CUNNING WHEEZES
Posted: 24 Feb 2012, 06:17
Here's an article I wrote before the new platform arrived. It triggered a topic and after seeing a programme last night on the iniquitous manipulation of ticket prices on C4 Dispatches it struck me that it could be a good forum to report advertising scams and other cunning wheezes.
CUNNING WHEEZES
We all have to watch the pennies these days and one of the advantages of having the sort of upbringing many of us had is that this is second nature to us. 'Making do' is a way of life and consequently we are always attracted by a bargain. The orange labels in the Co-op always attract my attention and there's nothing wrong with a BOGOF as long as it is not too perishable. I'm old enough to remember when there was a 'recommended retail price' and a bar of Sunlight soap cost the same no matter which shop you went to. The modern economists tell us that this was a bad thing as it discouraged competition but in many ways it was a stabilising influence and encouraged the use of small local shops, I think we can all remember our mothers getting the groceries at the same shop every week, building up a relationship with the shopkeeper and occasionally being rewarded by a good weight or the availability of credit on the shop book if times were hard. I don't know about you but Vera and I used to operate the same way.
Then came modern advertising, particularly on the TV. As far as the retailers were concerned it was all about market share and eventually the supermarkets took over the bulk of the trade competing with, and in many cases, driving local family-owned shops out of business. We see these fears expressed in the latest moves to introduce a large Tesco store into the town. We are told that this is good, that increased competition will drive prices down but I wonder if all is as it seems?
The modern catchword is 'convenience' and we are told that our lives are so busy nowadays, that the world is moving at a faster pace and the ability to supply all our needs in one store is a 'good thing' and an aid to modern 24x7 living. Well I'm sorry but I don't buy it. We are lucky in Barlick in that we still have family-owned businesses and a short walk round the town centre will give us some much needed exercise and with a bit of investigation will reveal many items that are cheaper than they are at the supermarket. We meet more of our friends and acquaintances as well! However, this isn't my main point, I think you all know my attitudes to supporting local traders.
Groceries aren't the only place we are offered bargains. Anyone who watches TV advertising or has used the internet will have come across the plethora of offers of everything from cheaper energy and internet access to better insurance prices and offers from banks to pay you money to switch your account to them. I saw one bank advert last week that offered £300 if you switched to them, held one of their mortgages and used their credit card. I heard a government minister telling us that high energy prices were our fault and if we changed suppliers we could save up to £300 a year. Really? One of the things that we hear time and time again from people advising us on how to detect fraudulent offers is that if it sounds too good to be true it's usually a scam. I think we ought to be using this principle when we look at 'special' or 'introductory' offers.
Many of these so-called bargains involve entering into a fixed term contract with the provider. These often involve taking a 'package' which at first glance contains all that you need and is indeed cheaper than what you have been paying to your previous variety of suppliers. I think this is where you have to start asking questions. How long does the introductory offer last? Is there anything in the pages of small print which very few people read or understand that could lead to down the line increases or penalties? Do you really want to be locked into one contract, does this have implications for the quality of customer service because once you are a captive customer you don't have to be wooed into staying. Another buzzword is 'choice' but when you think about it you have reduced your choice if you lock yourself in.
There was a time when these major suppliers could be trusted. They were easily accessible in case of complaint and the general impression was that they were honest dealers, concerned with keeping your custom and relying on personal contact to maintain a good relationship. We all knew our local bank manager, we could talk to the staff in the electricity or gas showrooms, we paid our rates across the counter to a lady in the Town Hall on Jepp Hill. It was human scale, friendly and accessible. Consider what happens today, if you can manage to speak to anyone it is often a young person in a call centre, not necessarily in this country, who knows nothing about you, your life or even your locality apart from the details in front of them on a computer screen. Properly managed this can be an efficient if impersonal way of getting action but if, as in so many cases, it is under-staffed and under pressure it can be torture.
I think you are getting my drift, these 'bargains' might not be quite what they seem. This raises a further question, why is it that the businesses no longer seem to have any respect or consideration for us. What has changed? Surely the basic principles of good service leading to customer loyalty are still uppermost in in the business mind? Sadly I think that those days are gone and we would do well to recognise that the motives driving these big firms have changed. Ethics and morality seem to have withered, market share and profit are the only things that matter. Every one of these businesses has a 'Department of Cunning Wheezes' but they don't call it that, it's called marketing. Their job is to dream up offers which on the surface look too attractive to ignore but which are designed in the long run to squeeze more profit out of the customer. The incentive for this is the 'performance bonus' at the end of the year given to whoever has attracted the most new business. The shareholders can't be expected to police the activities of their board because they get a share in the form of a bigger dividend. So my advice is to be aware, read the small print, question the down the line costs and avoid getting locked into contracts which may not prove to be as attractive as they looked in the original offer. Remember the department of Cunning Wheezes!
