Purple Bricks - Stories please?

[Rubberduckies]

We are considering selling our house and have been looking around at some of the options.

Someone at work told me about Purple Bricks which looks very interesting, and I like the idea of making it super easy for people to book viewings.

Does anyone have any experience in using them? And did anyone use the eezi conveyancing service like?

I'm also not sure about viewings and whether I would have time or inclination to do this myself - what did others do?

All stories good and bad, especially from the Bournemouth area with expert Mark Turk.

Thanks!

We are using a different online agent and they are useless. I think generally they are fine at getting your property on the market (rightmove etc) but after that, forget it.

Ours constantly didn't show up for viewings (always an excuse) and have not so much as lifted a finger - no emails, no phone calls - once we had a buyer. They did the memorandum of sale and then were gone, poof in a cloud of cash and dishonesty.

We paid peanuts and we got monkeys but high street agents are still soooooooo expensive I'm not sure we could justify that cost.

We used hatched, sold in a month and it cost us £700 altogether as opposed to £4K with an EA.

Yes we had to do the viewings snd personally I've always hated vendors showing me round because they always drivel on about their personal possessions. Because of that I showed the people round pointing all the necessary stuff but not telling them my life story and I gave them plenty of room. For second viewings I just open the door and let them get on with it.

I also think I know my house better than an EA and could answer practical questions much more easily: one set of neighbours is great, the other nice enough but because they don't have kids we don't interact much.

Would use them again

My dad used purple bricks for a purchase in Poole the viewings and sale itself were fine however their conveyancing was an absolute disaster and unfortunately my dad ended up pulling out of the sale the week before which cost the seller all down to their conveyancing. You get what you pay for I think.....

I can only speak as a viewer. I arranged a viewing of a house via Purple Bricks. I then couldn't make it, so logged on to change the time. However, it told the vendor that I'd cancelled which meant she wasn't in when I turned up and didn't know anything about it. I would prefer to speak to an actual person.

Thank you for your input on this. It is very difficult. I wouldn't think twice about using the High St agent if it weren't for the fees. I used t work for them - in lettings - and I understand how complicated it can be to keep people happy when so much is at stake. It is just that they are quoting £15,900 - it's horrific. They also want me tied in until after Christmas - again - unreasonable I think.

I'd be happy to pay a fair upfront fee and a % of sale price achieved - but £15-£16K ??? Then add solicitors and removals and stamp duty on anything I buy - it is madness.

PB ringing me back next week to sign me up. I agreed as was v impressed with the first guy I spoke to - but....second thoughts.

I used Cloud Homes. They did no sale no fee for £850 I think. They didn't take payment until completion. I think this is important as it means they still care until it completes. I had to do my own viewings but they negotiate the sale price.

Worst service ever.

We signed up after watching the adverts on TV expecting to get an excellent service and support from the local expert and how disappointed were we.
The valuation was carried out and the board arrived quickly and then it stopped. No support from the local expert unless we texted him and provoked a response. A low offer was made after two weeks but where was the lical expert, on holiday ans no one else on standby to negoiate. After complai ing again eventually someone was put on point to discuss the offer but this was never followed up unless we complained. The app suggest you can ask them to manage negotiations and that didn't work. Twice we rang head office and complained and they never responded on either occasion. The local expert tells us his job is to get it on the market only!!!!!!!!!@@
So totally dissatisfied with the service we asked them to take it off the market after two months and told we have to do that and if we did they would request their payment in full.
So all your paying for is a board and to be advertised on rightmost and zoopla.
Don't waste your money people unless you want to do it all yourself.
How does this poor service justify a fee of £758, what happened to no sale no fee, I guess a complaint to the ombudsman is required!

Have you seen the latest advert, well don't believe a word of it. Once it's on the market the local area agent walks away as it's not his job to do anymore!!!!!!!!
You'll get encouraging words like, ' your house is like marmite they'll either love it or hate it'.

