to take this Purple Bricks complaint further?

[DefinitelyCommisery]

Feel like I've been conned! I listed my house for sale with Purple Bricks at £575,000. This price was set by the court during divorce proceedings and agreed by their estate agent. The house has been at risk of repossession due to ex's non payment of the mortgage.
I signed on with Purple Bricks in June and in 6 months I only had 1 viewing which resulted in 1 offer far below the asking price from a couple that had not sold.

In desperation, I signed on with a local estate agent in December and had 40 viewings and 4 offers within 2 weeks- many of the prospective buyers said they had seen the property online with purple bricks but the pictures were so bad they didn't view- saying the house looked very dark. The local estate agent said this was because the camera PB used had a wide angle lens attachment which blocked the flash. Id initially accepted the photos as I just thought that was how my house 'photographed' but since seeing the other photos I can really see what a bad job they actually did. These viewers confirmed that the local estate agents pictures were more representative of the property and not photoshopped.

During the course of marketing with purple bricks they kept telling me to drop the price and blaming brexit which I duly did until I'd got down to 500k and still no viewings. If I had gone with a local estate agent earlier i would have sold the house earlier for a higher price mitigating the higher fee and some!

Given that the local estate agents were able to sell the house within 2 weeks it can only be that the photos were so substandard it was detrimental to the sale. Purple Bricks are now demanding their flat rate of £849 be paid despite only getting me 1 viewing in 6 months and losing 75k by following their advice! I don't have the £849 because the house sale still hasn't completed. I've written a complaint like many others in the same boat but don't expect them to waive the fee given other experiences I've read today. Apparently, 60% of houses are still for sale after 10 months with Purple Bricks. I just don't think their sales model works.

AIBU to follow the procedures to escalate this to the Ombudsmen/ file a claim myself to county court?

[Fiveredbricks]

Everyone I know has sold their house within 2-3 weeks on Purple Bricks. Maybe they're just awful in your area?

[Namechangeforthiscancershit]

The thing that Really gets me is they claim to be as good as any other agent yet the stats are glaringly obvious they aren’t

I wouldn’t use them as I do not need any extra stress when moving, but I know people who are really happy with them. The were quite proactive though with the ad and pictures, and mostly were selling cheaper houses than yours which I’m sure is a factor.

Why did your buyers disclose their valuation survey to you?

[thewinkingprawn]

If the house was valued by the survey at 40k more than you got for it then your current estate agent is culpable, surely.

[Namechangeforthiscancershit]

At some point karma will get my prostitute shagging, non mortgage paying, non maintenance paying ex and I’ll be sitting back with a cocktail enjoying my new found peace!

Couldn’t agree more! I really think the problem here is the repossession (so, your ex) rather than PB. Unfortunately most people do struggle to get the full market value with the threat of repossession hanging over them.

[Icedlatte]

But with pb you had 1 viewing in 6 months during which time the house was priced at £575, £550, £525 and finally £500.

With the EA it had lots of viewings priced at £500.

How is that a fair comparison? The photos may be better from the EA, but a saving of £75k makes it instantly more attractive, regardless of quality of photos.

[Bluntness100]

I'm sorry op, but the reason uoh got no viewings was the price was too high. If you'd tried to sell it for 575 with the brick and mortar agent, no matter how good the pics, you'd still have got no viewings.

You are contractually bound to pay them. You can take them to court to claim they broke the contract, but the likely hood of you winning is remote. As such, if you don't pay, they will come after you and the debt will increase.

[Yogagirl123]

From my understanding you sign a contract to pay PB whether you sell or not after a certain period of time. Check the contract you signed.

[SassitudeandSparkle]

That's how PB works though, isn't it - a flat fee regardless of whether it sells or not? You could have put the house on the market with the EA for any price you wanted.

I'm not a fan of PB by any means and I do think it's worth paying an EA to handle a sale - but I'm not sure you've got a case here OP, sorry to say.

[DefinitelyCommisery]

It was on with PB for 6 weeks at 500k still no viewings. Ex had a repossession hearing in January so I had to have a buyer in place to delay proceedings.
There were 4 offers- highest was 520k but buyers hadn’t sold and I needed to have a complete chain to present to the court.
So lots of factors really which I take on board are out of their control but it doesn’t stop the overwhelming feeling of being conned and backed into a corner.
Thank you for all of your replies.

[Awwlookatmybabyspider]

I'm In the process of selling my dads well my property now. I'm with House Simple. They don't take anything until the sale is complete. If PB take a cut regards less of whether or not the property sells. What's their incentive to to help get the property to sell.
Funny they don't mention that on the Advert.

[DefinitelyCommisery]

PB give you 10 months to pay the flat rate regardless of whether you have sold.
I asked them if they could wait until mid April when house completes but they said it was payable in March regardless and they will debit the funds. Well, that’ll decline anyway but it’s just more stress.

