ARE PURPLE BRICKS CHASING YOU FOR PAYMENT?

BimbosHubby

My business was not for sale with PBs. It was my house. As l said it was an analogy to demonstrate how they have failed me

pinkshoes

BimbosHubby said:

My business was not for sale with PBs. It was my house. As l said it was an analogy to demonstrate how they have failed me

OK, so same questions but HOUSE not business. You haven't specifically said HOW they failed you. Being useless is not failing you, it's just being useless. 

Did PB list your HOUSE online?

Was there any possible link between any service PB provided and the person that bought your HOUSE having known it was for sale due to an advert from PB?

How did your HOUSE sell? 

If yes, then I think you'll find a fee is due, despite them being useless.

If PB did absolutely nothing listed on the contract you signed then fight it and let them take you to court if you can prove they breached the contract.


I know someone who sold through PB, and yes they were useless, but ultimately the online presence was what got the purchaser through the door and the fee they paid was less than the local EA wanted. 

Gavin83

BimbosHubby said:

My business was not for sale with PBs. It was my house. As l said it was an analogy to demonstrate how they have failed me

Did the house sell?

Robbo66

BimbosHubby said:

Thanks for your responses and apologies for my slowness - new to this forum thing and expected email notifications. A bit more info: PBs was recently sold for £1 as it was in dire straights having been valued at one point to be worth £1.3 BILLION. The internet is awash with comments on poor service during my time of association. They had staff who where demoralised and in dispute with company over employment status, It's lT systems didn't work as no maintenance or staff to operate. I was abandoned. I had agreed to pay later but the guy who signed me up said "we have never chased anyone for money if it doesn't sell".  He am going through their complaints procedure. I have had a derisory offer a £100 reduction as they admit in writing to poor administration. This has now been escalated and l have asked them for a copy of what their services are supposed to consist of in our agreement. I await this. 
I gave them an analogy: " l ran my own construction company. I was asked to do so work. I started but did not finish despite the client constantly ringing me but  l never responded. Should l invoice for the work done and would you pay me? - I think not" PBs will be chasing many people like me as money is their god. What is the chances of getting all such people together against PBs. As in the Post Office case " there is only you with a problem" - l wont be.
How best to fight this big Corporate Beast?

He lied, they very much did chase people in fact the pay later deal was actually a finance agreement originally via Close Brothers, it did change some point later on.

nblyth

Yes I am having the same issues. We went with them 18 months ago and had 1 viewing in over a year with poor feedback in the pb advert. We were promised regular contact from our area manager who apparently quit soon after we signed. Anyway houses have continued to sell around us who are not with pb and they are chasing us for payment. They finally admit they gave us no service for 12 months and apologise but fulfilled their obligations by putting our advert online. They offer £400 off the invoice but that now means they want £749 having admitted they failed us by providing no support so I question what exactly we are paying £749 for. If we signed up today this service would be free to take photos and market online? They now say that is final offer and closing the case and will ask debt collection to recommence. We have offered £149 which would be fee today for enhanced photos but now say we need to pay entire invoice and send to ombudsman who can decide if they fulfilled their contractual obligations. Strike clearly taken over a failing service hoping to claw back £££ from old customers. If you ring them then you choose whether you are new customer since takeover or press another option for old customers so clearly they having major issues and they know the company gave up over the last 12 months hence the sale for  £1. I will keep fighting and they should be forced to accept what I think is a reasonable offer for zero service.

Olinda99

I am not a familiar with the purple bricks contract but could you let me know what the contract says i.e what you actually signed up to

because if the contract simply says we will put your house online and you will pay us later then that is pretty much what happened

eddddy

Olinda99 said:

I am not a familiar with the purple bricks contract but could you let me know what the contract says i.e what you actually signed up to

because if the contract simply says we will put your house online and you will pay us later then that is pretty much what happened

The posters above don't say when they signed-up with Purple Bricks, but I've copied the key chunk of PB's contract below, as it was in Feb 2023.

As you suggest, I think those posters might find that PB did everything mentioned in their contract, so the posters might find it difficult to win their case.


(In my opinion, the real problem is that PB have developed a house selling model which isn't very good. Other estate agents use different house selling models which work better.)

nblyth

Olinda99 said:

I am not a familiar with the purple bricks contract but could you let me know what the contract says i.e what you actually signed up to

because if the contract simply says we will put your house online and you will pay us later then that is pretty much what happened

Yes original contract before they changed over was you would receive regular contact monthly from account manager to review and offer feedback. If those of us had no contact in a year which they've admitted and apologised for then they haven't kept their side of the bargain. Reason PB got sold was staff were quitting left right and centre hence customers left with zero service.