Cracking the code for consumer confidence

UK consumers are voting with their feet as concerns over standards of practice in unregulated industries continues to grow, according to new research from A Quick Sale.

The research conducted by the leading property purchasing company found that organisations that don’t publish codes of practice or professional guidelines are at an increasing risk of alienating consumers.

The findings showed that half (50%) of the UK population feel far more comfortable dealing with an organisation that has a published code of conduct, while 46% wouldn’t trust an organisation at all that provided little or no detail on its standards of practice.

Announcing an industry first
As a result, A Quick Sale has announced the launch of a unique Customer Charter, the first and only one of its kind in the property purchasing sector.

Richard Watters, managing director of A Quick Sale, said: “Unfortunately there are several organisations within our industry that are less than scrupulous in their standards of practice. As a company that operates to very high ethical and service standards, we don’t want to be tarred with the same brush as these companies.

“We are keen to see regulations introduced into the property purchasing sector to enable bad practice to be stamped out. However, as this will take time, we wanted to introduce a Customer Charter straight away to clearly set out the high standards of service our customers can expect to receive and to demonstrate our commitment to service excellence and an open and honest approach.”

A Quick Sale Customer Charter

The A Quick Sale Customer Charter promises:

A free assessment of the customer’s property value
A guaranteed offer on the property
A full explanation of how the offer has been calculated
To pay all legal fees for the sale of a property
Never to charge customers for any part of the A Quick Sale Service
To complete the purchase of a property within one month. If this is not achieved the customer will be paid £250 for each week the house sale is delayed

Richard Watters continued: “The introduction of regulatory bodies such as the Financial Services Authority has had a positive impact on the UK financial services sector by stamping out bad practice and providing customers with increased confidence in the standards of service that organisations in the industry have to adhere to. This is soon to be extended to Home Reversion Schemes and Home Purchase Plans and I’m sure the result of regulations in these areas will be equally as positive.

“At A Quick Sale we would like to see the same happen in the property purchasing sector and we are keen to work with the Office of Fair Trading to help achieve this.”

Regulations rule
The A Quick Sale consumer research also found that:

Over half (55%) of Britons think that all organisations should have strict guidelines that they have to adhere to or be fined
54% think that all organisations in all industries should be regulated
Nearly half (49%) would choose to give their custom to a regulated organisation rather than an unregulated one
43% think that introducing regulations is the only way to stamp out bad practice in an industry
45% think that Customer Charters are an excellent way of demonstrating a company’s commitment to delivering high standards of service and ethics

For further information, visit a-quick-sale.co.uk.