Agency says Rightmove postcode data led to 'misleading' advertisement

Regional estate agency Matthews of Chester says data provided by Rightmove led to an apparently-misleading advertisement which had to be altered after a complaint was lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority.

The ad stated: "Rightmove ranks us 1st out of over 186 agents for New Instructions and Available Stock in the following postcodes..." and then listed 27 postcodes.

A member of the public challenged whether the use of some of the postcodes was misleading because they understood that these included some PO boxes and not only residential addresses. 

As a result the complainant told the ASA that he believed their inclusion gave a misleading impression as to what areas were covered by the service and how successful the advertiser was in those areas. 

Matthews told the ASA that it had requested data only for certain postcodes -  “however, all postcodes in the area had been generated and included by Rightmove in data collected by that website” according to the ASA. 

The agency agreed to alter the ad to only include postcodes where the data was requested for specifically.

Meanwhile Spicerhaart has also been the subject of a complaint to the ASA by a member of the public. 

The challenge from the complainant was to a claim seen on a leaflet posted through their letterbox for SpicerHaart.

The claim was in relation to a property in the London W11 area which was advertised as being sold for £1,325,000: the challenge was to whether the agency could substantiate the claim. 

“Once contacted about the complaint, the advertiser altered the claim and the matter was considered resolved informally” says the ASA.