Welcome to the latest news from McRae’s Sales, Lettings and Management.
As spring knocks on our doors, there seems to be cause for optimism generally and in the property market in particular. The Government has offered an extended period of assistance to help keep trade buoyant and the roadmap to the lifting of lockdown restrictions is cause to be positive.
However, a big Negative has loomed large over the estate agency industry again in the last few days with the consumer organisation Which? presenting findings of an investigation into the use of Fake Reviews by certain agencies – and other businesses with an online presence.
H – I – T
BE ASSURED – AT McRAE’S WE DO NOT BUY OUR REVIEWS… WE DO NOT USE FAKE REVIEWS… OUR CUSTOMER REVIEWS ARE ALL 100% GENUINE.
OUR WATCHWORDS ARE:
H- HONESTY
I- INTEGRITY
T- TRANSPARENCY
In its report, Which? says that so-called “gaming” of online reviews by estate agents and other businesses is under scrutiny because paying for Google online reviews via third-party platforms has now infiltrated Google’s reviews system ‘at scale’.
As well as setting up its own Google account under a false name to ‘buy’ glowing reviews of its fake business, Which? says it found 45 companies who all shared the same ‘positive reviewer’.
These included an unnamed London estate agency but also a wide range of other business types and locations. The Which? report will be a concern for the Competition and Markets Authority which is already investigating the problem of fake reviews.
Obviously, adding dozens if not hundreds of fake reviews to your website can put honest businesses on the back foot and leaves consumers at risk of being misled.
Google responded: “When we find scammers trying to mislead people, we take swift action ranging from content removal to account suspension and even litigation.”
GENUINE
Here at McRae’s we have gone one better. We have actively pioneered a 100% genuine reviews system run by referenceline.
For several years, we have been proud to be part of this innovative, independent Customer Review scheme supported by The Property Ombudsman and recognised by Trading Standards UK. Our participation is helping to set new standards of Trust for our industry and has been recognised for Best Practice by the prestigious publication The Parliamentary Review.
REPUTATION
McRae’s Managing Director Craig McRae says: “The reputation of my business is a top priority for me. I’m not going to taint that. As we have all done our best through the lockdowns, more and more activity has taken place online. Our website and our Facebook page have never been busier. It’s important customers know they can trust what they are seeing. When they look through our 100’s of Reviews they can rest assured that our Client Feedback is totally genuine.”
Craig added: “We like to think at McRae’s we have the HIT Factor.. Honesty, Integrity and Transparency… which all add up to Trust between us and our clients.”
More from us soon. You can find our Genuine Reviews here:
and visit our Facebook page and give us a Like here McRae’s on Facebook
Until next time, Keep safe.