Author Archives: The Team

BOOTS CON PENSIONERS

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Marketeers at Boots have told millions of pensioners that the loyalty benefits on their Advantage cards have been “upgraded” when in fact they have been downgraded.

Until recently the over-60’s got a 10% discount on own-brand products, and then 4 Advantage points (4 pence) for every pound spent. This meant that products priced at £10 would cost £9 with the 10% discount and then attract a further discount of 4 pence in the pound on £9 (36 pence) making a total of £8.64. Now, under what Boot’s slippery marketeers describe as an upgrade the number of Advantage points has been increased to 10 per £1 but the 10% discount scrapped, so what used to cost £8.64 now costs £9. Continue reading →

ADVANCE FEE FRAUDS STILL ACTIVE

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Enough UK business types are still gullible enough to make the advance fee frauds worth chancing, it seems.

An example is the letter recently received from someone calling himself Thwaite Ho, from China. Our Thwaite claims to be to be a private investment manager managing the 17.5 million dollar estate of a deceased chap with the same family name as the recipients of his letter, and generously offers to share the money, urging that he be contacted soonest via his fax number or email address. Continue reading →

CONSCIENCE BEFORE ACCOUNTANCY

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Latest firm to be censured for legal tax avoidance is SABMiller, brewers of Grolsch and Peroni beers.

According to Ethical Consumer magazine research from ActionAid showed that the firm avoids millions in tax by shifting profits out of poor countries, such as those in Africa, and into tax havens like Switzerland. If SABMiller paid tax in Africa then ActionAid have calculated that an additional 250,000 African children could get an education.

Students at the University of Edinburgh have boycotted all SABMiller beers.

LESS PRODUCT, SAME PRICE (OR MORE.)

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Supermarkets are now selling smaller packs for the same price, or more, in the quest for profits, according to Which? the consumer’s association.

Examples given were:

  • Morrisons.
    Branston Smooth Pickle. Was 405g for £1.47. Now 360g for £1.54.
    Cheerios Crunchers. Was 375g for £2.09. Now 360g for £2.09
    Streamline reduced sugar blackcurrant jam. Was 454g for £1.69. Now 400g for £1.69.
    Ambrosia Creamed Semolina. Was 425g for 86 pence. Now 400g for 86 pence
  • Sainsbury’s.
    Fox Malted Milk Creams. Was 200g for £1.09. Now 160g for £1.19 .
    Dairylea Cheese Spread. Was 200g for 99 pence. Now 160g for 99 pence.
    Birds Eye Crispy Chicken. Was 360g for £2.00. Now 340g for £2.00
  • Asda
    Bernard Matthews Turkey Ham. Was 340g for £2.66. Now 300g for £2.66.
    Fairy All in One Dishwasher Tablets. Was 28 tablets for £5.00. Now 26 tablets for £5.00
    Pampers Baby-Dry nappies. Was 32 nappies for £6.48. Now 30 nappies for £6.48.

They’ll get you one way or the other, it seems.

LATTE NOTICE

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Wetherspoons fans who love the group’s quality Lavazza coffee at 69 pence a cup have recently been a bit let down over the sudden cancellation of the coffee collectors card promotion.

Under this scheme drinkers got a free large mug of the stuff for every five cups or mugs they bought, with a collectors card being stamped each time. However now this excellent promotion has been cancelled it has left a number of Wetherspoons customers with stamped coffee cards that are useless, staff telling them that “the promotion cost us more than it was worth”.

Wetherspoons have a well-deserved reputation for straight dealing in their marketing and they might have therefore considered honouring the cards with stamps on in some way, whilst not giving out any new ones. One for their marketing team to consider?

ANOTHER GOOD ONE FOR WATCHDOG

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Another worthwhile target for acid Annie Robinson and her Watchdog team would be their employers, the BBC.

For years now their TV Licensing division has employed vacuous bluster and bullying to collect its licence fees, largely undeserved in the opinion of many. One feature is that they write inviting previous licence holders to advise them that they no longer need one, and then tell them that they will be getting a visit from their investigators anyway, on the basis that they could be lying. Another is that they keep threatening to send in their investigators if they don’t get a response and then fail to back up their threats with action.

Not impressive, so go for them Annie, unless of course it’s more than your job’s worth………..

DIRTY MONEY?

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One important issue covered recently by Ethical Consumer magazine was that of charities accepting sponsorship money and other support from arguably inappropriate sources.

Cited were examples such as the acceptance of money from Sainsbury’s, which markets a breast milk substitute, by the National Childbirth Trust in 1997, a decision that caused 70 of the trust’s breastfeeding counsellors to quit in disgust and set up their own Breastfeeding Network. Also featured was the National Obesity Forum, which more recently pocketed £50,000 from Coca Cola, despite criticising the government for accepting money from junk food firms to pay for public health campaigns. Continue reading →

PAYDAY FOR WHOM?

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The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has warned that debt charities trying to help people get out of debt are being snubbed by ruthless payday loan companies anxious to make sure they stay in debt.

Tactics used by the loan companies are not answering the phone when charities call to try to improve the terms of the debt, and making it hard for their customers to contact them, to further rack up the already high interest rates. Continue reading →

BRAVE NEW WORLD

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A stark vision of a miserable future for millions of Britons has been painted by the National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) and the National Care Forum (NCF).

A report, A 2030 Vision:Building Communities and Environments to Support People to Live Well and Die Well warns that 2030 will bring an increase of people aged 60 and over to nearly 20 million. This means more people living longer with chronic life-limiting conditions, more living alone and more without state support owing to the increases in state pension age. Continue reading →

DEAR DIARY……….

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A charity worker who stole a total of £2,127 over two years from the Cancer Research shop where she worked was caught and convicted when police found her diary, in which she had detailed her thefts.

Susan Barcock, 52, of Warrington, Cheshire had her house searched by police looking for evidence of her theft of £6,356 from a 78 year-old widow suffering from dementia. Police found her diary, which contained such entries as: “I was in charge at C Shop and it was a good day for me £91 Oh yes” and “Bloody good day at shop £213. Man brought bag of coins in – £75 for shop £35 for me, well I had to count it”.

Barcock was given a four month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, a six month curfew order, a 12 month supervision order and an order to pay £250 compensation