On 03/11/2020 10:52, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,


So 5 months to learn how to and service trucks? Before moving into
management?



Happens a lot in industry graduate schemes ... show the schoolboy
around departments for a few weeks then make him a manager.

On 03/11/2020 11:44, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
No its inept administration. I've seen it on Virgin Media, BT, and many
others. We used to call it the left hand not knowing what the right hand is
doing, but it goes one stage further, the people who cocked up don't believe
the customer actually knows more than they do.
Brian



I do think this is the case.

There is a next 'step' After several calls with them, and then
explaining if they are convinced they had never done any work on my
account, then lets cancel the contract.
They then agreed as a 'customer gesture' to proceed with the fault call
out ....

I get an email with Engineer details ... he calls me about 30 min later
..... and this is again amusing (Esther Rantzen material) ... he asks
loads of technical Q's on boiler, then advises as its more than 8 year
old I would be better installing a new one. I declined and said I would
like breakdown call please.
He then added, I haven't done work for them for a while they take too
long to pay, so I'm turning this job down. !!

I called "Your Repair" ... prompt answer out of Hrs which was good
..... explained the conversation, to then be told job should not have
gone to him, we stopped using him 2 years ago. !!
They will give the job to another engineer

30 min later I get an email - as an engineer they hadn't sent had
carried out service they are rejecting call out - ticket closed.

I went back on-line raised a new ticket - explained this had been
approved by Management .... and a new ticket get get approved, and
engineer dispatched.


So this whole scenario including 'Phantom Service' could just be down to
shoddy admin. Certainly seem to not talk to each other, or have good
system for tracking.

rick wrote:

He then added, I haven't done work for them for a while they take too
long to pay,
The female engineer will probably think the same

On 02/11/2020 13:22, rick wrote:
snip

she did advise where she lived .....

Have you tried putting where she said she lived into the Gas Safe search
for domestic engineers and seeing who comes up?






--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 03/11/2020 13:00, rick wrote:
snip
So this whole scenario including 'Phantom Service' could just be down to
shoddy admin.Â* Certainly seem to not talk to each other, or have good
system for tracking.

That could well be a result of their having grown faster than expected
because they have a better offer than competitors - so cock-up rather
than conspiracy.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 03/11/2020 10:49, John Rumm wrote:


While uniformed conjecture can be fun, it does tend to draw one to less
than accurate conclusions.

Not wishing to spoil anyone's cynicism party, but it's worth noting its
not difficult to go look up the actual data instead.

A whois record check on the domain will find it was registered in 2013.

If you look at the bottom of their web page you will find the registered
company details, so can then go look them up on the companies house web
site. At which point you will find they have made up accounts and a 5
year trading history, with a move to profit in about 2017, and
consistent growth over the last couple of trading years. The average
number of employees for the 2017-18 year was 9, and last year that had
risen to 16. So it seems like its going to be getting rather cosy in
that back bedroom.


Hey, it is 2021. Who needs facts?

:-)

Going slightly OT, isn't it mildly ironic that just when Boris seems to
be beginning to do things right, and have a semi-coherent policy on
Covid-19, the loony right is turning on him.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...otect-RAF.html

On 03/11/2020 12:42, rick wrote:
On 03/11/2020 10:49, John Rumm wrote:


If you look at the bottom of their web page you will find the
registered company details, so can then go look them up on the
companies house web site. At which point you will find they have made
up accounts and a 5 year trading history, with a move to profit in
about 2017, and consistent growth over the last couple of trading
years. The average number of employees for the 2017-18 year was 9, and
last year that had risen to 16. So it seems like its going to be
getting rather cosy in that back bedroom.

I did look at comparison sites and review sites before going to them, it
was an informed decision (on my part anyway)

I was not questioning the choice of company (they may or may not be good
- I have no experience with them). I just found all the prattle
suggesting the organisation was a scam or a "bedroom operation" was a
bit tiresome since it was pretty evident that no one had actually
bothered doing any research!


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 03/11/2020 13:00, rick wrote:
On 03/11/2020 11:44, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
No its inept administration. I've seen it on Virgin Media, BT,Â* and many
others. We used to call it the left hand not knowing what the right
hand is
doing, but it goes one stage further, the people who cocked up don't
believe
the customer actually knows more than they do.
Â* Brian



I do think this is the case.

There is a next 'step'Â*Â*Â* After several calls with them, and then
explaining if they are convinced they had never done any work on my
account, then lets cancel the contract.
They then agreed as a 'customer gesture' to proceed with the fault call
out ....

I get an email with Engineer details ... he calls me about 30 min later
..... and this is again amusingÂ* (Esther Rantzen material) ... he asks
loads of technical Q's on boiler, then advises as its more than 8 year
old I would be better installing a new one.Â* I declined and said I would
like breakdown call please.
He then added, I haven't done work for them for a while they take too
long to pay, so I'm turning this job down.Â*Â*Â* !!

I calledÂ* "Your Repair"Â* ... prompt answer out of Hrs which was good
..... explained the conversation, to then be told job should notÂ* have
gone to him, we stopped using him 2 years ago.Â* !!
They will give the job to another engineer

30 min later I get an email - as an engineer they hadn't sent had
carried out service they are rejecting call out - ticket closed.

