The controversial Allagents estate agency review site is poised for growth, after soft-launching a Rightmove-style portal. It has also justified its apparent secretiveness.
The site plans to go live with its property listings in the New Year, said a member of the Allagents team, who asked only to be identified as Martin and said he was the business development manager.
Martin said: “We hope it will challenge Rightmove, and it will be available to all UK agents. It will also be open to private sellers and landlords.”
While some agents have expressed concerns at the legitimacy of the customer ratings and reviews on Allagents – some of which appear to be startlingly good and others startlingly bad – Martin strongly denied that dodgy or fake posts are accepted.
He said: “We only take one in five reviews. We have had 100,000 reviews, but only 12,500 are published on the site.
“We track very carefully all the IP addresses of everything we get. If agents are found to be trying to disparage other agents on the site, or we spot a particular trend in reviews, then we can find out.
“We will publicly ring-fence any agent caught cheating and we will expel them from the site.
“Also, we don’t want people to go on the site and name individuals or swear. We want them to be fair-minded, although we recognise that people do write reviews in heat and anger.”
Allagents, which has recently launched both an agents’ awards scheme, which Martin says is going well, and an Allagents ‘transparent agent’ scheme, is now selling advertising banners to agents. But it has come under fire for its apparent secretiveness.
Martin would not be drawn on who Allagents’ backers are, saying “I can’t tell you”, but he vehemently denied suggestions that one of the main backers runs a lettings agency. He also totally denied a name which had been given to EAT, as having anything to do with the site.
Martin also said there were reasons for the apparent secrecy, in not wanting names and addresses of staff to be given. He said: “We all work from our homes in the Scottish highlands, and if we were to publish our names and addresses – well, we don’t want people popping around.”
The apparent secrecy has, however, led to some questioning from agents. On an online discussion forum, one agent said: “Allagents are very cagey about exactly who they are and where they are … I have unanswered correspondence dating back months, but when I respond to something they want, like becoming a ‘transparent agent’, they’re on the phone to me within five minutes … at 7pm from a withheld number.”
According to the website, the registered head office is in Loch Gairloch. Until August 31 this year, the registered head office was in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. The director is named as Miss Jodie Louise Maclean. The website does not appear to publish a company registration number.
Martin said he was in no doubt that the ‘Trip Advisor’ movement will grow, with more people anxious to know what others think of agents before deciding whether to instruct them: “The market will get strong. We do now have competition, although we have stolen a march on the market.”
However, some agents have expressed disquiet about some of the ratings sites.
On the Bushells website, Eric Walker currently has a blog written generically about the ratings sites.
It says: “There is no doubt that some ‘reviews’ are malicious and in some cases written by competitors. I recently interviewed a candidate for a vacancy who confessed that his manager in his current firm had written a number of poor reviews and even suggested to vendors that they check out a certain review site to see what the agent was really like.
“This was reported to the site in question, but the posts were not removed.”
The Allagents site currently gives five-star ratings to, among others, a Croydon agency, Streets Ahead, and CJ Hole in the South-West. The lowest one-star ratings awarded go to agents including Bairstow Eves, Countrywide Residential Lettings, Felicity J Lord, Leaders and Your Move.
Since EAT talked to Martin, the Allagents site has grown, and at the weekend it had 13,390 reviews on the site.
Comments
That's it for me with EAT. If they are really going to give any credability to a site like ALLAGENTS when even the name itself is a contradiction beggars belief. We are the number one agent in our area by a considerable margin and yet one of our weakest competitors is apparently rated in the top 10 in the country.
Like many others I am now signing off from EAT and I won't be back. Bye
Tom - Have you had a response from allagents yet?
I own a agency in Bristol and have been a victim to a fake review on allagents which is horrifically false. We are brandished criminals and have acted apparently "illegally". I have tried to contact Allagents through their website and by writing to them at their registered address and have heard nothing at all.
We have never received any form of complaint in relation to the allegations that have been made.