There are some free offers around if you keep your eyes open. I didn't realise until yesterday that the tree next to the flower bed in Valley Gardens is a Walnut, there's another outside Barlic Bite in Albert Road as well. This is a genuine something-for-nothing offer. Don't miss it!
SCG/23/09/11
CUNNING WHEEZES
We all have to watch the pennies these days and one of the advantages of having the sort of upbringing many of us had is that this is second nature to us. 'Making do' is a way of life and consequently we are always attracted by a bargain. The orange labels in the Co-op always attract my attention and there's nothing wrong with a BOGOF as long as it is not too perishable. I'm old enough to remember when there was a 'recommended retail price' and a bar of Sunlight soap cost the same no matter which shop you went to. The modern economists tell us that this was a bad thing as it discouraged competition but in many ways it was a stabilising influence and encouraged the use of small local shops, I think we can all remember our mothers getting the groceries at the same shop every week, building up a relationship with the shopkeeper and occasionally being rewarded by a good weight or the availability of credit on the shop book if times were hard. I don't know about you but Vera and I used to operate the same way.
Then came modern advertising, particularly on the TV. As far as the retailers were concerned it was all about market share and eventually the supermarkets took over the bulk of the trade competing with, and in many cases, driving local family-owned shops out of business. We see these fears expressed in the latest moves to introduce a large Tesco store into the town. We are told that this is good, that increased competition will drive prices down but I wonder if all is as it seems?
The modern catchword is 'convenience' and we are told that our lives are so busy nowadays, that the world is moving at a faster pace and the ability to supply all our needs in one store is a 'good thing' and an aid to modern 24x7 living. Well I'm sorry but I don't buy it. We are lucky in Barlick in that we still have family-owned businesses and a short walk round the town centre will give us some much needed exercise and with a bit of investigation will reveal many items that are cheaper than they are at the supermarket. We meet more of our friends and acquaintances as well! However, this isn't my main point, I think you all know my attitudes to supporting local traders.
Groceries aren't the only place we are offered bargains. Anyone who watches TV advertising or has used the internet will have come across the plethora of offers of everything from cheaper energy and internet access to better insurance prices and offers from banks to pay you money to switch your account to them. I saw one bank advert last week that offered £300 if you switched to them, held one of their mortgages and used their credit card. I heard a government minister telling us that high energy prices were our fault and if we changed suppliers we could save up to £300 a year. Really? One of the things that we hear time and time again from people advising us on how to detect fraudulent offers is that if it sounds too good to be true it's usually a scam. I think we ought to be using this principle when we look at 'special' or 'introductory' offers.
Many of these so-called bargains involve entering into a fixed term contract with the provider. These often involve taking a 'package' which at first glance contains all that you need and is indeed cheaper than what you have been paying to your previous variety of suppliers. I think this is where you have to start asking questions. How long does the introductory offer last? Is there anything in the pages of small print which very few people read or understand that could lead to down the line increases or penalties? Do you really want to be locked into one contract, does this have implications for the quality of customer service because once you are a captive customer you don't have to be wooed into staying. Another buzzword is 'choice' but when you think about it you have reduced your choice if you lock yourself in.
There was a time when these major suppliers could be trusted. They were easily accessible in case of complaint and the general impression was that they were honest dealers, concerned with keeping your custom and relying on personal contact to maintain a good relationship. We all knew our local bank manager, we could talk to the staff in the electricity or gas showrooms, we paid our rates across the counter to a lady in the Town Hall on Jepp Hill. It was human scale, friendly and accessible. Consider what happens today, if you can manage to speak to anyone it is often a young person in a call centre, not necessarily in this country, who knows nothing about you, your life or even your locality apart from the details in front of them on a computer screen. Properly managed this can be an efficient if impersonal way of getting action but if, as in so many cases, it is under-staffed and under pressure it can be torture.
I think you are getting my drift, these 'bargains' might not be quite what they seem. This raises a further question, why is it that the businesses no longer seem to have any respect or consideration for us. What has changed? Surely the basic principles of good service leading to customer loyalty are still uppermost in in the business mind? Sadly I think that those days are gone and we would do well to recognise that the motives driving these big firms have changed. Ethics and morality seem to have withered, market share and profit are the only things that matter. Every one of these businesses has a 'Department of Cunning Wheezes' but they don't call it that, it's called marketing. Their job is to dream up offers which on the surface look too attractive to ignore but which are designed in the long run to squeeze more profit out of the customer. The incentive for this is the 'performance bonus' at the end of the year given to whoever has attracted the most new business. The shareholders can't be expected to police the activities of their board because they get a share in the form of a bigger dividend. So my advice is to be aware, read the small print, question the down the line costs and avoid getting locked into contracts which may not prove to be as attractive as they looked in the original offer. Remember the department of Cunning Wheezes!
There are some free offers around if you keep your eyes open. I didn't realise until yesterday that the tree next to the flower bed in Valley Gardens is a Walnut, there's another outside Barlic Bite in Albert Road as well. This is a genuine something-for-nothing offer. Don't miss it!
SCG/23/09/11