[BlueCornishPixie]

I think while it's annoying, you approved the pictures. I think if the house was worth 575 they would have to be really shit pictures to get no viewings at 500k.

You also kind of get what you pay for, you didn't want to pay for an estate agent so went with purple bricks, with purple bricks you have to put tin more of the effort, checking the pictures and listing.

The estate agent could say "I could have sold it at 3mil" once it's safely sold at 500, because they will never have to prove it.

[Godowneasy]

I'm a fan of online estate agents and think they could totally put potentially conventional estate agents out of business altogether. No wonder the conventional estate agents feel threatened!

I sold an expensive flat with an online estate agent (Housenetwork, not PB) a couple of years ago and I was really pleased with the service, and the huge amount of money I saved myself by using an online estate agent.

The photos were really excellent though and I think it was key to getting viewers/buyers through the door. It also helped that it was a bright sunny day when they were taken.

In the op's case it sounds as though the photos were poor and perhaps the house was initially over priced too. I don't think there's any recourse with PB as she'd agreed to using the photos.

[Bringmewineandcake]

What did the t&c say about payment of their fees? They’ve definitely done a shoddy job if they only got you 1 viewing in 6 months...it’s whether you’re bound by the contract to still pay them is the sticking point.

[AndThenWeWillBeAllDone]

I tried to buy a house through PB. Viewing cancelled because offer had been put in. I loved the house location and when the sale dragged on put a note through the door saying if it falls through this would be my ball park offer. Sold price was £10k less than my ballpark so PB lost seller £10k for the sake of saving £2k on fees.

[Bringmewineandcake]

Sorry...the thread had moved on by the time I actually hit post

[KatnissMellark]

I tried to buy a house through PB. Viewing cancelled because offer had been put in. I loved the house location and when the sale dragged on put a note through the door saying if it falls through this would be my ball park offer. Sold price was £10k less than my ballpark so PB lost seller £10k for the sake of saving £2k on fees.

How is that PB's fault? Those are sellers decisions. The seller decides the price to list at (with guidance), decides what viewings to accept/cancel, what offer to accept

[tentative3]

OP, sounds like you're having a shitty time so take on board what's been said here, forget about purple bricks, get the house sold and forget about your dickhead ex. The best revenge is living well, so go out and live bloody well.

[Whatelsecouldibecalled]

Sounds like you’re having a really shit time OP. I hope your ex gets what is coming to them.

In regards to PB sounds like your local property expert was a bit rubbish. However you will still need to pay them as you signed a contract with them. Went for the cheaper option and it didn’t pay off for you.


I have just sold my house through PB and couldn’t have had a different experience. Property expert was great and knowledgable of the local market. House priced accordingly and plenty of viewings. I carefully checked the advert and did a little editing before I approved but it was of good quality to start with. We sold in 30 days of it being on the market.

Remember each time your house was reduced it entered into another search bracket. I would imagine there are more people maybe able to buy at 500k than 575k. Not that I could afford either!

Possibly a bad experience for you with PB but I think it is very area dependant. There are thousands of great reviews on trust pilot etc. If you were going to complain at all I would suggest it’s about your property expert not being that great. Good luck

[Namechangeforthiscancershit]

How is that PB's fault?

I wondered that!

[ILoveBray]

I'm confused why they are expecting you to pay them? Surely you only pay if the eventual buyer was introduced to your house through their service. It sounds like they weren't.

Or do I have this completely wrong? Never used Purple Bricks

[AndThenWeWillBeAllDone]

@KatnissMellark

Because a traditional agent does his or her best to get the best price for a house because of the % commission. Higher price =higher commission. PB working on a flat rate fee have no incentive to get the best price only to get the house sold so they can stick a sign showing how successful they are. PB didn't get the best price for the house and should have advised to allow further viewings and go to best and final. That's what a traditional agent would do.

[KatnissMellark]

@AndThenWeWillBeAllDone if an agent is charging 2.5% commission, the £10k difference is worth £250 to the company, and probably 10 or 20% of that so max £50 to the individual agent. They quite frankly won't give a shit and will just want it sold. What you as a buyer/seller think is a significant amount of money (and is to you!) is absolute pish to agents.

If you read the TS&Cs when you go with PB and understand the offer, it's a great concept. But only if you go in eyes wide open and willing to do a lot of legwork yourself.

[AndThenWeWillBeAllDone]

@KatnissMellark I disagree that agents on commission don't push for a higher price than those on flat fees.

[KatnissMellark]

@AndThenWeWillBeAllDone I think they do too, but don't think they're really bothered about £10k here or there. And PB don't purported to do what traditional agents do. In my experience anyway. But as there a franchise-type model things probably do vary area by area.