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Everyday Ageism

Old people don’t use the internet?

(138 Posts)
sarahcyn Sun 13-Jun-21 12:07:59

A local estate agent told my client the other day: “you house isn’t selling because older people who might be interested don’t go online.”
Hello? My husband and I have a serious Rightmove addiction!

BlueBelle Thu 14-May-26 18:25:19

This thread is five years old !

Albert1989 Thu 14-May-26 18:22:22

I'm 36. I grew up in poor environment and in poor family. My first internet i got in 2010; using simple buttonphone.
What is interesting, i prefer button phone even today)
Computer i got in my 23 years, in 2012...
Older people use internet too, i think. Just they are more conservative (i feel it about myself since my 30 years, even earlier - i always was old-fashioned)

Cossy Mon 12-Aug-24 20:35:05

How very rude and ridiculously ageist and untrue.

I’d have given him a “how very dare you” lecture and shown him Gransnet, then “sacked” him and found someone who could market my home properly and give me accurate feedback!

ferry23 Mon 12-Aug-24 20:30:54

Jackiest

Everyone answering here obviously uses the internet. So we are not getting a true idea of how many people do not use the internet.

And I guess the moral of that is don't ask on the internet if people use the internet. grin

Jackiest Mon 12-Aug-24 18:53:17

Everyone answering here obviously uses the internet. So we are not getting a true idea of how many people do not use the internet.

Norah Mon 12-Aug-24 18:49:30

winterwhite

Well if we use GN of course we use the internet. We're self-selecting. Plenty of people wouldn't expect to use it for house buying. Nothing odd about that. We needn't bite people's heads off.

Innit so? We're on the internet

However, I'd not dream to buy a home on the internet. I'd have a look with the EA help person or her assistant for myself.

Labradora Mon 12-Aug-24 18:47:36

ferry23

Steve Jobs was born in 1955. As was Bill Gates.

I say no more

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Quite !!!!!!!

Witzend Mon 12-Aug-24 18:38:12

Chestnut

Some estate agents are unbelievable poor. Last time I purchased I really needed the room sizes and they hadn't even bothered to go and measure up and post the room plan! It was like trying to get blood out of a stone to get information from them.

Never mind asking about ‘minor details’ like the length of a lease!
‘Ooh, I don’t know, I’ll have to check…’.

Happened to me several times! TBH I wouldn’t swear that they even knew what a lease was!
I know this doesn’t apply to all EAs, some are very professional, but there are more than enough of the clueless type.

Purplepixie Mon 12-Aug-24 18:35:08

Yeah, we are so doddery!!!!! What a stupid thing to say.

ferry23 Mon 12-Aug-24 18:34:10

Steve Jobs was born in 1955. As was Bill Gates.

I say no more

Labradora Mon 12-Aug-24 18:32:33

Change the Estate Agent.
Like many on here I suspect I was computer literate until 2017 when I retired to a reasonably high? administrative level( email, outlook, word, excel spreadsheets, online "groups"; telecons; videocons etc) simply because I had no choice because my workplace demanded it.
I have forgotten some but not all of it.
We all bank online these days don't we ? and text ; and email.
You should as a parting gift summarise these posts and let Mr Lazy and possibly Mr Incompetent have a look-see.

ChrishPatricia Mon 12-Aug-24 14:44:51

That’s a strange comment from the estate agent! Plenty of older people, like you and your husband, are online all the time—especially on sites like Rightmove. Maybe it’s worth getting a second opinion or talking about better ways to market the house to everyone, no matter their age.

winterwhite Thu 18-Jul-24 18:58:56

Well if we use GN of course we use the internet. We're self-selecting. Plenty of people wouldn't expect to use it for house buying. Nothing odd about that. We needn't bite people's heads off.

madeleine45 Thu 18-Jul-24 18:52:29

So that is him off my list of places to check out. I might also let some of the people in the houses he has for sale know that he has this attitude. ! I have moved about 19 times and abroad etc. Once I sent details of what I was looking for to an estate agent of the area we were interested in. We then sold our house for cash and went to the area to have a look around. Looked in the window of this agent and there was a house that filled our requirements. I went in and checked that the house was still for sale , and then asked them to check my details and what I had asked them to look out for. Then pointed out that this house would have fitted our requirements and asked why I had not been informed. The man said that as I was not selling a house through them they did not send us the details before informing other people who were selling with them. I was annoyed enough to inform him that we were now a cash buyer, and also wrote a note informing the owners of the house as to what had happened and that they had lost a sale. We had found another house that suited us but of course when we moved again we did not use that estate agent As to computer use, I ran one of the first computerised telecommunications system in the country. So a month ago when I went into a shop to look at various things for the computer this man came up to me and asked if I knew how to turn it on!!! I asked him if he wanted me to explain it to him in portuguese, arabic, welsh , german or french. He did have the grace to blush but I left to go elsewhere and also advised my friends not to use that business. At the lowest level do they not remind the staff that old or not our money is what they would like and if they wish to remain in business they should remember that!

Dickens Thu 23-May-24 20:00:14

varian

I started using computers in 1964, so possibly before that estate agent was born.

I was just about to say the same thing.

We were there when the whole thing took off - at the birth of the internet, etc.

... I remember holding discs the size of an old 78 record in my hand to programme the first computers for use in an office.

Silly estate agent person - he was probably still a twinkle in his dad's eye when I was messing around with the first office computers, etc, not even in nappies...

Coolgran65 Thu 23-May-24 18:49:24

I'm 75 and use the computer for everything.

Norah Thu 23-May-24 17:12:19

Here we are, a year later, still on our laptops - still on the internet!

This is an old post. Right move (?) likely still exists.

LottieLouise Thu 23-May-24 17:05:15

I do wish Gransnet would get an Edit platform.

I also have a tablet, smart watch and smartphone and wireless earbuds, Alexa Echo Dots and giant TV which are all linked and voice activated.

LottieLouise Thu 23-May-24 17:02:37

That is age discrimination. I am 81 years old and computer literate. I do online banking, order everything online (yes I can get absolutely everything I want or need online, unlike the stores in town where I am always told to go online there is more choice there).

Fernbergien Thu 23-May-24 16:56:19

Been using computers on and off since 1958. Worked for Ministry. Love my iPad.

Cossy Thu 23-May-24 14:23:36

How very rude, patronising and wrong is he! Shall we all send him an email 😂😂😂

madeleine45 Thu 23-May-24 14:18:35

Definitely change the estate agent! The attitude is disgraceful and also being used as an excuse for making no effort!!

pascal30 Wed 03-Apr-24 11:34:08

I don't know how I managed to get on here!!!

Esmay Wed 03-Apr-24 10:14:19

What a creep !
Of course , you can use a computer .
I had the downtalk last week , because I'd been given the wrong email address .
Did I know how to send emails ?
Please get someone else to sell the property .
I had a lot of rudeness from a guy , who'd decided that my father's house was for sale and he wanted it at a knockdown price !
I was so shocked .

luluaugust Wed 03-Apr-24 08:32:24

If your client is desperate to sell why don’t they auction the property. Yes I pads I phones here and one of us over 80. There have been computers in this house for ever