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Those of you that may advertise “No Call Out” should take a look at this link and then think carefully 😉
Martin
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
And just so we retain a copy of the text at that link…
Premier Electrics
220 Burgess Road
Swaythling
Southampton
Hampshire
SO16 3AYDate: 4th August 2004
Media: Directory
Sector: Household
Public Complaint From: Southampton
——————————————————————————–Complaint:
Objection, via Southampton City Council, to a directory advertisement for a white goods repair service. The headline stated “No Call Out Charge”. In smaller type the subheading stated “Diagnostic work charged unless work undertaken”. The complainant objected that the headline “No Call Out Charge” was misleading, because customers who did not need maintenance work were charged a diagnostic fee.Codes Section: 3.1, 7.1 (Ed 11)
Adjudication:
Complaint upheld
The advertisers said they had prepared the advertisement with help from the CAP Copy Advice team. They believed their use of “no call out charge” was justified because they did not make a charge for going to customers’ homes. They said they always made a diagnostic charge, which they waived if the customer made a purchase or a repair was undertaken. The advertisers said they charged for diagnosis only once and did not charge customers who called them out again for follow-up diagnostic work. They said they explained their charges to customers before telephone bookings were accepted. They argued that the advertisement made clear that they charged a diagnosis fee unless work was undertaken. The advertisers said many of their competitors who advertised “no call out charge” also made a diagnostic charge but did not mention it in their advertising.The Authority acknowledged the advertisers had taken advice from the CAP Copy Advice team. It considered, however, that customers would understand “No Call Out Charge” to mean they paid a charge only if repair work was carried out and would not pay a charge for calling the advertisers out to diagnose a problem. The Authority considered that the claim “Diagnostic work charged unless work undertaken” contradicted the headline “No Call Out Charge” and asked the advertisers not to repeat the headline.
I find it insane that anyone would travel to a customers home for nothing especially with fuel prices what they are these days, in a low-profit industry like ours. I mean fine if you’re a builder and charging hundreds or thousands of pounds on a job but we’re not and the completed work does not have the margins to sustain the free call out. Apart from that you get used by the punters, they’re not that stupid, and often get three or four estimates, of course always accepting the lowest one.
It’s been a problem in our industry for 20 years or more, it needs stopped IMO and it looks as if the Advertising Standards Authority agrees with me.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, we all know it and so does the ASA.
K.
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
It is clear that the A.S.A are taking great interest these days into what businesses claim in their advertising. And I reckon anyone advertising such things as NO CALL OUT should watch out! :lesson:
The general public has even easier access these days as they can complain directly to them on their web site :-
Martin
P.S Thanks Ken for making hard copy of the aforementioned adjudication (legal terminology and all that 😆 )
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
Copy that as well please :tup:
The company concerned are a fairly large outfit here in the south. I have run a few of there vans off the road in my time ( 😆 only joking 😆 ) and even invited them to join the site once …Ouch! 😯
http://www.premierelectrics.co.uk
Ah well 🙄
Martin
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
I smiled when I read the above. A company with a very similar name and address have blitzed our Yellow Pages quoting several local “Ghost” numbers. They have tried to get the ad placed 1st in the Yellow pages classification by adding a bit to the front of their name. I’m not saying it is the same company, but the coincedences are high.
This sounds like the same company who are well known to ourselves as well as Somerset County Trading Standards.
We get complaints of engineers arriving with a sales brochure & not a tool box, we have heard of them writing off Ariston & Hotpoint products just over a year old when there is a 5 yr parts warranty. In some cases the engineer has had a machine on the van ready to sell on the spot.
We have been advised by customers when there is a payment dispute, they the customer are told to take it up with the courts.
As an experiment I phoned them with a spoof call and asked what the charges were. I was told. “There is no call out charge if we complete the repair, just a labour fee”. I asked how that was structured, but they refused to tell me as it, “depended on the job”.
I questioned the no call-out strategy and was advised, “There is no call-out on completed work, labour & parts only; however, if you chose not to go ahead with the repair, or not to buy a replacement from us, there is an inspection fee of £35 + vat”.
Not a lot given away there I fancy. They have been operating in this manner in my area for 3 years now.
