MSE News: Retail ombudsman service launches today

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  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,863
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    Ah you've got me digging now.

    The registered director of Retail ADR LTD (who own the website) has been director of 17 companies - 7 of which he has resigned from and 10 are current/dissolved.

    Including, homepride ltd, q day nursersies ltd, debello law ltd, kinderstart day nurseries ltd, touchstone sports management ltd.....in fact on looking at the list, theres too many to type. A quick look suggests 5 are still active.

    He is a solicitor....registered at (address might be familiar):
    Debello Law Limited
    33rd Floor Euston Tower,
    286 Euston Road,
    London,
    NW1 3DP
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • wealdroam
    wealdroam Posts: 19,181
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    He is a solicitor...

    He is a barrister now:
    According to N Thurlbeck :D
  • wealdroam wrote: »
    He is a barrister now:
    According to N Thurlbeck :D

    And a tweet from them https://twitter.com/RetailOmbudsman/status/551069320579936256 stating

    Another highly informative piece on the new Retail Ombudsman by @MoneySavingExp http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/shopping/2015/01/retail-ombudsman-service-launches-today

    - from 2 hours ago.

    So basically they got into touch with MSE so the latter could write them an article. As soon as I posted my first post on the thread, MSE Paloma subsequently completely changed the wording of the article so it appeared more favourable for the Retail Ombudsman.

    Something fishy going on here.
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,863
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    I'm curious why a supposedly pro consumer guy would want to bind the consumer to a decision made by a body who's sole existence/usefulness relies on retailers signing up.

    Unless they're hoping that ADR becomes mandatory
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • On the website, under the heading of 'Benefits to Joining'

    "Customers who will not take no for an answer

    Many people turn to the Internet in times of dispute to find out what their rights are. This poses a significant problem for the retail sector as a large proportion of these consumers find the wrong answer online. Armed with this information, they pursue their complaint via your customer services team and refuse to accept that they are wrong.

    In these circumstances, TRO can be a valuable ally to retailers. Consumers are therefore far more likely to accept that they are wrong if they are informed of this by an independent ombudsman scheme."

    Probably a direct reference to MSE, especially given that The Retail Ombudsman have made 12 tweets since they created a twitter account and one of those tweets is to MSE.

    Wonder if MSE and TRO have partnered in this venture?
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812
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    edited 2 January 2015 at 11:18PM
    One of the companies they list- is " mamma and papas".
    Do they mean mammas and pappas ?!
    Amateurish much..
  • mije1983
    mije1983 Posts: 3,665
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    hollydays wrote: »
    One of the companies they list- is " mamma and papas".
    Do they mean mammas and pappas ?!
    Amateurish much..

    Or even 'Mamas & Papas' :D
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812
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    mije1983 wrote: »
    Or even 'Mamas & Papas' :D

    Thanks😄 I re edited that the wrong way round
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812
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    Mse paloma has worked for david rice media and mirror trinity group
  • hollydays wrote: »
    One of the companies they list- is " mamma and papas".
    Do they mean mammas and pappas ?!
    Amateurish much..

    " TRO expects to investigate more than 100,000 customer complaints in its first year."

    "companies will have to pay a £45 complaint handling fee per complaint processed"

    = £4.5 million pound earned by TRO in fees from retailers

    In addition:

    "member retailers.. pay between £100 and £2,600 annually" and "it already has 3,000 retailers signed up as members." Best estimate, say an average of £750-800

    = £2.35 million pound earned by TRO in retailer membership

    According to Dean Dunham's Twitter, TRO employs 40 staff.

    Based on my experience of dealing with the case handlers at the Telecoms Ombudsman and subsequently looking up their credentials, or lack of, on LinkedIn I noticed a majority of them did not have university degrees, I can't foresee the case handlers being paid anything above £30,000 a year. Rough guess:

    = £1.2 - 1.5 million in non-executive wages then add some more for rent, overheads and other costs and you're still looking at...

    = a Fat profit for Dean Dunham and the rest of the executives who have set up this brilliant profit-making venture, asked MSE to advertise it, and will no doubt convince unwitting consumers to follow its shoddy ADR whilst it rakes in the monies.
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