Within 15 mins of placing this review I had an area director ring me. He investigated the complaint admitted the complaint was correct. Offered a reduction in price not cancel the fee and for another agent to look after me. The director said he would email me confirmation of our discussion to consider and guess what never recieved the email or letter. Yet more empty promises from Purplebricks.

Had to now revert to the high street agent.

Good luck.

I have just sold using Purple Bricks. The experience has been exhausting and very very stressful. We only completed on Friday 4th Nov and I'm now left with further stresses of trying to claw back funds from Purple Bricks as the coneyancing firm overpaid them!

When I signed up to Purple bricks I was told by agent that I had to use their conveyancing firm eziee if I wanted to defer the payment. They provided me with a quote which I didn't think bad so agreed. The coneyancing firm have been a nightmare to get hold off. They change roles and have no personal care. I've had to chase and forward stuff over more than once and ensure things are covered in the enquiries etc. They have sent me a final bill and added loads of extras that I was never advised about or aware off. They also paid Purple bricks too much fee and said it's up to me to get it back off them. They never call you back and you can only speak to them on an appointment basis unless you want to speak to someone else who doesn't know your case.

I feel somewhat cheated that others have said they haven't had to use the ezie conveyancing firm but still deferred the payment. Plus when you have been signed up then yes that's it your on your own the sales man doesn't want to know you anymore.

The whole experience has been terrible and I'll be taking it further and letting everyone I can know about the coneyancing firm and to never use them.

Thankfully I'm not using them for my purchase.

I've had a bad experience just by talking to purple bricks to arrange a viewing on one of their properties I was keen to buy. The person on the end of the phone was quite rude and uncooperative and actually refused to arrange a viewing for myself but insisted on a block viewing which would have led to a free for all bidding war.....despite me being the first to make a serious enquiry and was a mile down the road.
I didn't bother. And I would never consider selling with them after that.

We used PB to sell - I liked the facto could control viewings and price easily but think you have to be reasonably computer literate to do - I wouldn't recommend them to my parents for example as I know they wouldn't be able to manage it.

I would definitely not recommend Ezie conveyancing to anyone. We had many, many problems - case worker seemed to vanish never to return, they asked for duplicate documents of things they already had, never replied to emails, sent me questions relating to another persons sale. The worst was we were relocating abroad and asked them to verify our identity before we moved - they said everything was fine - all done. 2 months later they asked for ID again. All sent - i emailed to query if all ok - no further communication from them. 3 weeks later then sent message marked as urgent - our ID checks were not accepted. FFS. We had to make an appointment with a lawyer here abroad to verify our ID.

Read quite a few of these reviews and on the whole they are mostly negative. I actually had a chat with them as I was intrigued, but I quickly decided it was not the place for me to work, as one of the interviews (which my wife could listen to) expressly stated that once a sale is agreed, be on the end of the phone but let it progress its natural course, do not chase the sale. As an agent of twenty years I was horrified, selling is the easy part, it is getting the bugger through that counts.
There has also been an article in July by an independent company from outside the industry who stated that from a snapshot of a few of their areas they have sold (and completed) on 13% of their stock. So if you are one of the lucky 13% well done you, if you are one of the 87% (more likely) you end up paying more as you have to pay their fee, and then the agent who generally have more success.
There is a lot more to estate agency than the general public realise, I have also invited potential Vendors into my office and asked them to spent a couple of hours with my team and I so they can see the amount of work done before a viewing takes place and they can now tell the difference between a viewing and a buyer! (which cant be done online).
Good luck if you use them, but I would stay clear of internet agents, especially if the market gets tougher, which it may do with so many negative financial headwinds on the way, it will be more important that high street agents are employed and another bump in the economy will rid us of most internet agents and hopefully some high street agents (as not all are open and honest which I really don't get why, as being honest is easier than lying!!) Hope this helps some of you!

Do go to purple bricks the first two weeks are full of help if it's not sold in those two weeks they loose interest and you won't hear from them. I had a chat with an area director who apologised for their poor service and gave me a load of assurances and offered to reduce my fee, nothing. THEY CANT BE TRUSTED.