I went back on-line raised a new ticket - explained this had been
approved by Management .... and a new ticket get get approved, and
engineer dispatched.


So this whole scenario including 'Phantom Service' could just be down to
shoddy admin.Â* Certainly seem to not talk to each other, or have good
system for tracking.

Did they not have any record at all of the first report you made on
their web site?

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Tuesday, 3 November 2020 10:49:40 UTC, John Rumm wrote:
The average number of employees for the 2017-18 year was 9, and
last year that had risen to 16. So it seems like its going to
be getting rather cosy in that back bedroom.


I expect they all work from home in their own back bedrooms.

Owain

On 03/11/2020 13:06, Andy Burns wrote:
rick wrote:

He then added, I haven't done work for them for a while they take too
long to pay,
The female engineer will probably think the same


probably right there :-)

On 03/11/2020 16:46, John Rumm wrote:


Did they not have any record at all of the first report you made on
their web site?

The first report was me putting in a fault call last week - which was
after the service - they have that, just no knowledge of service.

I did ask when do you expect to do service then - when they are quiet.

On 03/11/2020 14:41, Robin wrote:
On 03/11/2020 13:00, rick wrote:
snip
So this whole scenario including 'Phantom Service' could just be down
to shoddy admin.Â* Certainly seem to not talk to each other, or have
good system for tracking.

That could well be a result of their having grown faster than expected
because they have a better offer than competitors - so cock-up rather
than conspiracy.

Indeed, it does seem fairly unlikely that a GS contractor is going to
randomly cold call folks hoping to hit someone with a contract with
these people, then come do some work on spec, all while knowing they
will have no mechanism to actually get paid!


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 03/11/2020 12:42, rick wrote:
On 03/11/2020 10:49, John Rumm wrote:


If you look at the bottom of their web page you will find the registered company
details, so can then go look them up on the companies house web site. At which point
you will find they have made up accounts and a 5 year trading history, with a move to
profit in about 2017, and consistent growth over the last couple of trading years.
The average number of employees for the 2017-18 year was 9, and last year that had
risen to 16. So it seems like its going to be getting rather cosy in that back
bedroom.

I did look at comparison sites and review sites before going to them, it was an
informed decision (on my part anyway)

I was not questioning the choice of company (they may or may not be good - I have no
experience with them). I just found all the prattle suggesting the organisation was a
scam or a "bedroom operation" was a bit tiresome since it was pretty evident that no
one had actually bothered doing any research!

In my original post I stated the following

" She doesn't work for Your Repair don't forget,.She's presumably self employed
She'd "been requested" by them to do the service. Maybe she mostly works
for other contractors and this was her first job for Your Repair. And she didn't
follow the correct procedure which differs from the others after completeing
the job."

Nothing I've read in this thread - the OP's experience in particular leads
me to believe it couldn't still be being run from a bedroom. !6 employees or
not. And neither do I automatically associate bedroom operations with
scams, and nowhere in this thread have I suggested that it was. Which would,
as you are doubtless aware, be defamatory were it shown to be false,
and lay myself or anyone else making such claims, open to legal recourse.


michael adams

....

"newshound" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 03/11/2020 10:49, John Rumm wrote:


While uniformed conjecture can be fun, it does tend to draw one to less than accurate
conclusions.

Not wishing to spoil anyone's cynicism party, but it's worth noting its not difficult
to go look up the actual data instead.

A whois record check on the domain will find it was registered in 2013.

If you look at the bottom of their web page you will find the registered company
details, so can then go look them up on the companies house web site. At which point
you will find they have made up accounts and a 5 year trading history, with a move to
profit in about 2017, and consistent growth over the last couple of trading years. The
average number of employees for the 2017-18 year was 9, and last year that had risen
to 16. So it seems like its going to be getting rather cosy in that back bedroom.


Hey, it is 2021. Who needs facts?

The OP's initial experience with "YourRepair" speaks for itself.

No amount of research or additional "facts" is going to alter that.

:-)

Going slightly OT, isn't it mildly ironic that just when Boris seems to be beginning to
do things right, and have a semi-coherent policy on Covid-19, the loony right is
turning on him.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/a...otect-RAF.html

The "loony right" are the ones who have never been in favour of masks
or restrictions on personal freedom (to infect other people), from day one.


michael adams

....

On 04/11/2020 00:45, michael adams wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 03/11/2020 12:42, rick wrote:
On 03/11/2020 10:49, John Rumm wrote:


If you look at the bottom of their web page you will find the registered company
details, so can then go look them up on the companies house web site. At which point
you will find they have made up accounts and a 5 year trading history, with a move to
profit in about 2017, and consistent growth over the last couple of trading years.
The average number of employees for the 2017-18 year was 9, and last year that had
risen to 16. So it seems like its going to be getting rather cosy in that back
bedroom.

