An agent is holding out for a full refund from Rightmove after two of his branches were taken down from the portal’s ‘Find Agent’ page – for 13 months.
During this time, the omissions went unnoticed because all of the agent’s properties continued to be listed on Rightmove, through a central feed.
However, Luke Bennett, director of SW19 in south-west London, believes that his firm is entitled to a full refund – of £800 per office per month – for the period.
Instead, he has been offered a credit of £2,301 plus an auto feature property worth £3,600.
Bennett said that the mistake occurred in August 2018 when all three of his offices were taken down from Rightmove for an hour, enabling a problem with some photography to be rectified.
One office, in south Wimbledon, was put back up but the Wimbledon and Colliers Wood branches were not.
However, because the agent puts up all of its properties through the south Wimbledon office, this went undetected until September 2019.
The lack of a presence on the Find Agent page could, says Bennett, mean that the two branches missed valuable leads and inquiries.
Bennett said: “The fact that I have only been offered £2,301 as a credit shows how little value Rightmove places on its own Find Agent page. I find this extraordinary.”
In a note from the Rightmove area director, the error is admitted.
The email says: “We apologise that due to our error, two of your branches (Wimbledon and Colliers Wood) were not visible on Rightmove’s ‘Find Agent’ page between August 2018 and September 2019.
“We can confirm that all your properties were visible over this period, as they had been loaded and advertised through your south Wimbledon branch which had remained visible on Rightmove over this entire period.
“We believe we have provided substantially all of the services under your membership agreement.”
The offer of a £2,301 credit is made in “light of this error and as a gesture of good will” while the Auto Feature Property worth £3,600 is offered to assist with the promotion of the two branches.
The email says: “We believe either of these offers are more than proportionate to that part of the service we failed to deliver . . . We are sorry that we fell short of our usual standards.”
However Bennett says that the offer falls well short of his expectations and that his business is due a full refund.
A spokesperson for Rightmove would not comment on individual cases.
Comments (18)
Just goes to show that most management don’t check what their paying for if they look a bit closer they would have know the two branches were not listed and might realise that RM is a waste of money, proving they don’t need them happy RMEXIT.
His properties were still appearing though – so he had some value for his money
There must be a far higher ratio of page views for property listings compared to visits to the ‘find agent’ section of Rightmove. Perhaps within those two figures lies the compromise.
how did he manage to get a rate of £800 per office?
basic only package sales only, no extras?
Much as it pains me to do so – I’m playing Devil’s Advocate here…
If Rightmove took the offices down, then of course they were responsible for putting them back up. And for ensuring that all parts of the ‘service’ were restored.
BUT… surely the Agent should have checked that everything was back up and running – and that the amendments had worked correctly?
Agreed on your second point PeeBee. 13 months to recognise the discrepancy? Fault on both sides there I’m afraid.
You’d think they would want some easy ‘cheap’ good PR. Just refund the man, say sorry and move on.
Do they have no awareness whatsoever?
Plus, if this doesn’t make him walk away then nothing ever will.
I’ve started a reply to this three times and quickly wander off topic… As soon as I see THAT NAME I go into “vendetta mode” .. arghhh !…
Anyhow…. if this is as clear cut as the article suggests then a refund is the only outcome for me, if not I would have no compunction in legal action…
The whole set up and charging policies at Rightmove are unfair to smaller agents.
So if you have ten offices and do lettings you get charged for ten sales plus one lettings office.
If you have two offices you get two lettings charges and two sales charges.
Firms with twenty offices etc are dodging monthly lettings branch fees by saying they do all their lettings from a central point – which is rubbish.
Clean up Rightmove – charge everyone the same and you might be able to stop subsiding the big firms at the expense of the little ones…
Just serve them notice, you don’t need them! That £800pm should be spent elsewhere.
£800? RM have just told us they are putting our fees us by £150 to over £1300! I repsonded by giving them a month’s notice. The more agents that leave them, the less valuable their portal becomes as they can’t brag about all properties appearing on it.
How were they able to get away with a ‘central’ listing? I thought RM were always very hot on clamping down on Agents doing this and sending all their stock through one branch when they actually have 3 physical offices.
You are allowed a central listing branch but you must pay for all branches.
Thanks for the clarification SP.
I wonder why the two branches were removed in the first place? Possibly portal juggling or similar?
all I can say is if it was fake listings etc then Rightmove, please tell this agent to get stuffed! You’re nowhere near tough enough with agents who flout advertising rules on your website.
Rightmove, for once do the right thing.
You have taken this mans money and not provided the service.
Refund him in full. Not like you will miss the money yourselves.
Rightmove doing the right thing…..ha ha ha ha.