The former adviser and founder of Candid Money argued that an absence of negative reviews on the site made it “seem a bit one-sided”.
Responding to a question from a visitor to his website, Mr Modray said: “The number of advisers participating is small and since I couldn’t find any negative reviews it all seems a bit one-sided. But then maybe that’s not surprising, VouchedFor makes money by selling leads to IFAs, so it’s in neither the site’s nor the advisers’ interests to publish negative reviews.”
However, Adam Price, founder of VouchedFor, insisted that the site did publish negative reviews, but pointed out that not all clients would feel comfortable criticising an individual adviser in the same way as they might criticise a faceless organisation.
He also said it was “inevitable” that advisers pursuing a positive reputation online would encourage their clients to leave good reviews on the site.
Mr Price said: “Advisers are human beings, and it’s not the same as going on a site, such as Trip Advisor, and leaving a negative review of a company.
“But what the site shows is that so many people are willing to come out and testify positively for advisers. It’s inevitable that advisers who are engaged with client feedback will point people in the direction of our site. But we would definitely encourage people to leave negative reviews if they did not feel happy with the service they had received.”
Adviser view:
Jonathan Fry, director of London-based Jonathan Fry & Co, said: “Given the way social media is used, review sites are an inescapable part of life. The difficulty is that review sites are not policed by regulator. So they are open to manipulation by those who want to be seen in a favourable light and those who want to damage their competitor’s reputations.”
