Should Members Be Charging For Their Assistance?

The_Deep

Thought that was the case. When he next posts here, see what I mean.

ColliesCarer

It's clear from the posts that there is a great deal of knowledge and probably an inordinate amount of time given to helping people fight these charges. It's also clear that there are people who would welcome such a service and the benefits to them and to the service provider are clear.

But what are the benefits/detriments to the forum?

I believe the above question is key when considering whether the forum should be used as a vehicle for obtaining customers for this service as it's the impact of those benefits/detriments that will determine what effect this may have on the forum over time.

Other than diverting those OP's who want to take advantage of a paid service elsewhere and enabling the volunteers to focus on the OP's who prefer to challenge the charges themselves with forum help, I am really struggling to see what benefit this would have for the forum.

Regarding the detriments - whilst it's a bit of crystal ball gazing - I do see there could be number of potential negative impacts on the forum.
- it's divisive and could cause a potential loss of volunteers as people question giving their time for free when others are charging
- pm's from PPC's/underqualified others pretending/attempting to offer the same
- loss of the currency of the knowledge base due to a) above, less current information coming in and possibly a reluctance to post information that may be used for profit
- reduced numbers of posters if there is negative reaction/PR

A combination of the above could create the circumstances if a tipping point was reached when the only advice being offered was charged for.

On balance I feel the probability this may have a negative impact on the forum is quite high.

BenefitMaster

Here's my Two-pennorth, and I have to say that I not only know KiL, but have met him and am fully aware of his motives.

KiL, as with others on here, are part of a group which I jokingly call the "Prankster Pro-Bono unit" and these people (I am one of them) go along to court to assist people who ask, help with POPLA cases, and also help people on these forums and have written up the "Amicus pack" which gets faxed, every morning, to EVERY SINGLE PE hearing that day.

I have personally been to court for Lainiee, and two other people, and I was the amicus who stood up at Cambridge.

Just out of interest... let me tell you exactly how much of my own money I spent on that, and exactly how much I have gotten back.

So far, my costs as an Amicus and Lay Rep exceed £350. I have had back... not a penny, and nor have I asked for it.

KiL is offering a service. Ticket Cancelled or Ticket Paid, for £16. So, you get a £150 ticket, give him just over 10% and it's GUARANTEED to go away.

He doesn't do court. If you approach him with Court, it'll come to the PPBU, and we do it instead. And We (TINW) deal with the stress for you.

Prankster is selling his court guide (which works), KiL is offering to stop it at POPLA (which works), stress free. I see no issue with a small recompense for that. The reason I can't charge for court is because I'm not a Lawyer and can't guarantee a win, so I stay near home, as do all the PPBU members, apart from Prankster, who is a bit mad ;-).

So my vote is a resounding Yes. Sometimes, you have to spend a little to save a lot. A stitch in time and all that,...

bob?_3-2

Anything that throws a spanner into the corrupt workings of the PPC's sounds ok to me, now you have basically three options,
No 1, spend lots of hours researching/posting/and more posting.
No 2,pay KIFL £16 and forget about it.
No 3,throw in the towel and pay the PPC's a multiple of £16.
Furthermore all you guys/gals who tirelessly help any and everyone deserve far more than you ever get out of it you truly are knights in shining armour and should be proud of yourselves.

4consumerrights

UNCLOAK: declaration now as public

I am the other half to the business venture in conjunction with Kirkbyinfurnlesslad..

There should not really be any conflict of interests here in any case regarding the issue of FREE forum advice and those who wish to turn to our service offered. I hope to be able to still contribute as a volunteer where ops request help.

There is no obligation for anyone to use our service and indeed our target market will be those who value their time more by having the work done for them - with a guarantee.

As you will note from our posts and history - both KIFL and myself are well known both on and off forum.

FYI - DA_Rule - I have composed many letters both on and off forum which have resulted in getting parking charges cancelled for OPs, oh and by the way - some of the NEWBIE information included recommendations from myself for tweaking.

I also assist off forum with defence cases...and as a side note both Kirkbyinfurnesslad and myself will be in court this week defending cases (mine at magistrates court)

Nodding_Donkey

"Should new members be charged.....?" No
"Should people be given the opportunity to pay to have someone else do all the work.......?" Hell yes

I can't see a problem with that at all. We've all seen the OPs that start "I haven't got time to read all............" well those are just the people that should pay.

Folkiedave

I too know KIFL from the world of PPC and would be supportive of such a venture.

Since the change in law in 2012 questions (though generally speaking not the answers) have become more frequent - and I know KIFL spends his own money helping people in his own time and attending court with them.

Looking for some recompense by charging for dealing with the correspondence is wholly acceptable to me.

If I was doubtful about what to do I know what I would go for.

Umkomaas

I have no problem with the venture. The forum is swamped at times and we have been in the situation for over a year now of having to spoon feed a large number of posters.

It was because of having to type out the same stuff day after day, which became pretty wearing, that I spent some time developing the 'Walk Through' which now features in Coupon-mad's NEWBIES sticky. And I'm pretty sure Coupon had similar thoughts when she developed the sticky.

So if someone (or two) wants to devote potentially a large proportion of their time to professionally dealing with this stuff for those:

* whose own time costs too much (a management consultant in one thread was losing his daily fee of £500+ a day dealing with his own PCN),

* those who are sitting mesmerised (often traumatised) like rabbits in headlights and are likely to be paying the PPC out of sheer terror,

* those who can't understand things, despite disproportionate input from the forum, or

* those just too lazy to do much themselves, expecting forum regulars to do most of the work for them - for free (remember the lady who expressed her disgust that she'd posted 10 minutes previously and there had been no instant response),

then good luck to them.

I think our respective 'roles' will evolve and develop as time moves on. I'm sure we can all live together!

SevenTowers

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

"Should new members be charged.....?" No
"Should people be given the opportunity to pay to have someone else do all the work.......?" Hell yes

Absolutely!

This has been a good lively debate, but it's such a pity the poll question is so one-sided;

Should New Members Be Charged For Having Their PCN Dealt With By Members?

I support the venture by KIFL & 4CR but there is no way I could answer yes to that poll question, so in my opinion the outcome of the poll is meaningless.

Umkomaas

SevenTowers wrote: »

Absolutely!

This has been a good lively debate, but it's such a pity the poll question is so one-sided;

Should New Members Be Charged For Having Their PCN Dealt With By Members?

I support the venture by KIFL & 4CR but there is no way I could answer yes to that poll question, so in my opinion the outcome of the poll is meaningless.

And why I've not voted!