone.
"Kindly resort to competing on equal terms and not by employing such meritless, intimidating tactics that frankly I had previously thought were beneath a firm of your standing."
Article courtesy of Estate Agent Today
Full
article is at ttp://tinyurl.com/agent-v-online-agent
HouseWow!
comment:
There
are 3 main difference between good high street Estate Agents and
good Online Estate Agents:
1)
Online Estate Agents have far fewer (if any) local offices
2)
Online Estate Agents rarely provide accompanied viewings
3)
Online Estate Agents have the ability to be more efficient at
communications. (because they are not bogged down with fruitless,
time consuming viewings which don't convert to sales listings and
have less paperwork due to less overhead of buildings, health and
safety laws and employee issues.)
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