The remarks are extremely damaging to our good business name which we have worked so very hard to build up over the years. It makes me sick really just thinking about it. If it was a real customer I could at least contact them and try and resolve it but it is so obviously an act of malicious falsehood, my only option is to instigate proceedings against allagents.
I have told them I will be doing so if the review is not removed, they have about 10 days left now to comply.
That one of our biggest competitors (a huge chain of estate agents) is ranked 2nd on the site with just under 200 glowing reviews is no coincidence in my eyes.
Many reveiws on this site provide no property address or the name of hte tenants, and yet Allagents standard reply is "we encourange you to reply to the review".
HOW ON EARTH DO YOU PROPOSE ANYONE TO REPLY TO ANONYMOUS REVIEW?
Changed Days
Mature= I'd like to think so. Set in my Ways= Def Not. I embrace change and am very adaptable, also I love social networking, in fact am a bit of an addict.
Not saying that there isn't a place for a review site, but I certainly do not want to be asscoitated to one that is so easily abused.
We'll put our efforts into other things rather than making sure clients post of a dodgy site.
Social networking at last allows all the outcasts and weirdoes to finally look equal, never since they left mummies hand at the school gates have they again felt they were useless, they become key board warriors and the likes of rantrave FTB Dan etc find a place they feel part of society, perhaps worse, they cut and paste and actually think they are cleverer.
changed days said......
"From reading these posts, I would imagine that you are 2 mature men both set in your ways and finding it hard to accept change. "
I am 35 and definately not set in my ways!
From reading these posts, I would imagine that you are 2 mature men both set in your ways and finding it hard to accept change.
We live in a new world, a world of social networking where social networking is the way to do business.
Allagagents can be the best marketing tool any agent could possibly have, however just like seo, you have to keep working at it.
Rather than getting a bottle of wine, would it not make more sense to ask them to let the world AND you NEXT CUSTOMER know!
Customers aren't fooled anymore with testimonials on agents websites that can only be edited by the agent themselves.
I am pretty confident that streets ahead find it much easier to sign up business by referring them to an independent review site
Paul H
I'm in full agreement with you here. I know companies around are way using the site, and they go out of their way to make sure people post a review.
Asking for reviews is just as bad. We all know that it is difficult to please every customer, I doubt these agents go out of their way to ask anyone who they didn't get on with to go and post a review.
When any of my staff have done a great job, they will get a card or bottle of wine or something, off the clients own back, they don't need to ask for it.
Much more of a satisfying feeling than asking for reviews. If people didn't ask for the reviews, how many people would actually really be bothered.
Bob independent agent....You have 294 recommends.
Seriously you do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that you are either going out of your way to ask your clients to post or you are posting yourself.
It's physicially impossible to get that many unless you have some sort of strategy in place!
And for this precise reason the website is flawed.
I do think that we need a good review website to prrotect tenants and landlords however only one that is proeprly regulated as otherwise were all just pi**ing in the wind!
"bob,independant agent bob,independant agent " -- it's "independent".
Another bunch of cowboys looking to provide a useless "service" to make money off agents.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Bronco.
Would be interesting to know how much AllAgents are paying EAT for favourable news coverage? I just can't take EAT seriously anymore and the constant paid stories have caused the loss of any integrity or credibility this blog once held!
Their reviews of "Your Move" are spot on.
Funny how Martin has only posted once and since he posted there have been numerous positive comments about AllAgents.
Make your own minds up.
its all about expressing their point of view. We live in a world of social media where points of view are being discussed online, including here.
Google does reviews and just like tripadvisor.
The estate agency industry has got a bad name, and rightly so as there are many rogue agents.
Is regulation going to stop them? The answer is simply NO.
the only way to stop them in their tracks is to make cunsumers aware of them.
I am sick to the bone seeing some of my competitors write testimonials on their OWN WEBSITE about how good they are when I know that they are upto every trick in the book.
We decided to join the transparent agent scheme as we have nothing to hide. Yes we can't keep everyone happy all the time, however that's part of dealing with the public.
