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Tootcompare.com #

Posted by John Dicker on September 12, 2013, 10:42 pm
Edited by board administrator September 15, 2013, 1:07 pm

We were contacted by Tootcompare.com about 6 weeks ago to see if we would be interested in giving them an amount per MOT & a percentage per service for being listed on their website & receiving sales leads. We told them we were not interested & did not want anything to do with them THANK YOU.
Reading PMM magazine the other night Tootcompare came up again so I decided to have a look & see if anyone local had fallen/signed up to their web site. So after entering a genuine reg & a throw away email I was greeted with 52 garages within 10 miles of my post code. I looked & saw many garages listed with prices & contact details and then to my surprise I found OUR own garage listed with a price for a interim service & MOT. I booked the service & waited to see what would happen. The next day I received a call from a man purporting to be from Motor Codes. I asked him if he was from Motor Codes & he said he was. He had used the Motor Codes page to contact us. Turns out he was not & was from tootcompare & had contacted us about the sales lead but he did not admit this. When I asked to be put through to Chris Mason he said no problem, Put me on hold & then cut me off. Looking into this further with help from Motor Codes & PMM magazine it appears that tootcompare (have a look at the UKAT Facebook page)have purchased a data base & listed possibly all independent garages in the UK. Plus data bases from Yell, Good Garage Scheme & Motor Codes and given garages a star rating & prices without the knowledge or consent of the garages themselves. Have a look I am sure you will find you have been misrepresented!!!!!! Another example of someone abusing the garage trade for profit

Re: Tootcompare.com

Posted by Graham Bullock on September 12, 2013, 11:41 pm, in reply to "Tootcompare.com"
Graham Bullock

I am also fed up of all these types of web sites.

I did bring the subject up a few weeks ago about the costs involved, see link below.

http://members5.boardhost.com/ukautotalk2/msg/1373971017.html

Graham

Re: Tootcompare.com

Posted by John Dicker on September 12, 2013, 11:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Tootcompare.com"
John Dicker

But this lot list your garage & a made up price without your knowledge or permission

& pretend to be another company they are not. Just plain wrong

Re: Tootcompare.com

Posted by Andy Mason on September 13, 2013, 8:50 am, in reply to "Re: Tootcompare.com"

Just checked our area, and we are indeed listed.
I wouldnt mind a free listing on any site, but the information and pricing are not correct.So where does this information come from?
We always make a point of NOT taking any work or even talking to these parasites.
If it continues like this the only contact you will have with your customer is when they drop there car off.
There cant be many trades where you deal through a third party, bigger fool anybody, I think, who encourages this by signing up.
I like to be in control of my own business.
Surely they must be breaking some rules or regulations by misrepresenting you?
I would encourage everybody to check, even if its only to check the details are correct.
Andy

Re: Tootcompare.com

Posted by Keith Simpson on September 13, 2013, 9:33 am, in reply to "Re: Tootcompare.com"

I have just had a look myself and indeed we are also listed. I made a booking for my own car and received this email this morning. What they are after is a small commission for sending work your way. It's not illegal either.

Email

Good Morning

We have had a booking for MOT at your garage at the price of £54.85 on the 18th September 2013. Are you able to fit it in?

If so click the link below in order to register your garage and receive the customers details.

Kind regards,

David Tyler - Tootcompare

tootcompare.com
Let our marketing drive your business

No upfront costs, contracts or schemes: no work - no fee
Easy workshop pricing wizard: keep work bays full

Email: garages@tootcompare.com Garage Helpline: 08720 104116
Registered office: 1000 Lakeside North Harbour, Western Road, Portsmouth PO6 3EZ. Company Number: 8339147

Re: Tootcompare.com

Posted by Andy Mason on September 13, 2013, 2:56 pm, in reply to "Re: Tootcompare.com"
Andy Mason

As I said, wrong information and wrong prices, thats misrepresenting my business.
Andy

Re: Tootcompare.com

Posted by Keith Simpson on September 13, 2013, 3:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Tootcompare.com"

I have just had someone form Tootcompare that wanted to book my own car in for service and mot.

Keith

Re: Tootcompare.com

Posted by Jon Morgan on September 15, 2013, 11:45 pm, in reply to "Re: Tootcompare.com"
Jonathan Morgan

Thats reassuring, we're not listed.

A garage around the corner from us is though & he has achieved a 1 star rating - I'll let him know he's rated as crap tomorrow.

Re: Tootcompare.com

Posted by Andy Mason on September 16, 2013, 10:07 am, in reply to "Re: Tootcompare.com"
Andy Mason

What happens if you accept a booking from them?
Does that enter you into a contract that you cant get out of without some sort of penalty or can they then do and say what they want without your authorisation as they already are doing?
Andy

Re: Tootcompare.com #

Posted by Andy Mason on September 17, 2013, 8:46 am, in reply to "Tootcompare.com #"
Andy Mason

Had an email from tootcompare asking if we would like to check out our company on there website.
Is this as a result of this post, if not, would it not have been better to contact us first so as all the details and prices etc would be correct.
No mention of terms and conditions or costs/percentages etc.
Still no change in my stance towards these companies
Andy

Re: Tootcompare.com #

Posted by Graham Bullock on September 17, 2013, 11:06 am, in reply to "Re: Tootcompare.com #"
Graham Bullock

Terms & Conditions from Tootcompare - The Garage acknowledges, agrees and accepts that when a User makes a Booking over the Website that on the making of that Booking the Garage will accept the Fees and or Commissions detailed in paragraphs a, b below:-
a. Booking Services at a published price on the Website a Commission of (20%) of that published price plus VAT. Any further work found during the completion of the Services will not attract any further Fees or Commissions unless a further Booking is made during the completion of the Services.
b. Booking MOT only will attract a fixed fee of £8 plus VAT.

Also from the FAQ "Equally by reducing your prices you become more competitive and will feature more prominently in the search results".

I agree with John, they should not list your garage with a made up price without your knowledge or permission and should not pretend to be a company they are not.

What do you think Motor codes will do? and what should they do?

Graham

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