PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Money Saving Expert / CAB pilot service

tyllwyd · 19 June 2012 at 10:15AM

I dont understand why this is a sub board of the pure money board? If it was a board in its own right, then it could have sub boards that relate to the areas covered, and a clear message displayed that questions on other topics should be posted elsewhere.

TBH without criticising the advisers, I'm not sure this fits with MSE - the advantage of posting a question here is that you get responses with different people's opinions and personal experience -official replies come across as a bit careful and corporate, which takes away from the feeling of discussing and chatting about the subject with a mix of people.

Former_MSE_Wendy · 19 June 2012 at 7:22PM

Thanks for all your feedback on the launch of the CAB board folks. We’ve been seeing how it goes for a few days and have taken your comments on board.

There have been a few questions about posts from non CAB reps. We want regular forum members to reply to questions but have now highlighted CAB representative posts so their official reply stands out.

On random posts, if you feel someone’s question would be better suited on one of the other boards, please do suggest they move/repost their question. We are likely to be moving some of the questions (eg, on consumer rights) but many will stay. This is a way for CAB to see the types of issues that are coming up and they may amend their ‘sticky’ subjects accordingly.

Over time we expect questions to end up in the correct place. This may take a little time but as users come to the board and see how it works they will know where to post.

Please keep letting us know how it’s going and we’ll tweak things where we can.

Wendy

jetplane · 20 June 2012 at 9:29PM

For a CAB adviser to give accurate information and/or advice they need to ask many questions to establish the facts otherwise the advice is flawed. The CAB also have a strict confidentiality policy. I do not see how this can be achieved on a public forum.

I think that allowing anyone to post confuses the issue and is no more accurate than any of the other forums. Also some bureaux already provide an email service where an adviser will contact you within 48 hours.

If there is to be a CAB board it should be locked to those CAB advisers who are part of the pilot. Others could view it similar to a question and answer board.

rogerblack · 21 June 2012 at 8:50PM

I echo the other concerns about dilution.
It seems questionable to have a new board, which is basically linking to four threads which will be replied to.

For one thing - long threads with multiple peoples problems are essentially impossible to keep straight, and are confusing.

The alternative of having 'debt' subforums to the CAB board, duplicating existing forums seems similarly questionable.

My preferred solution would be for the CAB advisers to simply respond in normal forums, and their contributions would be flagged, and maybe make the thread go bright purple and smell of apricots or something.

If it is desired to differentiate - one solution would be:

If a CAB advisor posts in one of the four topic areas on the main forums, then it gets automatically copied to the appropriate CAB subforum board (one for each topic) - replies are visible in both places.

Users can also ask questions directly on those CAB subforum - debt/... boards.

enabledebra · 21 June 2012 at 10:47PM

I poste this on another thread but wanted to raise the issue here also:

I'd also make an educated guess that a good few replies might possibly be cut and pasted from the CAB 'Advisernet' info database used by CAB advisers. In this day and age I'd be very happy to see that database made public rather than perpetuating a client/adviser power differential. That's why I always try to link to public info when I post, whether the info is intended for use by 'experts' or not.

CAB_National_Representative · 22 June 2012 at 2:26PM

mel12 wrote: »

Just a suggestion, but have CAB thought of taking on and training volunteers to do online-only advice. I had a look into volunteering for my local one but its daytime only hours that are difficult to fit around working. I, and perhaps other people might be interested in doing some evening or weekend volunteer work, which would also help CAB give more regular replies to the questions here.

Hi mel12,

Firstly, my apologies for not posting a response to this sooner.

Thank you for your suggestion. Yes, we have thought about taking on and training volunteers to provide online services, However, we have to think about this carefully in terms of quality of service, how the staff will be supervised, the equipment they might need, and other costs. So, each bureau decides what is best for them and their community, and whether they have all the resources needed to set up this way of working.

We do have quite a few bureaux running email advice services, and also some who operate video-linking services too. And, of course, we’re running this pilot service in the MSE Forum.

I hope this helps, and thank you again for your idea.

:T

fermi · 19 July 2012 at 2:38PM

sparker87 wrote: »

a few years ago i made a mistake while banking online. i send the five hundred pounds to the wrong account number because i typed in the 16 digit card number instead of the account number, i have tried to claim it back from the bank and the said they coudnt help. is there anything i can do to claim the money back

This thread isn't really for that sort of question for the CAB reps. Should instead be in a separate thread on it's own, or on one of the other main stickied ones.

I'll move you post into it's own thread.

Here ---> http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4080431

BobQ · 9 August 2012 at 12:21AM

I am increasingly disappointed with this "experiment". Were it being done in any commercial environment I would call it a "half baked experiment".

People with real and urgent concerns are posting here believing that will get a response from the CAB even though you have now stated that these will only happen on specified subjects. This means that those with issues in the non-included areas are basically being ignored by CAB reps. I note bland assurances that things will settle down eventually, but even so I think the rather cavalier attitude being adopted to the whole idea reflects very badly on MSE and CAB.

As an example consider http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=55038011&posted=1#post55038011

BobQ · 10 August 2012 at 12:23AM

BobQ wrote: »

I am increasingly disappointed with this "experiment". Were it being done in any commercial environment I would call it a "half baked experiment".

People with real and urgent concerns are posting here believing that will get a response from the CAB even though you have now stated that these will only happen on specified subjects. This means that those with issues in the non-included areas are basically being ignored by CAB reps. I note bland assurances that things will settle down eventually, but even so I think the rather cavalier attitude being adopted to the whole idea reflects very badly on MSE and CAB.

As an example consider http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=55038011&posted=1#post55038011

Further to the above, what is the point of posting threads on the CAB Board even if they are about the defined subjects if they are not to be considered? Surely the easiest thing to do is only have the Stickys where the CAB is responding? Sorry to seem critical but it creates confusion to allow posts that are not to be addressed.

tyllwyd · 13 August 2012 at 7:38AM

I am starting to avoid looking at this board because it takes too long to get in - I waited well over 30 seconds this morning. I know that MSE is always slow, but this board is ridiculous! Is it deliberate to put people off so that only the most determined get here?

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Money Saving Expert / CAB pilot service

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