Rental Agency Misleading Customers

[apexblue]

Have noticed that Sykes who advertise on H-R are placing cottages in Conwy Town when they are 20 miles away in the Conwy Valley. Have you noticed this in your area? A rental agent is denoted by a 'h' after the number. Have written to H-R who say they are aware of the problem but have done nothing.

[waterwitch]

I've noticed this too - Sykes have totally ambushed HR. Anyone searching for Conwy Town now has a long trawl through a stack of Sykes properties that are not even in the area.

[charles cawley]

Sykes are rivals to us but they are generally better than the vast national agency(ies). On the plus side, their IT and the way they present cottages is better than many agencies; I am told they make more of an effort towards good service for homeowners.

Some of the giant agencies lump cottages in Swindon, Leeds and Herefordshire into the same area: The Heart of England. This illustrates how distant and impersonal these services can become. The coming economic storm will, hopefully, put an end to low quality service.

[Margaret]

'coming economic storm'???

[charles cawley]

When things get harder, people start trying new ideas and quality often improves. Sykes, I think, is more imaginative than the huge agencies Alhough it is not a minnow, it appears to be realising that added value for its members is the only way to survive. I am uncertain if the Conwy activity is fair, but it's grabbing what it can get for its members.

Advertising sites that do not respond in the same way will decline... many are making the mistake that being a billboard and largely depending on organic search results (free advertising) will be enough. As things get tougher, so search engines will continue to seek ways to maximise income which will inevitably reduce what is free now.

The 'unfair' Sykes activity could be seen the other way around, as highlighting potential weaknesses in simple advertising sites.

Economic storm? Things are going to get very tough, that is for sure. It is far better to over react now and improve accordingly than to go on as before.