Controversial agency review site Allagents is introducing individual staff profiling, based on what reviewers say about the people they encounter in agencies.
This is despite the fact that Allagents’ own terms and conditions tell reviewers: “Do not name and criticise individuals. You may mention individuals' names only in positive reviews.” Reviewers patently do not observe the rule: yesterday, at a random time, EAT only had to go to the latest review to find one person named in a review in very negative terms.
Allagents also recognise this, saying that reviews can be ‘praising or disapproving’.
One aim would be to give people ‘log books’ as they change jobs and build their careers. Allagents is also calling for talks with bodies such as the NAEA.
Earlier attempts to ‘license’ individuals in this way have failed, but Allagents has had an increasing number of instances where reviewers comment – sometimes glowingly but other times rudely, again flouting Allagents’ terms – on the individual people they deal with at agencies.
Allagents has introduced what is calls a ‘new level of review attachment’ on the back of this trend.
Now, where a staff member has been identified in a review, he or she can claim the testimonial, whether, as Allagents says, ‘approving or disapproving’.
The site is inviting all agency staff to look through their current company and branch reviews and ‘claim what is theirs’.
While it might be a moot point as to how many people would want to lay claim to something insulting and possibly untrue, it is not clear to what extent individuals will be able to cherry-pick and keep the worst reviews confidential.
If they did, it begs the question as to how accurate the individual profiles might be.
A spokesman, Martin, for the site said: “Allagents see this as a natural progression in terms of the direction of reviews.
“Staff should to be able to take personal credit for good service and have this as something that they can display, keep, manage and move with them.”
The spokesman claimed: “At the same time, because of its portability, the intention is that profiling will play a part in helping to identify and eradicate rogue agents who frequently have to slip between jobs to hide their poor or unsavoury history.”
Allagents said that individuals would be able to move their profiles with them from job to job. It also insisted that individuals would be able to “choose what information is made public and what remains private”.
The site added that staff could record their continuing professional development and training on their profiles, include their profiles on their CVs and biographies, and be recognised in their own right in the Allagents annual award scheme.
Allagents says it will be providing staff with set profile pages based on their skill and qualification levels.
It adds that it also hoping to enter into talks with industry regulatory bodies and trainers “and would welcome discussions on partnerships to promote good practices”.
The latest Allagents feature is open to all agency staff who have been rated, including receptionists, negotiators and mortgage advisers.
There is now a ‘Staff Member’ tab on an agent’s profile page.
Comments
FYI, I sold AllAgents 2 years ago to a company based in Scotland. I do not wish to be associated with anything that AA have done in the last 2 years, e.g. the subject of this article.
Dear oh dear "tb" as we all know, you do not know who is posting on Allagents. You do not know that the posted reviews are being made by genuine clients. Allagents are listing Clearlets as trading in Bath Street Glasgow today. Even though they closed for trading months ago. As we all know, there is no management of this site.
On another matter Zoopla shows 26 Strath Garloch IV21 2DA as being sold on 23.09.2005 for £30,000. It values the property today at £34,000. The rental value today has a range of £144 to £188 pcm with a guide of £166 pcm. The confidence level for succesful letting is zero.
As we all know this is hardly the makings of a property guru. Nuff said.
Well this one certainly hit a raw nerve, not surprising given that about two thirds of agents combine a low intellect with the confused idea that constant lying and ramping is actually a sales technique. Just like a good hotel with good staff has nothing to fear from Trip advisor so too do the occasional good EA have nothing to fear from this website and even individual staff reviews.
A good EA can be a pleasure to deal with, what a shame there is too few. As the majority of you are ignorant, self-important with a wholly unjustified sense authority in your subject matter, as so well demonstrated by the Newsnight bird a few days ago. The sooner most of you go bust, and only decent agents remain the better.
It takes a special kind of thick to post a reply on the wrong thread.
Nuff said?
@bejuice "Over the last few months 8 of my clients have tried to leave comments as I've pointed them to the site and asked them to be honest about the service we gave them. I followed these clients up and they all assured me they had left comments and even 3 of them sent me screen shots. None of the comments appeared. "
It sounds a bit to me that they suspect your cheating. Either that or your clients are doing something wrong.
I know the activation email goes into junk mail a lot. This is common with automated emails. Ask your clients to check there.
In the Huntingdon area they are still listing Price Property Rentals with no adverse comments even though they went bust two years ago owing Landlords & Tenants considerable sums of money. How accurate is the site and do they do any 'housekeeping' to remove dead wood?
