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Estate agent broke ad rules with client testimonials from previous jobs – ASA

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  • 12/09/2018
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Estate agent broke ad rules with client testimonials from previous jobs – ASA
An estate agent breached advertising standards by featuring a client testimonial for an employee from his former job on its website, the watchdog has ruled.

 

Moveli has been warned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that using reviews of agents from their previous employment was misleading to consumers.

The agent featured testimonials of a specific employee that said he was a “seasoned professional when it comes to achieving the highest price for your home”.

Another said the agent “is very knowledgeable about the market and completely trustworthy” and added they had “no hesitation” in recommending him.

A rival estate agent queried whether reviews of the agent working at Moveli were genuine, as the employee has only been working in the role for one month.

 

Genuine reviews

Moveli said the testimonials were genuine from a past client of the agent at his previous employer and had only included parts that were relevant to the agent himself.

The agent added that it was normal for websites to feature product reviews from people who bought the same product on a different website.

However, the ASA said consumers would likely assume the testimonial related to the agent’s work while employed by Moveli.

The watchdog added that positive attributes of an employee were likely to be affected by the business environment in which he was working.

Moveli was told the ad must not appear again in its current form by the ASA and not to imply testimonials about their employees related to their work in their current role when it was not the case.

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