Anything that gets rid of estate agents is good in my book.

Purple bricks is not owned by Sarah Beeny. There is are article here: www.propertycashbuyers.com/purple-bricks-review-houses-sale/ which explains how they work in more detail.

Hmm , we are going with PB , even though I have read some horror stories here .We have been with hatched for nearly a year and they started great.We paid upfront and then it just dropped off a cliff and we have had no viewings at all in months.We get a different person every time we call them, they don't answer e mails etc.We started out with a local E/A , once he'd been ,we only got views by lookers , not buyers .I will heed all your advice , defer payment, don't use eezi conveyancing.Anything else ?
The guy knows our house as it turns out, he's been in the house when he worked for another E/A .He gave us his mobile ,and we will be dealing only with him. He lives in the area and owns a house very similar to ours .
I will update major milestones as I go along , in case it interests anyone.
( no, I am not an E/A - I've just become a grandma for the first time and joined Mumsnet as everything has changed since my 2 were small - no liver ?? we had to have it twice a week !! lay them on their back- we had to lay them on their tummy !! baby pilates ? baby yoga ?! we were lucky if they got half a day in play group.My new grandson has a better social life than me ! )

We have had a good experience with PB so far though we haven't sold our house yet and now have it with a high street agent too. To be fair we weren't getting many viewings with PB but think that was time of year and the original price we had.

The PB agent has been great and I feel I have more control than I do with the high street one.

Sorry forgot to add PB viewings have increased since we reduced price and more interest in January.

Thanks L. we are just hoping for better luck this time .

Do Not Use, they just take your money and do nothing, I am refusing to pay them and going through the courts. I had my house on the market with them and had contact in the first week and then nothing. They don't work for their money as they get paid anyway. They are thiefs, please avoid

We looked at one property through purple bricks.
It was fine but prefer to be shown around by the agent.

If I was selling I'm not too sure I would want to use them as I'd prefer someone suggesting my house to potential buyers.

Each time I've sold before a buyer was found for my house before it even went live on the market because an agent was pro active about it.

That seems to be worth paying the money.

I had a appointment with them. It just felt too good to be true and we have been caught out by that kind of thing before. Will get a valuation from someone local first. Might knock up my own board.

I would not recommend Purple Bricks! I used them recently but ended up having to go with a high street estate agent. Purple Bricks were friendly and professional but simply could not get people in through the door to view the property. My property was listed on Purple Bricks for nearly 2 weeks and I didn't get a single viewing request. Having now gone with a high street agent I've already had 4 viewings in 3 days.

I think Purple Bricks is a great concept, but unfortunately I think the vast majority of people are far more comfortable using regular estate agents rather than an online service.

We would not use them again!

We have a 2 bed ground floor maisonette with own private garden and almost immaculate condition in outer London. The agent was great and the fee was cheaper than traditional EA so we went ahead.

We paid extra for premium listing but decided not to pay them £300 to do the viewings just yet unless we were getting lots of interest.

To cut a long story short, we got 8 viewings in 8 weeks! Half the people that actually turned up seemed like they came to the wrong place! After the first 2 weeks the agent advised to lower the price by 10k. At 6 weeks, we got fed up and instructed a high street agent who got us a buyer within 2 weeks. Now we are left paying multiple agency fees.

All they did was list it on rightmove etc for £1400, total rip off! Also found that people were put off by them, when we went with high street agent, people had noticed it but wanted a proper agent to deal with.

I would advise against an online agent.

I had reservations about this as it seemed to good to be true.

Where I live you tend to be shown around by vendors it's just the done thing. Rare that the EA would.

I had 4 EAs out this week and the last one (who I've chosen to go with) told me purple bricks say it's £850 but if you don't use their conveyancing which is meant to be dreadful there's a £300 fee. So it's 1150....so you might as well get a high street one.

Well , we are going on ok with PB .We have got a buyer and the one guy that you deal with throughout, beats Hatched and their new person on the phone every time hands down .
I didn't use their conveyancing as suggested and all is going really well .