provident agents [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

Stony_Broke

There was a CROOKED man who walked a CROOKED mile,
He found a CROOKED sixpence upon a CROOKED style,
He bought a CROOKED cat who caught a CROOKED mouse,
And they all lived together in a little CROOKED house.

CROOKED by nature, CROOKED by name, shafting the agents is the aim of the game.

Stony Broke.

20yrs_agent

Stony_Broke wrote: »

There was a CROOKED man who walked a CROOKED mile,
He found a CROOKED sixpence upon a CROOKED style,
He bought a CROOKED cat who caught a CROOKED mouse,
And they all lived together in a little CROOKED house.

CROOKED by nature, CROOKED by name, shafting the agents is the aim of the game.

Stony Broke.

lol brill sums him up

20yrs_agent

agents say no cant get on there either,seems prov has won once again ,the shares going up to,but i honestly believe its false profits as their are taking anything between £5 and OVER£100 ,awk off many agents,plus these fresh starts,i cant believe whats happened to this company,over 86,000 viewings on here and no one can help ??????

Stony_Broke

20yrs_agent wrote: »

lol brill sums him up

What a mess this is, where on earth is it all going to end? What is it that drives these ruthless, money grabbing fat cats to such greed that they treat us like surfs? How can they sleep at night? In our branch we can't sleep, we can't eat, we can neither afford to, nor have the stomach for food. Morale is not low, it simply doesn't exist. Even before the fines many of us lived hand to mouth, struggling to run old bangers of cars in order to collect their debts, struggling to pay rent to another bunch tarred with the same brush, the greedy landlord brigade, struggling to survive against the rising cost of living, demoralised and degraded, worried that every day in the wretched job may be our last, for should we dare step one foot out of line it's the scrap heap for us.
This they know for they are predators and we are their prey. They shout at and abuse us; they violate and accuse us, grind us down, break our will and trample us into the ground. And who among them cares, for we are the working class, here purely for the use of, and the disposal of whenever they wish to flaunt their mindless power.
And yet we, the low life, the dreggs of society must aspire to attain perfection, we must be saints among saints for we must never allow ourselves to succumb to human error, 'compliance, compliance, compliance', it rings in my ear. We must be polite and approachable, we must smile, then surley the world shall smile with us. We must collect our book every week with no less than 35% misses. We must abide by their gospel when issuing loans. We must reach our targets, 'sales, sales, sales'. We must recruit new customers, and maintain a good quality book. We must pay heed to their commandments, be honest, hard working and offer our soul to the firm. Then at the end of the week after we have run ourselves ragged and finished begging for money from the impoverished of our society we must smile when our pittance of pay is reduced even furthur, and we must take it on the chin when our integrity is questioned by security visits and trick questions are thrown to our customers. I'm told security are not there to win a popularity contest; I'm pleased for them then, really chuffed because it's no fun coming last. And then of course we must spread the good word and ask all our jobless friends and customers if they would care to join our happy family at Provi and Greenwoods so that they also may experience the delights of a day in the life of an agent. Sadly, and for reasons that we can't imagine for we are too busy smiling at the world, they don't seem to want to take us up on this life changing offer.
But never mind, all is not lost for pretty soon they will all recieve letters offering them the chance of a job that is beyond the wildest of dreams of those who have nothing. For even though collectively we know that we are indispensible, the fat cats are foolish enough to believe otherwise, thinking that they can replace us in an instance, for they are arrogant and complacent and whilst they are rolling around in our money they will not learn any different.
They are a joke, or would be if their actions were humorous, but they're not humorous, they're sick, the fat cats are sick, and they make us sick to.

demoralised

you can get on agentssayno just google- voice your opinions here provident- and the top search is it, well sais stony broke.

Stony_Broke

Thank's, will do.

