Finally there is a video rebuttal to those Purplebricks ‘commisery’ adverts, but who would have thought it would come from another online agent?
HouseSimple, which shifted from an upfront to ‘no sale, no fee’ model in only April this year, seems to be proving there is no zeal like that of the converted.
It teamed up with marketing agency House of Experience to video a social experiment looking at how consumers feel about paying for a service – in this case for a meal – upfront.
You can view the reactions of restaurant diners who are left dumbfounded when asked to pay £250 — before they’d even ordered off the menu.
The clip shows friends and couples examining the dishes on offer at a well-known restaurant in Manchester which was chosen for the comical social experiment.
Diners were seated and given menus, noticing that dishes start from just £10. A waiter then approaches the test subjects, clutching a chip and pin machine.
He then informs bemused customers that it is restaurant policy to charge a set fee of £250 per table upfront — even if their chosen dishes are less expensive.
One man remarks: “But it’s only £10 per dish. That means I have to have 25 dishes to get my 250 quid!”
Two friends who popped in to enjoy a glass of prosecco were then confronted by the waiter who demands they immediately pay £50.
One responds: “Can you not just put it on the bill… like at the end?”
Others question whether “Is this a joke?” while one woman demands to speak to the manager.
One man, who did not take the restaurant’s up-front payment policy too well, asks: “Do you not trust our faces?” before declaring “I’m going to ****** leave then”.
The clip ends with a message from HouseSimple stating: “We won’t ask you to pay upfront like other online agents.”
Sam Mitchell, chief executive at Housesimple, said: “We wanted to make a point with this experiment: that in certain situations people don’t react well to paying upfront for a service they haven’t yet received and in some cases, never will.
“If we don’t expect to pay upfront in these situations, why should this differ when buying or selling your home? The film captured and reinforced our decision to be the first online estate agent to have a ‘no sale, no fee’ proposition.”
Comments (10)
I understand the concept behind this advert, however this could of been implemented better.
There are already plenty of restaurants where you pay first, for example Nandos or wetherspoons. in fact, when you really think about it most services are run by a pay first model and its almost Alien to pay for something after.
I feel this would of hit home more if it was paying a builder first before they had completed an extension.
“I understand the concept behind this advert, however this could of been implemented better.”
You are setting the bar waaaaay too high by expecting this model of Estate Agency to do anything to a high standard or to the level of success that the average ‘traditional’ model Agent could have achieved.
The only thing that this new breed has proved infinitely successful at to date is asking for – and spending – the cash of others.
But most places give you the choice to pay when you order or open a tab. In this, aren’t they charging people a set amount, regardless of what they have before they have even ordered?
Not sure it works IMHO, as in reality most things you buy, you will pay upfront for.
traditional estate agency maybe only of few, that charges after the service has been conducted.
I was about to say taxis, but then again UBER has changed that mindset.
You’re comparing a ten-quid taxi ride to the selling of a property?
Hurry home. Your planet is missing you.
Book Uber to take you there if you like.
Quite a clever idea! This needs to go viral, might make people realise that it doesn’t make sense…
Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to charge the customers £250 and then given only half of them anything to eat or drink?
Or given them a starter and told them to fend for themselves on the main.
That would depend on whether they paid extra for the “chef package” or decided to do their own cooking !
Quis disrumpet ipsos disrumpentes?
Looks like they are going to destroy their own kind.
The HS “Derek” adverts must really hit a nerve with PB customers – “aren’t they one of those online EA that take your money even if the house doesn’t sell?”