Purplebricks reviews dispute takes new twist four yea...

A long running dispute between reviews website allAgents and Purplebricks has come back to life - with a new twist.

In 2017 allAgents refused to take down reviews that Purplebricks considered to be ‘fake’ or ‘could not be justified’, according to the agency’s founder Michael Bruce - who has of course since left the company.

The twist to the saga is that Trustpilot - on which Purplebricks has for some years had seemingly endless numbers of positive reviews - has promised to take ‘enforcement action’ against firms on its site who break its rules by soliciting fake or misleading reviews.

Back in 2017 Purplebricks was accused of using an aggressive approach to secure favourable reviews.

So now allAgents chief Martin McKenzie is calling for Trustpilot chief executive Peter Muhlmann to stand down because the pledge to stamp on erroneous reviews is too little, too late.

“This is something they were aware of well before they became a PLC, yet turned a blind eye to it. They chose content over authenticity, some might say to the benefit of their brand” alleges McKenzie.

"We have been bringing this to their attention for years, yet it got ignored. Trustpilot cannot be trusted … There are thousands of consumers duped into buying products and services based on these fake reviews, responsibility lies at the top and Muhlmann should do the right thing and step down."

Trustpilot, which removed more than 2.2m fake reviews from its site last year, claims that it has enhanced its automated fraud, enforcement and anomaly detection technologies, which safeguard the platform from misuse.

It has also vowed to take legal action against firms which continue to abuse the site. However it comes after years of suspicion over its reviews.

At one time allAgents claimed that 70 per cent of Trustpilot reviews could be fake.

Spokesperson Carolyn Jameson says: “Consumers rely heavily on reviews to make more informed and confident purchasing decisions each and every day. Protecting and promoting trust is fundamental to Trustpilot’s mission.

“Whilst the vast majority of businesses use reviews constructively to help get them closer to their customers, we’re prepared to do everything within our power to clamp down on the small minority who do not behave as they should, and instead use fake and misleading reviews to take advantage of consumers - often those consumers who are particularly vulnerable.”