We have never bad mouthed competition, however I am not afraid to say that I have instructed my staff to let every prospective customer know about allagents.co.uk and let them make their own mind up.
This review site should not just be accepted, but be embraced. Together we can all help improve our industry and once and for all get rid of the rogues
I've been aware about All Agents for some time. I would give them a maximum of year before they are no longer operating.
It takes no genius to go on the site and see that the majority of all the reviews are fictitious (both for and against the agent). As an agent myself, who is a member of the Property Ombudsman, I much prefer Reference Lines’ (no affiliation before you ask) policy of only accepting reviews from genuine customers (many handwritten). All Agents approach is fundamentally flawed in the sense that anyone (including competitors) can write a review without fear of reprisal.
All Agents’ business model relies on getting the backing from estate agents from across the country (for advertising revenue, portal growth etc.). It is quite clear that the general consensus between most agents is that they would rather not be on the website full stop in its current form (as most reviews are negative).
Actually there appears to be a lot of anger from any agents I speak to. We had a bad review that mentioned a member of staff and we tried to report the abuse and the review still remains. Reading the comments here it is clear others are having the same frustrations. Not the best way to build a business ignoring your potential client base!
Here’s what I’ve found out on All Agents:
Looks as though the company was setup 4 months ago http://opencorporates.com/companies/gb/SC404564
This page provides Martin’s business telephone and email http://www.prfire.co.uk/medical/allagents-co-uk-launches-transparency-kitemark-scheme-72753.html
It is noticeable that his email is shown as Martin M. If the Director is Jodie Louise Maclean, would it be too presumptuous to say Martin Maclean?
What are Trip Advisor worth? £1billion, £2 billion? They have the financial muscle to fight any small restaurant or B and B in a legal battle.
All Agents was formed in August and will undoubtedly have little financial reserves for any battles. This is why they are no-so-transparent when it comes to providing any contact details. One court case would finish them.
Surely it is a matter of time before one or more of the big boys (Countrywide, LSL, Foxtons et al) that are low scoring decide to do something about it?
A company that was setup 4 months ago will also have little or no assets. Maybe they are waiting until All Agents make some money and then decide to push the button?
Anyway, it is coming…
Just had a good look at the portal and I must say I am impressed by the design and layout. It seems to have all the features that rightmove have and more!
Whilst I am impressed though, I have to agree with others in that to make any impact on the market, the backers have to spend a lot of money on advertising for it to make any sort of impact. However it gets my vote :)
These sites will never give an accurate reflection of what goes on in the real world. Staff will be asked to get positive reviews posted by friends and family, whilst some agents will offer discounts and payment to clients to post positive reviews.
Here is an extract from an email I received today that demonstrates why these sites are so bad.
"If you will not recognize that the only fair agreement is calculate the £514 pro rata we will make sure that you will rightly have many more feedback on your work as the one which you can see e.g. here...."
The nice person directed me to a review site! Needless to say, I explained that it is easy to leave unfounded, biased comments in cyber space and I would rather educate my clients that given the volume of business that I do, the miniscule amount of negative comment is in fact a demonstration of how GOOD we are! I also told him I will post all of our correspondence in reply and let the public decide!
The point is what could be a good thing is open to abuse and blackmail and normally no right of reply. Half of the time you don't even know who the client is (and sometimes it might be an agent!) to do anything about it!
The problem you have though is that often you will not have the opportunity to explain to a client that what they are looking at on a review site isn't the reality and explain the full story to them.
Things do go wrong, but it's what you do about it that counts.
But what’s the solution? Give good service and get people to write about it. If you are good you will easily outstrip the negative comments that are left.
Is it right and do I agree with it? Not in a million years!
One last point about the comment earlier about Trip Advisor. I have used Trip Advisor to get information and in particular about my summer holiday just gone. If I had trusted the reviews and taken them as a direct reflection of the service / experience I was going to receive, I would not have booked the holiday.