Pathetic

Stony_Broke wrote: »

What a mess this is, where on earth is it all going to end? What is it that drives these ruthless, money grabbing fat cats to such greed that they treat us like surfs? How can they sleep at night? In our branch we can't sleep, we can't eat, we can neither afford to, nor have the stomach for food. Morale is not low, it simply doesn't exist. Even before the fines many of us lived hand to mouth, struggling to run old bangers of cars in order to collect their debts, struggling to pay rent to another bunch tarred with the same brush, the greedy landlord brigade, struggling to survive against the rising cost of living, demoralised and degraded, worried that every day in the wretched job may be our last, for should we dare step one foot out of line it's the scrap heap for us.
This they know for they are predators and we are their prey. They shout at and abuse us; they violate and accuse us, grind us down, break our will and trample us into the ground. And who among them cares, for we are the working class, here purely for the use of, and the disposal of whenever they wish to flaunt their mindless power.
And yet we, the low life, the dreggs of society must aspire to attain perfection, we must be saints among saints for we must never allow ourselves to succumb to human error, 'compliance, compliance, compliance', it rings in my ear. We must be polite and approachable, we must smile, then surley the world shall smile with us. We must collect our book every week with no less than 35% misses. We must abide by their gospel when issuing loans. We must reach our targets, 'sales, sales, sales'. We must recruit new customers, and maintain a good quality book. We must pay heed to their commandments, be honest, hard working and offer our soul to the firm. Then at the end of the week after we have run ourselves ragged and finished begging for money from the impoverished of our society we must smile when our pittance of pay is reduced even furthur, and we must take it on the chin when our integrity is questioned by security visits and trick questions are thrown to our customers. I'm told security are not there to win a popularity contest; I'm pleased for them then, really chuffed because it's no fun coming last. And then of course we must spread the good word and ask all our jobless friends and customers if they would care to join our happy family at Provi and Greenwoods so that they also may experience the delights of a day in the life of an agent. Sadly, and for reasons that we can't imagine for we are too busy smiling at the world, they don't seem to want to take us up on this life changing offer.
But never mind, all is not lost for pretty soon they will all recieve letters offering them the chance of a job that is beyond the wildest of dreams of those who have nothing. For even though collectively we know that we are indispensible, the fat cats are foolish enough to believe otherwise, thinking that they can replace us in an instance, for they are arrogant and complacent and whilst they are rolling around in our money they will not learn any different.
They are a joke, or would be if their actions were humorous, but they're not humorous, they're sick, the fat cats are sick, and they make us sick to.

Well said Stoney Broke, what do you think the answer is then??

Pathetic

19england66 wrote: »

looks like managers will be getting a bonus then............ hope they enjoy spending our fine money.......................grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Agreeed makes me soooooo angry :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Stony_Broke

Pathetic wrote: »

Well said Stoney Broke, what do you think the answer is then??

