Provident Financial - Woodford, Barnett & Darwall

bigadaj

dividendhero wrote: »

While anyone can recruit staff/agents from the Provvy, i'd imagine there's NDA's in place to stop them directly taking customers..

Most have effectively been made redundant, if they were actually considered to be employees, I believe they were typically self employed agents.

You can include many terms into contracts, employment or not, whether they are valid and if so enforcing them are very different matters.

Malthusian

dividendhero wrote: »

While anyone can recruit staff/agents from the Provvy, i'd imagine there's NDA's in place to stop them directly taking customers..

Which in my limited experience of NDAs in the financial industry are highly unlikely to be meaningfully enforceable if the customer rings up their old agent off their own bat to ask where they should get a loan. Provident doesn't own the customer - not after the customer has paid off their previous short-term loan, anyway.

For illustration, if an agent moves from Old Firm to New Firm and rings up all their old customers at Old Firm saying "You should move to New Firm with me", Old Firm may be able to enforce their NDA against the agent. However, if it's the customers who ring up the agent - or if Old Firm can't prove it wasn't that way around - Old Firm is much less likely to be able to enforce the NDA. The customers have the right to do business with whomever they like.

NDAs are a complex area and this isn't to say that an NDA will always be unenforceable or always enforceable in those circumstances, but that is an important variable in how likely it is to be enforceable. And Provident Financial's hold on its customers is even more tenuous than in other financial services areas, given that these are mostly short term loans, and once the loan is paid off it has no ongoing relationship with the customer.

bigadaj

Whilst the loans are short term then the customers and the agents frequently have an ongoing relationship consisting of constantly renewing short term loans, at high interest rates, for years if not decades.

In most instances the agents are the major point of contact, and are considered friends eventhough the cumulative interest paid will be eye watering.

The biggest thing in my opinion is how quickly an ignorant management can destroy a business, and get well paid for the privilege of doing so. I suppose the argument is that if you want someone to run your company properly you have to pay them even more money!

SALFORDxSOLDIER

Why do provident refuse to pick up payments on time.?
It has been 7 WEEKS and still no agents to pick up repayments.

Why do you break your own contracts and expect to gain any respect if you can not even do the basic things like call to your customers and pick up AGREED payments on time.!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

fun4everyone

Oh dear, Provident taking another hiding today, all this after NW topped up significantly in October.

https://www.fundstrategy.co.uk/woodford-ups-provident-stake-shares-double/

Glen_Clark

SALFORDxSOLDIER wrote: »

Why do provident refuse to pick up payments on time.?
It has been 7 WEEKS and still no agents to pick up repayments.

Why do you break your own contracts and expect to gain any respect if you can not even do the basic things like call to your customers and pick up AGREED payments on time.!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I understand its a feature of their new computer system - sending the wrong collectors to the wrong addresses

SALFORDxSOLDIER

Why do provident refuse to pick up payments on time.?
It has been 7 WEEKS and still no agents to pick up repayments.

Why do you break your own contracts and expect to gain any respect if you can not even do the basic things like call to your customers and pick up AGREED payments on time.!

ColdIron

Is this the same 7 weeks you mentioned last September? Maybe you are 7 weeks out

jimjames

SALFORDxSOLDIER wrote: »

Why do provident refuse to pick up payments on time.?
It has been 7 WEEKS and still no agents to pick up repayments.

Why do you break your own contracts and expect to gain any respect if you can not even do the basic things like call to your customers and pick up AGREED payments on time.!

If you're taking out loans from them then you're probably better off posting on the Debt free board than Savings and Investments unless you really aren't aware how much they are costing you. If you're not happy with their service then go elsewhere