I'm glad I took them with a pinch of salt, as I actually had one of the best holidays in years and the hotel and resort were top class.
Some of our customers unfortunately won't be so brave..........
Allagents obviously aren;t that dilligent in their checks to weed out unscrupilous reviews from other agents etc, the site is littered with them.
And for theat reason it is flawed.
If they really wanted to clean it up, and check all reviews, that would take lots of staff and man hours which equals money, which this shoddy little outfit has doesn't have much of.
As for being bigger than rightmove, if I had a penny for everytime I had a portal say they were the next big thing, I'd be rich.
In fairness, the only company that was making any head way towards rightmove was zoopla, but they were still miles away.
One new member of staff admitted that his director instructed all staff to add positive reviews from home to ensure all had different IP addresses. Hardly reflective - but nonetheless, they have a 5 star rating which they boast about
Likewise, we ask all happy customers to post - the very few unhappy ones are kept in the dark -
Realistic guy said..."We are in the top 20 and have found that it has taken years of being proactive and honest with our customers."
More like it has taken years of asking your clients to post comments whilst throwing in a few cheeky reviews yourself. My company is also honest and proactive the only difference between me and you is that I would rather spend my time impressing my clients rather then ask them to post on a review site so I can look good!
Most of the reviews are negative, the only reason why most people would post a positive review is if they were prompted to.
Just think there are some agents out there that actually use this site and similiar sites as a marketing tool!
@ paul H, paul it makes me laugh when I see people like you think that its that easy to make it to No1, let alone in the top 10!
We are in the top 20 and have found that it has taken years of being proactive and honest with our customers.
With regards to the portal. - love it! We have had 3 good enquiries from it already and one looks like putting an offer in. Not bad for being free of charge!
Further to my earlier post, this site does seem to have a negative slant...
Why have the BOTTOM 100 freely available to view but not give us the opportunity to see the TOP 100?
bob,independant agent bob,independant agent....
If I really wanted I could get to the top of this website in a heart beat and further more I could get you off the top spot in the same amount of time!
I'm all for transparency and feedback, but only if regulated. This website claims to be regulated but believe me it's not! Anyone can pretty much say what they want and get away with it.
bob,independant agent bob,independant agent
The website is open to abuse and is abused. Its a poor site and of little value.
In reply to Paul R , although I am not sure why I should bother , please check my authenticity with the staff of EAT this website & forum ( Nat perhaps you or one of the EAT team could confirm ?? ) if you really believe my earlier posting maybe false..
If you cannot contribute any value to this thread why
comment ?
Your mindset is clearly that of some of the agents that
are worried about negative postings instead of striving
for delighted custom..
It seems to me that Allagents.co.uk have produced a
website that offers a free service to the public & thus far
free for agents , why worry where their offices are or
who their owners are ??
"anonymous" - really? 13,000 reviews in since 2008? Powerful?
Agents right to reply is one thing - but the reply has no impact on the star rating false reviews manipulate.
I doubt ARLA and RICs will be replaced by a bungalow dwelling Scottish hermit called 'Martin'.
Kinleigh has over 50 offices yet only 48 reviews over nearly 3 years - so their rating is hardly 'finger on the pulse'
AllAgents is as pointless at an orange
Hi everyone
I am Martin
Just to let you know I am here and reading this........be nice - I like good reviews
Its so funny to see on this forum comments from guys like "secret squirel" and "sceptic" going on about this site yet hide behind false names!
If anyone cares to look closer at the site, they will see that there is an option for the agent to add their own comments. If agents can't/ won't comment on it, then I would imagine its because the reviewer is correct.
All of this is on their terms and conditions page, which may I add has their company details available for all to see.
Allagents is such a powerful site, I honestly believe it could take over as the regulator for the industry.
Well, I don't see what the issue is.
We have 12 offices and this year have had 5 reviews left - 3 five stars - two were one star and one of those definitely made up.