If you come top . . .ok.
Anything else and you have wasted your money. Wtf wants No:2
Bet you are not top for long.
Didn't you listen to Bjuice.
You are an idiot!
All Agents is of course there for the Estate Agents that is where they are going to make their money from eventually not from the consumers you pleb!
How can anyone have confidence when it's obvious a lot of the comments are false and made up by competitors or disgruntled employees.
If an agent has a higher ranking than the next the problem is you've no idea if they are true comments and trusting an website that doesn't publish it's own informaiton is crazy.
No...All Agents is a racket and when those investigating them find who they are we will not be surprised. They've covered their tracks so far but not forever...isn't ANYONE questioning why they don't publish their proper contact details who they are the history, real location details????
To whoever left the anonymous message at 17.37....
Do you really think this is about people "realising that the internet is the way business is done", what on earth has that got to do with it?!
Everything I do now and have done since establishing my business has been basedon the internet and ensuring that my company takes advantage of all innovative online products.
I will have no part in this shoddy excuse of a business model.
it's time for agents to accept that the Internet is the way business is done and that Allagents is only going to grow from strength to strength.
I think agents forget what Allagents is not there for estate agents . Its there for consumers and if consumers can see that agents are up in arms about it, then it only gives them confidence to trust it.
In particular, if an agent has for a higher ranking than you then consimers are goong to believe that they are better than you.
Are some of you blind and stupid?
AA wants you to be transparent but they don't want to be transparent. You can't find their office, a named person with proper contact details need I go on. These are basic pieces of information you should all get before thinking about taking these guys seriously.
Over the last few months 8 of my clients have tried to leave comments as I've pointed them to the site and asked them to be honest about the service we gave them. I followed these clients up and they all assured me they had left comments and even 3 of them sent me screen shots. None of the comments appeared.
Now 4 of the negative comments I have tried to question with AA but they have ignored my pleas. Now we have a good business and have very satisfied clients for over 20 years as a small family run company.
Now I would put money on it that if I became a transparent agent all the comments would be on and my queries would be answered.
This site is blackmailing me simple and now they intend to place my staff in a vulnerable situation putting me in the situation where I will have to take legal action if someone, anyone has some cause to be unhappy with a staff member and they don't have to be a client they can be an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend of even the sandwich shop up the road I had an argument with this morning because my bacon was burnt.
If AA want to be taken seriously then ask them to publish all their details. Ask them to publish their list of fees or indicate how they generate their revenue because they aren’t doing it for the love of the industry. No there is something very sinister and all those cooing agents thinking they are on top won’t be cooing when it starts to cost them or when AA finally get taken offline by the legal system because when Foxtons or some such big company realise AA are affecting their business they will have the finances to fight and it will be bloody and those on the top of the AA listings will look very stupid indeed, unless of course those on the top listings are part of AA nothing would surprise me.
Anyone who continues to be a 'transparent agent' after this announcement needs to take a serious look at their whole business model. Quite clearly AA knows nothing of our industry, they are treating this site as some type of trip advisor but attacking it with no clear understanding of the property market!
Comment on individual people.....REALLY!!
I say again, anyone listing this companies logo on their site is either naive or stupid, you choose?
Yes James, you sound like you could be a greedy short sighted strugglebum agent, I might be wrong, but it points to it.
As I said, you admit you are promoting this site for your own self interest. This bloke 'allagents' has your measure. You and people like you are his key to riches. All you get is a couple of instructions. And wait for it... a bad name.
Ok - fed up now. Apart from calls of "Burn them" little constructive comment has arisen.
I like All Agents in its trip advisor format. We have a good ranking. We have a couple of bemusing 1 star comment - but we added a response.
I dislike the naming of staff members and feel this is simply stupid as are the tabs for fees.
Its a Marmite site - the top 10 agents love it - the bottom ones loathe it. We HAVE won instructions from it by directing vendors / landlords towards it to assist in deliberations and getting cut price charlies kicked into touch when clients read some of the horrors.
For months I have heard about law suits - good luck with that. Its blood expensive and the remedy in Law very cheap to prevent prosecution.
"STAFF PROFILE CLARIFICATION - These reviews are duplicated & shared with up to 2 staff members, so agents WONT loose them if staff leave
STAFF PROFILE UPDATE- All staff profiles are defaulted Private. It will be up to each individual as to what details they want to make public
STAFF PROFILE UPDATE-We have got fields specifically in the review for staff names.We need these fields filled in 2 be able to allocate them"
A few tweets from them today
DD,
You are off your trolley if you think this site will help you.
