Defiant eMoov continues to insist it has saved sellers millions

eMoov has continued to maintain that it has saved sellers huge amounts of money.

Despite being told by the ASA not to repeat the misleading claim that it saved sellers over £11m, yesterday afternoon eMoov did just that.

In reaction to the watchdog’s rulings against it, eMoov yesterday afternoon sent out a statement under the heading: “ASA assist in clarifying eMoove.co.uk website wording.”

In its statement, eMoov said that it had sold 4,000 properties to date.

Last year, it said that on average it had saved each seller £4,318.

It maintained that its calculation showed a total saving “of £11,518,106 to the UK home seller”.

eMoov said: “The ASA were of the view that the average fee data sources that emoov had provided, whilst appropriate in their application, did not include a sufficient enough data set size in respect of the Which? and Home Owners Alliance samples and therefore was not sufficiently robust to ensure a like for like comparison.

“It therefore felt compelled to uphold this aspect of the complaint.”

eMoov founder Russell Quirk went on: “I am grateful to the ASA for its investigation and which did not dispute the ethos of our statements.

“eMoov typically over-perform on property price achieved versus asking price and we are able to demonstrate substantial fee savings achieved for the consumer over our five years of operation.

“It’s plain that the Advertising Standards Authority did not wholly agree with the complaint made.

“The clarification of the wording that eMoov utilises on its website to inform likely home sellers of our success has been very helpful and indeed these small adjustments to the site had already been made some weeks ago.

“In spite of his competitive motivations in bringing the complaint I’m thankful also to Mr Chris Wood of PDQ Estates for taking the time to assist us in ensuring that our proposition is now even clearer and even more compelling to the consumer.

“Particularly in Cornwall.”

Cornish agent Chris Wood, who helped set up the Property Standards Board, said: “I am delighted that the ASA agrees that the wording used by eMoov in its advertising and public statements to claim that they save consumers money and achieve higher sale prices is, indeed, unsubstantiated and, in fact, misleading.

“I believe that this will have major repercussions for any agent (online, high street or hybrid) wishing to use dodgy statistics to attempt to claim alleged savings or sales results.”

He said eMoov has waged “a massive PR campaign with property journalists and property pressure groups to convince people that their business model saves consumers money using the same statistics that the ASA have ruled are misleading, leaving their self-styled ‘consumers champion’ reputation in tatters”.

He added: “My third complaint, ­that of eMoov having no incentive to sell a client’s property, was defended by eMoov not, as most consumers and property journalists might have expected them to do (that they receive no payment from a client until the property is sold) but that eMoov’s business model doesn’t work if they have too many properties up for sale at one time.”

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13 Comments

  1. M Barnard

    Somebody knows how to polish a **** don’t they!

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    1. M Barnard

      Apologies, profanity filter kicked in. Begins in t ends in d with a u and an r in the middle.

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  2. GPL

    Poor Mr Quirk…… spinning away! Good News that he has provided written evidence for the next complaint against his agency. I would assume likely that ASA will take further action following the next complaint, particularly when it reads Mr Quirk twisting, turning,ms

    inning

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  3. GPL

    Poor Mr Quirk…… spinning away! Good News that he has provided written evidence for the next complaint against his agency. I would assume likely that ASA will take further action following the next complaint, particularly when it reads Mr Quirk twisting, turning,ms inning

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  4. GPL

    ….oops?….. must be a Quirk in my system!

    ……where was I?…. Yes, Mr Quirk, twisting, turning and spinning the ASA findings to try and re surface smelling of roses!

    Keep issuing those statements Mr Quirk…. they are easy to print/file and pop in the folder for the next hearing!

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  5. 1stTimeBuyer

    Saving clients money, that’s a good thing for them, well done.  competition in any market is a positive thing for the user of the service.

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    1. GPL

      1stTimeBuyer?…. clearly no value on service for you…. so, you condone misrepresentation in advertising & marketing?

      I’ll charge you a £1 to sell your house then?…. marketing?!…. of course!…. I’ve written the address of your home on the sole of my shoe…. anyone lying on the pavement looking up should see it!…. next!!!

       

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    2. Robert May

      Being a 1st time buyer you won’t understand the mathematics of selling. I know a chap who is saving himself  about £962.50 plus VAT (£1155) Well done him,  he got one over on the local agent (tee hee hee!) That saving has cost him £80,000 (LSHMSSAMAFO!!!!!)

      The bloke got himself an online valuation, got himself an agent who did the same and between the pair of them they are getting what they both deserve! The vendor is £80,000 shy on value and the Agent is getting a fee that reflects the service given.

      Selling property is not about the fee charged!

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      1. GlennAckroyd

        That reminds me of a quote I heard recently “The cheapest agent is the one who secures the highest price”

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        1. Robert May

          or the one who gets a timely sale so the purchase is possible and smotth too. It is a complex combination of fees, achieved price and timing.

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    3. Helen B

      Quote “eMoov typically over-perform on property price achieved versus asking price” .  In my opinion, this suggests that the properties were undervalued in the first place….?? Food for thought……

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  6. wilko

    “eMoov founder Russell Quirk went on: “I am grateful to the ASA for its investigation and which did not dispute the ethos of our statements.”

    Everyone knows that you charge less than High Street Agents and no one, including the ASA is disputing that. It’s just that you were totally wrong in the potential amounts  that you claim people can save.

    You have spent much time defending these figures on here when we have tried to “put you right” on this.

    You thank the ASA for pointing it out to you…….how about an apology to us on this forum that you were found to be in the wrong and us right?

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  7. GPL

    Guilty as charged on 2 Counts Mr Quirk!…. what next for you?…. oh, I see…. applying for the Fifa Vacancy…. enough said!

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