John Gallagher | Message modified by user UKAT5234 January 12, 2012, 8:36 pm
We contacted them for a bit more information on how the service works and what we could expect in return.
We were assured that there were no other independant garages in our area using the platform and we would be inundated with work once registered.
We obviously took that last statement with a huge pinch of salt but nevertheless decided that with only a few jobs we might recoup some if not all of our initial costs (approx £300.00 if I remember correctly).
We were told we would need to introduce ourselves to a long list of leasing companys which we duly did both via email and phone calls, I can't remember exactly how many as one of my colleagues handled it but I'm sure there were hundreds of them.
We then waited for the flood gates to open but they never did, after about 18 months now we have not had a single job!
No wait I tell a lie, after about 8 months we did get one job but the customer was already one of our regulars who lived around the corner from the garage, he had broken down somewhere and phoned either the AA or the RAC who 1link have ties with and then delivered the car to us, talk about rubbing the salt in!
We seen the writing on the wall after about 13-14 months and decided to cancel it, as some of you will know you have to give them 12 months notice to cancel, admittedly we didn't read the small print properly so it was a shock at first but hey that's our fault.
The first letter of cancelation we sent got "lost in the post", so we sent another which they recieved and acknowledged.
Then we were staggered to get a phone call from one of their "consultants", he asked how things were going with the platform and would we be interested in upgrading to their premier service package!
I told him that we had sent a letter of cancelation only a few weeks earlier, I also told him how much work we had recieved which was a big fat zero, well he listened to me for a minute or two then promptly carried on with his sales patter, assuring me that there was "loads of customers looking for a garage in our area", it was unbelievable!
Soon after we started recieving demands for the next years subscription, as usual it starts of reasonably pleasant but quickly gets threatening. We sent another letter telling them of out dissapointment with their service/platform and to be honest we were trying to avoid paying the next years subscription as we had not received anything in return.
Unlike Kelly we could not get out of paying, the boss even said he would sign up and pay the extra for the premier package if they would guarantee to give us some work, no such guarantee was forthcoming so we bit the bullet and paid.
In my opinion they are a bunch of crooks, promise you the world and give you stuff all in return.
The big differance with you Andy is you had the customer first, in hindsight this is probably the only way it could work.
If anyone else is considering it I think you would need to tender for and get the contract for the repair/servicing work from the leasing company first then sign up to whatever platform that they use (1link, god forbid).
My big tip at the end of all this is if you do decide to go down this road please cancel your subscription an hour or two after you have signed up.
That way if it isn't working it's job done, if it is just sign up again and away you go!
Cheers,
John.
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