Beware of misleading purple bricks

csgohan4

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

While people bemoan the cost of estate agents and say why do they charge so much more than these online agents - this is why.

An estate agent will only get paid if it sells. They are therefore incentivised to sell but also waste time and money on houses which do not sell.

Purple bricks and their like will charge to put it on the market and they don't have to do anything more for their money. They get paid for every house they list therefore they can charge less as the houses which sell aren't subsidising the ones which don't.

I think it is a shady model to be honest

Might be cheaper to pay for standard selling board and to list yourself, if your prepared to do the viewings and take calls

quantumlobster

Fshorty30 wrote: »

Thanks for your responses, although I take offence to people questioning my literacy. Initially I put faith in human nature and believed the sales man, who verbally told me it was a no sale no fee and assured me the form filling was just a formality. Hands up I should have researched their well rehearsed confusing written contract and it has taught me an expensive lesson - do not trust purple bricks sales advisors !!!

"Research their well-rehearsed confusing written contract"?

Come on.

Step 4 on their "How does it work?" page (which is one of two massive buttons on the front page of their website):

We have two simple payment options. If you pay on instruction we charge just £899 or £1,399 in London and surrounding postcodes. Alternatively, you can defer your payment for up to 10 months from instruction if you use our conveyancing service partner. VAT is included.

00ec25

rather fun reading the OP going on about trustpilot being misleading when Op's intention is to mislead by creating a title that will show on search engines as being anti purple bricks.

Whereas the reality is, as shown by Op's later replies, this whole saga comes down to Op's failure to accept personal responsibility for getting his own actions wrong

letitbe90

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

While people bemoan the cost of estate agents and say why do they charge so much more than these online agents - this is why.

An estate agent will only get paid if it sells. They are therefore incentivised to sell but also waste time and money on houses which do not sell.

Purple bricks and their like will charge to put it on the market and they don't have to do anything more for their money. They get paid for every house they list therefore they can charge less as the houses which sell aren't subsidising the ones which don't.

I think it is a shady model to be honest

Employees get bonuses for sales - the business model obviously factors in the fact that they need to sell houses to not have a poor reputation so they reward their employees for sales - and going by statistics, no one can deny they don’t sell a lot of houses.

pinkshoes

Can I remind everyone of what the OP said:

Fshorty30 wrote: »

A sales advisor visited me and led to me to the conclusion that it was no sale no fee and insisted I’d have nothing to lose if going with them to see what interest they could accumulate.

I would start by writing a letter of complaint to purple bricks and demand an explanation of what their agent meant by "nothing to lose" when clearly this was not the case.

Obviously they will lie, but why on Earth would you pay another agent when the property had almost sold???

Yes, the T&Cs do state you have to pay the fee, but why on earth would you then go with the agent if this as the case????? This is evidence that you were clearly lied to, so I would put this in your letter.

quantumlobster

pinkshoes wrote: »

Can I remind everyone of what the OP said:



I would start by writing a letter of complaint to purple bricks and demand an explanation of what their agent meant by "nothing to lose" when clearly this was not the case.

Obviously they will lie, but why on Earth would you pay another agent when the property had almost sold???

Yes, the T&Cs do state you have to pay the fee, but why on earth would you then go with the agent if this as the case????? This is evidence that you were clearly lied to, so I would put this in your letter.

No, that's not evidence of anything, other than the OP's poor judgment.

Let's go back to the OP's words:

A sales advisor visited me and led to me to the conclusion that it was no sale no fee and insisted I’d have nothing to lose if going with them to see what interest they could accumulate.

In my view, there is clear blue water between "...led me to the conclusion" and "...said".

A letter of complaint is silly. Where, in the documents the OP signed, does it say (words to the effect that) it's no sale no fee, or that the OP has "nothing to lose"? Nowhere, of course!

Purple Bricks as an EA has many negative attributes, but a lack of transparency about what you will pay, and when, is not one of them.

AdrianC

If there's a mismatch between what the salesman says, and what the paperwork says, then you don't blithely go with what the salesman said.

You get it in writing.

It's that simple.

csgohan4

pinkshoes wrote: »

Can I remind everyone of what the OP said:



I would start by writing a letter of complaint to purple bricks and demand an explanation of what their agent meant by "nothing to lose" when clearly this was not the case.

Obviously they will lie, but why on Earth would you pay another agent when the property had almost sold???

Yes, the T&Cs do state you have to pay the fee, but why on earth would you then go with the agent if this as the case????? This is evidence that you were clearly lied to, so I would put this in your letter.

Yet the OP signed without reading the T+C. If it's not in writing it didn't happen, it's the OP's word against theirs and they will lose with the T+C's very clear

Letter of complaint is a waste of time and reinforces the over complaint culture in this country, unless OP writes a letter of complaint to themselves for not reading what they sign

PurplebricksUK

Good afternoon

I am sorry that there has been some confusion over the payment terms and payment due on your account. We certainly try to make these fees as transparent as possible and you should have received an email after instructing us to confirm the full details.

I would be glad to look into this and see what I can do to help, feel free to email me your details to customersupport@purplebricks.com

Thanks,

Debbie

Fshorty30

thanks for all if your responses- my dad ended up having to pay both estate agents, which didnt help his mental state-
Please be aware of purple bricks small print in future guys- would never ever recommend them abd would avoid at All Costs!!!!!