Unfortunately this is a typical 'short term' sorta 'gimmie the commission now' mentality of a short sighted strugglebum agent (agency).
If this site were the be all and end all, Bairstow Eves wouldn't have had 2 new 4sale boards pop up in a road near my office this morning.... If those V's read this site would they use this firm? No, of course not. The fact is, the public are not aware of this site. They do not know of it, they do not look for it. One or two might, but of the 1,500,000 that will go up for sale this year, the vast majority will not.
The only way the site will become known is to get greedy scared agents to promote it for them (him), that is you DD. You are doing it for him.
It is vile in concept and vile in application.
This guy is a smarter bloke than you, he wants to scam a whole industry. Once done he could move onto another industry, dont be fooled. This site is not there for you or to help you, it is not there as a public service, it is there to get this bloke rich.
Think more, think not next week, but years to come.
Now! what if some angry tenant writes a terrible review on your site with your name against it? It will be there forever., even if it is unsubstantiated. You go for a job and mention your previous employment (even if not agency) and hey ho.. there it is.. your terrible write up. Now let's imagine 20 people went for this job you are going for.
Do I need to go on?
This is apalling..
Let's blame Rightmove for this one.
Too scared to comment with the truth as it invariably results in harm being done to our profile page. Our ranking still hadn't been reinstated and it's been three months now.
DeeDee & Bristol Agent,
Would you be prepared to give us the name of your firms so we can take a look at your entry on Jay Dravecky's website?
The problem I have is a pissed off tenant writes a review of us that is barely legitimate and what happens? It stays, so now we have to promote the damn website to get positive reviews to counteract the shit.
I was not a big fan of this site, however of they are prepared to work with NAEA and training bodies to promote best practice within the industry then this should be getting viewed in a positive light
On the contrary - I find more and more people rely on review sites when choosing a business, a provider - even a Restaurant! Even if you have not heard of AllAgents or Freeindex etc. - when a Landlord who is thinking of letting his propery enters a certain phrases and area on Google - our listings on Freeindex & AllAgents will come up. And with some seriously heartfelt testimonials on there from Landlords and Tenants alike, people can see quite plainly that we do what we say and we do it well! As we are a small company with not as much presence as the "Big Boys" most of our business comes from referrals, reviews and word-of-mouth.
...But if your local market does not have those characteristics and your price-pump is based on little more than seasonal optimism and an estate agent’s hot air, then be prepared for buyer response to be a let-down.
Although are staff are all ARLA trained and most qulaified too, this is another strange idea by allagent again... the way we have our business structured is that there are many people involved in our service to a landlord so not many of the reviews can be directly accredited to one staff member, i personally would not be happy if one particular member of staff that was perhaps quicker than the others, "claimed our good reviews as theirs" and then "took" them with them when they left!
DD
Someone in your part of the world is promoting them then.
In my part of the world no-one has heard of them.
I've never heard of this Martin character, but I agree that the owner of the site does not like to be named. I looked into this a while ago and found that at the time it was owned by one Jaroslav Dravecky (generally known as "Jay" Dravecky).
The address listed in the comments in Scotland by someone else comes from a who.is search of the domain name allagents.co.uk but as far as I can recall I found no connections to Scotland.
Perhaps we are naive, and/or stupid BUT we have so far received about half a dozen Instructions from Landlords/Owners purely because they have read our reviews on AllAgents and Freeindex... If it wasn't for those testimonials from happy Landlords and Tenants it is unlikely that they would have contacted us, much less instructed us to let sell/let/manage their property. :-)
Puzzled of Tunbridge Wells wrote;
"Google just won a case where they argued that they are simply a service provider and not responsible for the content that people post on the internet using their service of providing servers and an environment. "
Allagents aren't a generic service provider. They've specifically set up the site to target and review one market sector. They're not merely providing 'servers and a (generic) environment'
It's plain to see that Google is a generic search engine and generic blogging sub-site.
If your agency isn't on there now, then they, allagents, will add it to their list of names when they look it up in yellow pages or other directories. Agents don't add themselves, the general public don't add new agencies.
When they DO put your agency up there, then immediately they tag you as not being a 'transparent agent', whether or not you've had any contact with them or not, whether or not you've even heard of them or their transparency scheme.
This company will be gone within 12 months.
Any agent advertising the AA logo on their website is either naive or stupid.
