Comparethemarket.com - Chat Room Advertising

JonBoy_SCFC

not sure if you were aiming at me, but i never intended to post insult in this thread

anyway, whilst i can see the point you make, i feel it's a bit of a technicality and a negligable issue nin the big scheme of things. For me, much more important an issue in terms of companies conduct in the insurance industry is the issue of insurers deliberately over-charging customers at renewal, effectively a tax on the less financially astute

also, if compare the market were doing this then it's hardly the most efficient form of marketing, so i'd put it more than to stupidity /naieveity rather than malicious

just my opinions so no insults or personal abuse please;)

Quentin

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

please don't post pointless attacks and stupid comments.

Doesn't this rather invite some:

Don't mind me; I'm just some muppet...

raskazz

JonBoy_SCFC wrote: »

For me, much more important an issue in terms of companies conduct in the insurance industry is the issue of insurers deliberately over-charging customers at renewal

Erm, no insurer "deliberately over-charges" anyone at renewal. All the insurer does is make an offer - which the insured is free to reject or accept as they see fit.

JonBoy_SCFC

raskazz wrote: »

Erm, no insurer "deliberately over-charges" anyone at renewal. All the insurer does is make an offer - which the insured is free to reject or accept as they see fit.

of course the insured if free to choose but that doesn't mean that insurers aren't deliberately over-charging - you know fully well that insurers deliberately use the fact that some customers are less financially astute and so don't notice that they're being charged more for their "auto renewal" than they would be for exactly the same product for exactly the same details as new customers.

In my book that qualifies as deliberately over-charging

raskazz

JonBoy_SCFC wrote: »

of course the insured if free to choose but that doesn't mean that insurers aren't deliberately over-charging - you know fully well that insurers deliberately use the fact that some customers are less financially astute and so don't notice that they're being charged more for their "auto renewal" than they would be for exactly the same product for exactly the same details as new customers.

In my book that qualifies as deliberately over-charging

I fail to see how offering a price which the majority of customers accept is 'over-charging'. Complaining about that is like buying a tin of beans in Sainsbury's and then moaning after the event that they are a few pence cheaper in Asda.

By definition, it's not 'over charging' as they are not 'charging', they are offering.

JonBoy_SCFC

raskazz wrote: »

I fail to see how offering a price which the majority of customers accept is 'over-charging'. Complaining about that is like buying a tin of beans in Sainsbury's and then moaning after the even that they are a few pence cheaper in Asda.

the difference being that each purchase of beans is a "new customer" purchase - a tin of beans in Asda costs the same regardless of whether you bought beans there last week or not i.e. they offer the same product at the same price to all customers

insurance companies deliberately offer the same product at a higher price to "auto renewal" customers in the hope they don't notice

it seems a clear difference to me


especially unfair when you consider old people, less educated people, people with learning difficulties etc are those most likely to be overcharged

Oscar_The_Grouch

JonBoy_SCFC wrote: »

In my book that qualifies as deliberately over-charging

JonBoy, was not having a go at you when mentioning the stupid comments. Having said that, if you want to discuss over-charging, could I respectfully ask you start another thread?

Thanks.

Quentin,

If you object to my signiture, good for you; you're entitled to your opinion. Please, however, stick to the subject or go elsewhere.

JonBoy_SCFC

sorry oscar didn't mean to hi-jack your thread, the reference to delberate over-charging was only part of my response

new thread started for anyone who wants to continue the discussion of whether buying car insurance is the same as buying tins of beans ....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=18040225#post18040225

BusterDover

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

Someone has been going in to chat rooms, setting their name as the naff meerkat from the latest ad and sending pm's to all the people in the room suggesting that they use the website.

If anyone has experience of this, please post here as I believe that this is a breach of FSA principles (1 and 5, with the possibility of 6 if the FSA had not watered down TCF).

Without evidence of wrongdoing, I cannot report the firm to the FSA, so if anyone has screenprints showing date and time of the offence and the website concerned, that would assist.

Thank you

Please note that the action I propose to take here in reporting the firm to the FSA is done as a private individual who is concerned about the perception of the insurance industry and not in any way, shape or form connected to any insurance intermediary or firm. I am happy to stand on my own two feet and not hide behind a company.

I received the link to this thread in my inbox this morning and feel the need to provide a joint response as quickly as possible on behalf of comparethemarket.com and ourselves. I am the Head of Digital at the advertising agency (VCCP) that created these advertisements and the comparethemeerkat.com website. The comments below are from both parties.

We are not active as Aleksandr or anyone else in any forums or chatrooms. Due to the popularity of Aleks we are however currently running active Facebook groups, a growing twitter following, and are in the process of adding extra features to Aleksandr’s comparethemeerkat.com website. The work that we are engaged in is to add depth to the character of Aleksandr the Meerkat and let consumers decide if they wish to then visit comparethemarket.com.

Oscar_The_Grouch

BusterDover wrote: »

I received the link to this thread in my inbox this morning and feel the need to provide a joint response as quickly as possible on behalf of comparethemarket.com and ourselves. I am the Head of Digital at the advertising agency (VCCP) that created these advertisements and the comparethemeerkat.com website. The comments below are from both parties.

We are not active as Aleksandr or anyone else in any forums or chatrooms. Due to the popularity of Aleks we are however currently running active Facebook groups, a growing twitter following, and are in the process of adding extra features to Aleksandr’s comparethemeerkat.com website. The work that we are engaged in is to add depth to the character of Aleksandr the Meerkat and let consumers decide if they wish to then visit comparethemarket.com.

I received this message as a pm too.

I believe that this concludes the thread, as I will take this matter up personally with VCCP from here.

Thank you to all concerned.