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
Well the plot thickens as they say, I am informed that this may well be the source of many of the “free callout” ads in YP etc with an 0800 number for various manufacturers, we’ve all seen them and been sickened by them. Well if you were an agent for one of the manufacturers you were as they kinda make out that they are semi-official ads which they most certainly are not.
Anyway, if this is the case then I’m off to dance a little jig as that’s another problem solved for now. 😉
K.
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
It’s good that you put it on the ‘homepage’ too by the way :tup:
Martin
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
Martin wrote:It’s good that you put it on the ‘homepage’ too by the way :tup:
MartinYes I’m pleased it is there as well.
We have a situation at present with a customer who is taking legal action against Premier with the full support of Trading Standards.
Alex
In all honesty, if this does away with a lot of the free callout advertising then great, I’m all for it. If you ask me that’s the ASA & TS doing us all a huge favour.
As for Premier, well I’ve not heard a good thing yet. Apparently they franchise out to independents around the country so beware.
K.
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
They sound very much like a company that operate in birmingham i think technics 1200 had some dealings with them if my brain cell remembers correctly being a fish i struggle with the memory thing 😉 but all these companys are what give this trade a bad name and the more they punish them the better!
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
These companies advertise in YP et all and simply leech off the local repairers IMO, they are parasites and I really don’t see that we should support them at all. Those repairs that they do pick up would have to go somewhere anyway and there’s a fair chance you’d pick the work up anyway without paying these jokers their “fee”.
We all know that there is no such thing a s a free lunch and that customers are being mislead at best, conned at worst, by people like this and I think that the ASA, in this case, are absolutely spot on with their deliberations as I sincerely doubt that the system is well explained to customers on the phone. Even at that they still have to understand just what is being said to them, as anyone that deals with the public will tell you, getting a customer to understand all but the most basic of things is often huge challenge. If they see in big bold letters “FREE CALLOUT” then that is exactly what they will expect and as has been proved here, the small print will not save you.
This actually could change the way that the industry deals in general with the public if the ASA decide to enforce it, of course YP etc. will just continue to accept the money for the adverts irrespective as they think that the onus is on you to ensure that your advert meets the ASA standards and legislation. YP got up my nose many, many moons ago and I have not advertised in there for over seven years at least due to thier policies on advertisers, it’s not the best shall we say.
That said, it is still an invaluable tool for many people including customers, I just wish that they had some scruples about their advertisers and giving the correct information.
K.
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
I had thought, (just the one mind you as it is Sunday 8) ) firstly I have to agree with all sentiments posted so far (hang em) and as you have stated this seems to be a growing trend, placing adverts that we all know to be nothing more than a con to get hold of the money and once again give us ALL a bad name, but that wasn’t what I was going to say.
With the ASA and TS taking more interest these day are we safe using words like “expert” or “qualified”? Perhaps we should look more to words like “experienced” or “trained” and variations of such when doing our web pages or adverts and avoid the possibility of being open to a charge of misrepresentation. I know that some parts of the job do require qualifications like the corgi side of things but maybe we had better watch or backs before they do it for us.
Richard Scanlon SnrRe: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
RS wrote:
With the ASA and TS taking more interest these day are we safe using words like “expert†or “qualifiedâ€?Interesting point. How would one prove they were an “expert”?
Re: ‘No Call Out Charge’ beware!!!
I agree with the sanction actually. That firm stated “No call out charge” but then simply charged a call-out charge – albeit with another name, a ‘diagnostic fee’.
Whether or not anybody believes it is viable to offer a ‘no call out’ fee, the fact is, some will, on the basis that it is better to get a look at a potential job.
If somebody DOES state that there is no call out charge, they should have the decency to honour that statement and not simply use semantics to hide the fact there is a charge in any case.
Many firms I have seen state ‘no call out charge’ then (in brackets) state, ‘on completed repairs’. Therefore, if the customer does not have the repair done, they are charged the call-out fee. If the customer has the repair, the call-out charge originally charged is refunded.
The above, I feel is just as much a con.
The old adage about having to speculate to accumulate is true. If firms offer a genuine free call-out, they are opening up opportunities which otherwise may not become apparent.
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