Mon, 14 Jul 2025

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 Dubious sales tactics at two leading estate agencies uncovered

Undercover filming and whistleblower testimony reveals how commission is put ahead of customers.
Connells: 1. Overvaluing properties: An employee secretly filmed meetings at Connells, revealing that staff were being incentivized to get price reductions on properties, many of which appeared to have been overvalued. 2. Misrepresentation of property values: The whistleblower was told by an agent that they were instructed to deliberately misrepresent the market value of properties to gain instructions from customers. Purplebricks: 1. Overcharging for conveyancing services: Panorama found that Purplebricks charged £2,820 for conveyancing services, which was nearly three times more than the current cheapest quote. 2. Incentivizing staff to sell add-on products: The whistleblower recorded her team leader firing-up staff to sell add-on products in addition to conveyancing. 3. Pressure selling: The whistleblower reported feeling pressured into making decisions too quickly and without shopping around for better deals. The investigation raises concerns about the practices of these two major estate agencies, which may be harming consumers.
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