I did look at comparison sites and review sites before going to them, it was an
informed decision (on my part anyway)

I was not questioning the choice of company (they may or may not be good - I have no
experience with them). I just found all the prattle suggesting the organisation was a
scam or a "bedroom operation" was a bit tiresome since it was pretty evident that no
one had actually bothered doing any research!

In my original post I stated the following

" She doesn't work for Your Repair don't forget,.She's presumably self employed
She'd "been requested" by them to do the service. Maybe she mostly works
for other contractors and this was her first job for Your Repair. And she didn't
follow the correct procedure which differs from the others after completeing
the job."

Nothing I've read in this thread - the OP's experience in particular leads
me to believe it couldn't still be being run from a bedroom. !6 employees or
not. And neither do I automatically associate bedroom operations with
scams, and nowhere in this thread have I suggested that it was. Which would,
as you are doubtless aware, be defamatory were it shown to be false,
and lay myself or anyone else making such claims, open to legal recourse.

IANAL, but I believe you are free to state an opinion that you hold and
be free of risk of litigation. Its a different matter if you state
something that proves to be defamatory as a "fact".

I note however that you did state "the big problem with *this as with
almost all such surefire get rich quick schemes* is actually attracting
customers." [my emphasis]. That seemed to strongly imply that you were
claiming the company is a "get rich quick scheme" - a phrase not usually
interpreted with a positive connotations, but perhaps I misread it.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 04/11/2020 00:45, michael adams wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 03/11/2020 12:42, rick wrote:
On 03/11/2020 10:49, John Rumm wrote:


If you look at the bottom of their web page you will find the registered company
details, so can then go look them up on the companies house web site. At which
point
you will find they have made up accounts and a 5 year trading history, with a move
to
profit in about 2017, and consistent growth over the last couple of trading years.
The average number of employees for the 2017-18 year was 9, and last year that had
risen to 16. So it seems like its going to be getting rather cosy in that back
bedroom.

I did look at comparison sites and review sites before going to them, it was an
informed decision (on my part anyway)

I was not questioning the choice of company (they may or may not be good - I have no
experience with them). I just found all the prattle suggesting the organisation was a
scam or a "bedroom operation" was a bit tiresome since it was pretty evident that no
one had actually bothered doing any research!

In my original post I stated the following

" She doesn't work for Your Repair don't forget,.She's presumably self employed
She'd "been requested" by them to do the service. Maybe she mostly works
for other contractors and this was her first job for Your Repair. And she didn't
follow the correct procedure which differs from the others after completeing
the job."

Nothing I've read in this thread - the OP's experience in particular leads
me to believe it couldn't still be being run from a bedroom. !6 employees or
not. And neither do I automatically associate bedroom operations with
scams, and nowhere in this thread have I suggested that it was. Which would,
as you are doubtless aware, be defamatory were it shown to be false,
and lay myself or anyone else making such claims, open to legal recourse.

IANAL, but I believe you are free to state an opinion that you hold and be free of risk
of litigation. Its a different matter if you state something that proves to be
defamatory as a "fact".

I note however that you did state "the big problem with *this as with almost all such
surefire get rich quick schemes* is actually attracting customers." [my emphasis]. That
seemed to strongly imply that you were claiming the company is a "get rich quick
scheme" - a phrase not usually interpreted with a positive connotations, but perhaps I
misread it.

The business plan as I outlined it should they succeed in getting sufficient
customers would indeed be a *get-rich-quick scheme". They don't need to cheat
anyone. They're simply agents taking a percentage in linking prospective
customers who are unaware of the Gas Safe Register, with Gas Safe Registerd
engineers. What could be simpler ? Now what *would* be interesting would be
knowing how they attracted those initial customers. Paying to have their Google
ranking tweaked in some way perhaps ?
The one point you *didn't* pick up I notice was my reference to their possibly
using "fake reviews" initially. However fake reviews would be of little use to
scammers. As the first thing you'd imagine anyone attracted by those reviews
would do when scammed would be to themselves post a damning review.
And presumably there's always CC chargebacks sufficient of which would soon
lose them their CC merchant accreditation

Talking of reviews. All of *your" research comprised of finding out information
which YouRepair provided about themselves. Which is fair enough. Whereas all
of *my* research comprised of finding out what *other people* said about
them.

And as it didn't make every good reading I declined to post it. On the grounds
of not wanting to cause anyone unnecessary embarrassment. Nothing suggests
dishonesty as such at all. Just people exploiting a business opportunity
to the full, attracting customers unaccustomed to reading the small print
The perfectly legal, "Virgin" model, in other words. And they're, YouRepair.
maybe getting in over their heads.


So that page 1 of this review site, which is unfiltered and thus sorted by date

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-re...ilters%5B0%5D=

Suggests Your Repair gets glowing reviews. However reading further down the
page brings up the second 1 star review from Monica Waldok

quote

I star
For asking for a review on a 12 month support contract that is literally
10 minutes old ?? Doesn't bode well if this company is misleadingly racking
up reviews based on customers' experience of merely spending their money and
setting up an account?

quote

So without going to the trouble of counting them all, many/most of their 5
star reviews appear to have been solicited by "YouRepair" within 10 minutes of
customers signing up. The number of such customers posting reviews within a
certain timeframe may indeed suggest they're going to need maybe more than
one phone in that bedroom.

