Back on May 21st, RE Agent in CT wrote a shorty piece on One Good Thing About Redfinwhich was an interesting twist on all the verbal violence against Redfin. In Short, Athol Kay asserted that at least Redfin customers and clients would receive consistent service similar to McDonalds, but my reaction was that volume has nothing to do with service. My experience in the executive world (marketing, business dev.) led me to make this point:
[link removed]
Buyers and Sellers beware, you may get RedFINNED and get exactly what you pay for. As any business grows, it’s just any other grind that begins to overlook the finer details.
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UPDATE: A request came to ARW this afternoon asking that she temporarily remove the link to their post. There is no reason why mentioned, however, we will do our part and remove the link as well. Here is a snippet of the request to pull it down: “Can you remove that post until I get back to you?” Absolutely. We will retract any inaccurate information once we know what information; if any, was inaccurate.
The agreement to cooperate with the Harper Team does not in any way reduce the point- Volume means just that- volume. As Redfin’s volume grows, the attention to finer detail will be reduced.
The name of the game when going to route of volume means faster, easier, cheaper, in an attempt to recoup the profit lost per individual transaction.
Sock Puppet
June 14, 2007 at 12:32 am
I think you missed the point of my post a little B.R.
In a traditional brokerage you can get a vast spread of service and pricing – to the point where a client can’t discover whats available without interviewing every agent in the brokerage.
It seemed to me that by Redfin offering something standardized, at least the public had a better idea of what they offered. Consider it somewhat like Saturns “one price” for it’s cars.
I never made any claims on the quality of Redfins service, or whether it was a good idea to use them.
Volume as you point out can lead to less individual care – something that traditional agents can be guilty of too.
-Athol
B. R.
June 14, 2007 at 1:07 am
>you get the same level of service and expertise as any other Redfin client gets.< Your article and subsequent comments were what I based my origional comment on to put it in context. Volume breeds anti-service or limited service at best. Your point is well taken and in theory you would think it would work that way but it doesn't- always. In addition- redfin claims to be the new real estate- less expensive, and better. There should be no missed calls and a seller should not be unhappy if it is "better." A full service agent/broker can always be fired and the new agent vetted. I am tying my comment in your post on 05-21 to this article from Harper Team, not disputing your assertion in the original 05-21 post.
Sock Puppet
June 14, 2007 at 7:03 am
It’s not as strong as an assertion though. I said “At least I get the sense that…” and “It seems like…”
I think you would have liked my post better if the title was “Redfin Does Indeed Suck, But..” and left the rest of the post alone. 🙂
You are correct in that the right way to dispute Redfins level of customer service is to find unhappy customers rather than unhappy agents.
I spent 30-60 minutes Google searching for stuff like “redfin complaint/angry/upset customer/client/seller” etc before I wrote that post too. Found basically nothing. If stuff is starting to come out of the woodwork now though, it’s worth looking into.
-Athol
B. R.
June 14, 2007 at 9:57 am
okay- my comment on your post in may means this – given time (refin is new), as volume increases, attention to the finer details (we aren’t just sitting around here waiting for the phone to ring anymore) will fade.
Now, to put it in deeper context, according their Seattle Stats, I did more in sales in the past 4 months then they did last year. And buddy, no one gave me 1.8 million to operate. There can be few complaints if there are only few customers.
Don’t forget, they’ll buy this lising client off in the end with their, money back- I’m not happy gurantee. Does that money back come complete with a no publicity restriction? We’ll have to wait and see.
Sock Puppet
June 14, 2007 at 11:36 am
>>There can be few complaints if there are only few customers.
An excellent point.
>>Does that money back come complete with a no publicity restriction?
Now that is an interesting question.
-Athol
B. R.
June 14, 2007 at 12:58 pm
indeed.
Agent Scoreboard
June 15, 2007 at 9:59 am
good dialog boys… BR… good points, but I think the key to redfin is if they can deliver “consistent” service. The level of service doesn’t matter as long as its consistent they will have a following of customers that will want their expectations met. I don’t expect much when I go to McDs… and I get that. Thats why I go back… but when I go to Ruth Chris, my expectations are much higher.
I’m really appalled by the treatment innovators like redfin get in our community, whatever we do isn’t going to cause then to fail. But our stance against then is perceived by the consumer as protectionist, then we all lose as more consumers will seek out an alternative out of spite.
good blog… I like the new look
B. R.
June 15, 2007 at 1:22 pm
If you stick your neck out as different and better you should expect to be held to that standard. If they were marketing slower, less responsive for less money then I and the masses would have nothing to say.
Bob
June 17, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I have referred this post to Redfin’s legal department for trademark violations. I don’t work for them, I just know how unprofessional you are.
Agent Scoreboard
June 17, 2007 at 9:31 pm
BR..
My point was that they put a level of service out there and they are living up to it. I don’t think they say “hey we provide better service than everyone”.
Bob…
Can I get 2 XL sausage and extra cheese. Thanks pizza man
Bob
June 17, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Agent Scoreboard, I’m not even sure what that means, but it certainly is about as witty as you agents tend to get.
Barry Preusz
October 24, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Interesting comments… The problem is when the ball gets dropped real live people (home buyers and sellers) get hurt.
NancyBoySF
February 26, 2009 at 12:49 pm
The old saying; “You get what you pay for,” still stands. Redfin’s claims to rebate the consumer, but paying $1.50 for something worth a buck to get $.25 back is not a real savings nor is it real service.
Redfin Real Estate does little for buyer or seller.
Buyers who do their own work and overpays to get their discount could’ve saved money by using an experienced agent who knows the market. Same goes for Sellers. The *real* statistics show 50% of Redfin’s listings never sell. 40% sell substantially below asking and only 10% actually get their price and those stats come were done before the real estate market tanked.
If I were a venture capitalist, I’d be looking to cut my losses now… Oops, too late.
Barbara Finnley
December 19, 2010 at 10:13 pm
I am scared of REDFIN