To be perfectly honest I’m not sure what the answer is, or indeed if there is any one solution that will bring this whole nasty business to a close, for it seems to me that the current situation is something of a more complex nature that first meets the eye. I have read suggestions on here that we should report this abuse of our interests to the F.S.A., B.B.C. Watchdog, and other interested parties. All good sound advice that can only strengthen our cause, I for one have e-mailed the F.S.A. On the home ground, in the first instance I believe that we need to be aware of whom we are dealing with, (know thy enemy). This in turn of course raises the question of,’are they our enemy’? After all we are supposed to be on the same side, all pulling together for the benefit of the mega wealthy shareholders.
The way I see it is that in order to know who we are dealing with we need to understand their nature. Basic sociology teaches us that the population of the world today is approximately 6.93 billion. And psychology would have us believe that out of all these people there emerges a mere sixteen personality types, with obvious overlaps and sub categories. Furthermore as it is proven in all walks of life that birds of a feather do indeed flock together we are correct to presume that these people are of one type, with a few exceptions to the rule that is. How we perceive their particular type depends largely upon whether we have a misanthropic or a philanthropic view of other people. Where their type is concerned my personal views are misanthropic for in my opinion they are a group of ruthless and tyrannical individuals who are attracted to each other by common traits, i.e., greed, power and position.
Back then to the question of ‘are they our enemy’? The fact that they spy on this forum surely makes them so, for this is where they gather information to use against us. They are not open about their activities; they are hiding behind closed doors. But for all their supreme intelligence what they do not realise is that their screens are transparent, for the information soon reaches our ears via our section managers who are under instructions to warn us that should any agent have zero issue in any one particular week they must be reported to higher management, this is just one example, there are more. If they had not learned of the agent’s intent to refuse to issue then we would not be threatened with being reported, this in itself is evidence of both their involvement on here and their concern.
Their interest in the comments on this forum implies that the plaster on their walls is showing the first signs of cracking, for they are concerned that we are finding strength in numbers. Here we have the advantage for we know who they are; they do not know who we are. They are desperate to learn our identity and believe that we may be singled out as the agents who ‘do no issue’. We will then be made examples of and our agency will be terminated. Scaremongering is a common practice of their type, for they believe that their draconian measures will keep the workforce in check. Once they have disposed of who they consider to be the ringleaders of the uprising, in their opinion those who remain will have no option other than to toe the line, fines or no fines. Therefore in order to protect our agencies, should we be under the misapprehension that they are worth protecting, we must remain incognito. Simply having aliases on here is not enough for they have ways and means of discovering our true identities. In other words, we must keep our cards closer to our chests.
This is not the first time they have used these tactics for in our so called ‘anonymous’ annual agent’s survey where we are required to provide our opinion on the company in general. The fact that we are obliged to answer specific questions on gender, age, customer count, etc, easily pinpoints our identity. Therefore anything derogatory reported can be traced back to source for retribution. Through this they also learn who and who is not likely to stir up trouble should the agents be aggrieved in any way. By the same token by practicing what we preach on here we are walking straight into their trap.
What we must do is keep our friends close and our enemies closer. In the current economical climate company growth is the all important issue. Yes their shares may be rocketing through the roof at the moment, and the shareholders no-doubt are rubbing their greedy hands together whilst laughing at our expense, but these are false profits. The plan they have devised to deprive us of our livelihood is cunning to say the least; they have not just simply overlooked the human element in all this, it is a deliberate act designed to line their own pockets. For whilst they may boast to the media that they are actually paying out more in wages since the fines began, any agent who believes that they can win overall are simply fooling themselves. It speaks for itself for as we all know at least 20; if not 30 or more out of every 100 customers will ultimately be written off at a loss to our income of £300-£450 in an ongoing cycle. The others who appear on our list of wins and losses are just yoyo customers, and any win gained on these customers will not compensate us for our losses overall. Add this to the fact that we are already paid an average of between £15 & £25 less per £1,000 collected than our competitors are paying their agents and we are on a road to nowhere.