Filtering to display only 1 or 2 star reviews paints a pretty dismal picture
I'm afraid.

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-re...ng%5D%5B0%5D=1

Again all totally above board, and maybe par for the course. So its basically
money for old rope, gone bad. With a lot of staff time apparently being devoted
to responding to negative reviews in a hopefully convoking way. That dept being
located in the front room, maybe.


michael adams

....

In article , michael adams
writes

Harry Bloomfield; "Esq." wrote in message
...
It happens that ARW formulated :
So you let a woman service your gas boiler?

I think some women can be just as practical and capable as men, its
just their
upbringing that makes the difference and they way they are not
expected to do practical
work that holds them back. I have met many useless males, when it
comes to anything
practical.

The Queen serviced Army Lorries during the war, reputedly. No doubt
she'd no longer be up to the heavy work, but she could probably
still drive the van.

michael adams

All stand

https://mashable.com/2015/04/22/quee...y/?europe=true

...


She had Series Land Rover for years.
--
bert

In article , rick
writes
On 03/11/2020 16:46, John Rumm wrote:

Did they not have any record at all of the first report you made on
their web site?

The first report was me putting in a fault call last week - which was
after the service - they have that, just no knowledge of service.

I did ask when do you expect to do service then - when they are quiet.
Take it up with Ofgem.
--
bert

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
michael adams wrote:
The Queen serviced Army Lorries during the war, reputedly. No doubt
she'd no longer be up to the heavy work, but she could probably
still drive the van.

I've (as a kid) certainly seen her driving a Land Rover at Balmoral. ISTR
she rather liked the early versions long after they were updated.

The Queen never struck me as being particularly interested in luxuries
of any kind. In fact she appears quite abstemious for a woman of her
considerable wealth. But then at the time she was born her father
was never expected to become King in any case, and so the
expectations were lower during her early childhood.

The Queen Mum on the other hand, later made up for it all, what
with all the off-licence bills and bookmakers accounts. Allegedly.


michael adams

....

In article ,
michael adams wrote:
The Queen Mum on the other hand, later made up for it all, what
with all the off-licence bills and bookmakers accounts. Allegedly.

Can't really see the queen mum nipping down the offy for her Gordons,
somehow.

--
*War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 04/11/2020 04:43, michael adams wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 04/11/2020 00:45, michael adams wrote:
"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 03/11/2020 12:42, rick wrote:
On 03/11/2020 10:49, John Rumm wrote:


If you look at the bottom of their web page you will find the registered company
details, so can then go look them up on the companies house web site. At which
point
you will find they have made up accounts and a 5 year trading history, with a move
to
profit in about 2017, and consistent growth over the last couple of trading years.
The average number of employees for the 2017-18 year was 9, and last year that had
risen to 16. So it seems like its going to be getting rather cosy in that back
bedroom.

I did look at comparison sites and review sites before going to them, it was an
informed decision (on my part anyway)

I was not questioning the choice of company (they may or may not be good - I have no
experience with them). I just found all the prattle suggesting the organisation was a
scam or a "bedroom operation" was a bit tiresome since it was pretty evident that no
one had actually bothered doing any research!

In my original post I stated the following

" She doesn't work for Your Repair don't forget,.She's presumably self employed
She'd "been requested" by them to do the service. Maybe she mostly works
for other contractors and this was her first job for Your Repair. And she didn't
follow the correct procedure which differs from the others after completeing
the job."

Nothing I've read in this thread - the OP's experience in particular leads
me to believe it couldn't still be being run from a bedroom. !6 employees or
not. And neither do I automatically associate bedroom operations with
scams, and nowhere in this thread have I suggested that it was. Which would,
as you are doubtless aware, be defamatory were it shown to be false,
and lay myself or anyone else making such claims, open to legal recourse.

IANAL, but I believe you are free to state an opinion that you hold and be free of risk
of litigation. Its a different matter if you state something that proves to be
defamatory as a "fact".

I note however that you did state "the big problem with *this as with almost all such
surefire get rich quick schemes* is actually attracting customers." [my emphasis]. That
seemed to strongly imply that you were claiming the company is a "get rich quick
scheme" - a phrase not usually interpreted with a positive connotations, but perhaps I
misread it.

The business plan as I outlined it should they succeed in getting sufficient
customers would indeed be a *get-rich-quick scheme".

We obviously have a very different understandings of the phrase then,
which I would take as being a scheme that promises a substantial income
with little or no effort and risk.

Any enterprise that requires years to build, needs substatial capital
investment, and requires the employment of many staff does not seem to
fit that profile on either the effort or risk criteria.

They don't need to cheat
anyone. They're simply agents taking a percentage in linking prospective
customers who are unaware of the Gas Safe Register, with Gas Safe Registerd
engineers.

You seem to be assuming that simply having access to the GS register in
some way devalues the business proposition, which is nonsense. Having a
list of local gas contractors is not the same as having a 24/7 facility
get a problem fixed, and have someone do else all the leg work for you.

What could be simpler ?

