Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
The Stupid Company: How British businesses throw away money by alienating consumers
The Stupid Company: How British businesses throw away money by alienating consumers
Although about British business in general, this reads as if it could have been written specifically about the banking industry. Published in Feb 2006, and here we are 2 years later and nothings changed
Consumers tell us there are five key ways in which companies – including some of the best-known in the UK and abroad – all too often get it wrong.
1. Inflated expectations and broken promises
The stupid company over-promises and under-delivers. All too often, businesses take a short-term perspective, focusing on today’s sale at the expense of longer-term damage to their reputation from mis-selling. Advertising sets false expectations, salesmen make wild promises and appointments are broken.
2. Sell, sell, sell
The stupid company is obsessive about making a sale. This relentless sales pitch is felt to be exhausting, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it is counter-productive. Companies neglect current customers while giving special introductory deals to new customers, even though such offers simple tend to create churn. Aggressive sales and marketing may be the result of short-term imperatives affecting not just commission-based sales staff but also marketing directors who know their tenure may be short and so try to make an instant impact.
3. Sneaky and dishonest
The stupid company believes it can succeed by misleading customers and then being underhand and evasive. Unsurprisingly, people slate companies that are seen to lie, evade and hide, or act in an underhand way. What comes as more of a shock is quite how common consumers think such behaviour is. Consumers are less likely to buy from companies they consider to be dishonest and sly, yet businesses still use confusing pricing and misleading marketing. Many companies withhold the information needed to make a proper choice, and they have unduly complex or costly systems.
4. Impersonal and robotic
The stupid company appears distant from consumers and deals with them in a clinical and sometimes uncaring manner. People detest impersonal communications, and almost everyone complains about call centres, automated telephone systems and cold calling. Consumers react particularly badly where companies do not take ownership of a problem, or where an individual enquiry is met with a computerised reply that ignores the particular circumstances.
5. Incompetent and ineffectual
The stupid company is slow moving, patronising and apparently incapable of getting the easy things right. Consumers find dealing with many companies an exasperating process. These businesses move at a glacial pace, operate systems that are hard to access, and then talk in an overly technical language. Companies do not seem to be able to put themselves in the shoes of the consumer. And, perhaps most extraordinary of all, is an apparent reluctance to sell anything, as they ignore potentially profitable markets.
Re: The Stupid Company: How British businesses throw away money by alienating consum
Companies do not seem to be able to put themselves in the shoes of the consumer.
This is particularly true yet totally surprising as they are consumers themselves.
Trading Standards wants your help
Dubious website businesses Conterfeit alcohol and cigarettes Illegal sales of alcohol, tobacco, knives & fireworks to children Cowboy builders or tradesmen Car clockers Counterfeiters Aggressive selling
Never phone or accept phonecalls from debt collection companies.
If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed.
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The Stupid Company: How British businesses throw away money by alienating consumers
. Advertising sets false expectations, salesmen make wild promises and appointments are broken.
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