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?

[Namechangeforthiscancershit]

The agents around here are currently being incentivised on price reductions because they want sales. So just getting you to agree a lower asking price benefits that individual agent regardless of any sale. Nuts. And that is in the most expensive city (housing costs vs earnings) in the country

[susanhypnotherapist]

purplebrickssucks.com

I just had a bad experience with Purple Bricks complained to ASA, Property Ombudsman, Trading Standards and Watchdog. Not sure I will get anywhere, but the company are terrible. So doing all I can to warn others not to use Purple Bricks.

[Dongdingdong]

Because a traditional agent does his or her best to get the best price for a house because of the % commission.

If a house has gone under offer then it’s highly unlikely that any agent or owner would let you come to view it.

[Mishfit0819]

Purple Bricks are a lot cheaper because you do more of the legwork, whether it specifically states it or not. You need to research local house sales/listings, check the ad to make sure it's selling your house properly, checking photos and having them redone if not taken on a bright day/not angled correctly etc. Unfortunately you've learned that the hard way but not PBs fault, they are upfront on what you are getting for the price.

I think you should challenge their additional fee on the off chance they let you away with it or as a good will gesture reduce it. However I do think you'll have to pay and Chalk it up to experience.

FWIW, we've bought and sold via PB and thought they were excellent. From a buyers perspective, I knew the ads were more realistic, it was much easier to book viewings and gain information such as home reports,therefore a much quicker process. Traditional estate agents were much slower and pushy, and took every opportunity to slag off PB because its their main competitors.

[PositiveVibez]

Do purple bricks have estate agents or do they just put the house online and do nothing else?

Yes that’s all they do- but they are very clear on that upfront

This is not true. We were buying off someone who sold their house with Purple Bricks. Due to our buyers chain collapsing, unfortunately the sale didn't go through, but Purple Bricks do have estate agents who deal with you once you've put in an offer and the process was extremely efficient.

I was rather impressed to be honest.

[Tonnerre]

I agree that you can't know that you would have got £75K more with another agent.

However, I do agree that Purple Bricks seem pretty useless. I've seen quite a few houses in my area with PB signs outside that seem to hang around for ages, only to be sold quickly after another agent's board goes up.

[SoupDragon]

zombie thread

This has been bumped by someone who also had a bad experience with Purple Bricks. I hope the OP has sold since February!

[Yabbers]

The local estate agents said if time was on my side (ie 6 months earlier) they were confident they would have got the asking price

Of course they did. They have an axe to grind with purple bricks.

Apparently, 60% of houses are still for sale after 10 months with Purple Bricks. I just don't think their sales model works.

What is the comparator for a high street estate agent? Without knowing that, this figure is meaningless.

Worth noting the 60% figure was calculated using land registry data, PB own figures say 88% are sold in this time. I would be wary about concluding either of these figures as accurate.

Bricks and mortar agents are way more likely to drop the price to sell than Purplebricks, according to a Which? report last year.

You may well have had bad advice, you might have a case not to pay the fee, or part of it, but to jump from your own situation to trashing PB business model isn’t right.