Short of a miraculous transformation where they, ‘the enemy’, emerge as the caring, sharing individuals they so desperately strive to portray themselves to be, our embarking upon drastic measures will alter little overnight, but with the passage of time we can subtly tailor our agencies without drawing attention to ourselves. We can be more selective when choosing new customers, surely they cannot complain of this, for it is in all our interests. Since the fines began although I have gained new customers I have also turned away no less than five prospective customers for fear of non-payment. I have issued only half of my target sales, not deliberately but essentially. I have wheedled out the worst of the payers at the rate of two or three a week, thus not drawing attention to a high percentage of misses, and I have not replaced them with more high risk customers. Lastly I have lowered the rates through re-finance for anyone genuinely struggling to meet their payments. These are measures that I imagine all agents to have taken on board amid the struggle to avoid future penalties. This may in the long term benefit those agents who for personal reasons have little choice other than to remain in the job. Ultimately they may find that they are working fewer hours and using less fuel. Although on the other hand as the economical crisis continues to bite and more customers hit the dust, it may not, because as we all know, there is no such thing as a good customer, they are all bad customers just waiting to happen, often through no fault of their own. Therefore in response to those on here who see it their duty to lecture us on the perils of lending to those who cannot afford the repayments. How the hell are we expected to foresee any event that may change their circumstances beyond our control, bereavement, divorce, unemployment to name but a few, we do not read palms and neither do we carry crystal balls.
However for the company the consequences of us all tailoring our agencies could prove disastrous for as every agency shrinks so do they and on a grand scale. The arithmetic of it is, if each and every one of us streamline our agencies by a mere 20% overall, Provident’s all important customer count of 1.9 million, as it now stands will be reduced by some 380,000 customers in the first year alone. When I say tailoring I do not refer only to bad payers, but also to those who I call, ‘chase customers’ who have no regular day, and may require over five calls a week before we collect a trifling amount. Are these worth the effort, the fuel, the phone calls and the texts to earn perhaps only 35 pence at the end of it? I think not. If they wish to pay then let it be by card and we can earn our massive 5% for doing nothing. Add this to the vacant books that no-doubt will multiply in number as the months pass by and Provident with all their high flying economic geniuses and corrupt advisors will be treading on very rocky ground.
No doubt when this happens they will desperately attempt to counteract the consequences by offering ill thought out and unrealistic incentives aimed at customer growth. This they believe will work, as they think that we, such as they, can be bought. Whilst it is true that money motivates a great many of us, we unlike they have scruples, morals and principles and will not allow ourselves to be manipulated in this way. We are not the whinging, brain dead, snivelling, grotesque measly peasants, grateful for every scrap that is thrown our way and happy to lick their boots for it in the process that they believe us to be.
What concerns me most of all for any of us who were hoping to ride out the storm, was a comment passed by a colleague earlier today. He quite rightly pointed out that if things are bad for the agents now; just imagine how it will be in the grave yard period after xmas. Needless to say he is not risking finding out for he is leaving at the end of this month. He has found self employment with a debt consolidation company and says that he is going to take a sizeable percentage of his customers to debt management with him, for revenge is a dish best served chilled. A second colleague has hinted that he may even follow his lead, saying that as many customers migrate to these companies sooner or later anyway, as the old saying goes, ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’.
As you can see much discussion and a great deal of soul searching has taken place between us, as no doubt it has wherever you are based. The general feeling is, (aside from disgust that is); we must all explore our options. The question on my mind at the moment is, are we better off in work or on benefits? From my own point of view, this week as with the previous few weeks, I am worse off in work.
As we move around street to street, door to door we cannot help but come across other agents and managers from other companies. I imagine everyone here has experienced the embarrassing situation of clashing with them by the door step or inside the homes of customers. And we must all be able to recall a situation where a partner, a son or a daughter will open the door and ask, “Which one are you then”? And when we peer inside there are three, maybe even four books perched upon the shelf. My point is that over time these agents become our friends, regardless of the fact that they are from elsewhere, we are back to ‘birds of a feather again’. We look out for each other; warn each other about possible dangers, a savage dog in the garden, a drugs dealer next door, an incident with a colleague and so on. This is now golden opportunity for their managers to poach us, it is what they have been praying for, and we have and shall see them dangling their money laden carrots over the garden gate in the weeks and months to come. The proof is in the pudding, as I have been head hunted no less than three times in as many months, and whilst I am obviously still here, my motto is,’ never say never’.
To finally conclude my ramblings, whether I stay or leave, I cannot wait for the day that this all blows up in their faces and we can sit back and watch as brick by brick the Provident Empire begins to collapse. Who then will be seen to be standing in-between the shareholders and their multimillion pound profits? Not the agents. And who will they stab in the back? Who but those who’s cheesy grins are now iconoclastically displayed office to office, desk to desk, Crookie that’s who and his shower of, dare I say it, S***.

demoralised

Well said again stony broke, and I think most of us are running our agencys like you at the moment.An interesting thought, if we only issue to what we consider to be quality customers, and arrears fall dramatically as a result,as head office wants, how can they then justify the sky high interest rates they charge, they have always maintained this was to cover the high rate of non-payers,it will look in the future as unjust profiteering.