We have had several reviews on both AllAgents and Freeindex where mine - and my bosses names where mentioned. Thankfully - due to our dedication, efficiency and hard work, all of our reviews (so far) have been positive (and not written by various staff member/friends - LOL - as I have seen some Agents do!). However that's not to say I think this is a good idea. What if a spiteful former Landlord or Tenant who is unhappy about something which is not the Agents fault (i.e. missing out on a property due to not paying the holding deposit in time etc.). Or even someone who simply doesn't like the person concerned... It could hamper someones' future abilities in finding employment. Mud always tends to stick even when it's not justified....
Oh come on!!!
Google are not inviting people to make comments about lawyers, doctors, accountants or estate agents. Absolutely, they are a service provider of internet.
These vile people ARE inviting comment about people employed in a specific profession.
So... I think that seems to clear that one up.
Plonkers to the left please....
This is from computerworlduk.com ...
"A judge has ruled that Google is not responsible for defamatory comments posted on blogs on its Blogger.com platform
In a written judgement in the UK High Court, Mr Justice Eady ruled in favour of Google in a libel case brought to court by Tory Party candidate Payam Tamiz."
So, can people stop making daft threats about suing AllAgents - you will LOSE a lot of money if you do.
Thin ice.
There are data protection, defamation and personal safety issues.
I am sure the Suzy Lamplugh Trust would have an opinion on this matter.
Lot of talk about AllAgents or whatever they are called being sued.
Google just won a case where they argued that they are simply a service provider and not responsible for the content that people post on the internet using their service of providing servers and an environment.
So, that seems to clear that one up.
As for AllAgents wanting to talk to the NAEA - what on earth would be the point of talking to an organisation which most of the industry does not belong to and which is regularly heavily criticised on here by its members.
Very stupid making adverse comments about individuals on a publicly readable website. The chances are that a proportion of these comments are incorrect in which case the individual affected would have the right to sue both or either All Agents/the complainant for libel. Unless they can prove fair comment they've had it because all the other defences to defamation wouldn't get a look in.
What are these people about? All Agents sounds like the gestapo!
This is just a bit of PR about Allagents again.The only thing that's changed here is that staff can opt to claim a profile page for themselves.
I have looked at some profiles and everything defaulted private.
So if you don't want a profile page then don't claim it.
However there will be a lot of staff out there that will jump at the opportunity.
Simples!
Look at their house on Google streetmap. Nice view of the lake, but looks like somewhere a pikey would live.
26 Strath
Gairloch
Ross-shire
IV21 2DA
If you can find him Wardy.
Unlike estate agents who have open doors to the public, this vile individual (or individuals) hide behind anonymity.
The whole idea looks unlawful to me (and it seems others think likewise).
I can see a point where if this site is allowed to exist or expand, all these people need to do is move onto the next industry and repeat.
This cannot be right. If it is not illegal now it should be made so and quickly.
I have a staff named on this site along with other serious comments. Only yesterday we instructed one of the countries leading defamation solicitors. We are very concerned about this.
The minute mine, or any of my staff’s names appear on that site the man is going to court. Simple as that.
For heavens sake just ignore this piece of junk.
The only people who will read it will be AGENTS.
Get on with servicing your clients instead of worrying about some pointless, unimportant irrelevant drivvle.
ANd EAT should know better. There is a creeping 'journomarketing' going on here that genuine readers should beware. I expected better of RR..its becoming like the 'facebook app site' pr, etc etc etc..
Can we review the individual staff at all agents....?
Is this an attempt at blackmail? Are these Allagent people sailing too close to the wind?
Their potential reward is 'internet traffic' at the expense of non consenting members of the public who are in employment. Theur gain, advertising revenue.
It would be nice if it were viewed as blackmail.
Lord Lane CJ said that blackmail is one of the ugliest and most vicious crimes because it often involves what he described as "attempted murder of the soul". He said that, perhaps because courts always impose severe sentences, one seldom finds a person convicted a second time of blackmail. He said that deterrence is perhaps the most important part of a sentence in a case of blackmail.
A person convicted of blackmail is liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding fourteen years.
Oh dear, oh dear!
Martin (in his bedroom) has clearly not run this by a lawyer before announcing his new 'pr sensationalism'.
Not clever and certainly fraught with legal ramifications the moment you start enabling 'personal' slander.
To all viewers of this post. Let's remember that the owner of Allagents has never shown his face or name and this is because there is no substance behind this. No backers, investors or strategic partners.
