Unethical sales practises at big well known UK company

DaveTheMus

It's business to business....

Shock horror...a large company wants you to extend the margins, you were in the wrong job I think.

Business to business regulation isn't as rigorous as regular consumers because business' should be sharper than Joe Bloggs.

secretenergysalesman

DaveTheMus wrote: »

It's business to business....

Shock horror...a large company wants you to extend the margins, you were in the wrong job I think.

Business to business regulation isn't as rigorous as regular consumers because business' should be sharper than Joe Bloggs.

So you think these retired OAP's who look after the churches funding and energy bills deserve to be ripped off for trusting a person selling to them? REALLY??? Or a charity shop? or some new business starting out?

You think its OK sales practice (hell is it good business practice) to go after the customers in debt with nowhere to turn, its OK for them to call a helpline and get passed to sales agents? (why would they suddenly start paying or getting out of debt when are job was to plunge them into more debt with worse prices than others?)

You think it OK to withhold information from a customers where their actually debt is false and a customer service agent could zero the debt and they could leave? You think its OK to not tell them that info?? REALLY?????!

Is it OK for a company to knowingly report false figures to get financial gain for agents /mangers etc etc....??

Ok sorry maybe its just me then...... talk of me being a 'troll' in 1 2 3 .....

DaveTheMus

secretenergysalesman wrote: »

So you think these retired OAP's who look after the churches funding and energy bills deserve to be ripped off for trusting a person selling to them? REALLY??? Or a charity shop? or some new business starting out?

You think its OK sales practice (hell is it good business practice) to go after the customers in debt with nowhere to turn, its OK for them to call a helpline and get passed to sales agents? (why would they suddenly start paying or getting out of debt when are job was to plunge them into more debt with worse prices than others?)

You think it OK to withhold information from a customers where their actually debt is false and a customer service agent could zero the debt and they could leave? You think its OK to not tell them that info?? REALLY?????!

Is it OK for a company to knowingly report false figures to get financial gain for agents /mangers etc etc....??

Ok sorry maybe its just me then...... talk of me being a 'troll' in 1 2 3 .....

You're not a troll...

just a wee naive idealist who isn't cut out for business to business sales....it's an immoral cut throat environment, always has been. Being immoral doesn't make it illegal though.

naedanger

DaveTheMus wrote: »

You're not a troll...

just a wee naive idealist who isn't cut out for business to business sales....it's an immoral cut throat environment, always has been. Being immoral doesn't make it illegal though.

There are aspects of the original posters claims, that if they could be substantiated, e.g. falsifying figures, would clearly be wrong and almost certainly against regulations.

What I cannot understand is why the OP is trying to convince people here (who have no powers to act) of wrong-doing by some unknown company when he could actually do some good by raising his concerns with the regulator using the mechanism put in place for that very purpose.

secretenergysalesman

naedanger wrote: »

There are aspects of the original posters claims, that if they could be substantiated, e.g. falsifying figures, would clearly be wrong and almost certainly against regulations.

What I cannot understand is why the OP is trying to convince people here (who have no powers to act) of wrong-doing by some unknown company when he could actually do some good by raising his concerns with the regulator using the mechanism put in place for that very purpose.

I have using the link to ofgem provided. In regards to business to business sales being 'cut throat' environment, for one that doesn't make it right, what 'some' of the bankers got up to was cut throat but if the bad apples were weeded out then that whole industry would arguably not of needed huge bail out which certainly if not caused contributed to a massive financial crash.
I was there on the salesfloor 10 years and used some of my big bonus's to invest into a business which finally when i left I could fll into that, so im no shy 'not up for sales' bloke, i made alot of money and got out before it destroyed me. That doesn't mean that towards the end even some of the stuff i was used to doing , ripping people off, mis advising the naive, fudging figures got too much, i knew about fudging figures straight away because we were all doing it, i siad come on guys this wont last they will find out aboutt this loop hole......fact in 5 years later still happening and all managers knew....its was helping EVERYONE hit targets..targets mean bonus...targets got to the top and report to the City....the City means shares.. false figure reporting isn't good....
Ive not come on here to suggest "i got a job at X and in first day it was stressful"
10 years at the sharp end earning stupid money, i got my stripes but there is limits and i felt and feel this place is doing stuff that needs exposing...and they knew it and were scared of me and basically did everything they could to tarnish me, I did with the Unions help get a bulling grievance upheld along side 8 other grievances i was advised to take against them...but they kept it all in house and accepted all the bullying ones but just ignored the one about false figures etc..

To add a customer in debt cant leave, so its hardly salesman of the year if you sell to a customer who cant go anywhere is it?


For a forum whose 'guru' is the fantastic Martin Lewis who tirelessly goes after and exposes's these types of practices I thought this would be a good place to start.

