Approved Company Representatives Poll

SwanJon

jimexbox wrote: »

You should inform the reader of your interest.

icefall wrote: »

Thats it though, interests are not declared

This is my point - what is my interest in posting on here - I cannot gain from it in any way.
The UW reps who stick around are in the same boat, it's only the ones who get rapidly depleted that are casuing issues. Edit - meant deleted, but depleted works too

So, thinking about a new sig
I work in the energy industry so have experience of situations in that industry. You can accept or decline my advice. Please also take into account that others on the board do not have this experience and often repeat myths or out of date information.

I'm here to see what I can do to help. I do not set prices, have anything to do with share dividends or investment. I cannot go back in time and unprivatise the industry. I cannot wave a magic wand and re-nationalise them. Posts along these lines serve no purpose - If someone says thay have a big bill and asks for help, ranting about profits isn't going to help them.
How about a subboard for that?

icefall

SwanJon wrote: »

This is my point - what is my interest in posting on here - I cannot gain from it in any way.
The UW reps who stick around are in the same boat, it's only the ones who get rapidly depleted that are casuing issues. Edit - meant deleted, but depleted works too

So, thinking about a new sig
I work in the energy industry so have experience of situations in that industry. You can accept or decline my advice. Please also take into account that others on the board do not have this experience and often repeat myths or out of date information.

I'm here to see what I can do to help. I do not set prices, have anything to do with share dividends or investment. I cannot go back in time and unprivatise the industry. I cannot wave a magic wand and re-nationalise them. Posts along these lines serve no purpose - If someone says thay have a big bill and asks for help, ranting about profits isn't going to help them.
How about a subboard for that?

Come on Martin set up a subboard for expert advice - you know you want to!

SwanJon

icefall wrote: »

Come on Martin set up a subboard for expert advice - you know you want to!

So you want the main board to be full of 'non-expert advice'.
Sounds a bit odd to me.

icefall

SwanJon wrote: »

So you want the main board to be full of 'non-expert advice'.
Sounds a bit odd to me.

How it should be. Martin himself states if someone is giving expert advice then they should declare themselves.
This a consumer forum is it not? Not an expert company representatives forum.
Ordinary people can help each other with their own experiences too you know. I would not dismiss that help entirely.

Ken68

The sub title of this forum is 'Consumer Revenge'.
I welcome whistleblowers, but to be fair, the companies should have right of reply, as long as the reader knows who is who.
And ignoring people and calling names and ganging up is just plain bad manners.

Magentasue

I can't believe how people are getting upset about this. I'd have probably ignored this thread before reps started [strike]promoting their companies[/strike] parroting someone else's comments in the guise of advice. I also feel uneasy when they suggest we pm them with account number etc so they can 'look into this' - I can't say why but I don't feel it's appropriate.

icefall

The entire point of this thread being that newbies posting on this forum atm have no idea who is who.

So anyone posting comments such as 'so long as people know who is a company representative' aren't really making as much sense as they could be in this . Isn't that what this thread is about?

Imo company reps should have some indication somewhere that they make their living from this industry (however vague - working in elec/gas industry) should be sufficient. Or/and their very own sub experts forum.

In one way its great that company reps choose to post here - but when they do it incognito it can be misleading.

Vestra

But the point I am trying to make is if I give advice to someone about their meter or their bill or how in general something works in the energy industry, please tell what difference it makes if I actually do it as a living? I get absolutely no personal gain out of it.

Premier_2

The purpose of this thread originally was to discuss the role of [strike]Approved[/strike] Official Company Representatives on this forum - but I realise that has now spread to unofficial representatives too which is fine
The poll does relate to [strike]Approved[/strike] Official Company Representatives though, although its value is not too important now that Martin has been kind enough clarify the position.

However as someone who has been accused of being an employee of both British Gas and Ebico and possibly others at some time in this forum, (that's presumably when I'm not occupied as a Landlord according to at least one member on another board), I wonder where we should draw the line?

e.g I may not be an employee of an energy company, but I bet I own part of at least one. Should I declare that fact as a vested interest. Now I may or may not own part of an energy company as a named shareholder on their register of shareholders, but I bet I own a bit of one through my financial investments. Pension, Stocks & shares ISA, etc.

Should I be looking into exactly which companies I have invested in and list each and every one of those in my signature just so people can decide whether my posts may be made on the basis of a possible vested interest?

It's also interesting to note that many of those who are currently shouting loudly about others disclosing who they work for, or at least the industry they work within, have nothing in their signature themselves disclosing such fact.

Finally, remember what Martin advises because of the public nature of this site:

MSE_Martin wrote:

...Do exercise due caution when acting on any info from here. Treat it a bit like someone has told you something at the pub...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=129178&postcount=1

and also as stated at the bottom of every page:

All tips are followed at your own risk and should be followed up with your own research

MSE_Martin

Hi folks,

Im going to close this thread down now as I believe its served its cause.

The rules have always been simple, if you are engaged in a discussion where you work for a company involved, then you should mention it. However it shouldn't be in your signature as it is only for relevant posts.

If anyone has a problem with the fact someone is posting and appears to be touting for business or misleading then as always there is NO need to react to it - simply e-mail [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

All the best

Martin