Agency settles dispute with rival over "95% of sales completed" claim

A dispute between two agents over a claim that “95 per cent agreed sales proceed to completion” has been resolved informally through the Advertising Standards Authority.

The ASA says that the Alan Kirkham agency had issued a direct mailing containing the 95 per cent claim, but that rival company Ryder & Dutton had challenged whether this statement was misleading and whether it could be substantiated. 

The ASA contacted Alan Kirkham and was told that the claim would be removed; this meant the authority judged the dispute to be ‘informally resolved’ and not requiring a formal judgement.

In two other agency-related informal resolutions issued between Christmas and New Year, the ASA says the agency Hannells had been the subject of a complaint - a claim on the company’s own website that it advertised properties on Zoopla had been challenged. 

Hannells told the ASA that the statement was left on the website in error and would be removed.

Finally Spicer Haart sent a direct mailing to a householder with the statment: “We know that you have been on the market with [xxx] for 21 weeks and still haven’t had successful sale”. 

The complainant, whose home was not on the market, challenged whether the ad could cause undue distress because it implied that their property was on the market. The advertiser confirmed that the mailing had been sent to the wrong address and steps had been taken to ensure that this would not happen again.