John Tanner, a sole trader based in Bath, told Mortgage Introducer that many of the leads he had received were ‘time wasters’ and out of 38 leads he had received business from six, despite paaleads.com stating an average conversion rate of one in three.
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He was also particularly frustrated by its refunds policy. On two leads he obtained via paaleads.com’s bidding system, he attempted to contact the leads using the telephone numbers provided, leaving messages and contacting them via e-mail. On failing to receive a response from either, he requested a refund.
Yet, while he was refunded one lead, the second was refused on the basis that it could not be proven the information given was incorrect or fictitious.
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Tanner said: “I can’t afford to be spending my time and money on non-productive leads.
The refund policy appears to me unfair and in some cases arbitrarily applied.
“I thought paaleads was a good option to build my business but I feel as though it is out to offload as many leads as possible without any thought for their quality or for the brokers attempting to use those leads to build a business.”
However, he admitted a few of the leads he had received were good and been profitable.
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Dave Mathews, general manager for moneysupermarket.com, paaleads.com’s parent company, commented: “We pride ourselves on our transparency. We’re the only company that publishes our conversion rates and we’re entirely open about where the leads come from.
“I’m disappointed this particular individual is not happy or getting the conversion rate he would like. Of course, the conversion rates we publish are an average and the variable is the adviser themselves.”
