Gloucester agency reported over misleading Rightmove ad
Two-branch Move Estate Agents is reported to Advertising Standards Authority over erroneously uploaded property details.
An award-winning Gloucester estate agency has been pulled up by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after uploading a listing to Rightmove that was inaccurate.
Two-branch agency Move Estate Agents, which has offices in Cheltenham and Gloucester and was founded in 2009 George Tatham-Losh, was referred to the ASA by a member of the public.
They complained that the Rightmove listing for the property uploaded by Move Estate Agents appeared to describe a different home for sale.
The ad said it was newly decorated, had a modern kitchen with new tiling and a lobby giving access to a cloakroom.
The complainant said these details were not accurate and challenged whether the ad misleadingly represented the condition of the property, stating that it did not appear to be newly redecorated and that it didn’t have tiled flooring in the kitchen.
Missing cloakroom
“They also stated that the property did not appear to have a cloakroom,” says an ASA spokesperson.
“We contacted the advertiser, who said that the description of the property was mistakenly written on this particular ad, and agreed to amend it.
“On that basis, we closed this case informally.”
Move Estate Agents is one of several property firms reported to the ASA for inaccurate online ads recently, a growing trend as more and more house hunters rely on online listings to choose properties, only to become annoyed when they are inaccurate.
And when our industry uses superb trainers such as Richard Rawlings, Peter Chapman, Julian O’dell, Adam Walker, standards will remain exceptionally high. As my mate in the Royal Marines says, “train hard, fight easy”.
Ha! Love it – thanks James.
Thanks Richard – these ASA stories come along occasionally and serve to warn agents – in my view – that there is always someone watching what they’re doing on the listings and marketing front (and often competitors) who will report them to the ASA.
I am sure Move are a brilliant agency and I understand that it seems mean of the ASA to pick on the for a minor mistake.
A wider point would be that while the ASA has an army of lawyers chasing down agents for relatively minor mistakes, we have rogue and criminal agents who, when they are found out, the police refuse to do anything and Trading Standards are usually too busy or understaffed to shut them down.
Absolutely Nigel. That’s the issue. Like you no doubt, I remain firmly of the opinion that 99.99% of agents are really fabulous people who genuinely work hard to act in the most professional, engaging, courteous and enjoyable way for their clients and customers. In fact, it’s the rogues who prompt the god guys to work even harder to disprove them for the sake of the industry!
This really is blowing up something out of nothing. It was clearly a human entry error (eg hasty cut’n’paste). Does anyone really think that an agent expects to gain anything by suggesting a tiled floor when it is not tiled? The main issue here is either the complainant was a (very sad) individual who thought it worthy of ASA, or, more likely, an even sadder competitor trying to get Move into trouble. If the latter, then it is a case of an agent pulling his/her own industry down. Shame on them!
I know Move and they are a fine agency, well-deserving of their many awards. We all make mistakes and they immediately rectified theirs. There by the grace of God goes every one of us I suspect.
Note to editor: please file in the “fake news” folder!