Agents with 100's of ratings are clearly directing happy customers to leave feedback - fair play but not always representative
Obviously a right dodgy outfit who all work from home, they have no address of any lasting value and will not give out surnames or other information that a bona fide outfit would be happy to have published.
Funny how the corporates are at the top of the list but then is anyone surprised this is just telling agents what they have known for years.
Anyone thinking of joining this bunch of parasites need their bumps tested.
Anyone wanting to get out is sensible.
Who needs a web site like this? To have tha damn cheek to say they hope it will challenge Rightmove!!!!!!!! In your dreams sonny.
We got slated by a 'tenant' claiming we tried to withhold a deposit and make unlawful deductions and in so doing, broke the law for our own benefit.
We don't hold deposits. The DPS does. All agents refused to allow any form of appeal and instead suggested we respond to the allegation on their site. That's fine - but our star rating was affected by a comment so factually inaccurate its almost laughable.
Then it dawned on us - the ONLY way to improve the rating is to encourage more people to leave reviews.
I hope Rightmove have read this article - I bet they will be worried. Forget TDPG - this is competition in a whole new league. ;)
Registrant:
Allagents Ltd
Registrant type:
UK Limited Company, (Company number: SC404564)
Registrant's address:
26 Strath
Gairloch
Ross-shire
IV21 2DA
United Kingdom
A transparent scheme operated by anonymous people in secret locations who don't respond to emails and whose business website fails to identify their address?
This has to be a wind up - surely.
Every website must by law disclose a company name, registration and address.
bob,independant agent bob,independant agent
That looks like a 'copy and paste' from Martin who is probably sweating right now, hence the line breaks in the paragraphs.
A site which promotes transparency yet their representative " who asked only to be identified as Martin" and wont reveal who he is, who is backers are and who owns them.... with the less than transparent reply “I can’t tell you”
You couldn't make this up.
As for challenging Rightmove - that is utterly hilarious.
As Managing Director of Streets ahead the current No1 agent ranked on Allagents.co.uk I read with interest other peoples comments regarding this review site. Sometime ago I was at a meeting with a number of very good agents who agreed that the general public highly value recommendations from friends & family & are also highly influenced in their decision making by 3rd party testimonial's.Therefore by embracing Allagents.co.uk,
by promoting it for clients to add their experiences good or bad the public will have access to geniune feedback
reviews. Yes we are all concerned about poor reviews , however if you are an agent that strives to deliver top quality service you will encourage feedback & more importantly look to address any issues where clients have been dissappointed !! Why are so many agents here concerned about rogue postings by competitors,surely we should be busy improving our own business not destroying others !! ( & theres far too many to worry about ! ) If your agency truly delivers a GREAT service & GREAT results why would geniune delighted clients not want to post geniune testimonials..
Many of us have looked at reviews when making buying decisions , how many have looked at hotels on tripadvisor ?? & transparency can only be good . Lets
shout about what we all do well & not worry about that
people may complain , lets change the perception about
our industry & this can help as a start.
Sorry - my last post got cut short! I wanted to continue by adding: .... which is a shame because I think the concept is a good one, I just don't like some aspects of the way the site is operated - most of which is summarised by other posters here.
Martin - No doubt you will be reading this, and you will probably recognise my name. As one of your Transparent Agents you will know that I am all for openess and honesty. (You will note that I have not hidden my identity in this post.)
It would be great if you could deal with the concerns listed on this page. I think Allagents has a great potential, but in it's current format it seems to have very little support from the agent community.
You previously told me that advertising on the Allagent Portal will ALWAYS be free to agents. Presumably then the main source of Allagent's fee income will need to be advertising/sponsorship from us agents?
Allagents seem to desperately need to get agents to pay for advertising, hence the "bully" tactics. I agree with most everything wriiten here.
Unless they start getting money in soon, I don't think they will last.
Allagents is more consumer driven than agent driven. like trip advisor, its about what prospective customers read about us and base descisions on. So it is probably irrelevant whether agents support it or not.
I notice also that the think tank " Resolution Foundation" have partnered with them in with a survey.
