The estate agent at the centre of an Advertising Standards Authority investigation into promotional claims using Rightmove data has hailed the ASA decision as “a great result for the estate agency industry as a whole.”
As reported on EAT, the authority had received a complaint from Cooper Estate Agents that claims about sales figures made by a rival agency - Henderson Connellan - may have been misleading and possibly not able to be substantiated.
Henderson Connellan had used the category of Rightmove data made available to agents from late last year. This information detailed and compared how each estate agent performed in terms of “Sales Agreed”, “New Instructions” and “Available Stock” within a single or combined postcode area.
The Rightmove system allows agents to produce certificates to authenticate figures for promotional purposes and in early 2015 Henderson Connallan created a leaflet compiling these three certificates, alongside an offer of a 21 per cent fee discount celebrating the firm’s 21 years in business.
In the past, some agents’ claims of market share have not stood up to scrutiny by the ASA. However, in this case the authority said: “Because the claim "#1 MOST SALES AGREED THROUGHOUT 2014 ON RIGHTMOVE.CO.UK IN OUR AREA*" specified the details of the comparison being made, and because the evidence supported that comparison, we concluded that it was unlikely to mislead - No further action necessary.”.
Now David Hulett, director of Henderson Connellan, has expressed his delight with the ruling.
“It’s a great result for Henderson Connellan and the estate agency industry as a whole. My sales team and I work extremely hard to produce these fantastic results and I feel it’s only fair that we are allowed to tell the world” he says.
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Good on Henderson Connellan - We do too many agencies focus on what the competition does and then throw bricks if they are outperforming. It's called 'competition'. An estate agents job is to raise their game, not go crying to mummy because they are losing market share.
Couldn't agree more. If you can't use Rightmove data, what can you use?
Well said, Glenn. The complaint in this case was ridiculously petty.
Glenn asked why? Because some agents have a real problem telling the truth. Right now it is possible to find a claim by an agent who is apparently "the Best Estate Agent" that is a complete misrepresentation. Taking advantage of firms who play the game with a straight bat might be competition, but in my experience cheap is cheap for a reason.
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