If you think a business opportunity is an easy road to riches, then go
and actually build it first, then come back and tell us how simple it was.

Now what *would* be interesting would be
knowing how they attracted those initial customers. Paying to have their Google
ranking tweaked in some way perhaps ?

Quite possibly - its called search engine optimisation and advertising.
Something many businesses need to spend significant amounts of time and
money on.

The one point you *didn't* pick up I notice was my reference to their possibly
using "fake reviews" initially.

I agree that in general there are tones of fake and "paid for" reviews
out there, but do you have specific reason to believe that is the case
here?

However fake reviews would be of little use to
scammers. As the first thing you'd imagine anyone attracted by those reviews
would do when scammed would be to themselves post a damning review.
And presumably there's always CC chargebacks sufficient of which would soon
lose them their CC merchant accreditation

So since they are still here 5 years later, and growing, does that
reassure you they are not scammers then?

Talking of reviews. All of *your" research comprised of finding out information
which YouRepair provided about themselves. Which is fair enough.

I looking at the audited accounts on the companies house web site and
checked the nominet records for the domain name. I would not really
class those as things "they" provided as such.

Remember I am not passing comment on their quality of service or
customer satisfaction or even their basic competency, since I had never
heard of the firm, used them, or for that matter have any reason to
need the services of such a firm anyway.

I was not even singling out your post in particular either, it was just
one of many that appeared to be inventing a whole narrative based on
conjecture.

Whereas all
of *my* research comprised of finding out what *other people* said about
them.

Research, that is addressing question of "is the quality of the service
they provide any good", and not the point I was addressing about whether
they were a fly by night operation running a scam.

And as it didn't make every good reading I declined to post it. On the grounds
of not wanting to cause anyone unnecessary embarrassment. Nothing suggests
dishonesty as such at all. Just people exploiting a business opportunity
to the full, attracting customers unaccustomed to reading the small print
The perfectly legal, "Virgin" model, in other words. And they're, YouRepair.
maybe getting in over their heads.


So that page 1 of this review site, which is unfiltered and thus sorted by date

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-re...ilters%5B0%5D=

Suggests Your Repair gets glowing reviews. However reading further down the
page brings up the second 1 star review from Monica Waldok

Find me a review site for *any* business with with 1000s of reviews that
does not have a proportion of 1 star reviews...

(and how do you know how many of are fake or malicious?)

Filtering to display only 1 or 2 star reviews paints a pretty dismal picture
I'm afraid.

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-re...ng%5D%5B0%5D=1

Again all totally above board, and maybe par for the course. So its basically
money for old rope, gone bad.

Having operated service and consulting businesses for most of my working
life I would argue that its very unlikely to be "money for old rope".

As to whether it has "gone bad" or not, I have no opinion, and don't
care enough to spend the time forming one.

With a lot of staff time apparently being devoted
to responding to negative reviews in a hopefully convoking way. That dept being
located in the front room, maybe.

Perhaps.



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
michael adams wrote:
The Queen Mum on the other hand, later made up for it all, what
with all the off-licence bills and bookmakers accounts. Allegedly.

Can't really see the queen mum nipping down the offy for her Gordons,
somehow.

Same as with you and Jimk. She had the stuff delivered.

Only in her case they had to use a bigger lorry as it was
on pallets, They had a forklift round the back of Clarence
House which was driven buy a footman.

Just no imagination, some people.


michael michael

....

On 04/11/2020 10:35, bert wrote:
In article , rick
writes
On 03/11/2020 16:46, John Rumm wrote:

Â*Did they not have any record at all of the first report you made on
their web site?

The first report was me putting in a fault call last week - which was
after the service - they have that, just no knowledge of service.

I did ask when do you expect to do service then - when they are quiet.
Take it up with Ofgem.


Its difficult .... the comments from 24/7 are they did not initiate a
service request, they have no re3dords of a service request. AS I
can't provide the name or any paperwork - they say its not their issue.


Me - I have gained a free service, so I have not materially lost
anything - but its very strange.

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 04/11/2020 04:43, michael adams wrote:

snippage

You seem to be assuming that simply having access to the GS register in some way
devalues the business proposition, which is nonsense. Having a list of local gas
contractors is not the same as having a 24/7 facility get a problem fixed, and have
someone do else all the leg work for you.

"24/7 facility [to] get a problem fixed"

quote

JEREMY LOGUE
Almost every time I book a repair I am told "sorry, that's not covered'.
My water cylinder sprang a leak *yesterday*, so I called Your Repair &
they arranged for a plumber to visit *today*, they then called me back to
say the repair wasn't covered because the leak had been caused by hardwater scale
.... even though we have a softener!

Stephen Travis "
2 days been waiting for a repair, waiting for a call back.........still waiting
1 hour plus. Do yourself a favour pay a bit extra and get decent cover.....
I will be

Anonymous

“My advice would be NEVER to take a policy out with Your Repair. Those people
who have already taken a policy out, beware to read the small print very carefully
as they will find any excuse to reject your claim. You would be better to
have no insurance at all and pay reputable tradespeople as situations arise.


https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-re...ng%5D%5B0%5D=1

/quote



What could be simpler ?