EAT, lets not give him anymore coverage - as it lacks any credibility in our industry.
No reply Errr ? has the penny dropped? I would normally let this kind of thing go but when someone insists on calling me thick I think I am right to take issue. Even more so when they are clearly being a bit dim (To put it mildly).
OK so you are comparing the cost of renting with a fall in capital values of buying.
So in your land of make believe the buyer does not have a mortgage, otherwise you have to offset his mortgage costs against the rent. To make it simple the equation is:
If (Capital Gain – Mortgage servicing costs) > Rent then buyer wins, else buyer loses.
Let not bother to include Stamp Duty, or other costs of home ownership shall we (we wont even include furnishing [lets assume the renter rents an unfurnished property] or maintenance costs [lets assume there are none]).
Ok so you could say you buyer is a cash buyer (again lets ignore stamp duty) so he has no mortgage. Lets say he paid £300k for the place. The renter therefore must be sitting on £300k to compare like with like - which he presumable invests.
And then we take the last 2 years. But the article is stating we have had a fall since 2007.
Personally for me it gets better. Anyone that knows me on HPC knows that I predicted a DCB from about Nov 2008 to a few months ago. So I am not going to argue the toss with someone about the last two years when I was bullish during most of it. I actually agree that buying in that period was , depending on location, a better deal. But there are all sorts of arguments why now the tide is turning. I don’t really have the inclination to ram that down our throat or up any other orifice, maybe some other time.
Maybe you are right (remember I was only asking you to support your numbers because I couldn’t see where they were coming from - no need to be antagonistic about it, I was literally asking where the numbers came from) and maybe property will increase in value. Frankly that’s a different argument. You made a statement but you either stupidly or conveniently forgot a side of the equation.
Still it only goes to confirm that caveat emptor is the byword when dealing with you boyz! Maybe your name needs a “D” at the front of it?
@scottavinabeer
"as we all know..."
As who all know?? What you!
Our reviewers are from genuine customers so perhaps you should start state that it's your opinion from now on.
Staff have the option of choosing whether they publish or keep their details private so if your doing a shit job then you can keep your reviewsa private. End of...
Simply another 'get in the press at any cost' story from AA. Any profession could be targeted like this, from police to checkout staff in supermarkets, from doctors to vets, etc..
Utterly vile.
Im sure their time bomb will explode with a massive lawsuit against AA, I hope thet have the correct insurance.
Whoever thinks this is a 'fantastuc idea' is possibly not aware of old news.
http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/distribution/spicerhaart-has-fourth-advert-banned-this-year/1020485.article
No such thing as rouge companies? phoey !!
Personal comment about the individual known as "Fantastic idea".
He is obviously incompetent as he can't even master the basic rules of English grammar.
Would you like it if that comment (which is factually correct, but based solely on a couple of sentences hastily written on a web page) identified you personally and was visible to your employer and all your clients? Would that be fair and reasonable?
This is what the industry has needed for a long time!
It's the people that work within the business that does wrong not the company!
WE ALL KNOW THIS so why do Some anonymous posters still criticise them for trying to do some good to the industry?
Is this hitting a raw nerves with the rogue agents out there worried that they are close to being exposed??
There are a number of actions pending against All Agents and the Courts will view personal reviews very differently from those of companies especially if they are unverified.
Total madness. A company must take responsibility for its actions and workforce as a whole.
Imagine a bad comment about an employee who fails their probation for whatever reason - will the company respond
"Thanks for your comment - he was useless as he had personal problems at home but we sacked him"
If you look at their site, fees and complaints procedure tabs have also appeared,
..............and a front line neg lasts for how long before they
a) move branches
b) leave the industry
Good luck with this (pathetic) new initiative :/
I think that this is very dangerous territory. As we all know the reviews and comments posted on Allagents are on the whole unqualified. To suggest that comments posted on Allagents could be used to build a profile to be used throughout your career is a joke. The Allagents thinktank are obviously on over drive to create maximum controversy to maximise traffic to their site. They could not give a brass tack about client care or service in the market place.
I find it quite astonishing that 'Personal' naming is a plan announced by a BLOKE WHO REFUSES TO GIVE HIS NAME!!
This is utterly insane. They should stick to company reviews.
A new employee following the directions of a poor manager in a poor company may not know any better through lack of training. A blight on their personal character could have long term affects.
I sincerely believe that had All Agents stuck to the Trip Adviser model, it would have worked well - this alienates it.