ASA bans second Haart Estate Agent ad
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The Advertising Standards Authority has rapped SpicerHaart Group t/a Haart Estate Agents for a second time for making one if its advertisements misleading.
A direct mail, from the estate agent, was sent in an envelope that appeared to be handwritten and included a postage stamp.
Inside was a Haart Estate Agents compliment slip with text that also appeared to be handwritten. The text stated “Re: Your Home Please call me as a matter of urgency quoting reference number XXX Regards, Lesley Miller”.
A complaint was made that the ad caused undue distress and was misleading, because it did not make clear that it was marketing material; having called one of the numbers shown the recipient realised that the estate agent was interested in selling her home.
Haart Estate Agents said the mailing was not intended to mislead consumers into believing it was anything other than a promotional document for a well-known estate agency, which had significant brand recognition.
But the ASA noted the compliments slip displayed the Haart logo and branding as well as a reference to the instruction of agents in the small print. The envelope, however, included a postage stamp and did not include any branding. Text on both the letter and envelope appeared to be handwritten.
The ASA welcomed Haart’s assurance that it would make changes to the envelope and considered the compliments slip made clear the mailing was from Haart but, nevertheless, it did not make clear that it related to their commercial interest in the sale of the recipients home.
But it concluded it was not clear that the mailing was a marketing communication, it also considered the text ” … as a matter of urgency … ” was likely to cause undue distress to some recipients.
It concluded that the mailing was misleading and likely to cause distress.
A spokeswoman for Spicerhaart, says: “We’ve taken on board the ASA’s ruling and have amended our advertising accordingly.
“We were surprised to learn that one recipient had expressed concern as we have sent out thousands of these mailers without any other negative reaction.”
The ASA banned an ad from SpicerHaart Group t/a Haart Estate Agents for being misleading in September after claiming it was “the number one estate agent in Harlow.”
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Readers' comments (11)
Sarah Webb | 9 Dec 2009 10:22 am
Excellent news. I received the same letter from Haart approx 2 years ago when I was selling my home. I telephoned and made a complaint at that time, but they did not seem interested. So I am pleased to hear that this has finally been dealt with.
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Anonymous | 9 Dec 2009 10:30 am
For some reason being an estate agent involves being also of an aggressive nature and extremely unreasonable.
Some of the phone calls I have had off estate agents beggar belief.
Its like the bad old days in financial services.
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Anonymous | 9 Dec 2009 10:33 am
We get these frequently and I assumed this was standard practice.
Im amazed people have the time or inclination to complain.
How very petty to complain. Personally i would bin it with the pizza menus, chinese takeaways etc.
How about someone complains about the sheer volume of junk mail?
Agents trying to keep and create jobs in a recession, dam them, lets ruin them!
Losers.
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David Smith | 9 Dec 2009 11:14 am
This particular type of complaint is really rather petty. However I feel that estate agents should be regulated in the same way as brokers are. I do not think that the phrase " treating customers fairly " has ever appeared in the estate agents vocabulary let alone in their work ethics. And when is somebody going to put a stop to the practise of " unless you allow our mortgage adviser to qualify you we cannot forward your offer to our client" even if your own mortgage broker has already obtained an A.I.P .
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Boyd Butler | 9 Dec 2009 11:46 am
With a slight adaptation i.e. removing the words "as a matter of urgency" and making sure that it has the word "advertisement" somewhere on the slip this should be used again. Why? Because if Haart get prior approval on the changes from the ASA it is a successful promotion.
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Anonymous | 9 Dec 2009 11:53 am
I totally agree with you David. Their tactics stink as far as I'm concerned...
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Annoymous | 9 Dec 2009 12:12 pm
I received a similar letter from Lloyds about a month ago saying that I needed to contact the branch regarding my account as a matter of urgency. When I went in to the branch the short little plump lady behind the bar tried booking me in to see the manager about a loan. TERRIBLE!!
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Anonymous | 9 Dec 2009 12:27 pm
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. In the eighties like most of the public I under estimated the work estate agents do, in short I decided to set up my own agency. It did not take me long to coin the phrase, “to be an estate agent one must be prepared to defend the greed of greedy vendors and landlord the public” who demanded on market value or rent because the vendor or landlord down the road sold or rented his/her property for the figure they wanted with total disregard for the condition and quality of the property being instructed for sale or rent.
They may not all be perfect but the most of these firms do an excellent job, far to long all in the financial services sector have been treated as Cinderella’s and at times by other professionals lawyers, accountants and so called regulators under the guise of being the consumers champions.
To ASA and person who complained get a life, I often wonder where this economy, mobility of labour and billions of pound to inland revenue by way of stamp duty and VAT in good and bad time if all professional on the front line of financial services including estate agents should shut up shop and go on holiday for six months to a year. I do not work for nor have any interest in any estate agents or financial services product providers but I do use the services and products offered to satisfy clients needs and do so for forty two years indirectly in square mile and directly on the front line. Its time to stop the crucifixion, no of us is perfect or claim we never make mistakes
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Daniel Fox | 9 Dec 2009 5:14 pm
I dont know why people are so petty about all of this i was on the market with another agent a while ago and recieved letters from Haart and kept in touch with them about the sale of my property the agent i was with couldnt get anyone through the door. I finished my contract with that agent and gave Haart a call about coming to see me and taking my property on the market i had my property on the market with them for a few weeks and got close to my asking price. So all i can say is that Haart is a great company.
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Dave Ebsworth | 10 Dec 2009 7:32 am
Yes this is a silly marketing idea but if you have been unemployed for a period (as many have) then this could have been so distressing to receive. HAART shoul have been more considerate of peoples feelings.
One of the commentators suggested that this was like the bad old days of Financial Servies, please don't draw any parrallels with Financial Services and Estate Agents.
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