If you think a business opportunity is an easy road to riches,

When did I say that ?

then go and actually
build it first, then come back and tell us how simple it was.

You're totally failing to address my point.

Which is that there are potentially thousands of such business opportunities
out there, none of which need to be "scams" if only it were possible to attract
sufficient customers without spending shedloads on advertising

"Why the need to advertise ? ". "Customers will be beating a path to my door !"
"Once we get started all we will need from that point on, is word of mouth" etc.
are common misconceptions which sink many such business.


Now what *would* be interesting would be
knowing how they attracted those initial customers. Paying to have their Google
ranking tweaked in some way perhaps ?

Quite possibly - its called search engine optimisation and advertising. Something
many businesses need to spend significant amounts of time and money on.

The one point you *didn't* pick up I notice was my reference to their possibly
using "fake reviews" initially.

I agree that in general there are tones of fake and "paid for" reviews out
there, but do you have specific reason to believe that is the case here?

No. Why should I ? I'm simply suggesting it as a possibility, which
as I go on to explain below, wouldn't necessarily reflect on the integrity
of anyone who *initially* employed such fake reviews.



However fake reviews would be of little use to
scammers. As the first thing you'd imagine anyone attracted by those reviews
would do when scammed would be to themselves post a damning review.
And presumably there's always CC chargebacks sufficient of which would soon
lose them their CC merchant accreditation

So since they are still here 5 years later, and growing, does that reassure
you they are not scammers then?


I don't need any reassurance; as I never implied they were scammers
in the first place. The fact that you have again wrongly inferred that
I did imply that they were, despite having been assured to the contrary
is quite frankly a problem you might be in need of reassurance about
yourself. Although obviously I'm not qualified to judge on such matters.



Talking of reviews. All of *your" research comprised of finding out information
which YouRepair provided about themselves. Which is fair enough.

I looking at the audited accounts on the companies house web site and checked the
nominet records for the domain name. I would not really class those as things "they"
provided as such.

So who exactly provided the name of the registrant of the domain name to
nominet, and the audited accounts to Companies House if not YourRepair
or their appointed agents ?



Remember I am not passing comment on their quality of service or customer satisfaction
or even their basic competency, since I had never heard of the firm, used them, or for
that matter have any reason to need the services of such a firm anyway.

I was not even singling out your post in particular either, it was just one of many
that appeared to be inventing a whole narrative based on conjecture.

Whereas all
of *my* research comprised of finding out what *other people* said about
them.

Research, that is addressing question of "is the quality of the service they provide
any good", and not the point I was addressing about whether they were a fly by night
operation running a scam.

Again the "scam" word. When nobody but yourself has ever suggested that
this business is a scam. Seemingly coupled with the further implication
that any business being run from a spare bedroom, as I would imagine are
many perfectly honest eBay businesses, is necessarily dodgy in any way.

With the further implication that any business regularly submitting
audited accounts and on time, to Companies House, can't possibly
be guilty of underhand practices amounting to "scams", themselves.



And as it didn't make every good reading I declined to post it. On the grounds
of not wanting to cause anyone unnecessary embarrassment. Nothing suggests
dishonesty as such at all. Just people exploiting a business opportunity
to the full, attracting customers unaccustomed to reading the small print
The perfectly legal, "Virgin" model, in other words. And they're, YouRepair.
maybe getting in over their heads.


So that page 1 of this review site, which is unfiltered and thus sorted by date

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-re...ilters%5B0%5D=

Suggests Your Repair gets glowing reviews. However reading further down the
page brings up the second 1 star review from Monica Waldok

Find me a review site for *any* business with with 1000s of reviews that does not have
a proportion of 1 star reviews...

But we're not talking about *any* business here, are we ? We're talking about
specific complaints about exclusion clauses in contracts of which customers
were seemingly unaware, until it was too late. What also needs to be born in
mind here, is the percentage of customers who will ever require a repair in the
first place. Whereas most people who buy a TV are going to switch it on,
possibly on the same day. And then send in a bad review as soon as it
doesn't meet their, quite possibly unreasonable expectations. Either that
or the van was late in delivering the thing.

Not never switch it on at all

(and how do you know how many of are fake or malicious?)

So you're suggesting that reviews similar to Monica Waldock's
but not hers review specifically, which you snipped I notice,
which claimed that Your Repair solicit reviews 10 minutes after
customers sign up

quote

For asking for a review on a 12 month support contract that is literally
10 minutes old ?? Doesn't bode well if this company is misleadingly racking
up reviews based on customers' experience of merely spending their
money and setting up an account?

/quote

are quite possibly fake or malicious are you ? As its noticeable that Your
Repair take care to answer all/most of the negative reviews, but not that
particular one.

Basically it's a very smart move when you think about it. To get the business
in the first place, you need to operate a smooth-running user-friendly sales
operation* both in terms of the website and the telephone sales operators.
Given which, once you've signed up a customer why not get them to write a
glowing review of how pleasant they found the whole experience within say
the next ten minutes ? This capitalising twice on that asset.