DaveTheMus

secretenergysalesman wrote: »

I have using the link to ofgem provided. In regards to business to business sales being 'cut throat' environment, for one that doesn't make it right, what 'some' of the bankers got up to was cut throat but if the bad apples were weeded out then that whole industry would arguably not of needed huge bail out which certainly if not caused contributed to a massive financial crash.
I was there on the salesfloor 10 years and used some of my big bonus's to invest into a business which finally when i left I could fll into that, so im no shy 'not up for sales' bloke, i made alot of money and got out before it destroyed me. That doesn't mean that towards the end even some of the stuff i was used to doing , ripping people off, mis advising the naive, fudging figures got too much, i knew about fudging figures straight away because we were all doing it, i siad come on guys this wont last they will find out aboutt this loop hole......fact in 5 years later still happening and all managers knew....its was helping EVERYONE hit targets..targets mean bonus...targets got to the top and report to the City....the City means shares.. false figure reporting isn't good....
Ive not come on here to suggest "i got a job at X and in first day it was stressful"
10 years at the sharp end earning stupid money, i got my stripes but there is limits and i felt and feel this place is doing stuff that needs exposing...and they knew it and were scared of me and basically did everything they could to tarnish me, I did with the Unions help get a bulling grievance upheld along side 8 other grievances i was advised to take against them...but they kept it all in house and accepted all the bullying ones but just ignored the one about false figures etc..

To add a customer in debt cant leave, so its hardly salesman of the year if you sell to a customer who cant go anywhere is it?


For a forum whose 'guru' is the fantastic Martin Lewis who tirelessly goes after and exposes's these types of practices I thought this would be a good place to start.

Ah, so you ripped these people off for ten years until you plundered enough money to start your own going concern...

With that your moral authority disappears. You paint yourself as a moral crusader who only has the interests of the indebted and downtrodden in your heart, you aren't though. You're a scorned ex-employee with revenge on your mind. Unless you expect us to believe it took you 10 years to realise what you were doing was wrong.

PlutoinCapricorn

Well, reformed poachers are said to make the best gamekeepers. The OP is now in a position to be able to speak freely, and whistleblowers always get attacked. It is standard practice for their former employers to accuse them of being unsatisfactory employees with a grievance.

We talk about sucker lists and boiler rooms on here and the techniques that MLM pushers use. Bringing these things out into the open on a forum with a large number of members is useful I think.

secretenergysalesman

DaveTheMus wrote: »

Ah, so you ripped these people off for ten years until you plundered enough money to start your own going concern...

With that your moral authority disappears. You paint yourself as a moral crusader who only has the interests of the indebted and downtrodden in your heart, you aren't though. You're a scorned ex-employee with revenge on your mind. Unless you expect us to believe it took you 10 years to realise what you were doing was wrong.

But you said that's just 'business to business' its 'cut throat'.... why you getting on your high horse about it now?

People in sales make money, we happened to make stupid money for what it was we did, 10k bonus per month was normal for a few years to the select ones at the top, the others would be happy with 3-6k per month bonus, then even the poor performers were on 1-3k per month in bonus alone, any less than that you were not cut out for sales.
I raised issues thinking they would be addressed, i had bills to pay etc I was trying to do the job within the boundaries but towards the end of my time there it was impossible to hit target unless you were fudging figures or ripping off customers in debt who had no choices...THAT is where I drew the line and got out.... I felt the company was basically getting people to do bad things beyond 'sales' due to greed and desperation to hit targets, that was what i am trying to expose.

You just have it in for me from your first response, I don't care about your opinion of me, but you cant get shirty about 'sales is cut throat deal with it' to "oh so you ripped people off and made loads of money did you!", I was a good sales agent who had things not been as they were towards the end i'd off been there for certainly another 5 years, I resigned, i didn't get sacked and I was forced off with stress for nearly a year and in that time things got even worse on the sales floor. When i returned I saw the same things happening and couldn't deal with the fight anymore, half the floor was off with stress or illness mangers were disappearing it was a mess. I felt maybe this place might be somewhere to get some advice.

PlutoinCapricorn

naedanger said "What I cannot understand is why the OP is trying to convince people here (who have no powers to act) of wrong-doing by some unknown company when he could actually do some good by raising his concerns with the regulator using the mechanism put in place for that very purpose. "

Raising awareness among friends and family of potential victims, not to mention concerned individuals and people who might be considering taking jobs with such companies is one reason.

naedanger

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

naedanger said "What I cannot understand is why the OP is trying to convince people here (who have no powers to act) of wrong-doing by some unknown company when he could actually do some good by raising his concerns with the regulator using the mechanism put in place for that very purpose. "

Raising awareness among friends and family of potential victims, not to mention concerned individuals and people who might be considering taking jobs with such companies is one reason.

The company has not been named, so how from this thread is awareness being raised, and how will people know whether they are considering taking a job with this company?

How is this thread going to help people identify "such companies" unless you are suggesting they tar all companies in this industry in the manner the OP has described this one unnamed company.