If the site has got the consumers trust then i think this portal might be the one to take on the big portals
Wardy...Your right but how easy would it be for an agent to get a friend to post a bad review on their behalf...it could never be traced back to the agent?
And here is the point, the site can be easily manipulated by all and sundry as Allagents.co.uk do not properly investigate every post as they say they do. And as with most websites it's purpose is to make money and so all it's resources are spent to this gain, with little to no thought on the people who are having their names tarnished for in most cases no reason at all!
This will all be over as soon as the first agent sticks in a claim for slander. I assume it would be the website that was liable?
'Any disparaging statement made by one person about another, which is communicated or "published," may well be a defamatory statement and can give rise to an action for either libel or slander in English law.
Distinction between libel and slander under English law
Generally speaking, slander is when a defamatory statement has been made orally without justification. If the statement was made in a permanent form, for example, recording words onto tape, it would not be slander but libel.
Libellous statements are those that are recorded with some degree of permanence. This would include statements made by email or on on-line bulletin boards.'
Let's get transparent with the portals 'which portal . com'
The public need to know what drives and motivates these people and from whence they generate their money.
Simon Ward - I wouldn't worry about the transparent agent side of it. Don't think there are any on there.
Interesting though that the poor reviews are tending to be for the bigger chains. The local 'big boys' always tell vendors/landlords that you will not get the support from a small local firm. Whereas it would appear the opposite is true. Small firms are owned by the business owner.
Locally, the multi-branch offices tend to be franchise (ie inexperienced agents who have just gone into it to make a quick buck).
WHY would any estate agent invest time, money or effort in a site which encourages private selling?
Mike E is right, the website is flawed.
It's quite obvious what you need to do to get yourself to the top of the listings.
Also, regardless of what 'Martin' says there is no way to police the posts if your a canny poster! And so it's free license to say what you want with some people just being bitter for whatever reason such as losing out in a sealed bid process or a sale falling through due to a vendor pulling out etc!
I'm all for being transaparent but only on a website that is is fair to all, Allagents.co.uk is not.
Dreadful communication - tried for weeks to talk to them about being a transparent agent, kept being given mobile numbers to call them on. They asked for a link in return for TA status then, when I called back to say it was live on our site, they changed the goalposts again to 3 links. Switched all our clients reviews to a more local specific site and had immesurably better service. Also can't stand their "Don't use this agent" banner flashing above my reviews - unhelpful and misleading.
Foxtons were the second worst agent on this site recently, now they have jumped up over 1000 places!
Are foxtons one of the best agents in the uk now?
This portal is open to manipulation from anyone trying to promote their business.
It's flawed.
I know that poor customer service is the norm these days, and getting the phone number for a local outlet of almost anything is difficult,never mind getting a name.
But to only give a Christian name for what on the face of it would normally be a senior position holder?
Hmmmm!!
Challenge righmove!!!? - do they know this would cost hundreds of thousands / millions to do so?!!
I have now sent 5 emails from their contact page regarding potential fake reviews on our page. No reply, no acknowledgement, nothing !! Not even the opportunity to check reviews an comment.
If you want agents to support it then please respond to enquiries/queries.
They seem to follow the premise that agents are guilty until proven innocent and their online model proves this - for example encouraging agents to buy banners on their competitors pages, or using generic banners saying "Don't use this Agent". It's also ironic that they seem to stand for transparency but won't apply the same values to their business. A case of 'do as I say not as I do' - they'll never be seen as credible by the public or their customers until they become credible themselves. As for the portal idea - clearly shows they don't get it...I bet Rightmove are shaking with fear
Agree with the cagey communication. I spent two weeks trying to get someone to speak to me about becoming a transparent agent. Nothing. Still nothing.
Have stopped asking vendors for feedback to go on the site. It still states above my page that I'm not a transparent agent and that buyers should deal with a transparent agent.
Seen as their model is entirely reliant on us agents sending traffic to their site, probably best they sort their act out.