* Although what happens afterwards is quite possibly a different kettle
of fish entirely.



Filtering to display only 1 or 2 star reviews paints a pretty dismal picture
I'm afraid.

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-re...ng%5D%5B0%5D=1

Again all totally above board, and maybe par for the course. So its basically
money for old rope, gone bad.

Having operated service and consulting businesses for most of my working life I would
argue that its very unlikely to be "money for old rope".

As to whether it has "gone bad" or not, I have no opinion, and don't care enough to
spend the time forming one.

With a lot of staff time apparently being devoted
to responding to negative reviews in a hopefully convoking way. That dept being
located in the front room, maybe.

Perhaps.

I forgot to add it was also of course downstairs. Possibly you can have
spare bedrooms in flats but I always place them upstairs at the far end;
past the bathroom.



michael adams

....

On 04/11/2020 17:58, michael adams wrote:

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 04/11/2020 04:43, michael adams wrote:

snippage

You seem to be assuming that simply having access to the GS register in some way
devalues the business proposition, which is nonsense. Having a list of local gas
contractors is not the same as having a 24/7 facility get a problem fixed, and have
someone do else all the leg work for you.

"24/7 facility [to] get a problem fixed"

quote

JEREMY LOGUE
Almost every time I book a repair I am told "sorry, that's not covered'.

You seem to be confusing the performance of one company with a more
general business model.

You appear to be to suggest that for anyone aware of the GS register,
there was no added value to a maintenance business of this type. I don't
buy that argument, since many businesses are profitable doing things
that their customers could do for themselves, in theory. The important
question is does the business add enough value or convenience for the
customer to be prepared to pay for the service.

and again for the avoidance of doubt I am not passing comment on the
quality of service offered by this particular company. So all the cherry
picked 1 star reviews are not really contributing anything.

What could be simpler ?

If you think a business opportunity is an easy road to riches,

When did I say that ?

Your phrases "get rich quick scheme" and "money for old rope" spring to
mind.

then go and actually
build it first, then come back and tell us how simple it was.

You're totally failing to address my point.

Which is that there are potentially thousands of such business opportunities
out there, none of which need to be "scams" if only it were possible to attract
sufficient customers without spending shedloads on advertising

"Why the need to advertise ? ". "Customers will be beating a path to my door !"
"Once we get started all we will need from that point on, is word of mouth" etc.
are common misconceptions which sink many such business.

Not disagreeing with you there. Many fledgling businesses vastly
underestimate the cost of acquiring customers and brand recognition.

Now what *would* be interesting would be
knowing how they attracted those initial customers. Paying to have their Google
ranking tweaked in some way perhaps ?

Quite possibly - its called search engine optimisation and advertising. Something
many businesses need to spend significant amounts of time and money on.

The one point you *didn't* pick up I notice was my reference to their possibly
using "fake reviews" initially.

I agree that in general there are tones of fake and "paid for" reviews out
there, but do you have specific reason to believe that is the case here?

No. Why should I ? I'm simply suggesting it as a possibility, which
as I go on to explain below, wouldn't necessarily reflect on the integrity
of anyone who *initially* employed such fake reviews.

However fake reviews would be of little use to
scammers. As the first thing you'd imagine anyone attracted by those reviews
would do when scammed would be to themselves post a damning review.
And presumably there's always CC chargebacks sufficient of which would soon
lose them their CC merchant accreditation

So since they are still here 5 years later, and growing, does that reassure
you they are not scammers then?


I don't need any reassurance; as I never implied they were scammers
in the first place. The fact that you have again wrongly inferred that
I did imply that they were, despite having been assured to the contrary
is quite frankly a problem you might be in need of reassurance about
yourself. Although obviously I'm not qualified to judge on such matters.

Indeed.

Talking of reviews. All of *your" research comprised of finding out information
which YouRepair provided about themselves. Which is fair enough.

I looking at the audited accounts on the companies house web site and checked the
nominet records for the domain name. I would not really class those as things "they"
provided as such.

So who exactly provided the name of the registrant of the domain name to
nominet,

Judging by the name of the owner, one of the founding directors of the
business. The fact that the domain name was registered a couple of years
before formation of the company also suggests some forward planning.

and the audited accounts to Companies House if not YourRepair
or their appointed agents ?

In the case of audited accounts, their accountants. Who would be
personally liable if found to be supplying incorrect information.

None of this guarantees that everything is legit and above board, but it
does give increased confidence.

Remember I am not passing comment on their quality of service or customer satisfaction
or even their basic competency, since I had never heard of the firm, used them, or for
that matter have any reason to need the services of such a firm anyway.

I was not even singling out your post in particular either, it was just one of many
that appeared to be inventing a whole narrative based on conjecture.

Whereas all
of *my* research comprised of finding out what *other people* said about
them.

Research, that is addressing question of "is the quality of the service they provide
any good", and not the point I was addressing about whether they were a fly by night
operation running a scam.

Again the "scam" word. When nobody but yourself has ever suggested that
this business is a scam.

Perhaps you should check:

alan_m: "You then let someone into your home and later find out that the
service organisation have no record of service being performed. You
cannot even guess what the scam is?"

