'Some people (Nationwide) just don’t recognise sarcasm' blog discussion

Former_MSE_Paloma

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "Some people just don’t recognise sarcasm – my bizarre conversation with Nationwide's ad agency" Blog.

Please click 'post reply' to discuss below.

haynick

Very polite request from the ad agency and you reply with sarcasm - well done Martin!

tgroom57

Several things wrong with this.
Firstly the ad agency don't say explicitly what quote they want to use, and where from. Their phrase "Never autorenew..." refers to the concept they are trying to communicate. It may or may not be your quote.
Secondly, not safe to use sarcasm on strangers. There are all types out there, and you don't want to be thought of as one of the stranger types.
I think their's was a reasonable request- I would have liked to see the whole package before agreeing to anything.
Your use of sarcasm has made twice the work for both parties rather than if you'd just said : No, rather you didn't.

MSE_Martin

tgroom57 wrote: »

Several things wrong with this.
Firstly the ad agency don't say explicitly what quote they want to use, and where from. Their phrase "Never autorenew..." refers to the concept they are trying to communicate. It may or may not be your quote.
Secondly, not safe to use sarcasm on strangers. There are all types out there, and you don't want to be thought of as one of the stranger types.
I think their's was a reasonable request- I would have liked to see the whole package before agreeing to anything.
Your use of sarcasm has made twice the work for both parties rather than if you'd just said : No, rather you didn't.

Firstly I think you've misread it - that is a direct quote from me, not their stance. (I know cos I wrote it - )


And I don't think its a reasonable request. Firstly I am a campaigning journalist and they should think carefully before asking me if I'd support their marketing campaign, it's not something I do.

More importantly it's hypocritica - they want me to support them on a campaign against a sin they do themselves.


Yet even if you ignore the sarcasm of my response, my response was they could publish

"Never auto-renew. Loyalty is expensive. This includes Nationwide products, don’t let it screw you at renewal."


As I wasn't aware that this was negative to them - and then to come back and ask if i'd be willing to alter it. It's terrible communication skills.

jamesd

Sad for them that personality rights exist. Nicely done.

Mobeer

Sarcasm and words spoken in jest don't come well through in written communication. The absence of body language and tone of voice make it hard to follow.

I think they've made a reasonable request given the nature of their work, and their suggested quote is similar to your wording. It's surely better that they ask for permission to make a quotation rather than just referring to you recommending that people avoid auto-renew.

Sooler

‘Never auto-renew. Loyalty is expensive’. :xmastree:

Nationwide Home insurance renewal ripoff!
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3457619

Nationwide Home Insurance policy document
https://www.u-k-i-insurance.com/nationwide/home/home-insurance-document.pdf

7 Automatic renewal
When your policy is due for renewal, we may offer to renew it for you automatically :rotfl:using the payment
details you have already given, unless we or you have advised otherwise. We will write to you at least
21 days before your policy ends and before taking any payment to confirm your renewal premium and
policy terms. If you do not want to renew your policy you must call us :rotfl:before your renewal date to let
us know. It is not possible to offer automatic renewal with all payment methods so please check your
renewal invite for further details.

LydiaJ

I don't think it's such a terrible sin for companies to auto-renew. Sure, when my life is functioning and I've got the brain space to think about things like getting the best price on insurance, I'll do so. But there have been times in my life (when a road accident killed my husband and injured our kids, for example) when I really didn't have the capacity to worry about such things, and the very last thing I'd have wanted would have been for any of my insurance policies to lapse because I'd forgotten to renew them. A letter saying "we will auto-renew unless you ask us not to" gives the customer the choice to make fresh arrangements if they want to, without the risk of being left without cover if they don't, for whatever reason.

It's fair enough for Martin to advise consumers not to accept auto-renewals because there will probably be better deals out there if they look. I don't think it's reasonable for him to insist that companies shouldn't do it - as long as they inform customers each time they are about to do so, with enough time for the customer to cancel the auto-renew if they want to, and details of how to do so.

fed_up_and_stressed

LydiaJ wrote: »

It's fair enough for Martin to advise consumers not to accept auto-renewals because there will probably be better deals out there if they look. I don't think it's reasonable for him to insist that companies shouldn't do it - as long as they inform customers each time they are about to do so, with enough time for the customer to cancel the auto-renew if they want to, and details of how to do so.

I think it's fair enough for him to insist that companies shouldn't do it ..when like in this case they wish to use his name to endorse their products !

mandragora_2

I thought it was a fairly straightforward dialogue. Obviously, someone at Nationwide looked at the reply they'd had back, and then either took it on themselves to have another try, or took it to their boss, saying 'It's a no from Martin' and the boss has said 'Well, not fully. Go back and have another pop. Try the 'fake ingenue' stance we covered in that seminar last summer. He might fall for that'.

Glad I'm not tasked with sending out such obviously thick-skinned emails, and jealous of Martin's ability to be able to say what he thinks in a dialogue like this one. Oh many, many a time I've wanted to do exactly that.

LydiaJ

fed_up_and_stressed wrote: »

I think it's fair enough for him to insist that companies shouldn't do it ..when like in this case they wish to use his name to endorse their products !

Totally fair for Martin to say companies can't use his name to endorse their products. The independence of his advice is crucial to what he does.

I still think that if companies stopped auto-renewing, then loads of people - people in crisis as I was, or busy people, or stressed people, or elderly people who are a bit muddled, or disorganised people - would end up in trouble when their insurance lapsed and then they found they weren't covered when they wanted to make a claim, or even that they were in trouble with the police if it was their car insurance that had lapsed. So I still don't support his stance that companies ought not to do it at all.

Now if he was campaigning to say that companies auto-renewing customers should always give them as good a deal as new customers, I'd be fully in support of that.