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WHEN THE PROPERTY OMBUDSMAN CAME CALLING  

Hello – and welcome to the latest news from McRae’s Sales, Lettings and Management. We want to mark an anniversary with you – a very big occasion!

We’re taking you back to 2012… Yes, that was the year of the London Olympics. But it was also the year of a major victory for us here at McRae’s and for our clients.

2012 was when we were first to get behind The Property Ombudsman and a revolutionary way for estate agents to be rated by clients.

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) is a free, impartial and independent service started in 1990 to oversee the relationship between estate agencies and their clients. McRae’s is proud to be a member of TPO.

A spokesman for the Ombudsman explains: ” Consumers forget that no residential sales or lettings agent is compelled to be a member of TPO and sign up to our Codes of Practice.  It’s an additional commitment that the best agents make and customers should take that as a sign of reassurance. Checking an agency is a member via our website is always a good idea as there are those who like to pretend they belong, even though they don’t meet our standards.”

TEN YEARS ON

Ten years ago the Ombudsman contacted McRae’s Managing Director Craig McRae with a bold initiative. They wanted estate agencies to get behind a new, impartial Customer Review scheme covering property sales. Not only did we get behind it, we volunteered to embrace the scheme across all aspects of our business – sales and lettings.

Craig is seen below with the then chairman of The Property Ombudsman, Bill McClintock.

The review service, run by referenceline, is supported by The Property Ombudsman and is recognised by Trading Standards UK.

TRUST

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.

Craig McRae says: “I could immediately see the potential of the pilot scheme. It was a way to bring transparency to the customer review system. That in turn is the way to bring trust. If clients see that the reviews you receive are completely independent and can be trusted, they can find assurance that you are providing a service they can rely on.”

Almost instantly the feedback was good news for us at McRae’s. So much so that in a Press Release at the time The Property Ombudsman said this:

Craig McRae is certainly making a good impression on clients of his sales, management and lettings agency in The Avenue, Highams Park.  The firm has scored three 9.8’s and two 9.7’s (out of 10) from clients rating five aspects of customer satisfaction in surveys by The Property Ombudsman (TPO).

And when it comes to complying with the Lettings Code of Practice issued by TPO, the lowest score Craig achieves is 92 per cent and he gets five perfect results, two more at 98 percent and two at 95 per cent.”

At the start McRae’s was one of only a handful of estate agents who committed to being constantly reviewed by their customers and we were the first Letting Agent to roll out the same customer review scheme for the Ombudsman.

SUCCESS

Craig says: “Due to the success of customer reviews of our sales business, we were approached as the first lettings agency in the United Kingdom to roll out the same customer review scheme for lettings and management on behalf of The Property Ombudsman. We work hard to give our customers service levels that they have a right to expect and everyone here who has customer contact has to be well informed about our properties, sales and lettings law and every aspect of residential property.”

100’s OF REVIEWS

Since The Ombudsman’s visit, we’ve received 100’s of further positive reviews across our Sales, Purchases, Lettings and Rentals.

UP TO THE MARK

“McRae’s has no influence over the responses,” pointed out Bill McClintock, then chairman of The Property Ombudsman. He added: “We mystery shop any business that gets spectacularly good or bad results so we know that McRae’s is up to the mark.”

A decade on from those 2012 Olympics, we are thrilled here at McRae’s to be setting a golden standard still in our industry and will continue to strive to make all our clients feel like winners.

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More news from us very soon.