Dave P : "Given your boiler has now broken, that could be the scam."

Lastly, you used the phrase "get rich quick scheme" which I would
normally take as another way of calling something a scam of some form.

Seemingly coupled with the further implication
that any business being run from a spare bedroom, as I would imagine are
many perfectly honest eBay businesses, is necessarily dodgy in any way.

I did not suggest that there was anything wrong with running a business
from a spare bedroom. However others seemed to be inferring that such a
business was in some respect insubstantial, or fly by night etc. I just
highlighted that the published accounts for this particular example
don't support that view, and that it seems implausible that its being
run from a back bedroom (or at least one anyway - several perhaps, as
are many companies at the moment!)

With the further implication that any business regularly submitting
audited accounts and on time, to Companies House, can't possibly
be guilty of underhand practices amounting to "scams", themselves.

You must have good glasses to read all that between the lines.

So that page 1 of this review site, which is unfiltered and thus sorted by date

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-re...ilters%5B0%5D=

Suggests Your Repair gets glowing reviews. However reading further down the
page brings up the second 1 star review from Monica Waldok

Find me a review site for *any* business with with 1000s of reviews that does not have
a proportion of 1 star reviews...

But we're not talking about *any* business here, are we ? We're talking about
specific complaints about exclusion clauses in contracts of which customers

yada yada...

na, can't be bothered... g'night



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
On 04/11/2020 17:58, michael adams wrote:

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 04/11/2020 04:43, michael adams wrote:

snippage

You seem to be assuming that simply having access to the GS register in some way
devalues the business proposition, which is nonsense. Having a list of local gas
contractors is not the same as having a 24/7 facility get a problem fixed, and have
someone do else all the leg work for you.

"24/7 facility [to] get a problem fixed"

quote

JEREMY LOGUE
Almost every time I book a repair I am told "sorry, that's not covered'.

You seem to be confusing the performance of one company with a more general business
model.

You appear to be to suggest that for anyone aware of the GS register, there was no
added value to a maintenance business of this type.

Then you're totally misunderstood my point.

Which was that there are *far more* potential customers out there, who are
completely unaware of the fact that they can access the Gas Safe Register
themselves, than there are those who do.

Why would anyone want, or need to chase after people who already know
how to access the Gas Safe Register ? That knowledge is an asset
on which you can build the business..

Similarly a large number of the reviews complained about the high charges
being imposed by British Gas. That knowledge along with the charges being
imposed by other big players is a useful asset when bargaining as agent -
rather than as a customer - with an engineer - an agent who could
potentially bring them repeat business

I don't
buy that argument, since many businesses are profitable doing things that their
customers could do for themselves, in theory. The important question is does the
business add enough value or convenience for the customer to be prepared to pay for the
service.

So ? Of course there are plenty of businesses that are profitable
doing things people could do with themselves. People who are
time poor simply don't have the time to faff around making
sandwiches so they stop off at M$S or Subway instead.

Offering a service which uses a locally based Gas Safe registered engineer
to service their boiler, rather than their being ripped off by British Gas
at least in their estimation, certainly adds value and convenience for the
customer. Although no penguin obviously.

And so yes, were it not for the costs of attracting sufficient customers, in being
able to target the whole of the UK this would indeed be a "get rich quick"
business with very low overheads which could possibly be sold for a few
squillions within a year or two.

and again for the avoidance of doubt I am not passing comment on the quality of service
offered by this particular company. So all the cherry picked 1 star reviews are not
really contributing anything.

Except to confirm of course that the OP's totally unsatisfactory experience
with this firm. - the original point of this thread - was hardly untypical at
all as it turns out.

And they're not "cherry picked".

As I explained earlier Your Repair are already corrupting the review process
by soliciting reviews within 10 minutes of people signing up. Which are simply
reviews of their sales operation. And again as I pointed out, only a small
proportion of customers will ever experience a fault and require to make
full use of their services in the first place, And it will only be at that stage
after maybe paying for years that a proportion of them will then find out that
owing to small print clauses they never bothered to read, they'd never been
covered at all. So much for "service". But all perfectly legal, above board
and par for the course with many insurers, as it is.

Its not the picking that counts, but the rotten state of the cherries.


remainder mercy snipped


michael adams

....

On 04/11/2020 17:28, rick wrote:
On 04/11/2020 10:35, bert wrote:
In article , rick
writes
On 03/11/2020 16:46, John Rumm wrote:

Â*Did they not have any record at all of the first report you made on
their web site?

The first report was me putting in a fault call last week - which was
after the service - they have that, just no knowledge of service.

I did ask when do you expect to do service then - when they are quiet.
Take it up with Ofgem.


Its difficult .... the comments from 24/7 are they did not initiate a
service request, they have no re3dords of a service request. AS I
can't provide the name or any paperwork - they say its not their issue.


Me - I have gained a free service, so I have not materially lost
anything - but its very strange.

You may have had a free service, but from what I understand you have no
paperwork to confirm it. You have no Gas Service Record. If something
went wrong, would your insurance company pay out without such a record?

--

Jeff