I was suprised to see an advert in LRM (Land Rover Monthly) for "Exchange Engines" (page 188 April 2006). This company has been subject to numerous complaints to Hounslow and Surrey trading standards and "starred" in a recent edition of BBC TV's Watch Dog.
Ian McDonald
I'd guess they've paid for a set period of adverts. Unless they've done something terribly wrong then their advert wont be pulled.
And how recent was the Watch Dog programme? There's a point at which it's not practical to pull an advert.
On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:11:49 +0000 (GMT), snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.org.uk ("David G. Bell") scribbled the following nonsense:
would guess on a two week lead time from proofs to print, and given that the April issues come out at the end of Feb....... Means the april issue has to be completed by very early feb at latest!
Nearer 2 months that mag quoted us.
Richard
On or around Fri, 10 Mar 2006 08:09:23 +0000 (UTC), Simon Isaacs enlightened us thusly:
some magazines have a copy date about 2 months in advance - we advertise in 'em, so I should know. The magazines are all printed well before the general availability date and the "March" issue is often on sale some time in the end of February, and presumably potentially on sale for almost a month if stocks don't run out. I wouldn't be surprised if the cut-off for emergency ad-removal was more than a fortnight.
Also, you have to look at the risks - There would have to be clear-cut and unarguable evidence against a company for the magazine to risk pulling the ad - "many complaints" is not that, nor is Watchdog: I've seen the "trial-by-television" thing in action and quite frankly, they take a good deal more on themselves sometimes than they've any right to. There was a case some while back of a woman who, by her testimony, had been landed in the fuvg looking after a dog breeding enterprise, she wasn't able to fund it and the owner had pissed off, or somesuch, and she was doing the best she was able. The T-b-T lot arrived with all cameras blazing and proceeded to portray her as a criminal, trespass on private property, ignore direct and clear requests not to enter buildings and not to film there, and so on.
Now of course, the woman could be as guilty as all get out, I don't know, and didn't at the time. The point is, neither did the T-b-T mob - they assumed her guilt, shouted her down and ignored any protest. If she was guilty, there's an established procedure called the legal system by which she should be tried...
Coming back to the point: Suppose Exchange Engines supply 30 engines a month, and have 20 valid complaints, to which their response was "tough tit". In that case, they're fairly obviously incompetent and should indeed be looked into by trading standards. Suppose however they supply 350 engines per month and still have 20 complaints which they deal with reasonably. Not right, but that doesn't make them villains - it probably means they should improve their quality control.
But the T-b-T mob wouldn't care about the latter scenario, doesn't make good telly.
Here is the link.
Here is the link.
Received this from LRM
Dear Ian Thank you for pointing us to the watchdog site we have had some company's who do recon engines in the past who we have had complaints about and have stopped the ads but we have had no complaints about "Exchange Engines" to date but we will follow this up thanks again
Kind Regards Nick King Land Rover Monthly Advertising Sales Manager
Dear Ian Thank you for pointing us to the watchdog site we have had some company's who do recon engines in the past who we have had complaints about and have stopped the ads but we have had no complaints about "Exchange Engines" to date but we will follow this up thanks again
Kind Regards Nick King Land Rover Monthly Advertising Sales Manager
Really missed his vocation. Should have been a policeman. Or a burglar.
David
"rads" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
I am not a policeman or a burglar (???). I do however, object strongly to rip-off merchants.
Having read the replies to this post I shall keep my opinions to myself.
He was cracking a gag about the name "Nick King", don't worry, everyone's not out to get you.
...and Austin Shackles spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
We would have pulled the ad, no question - we've done it before on less evidence than this - pending discussion, and hopefully a resolution, with the advertiser. A publication has a responsibility to its readers not to knowingly publish ads from dodgy outfits. Mind you, our lead times are measured in days, not weeks, so it would be quite easy to do, possibly without interrupting an advert's run if it all checked out OK.
...and PDannyD spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
The Watchdog programme was about a firm called Engines Direct, or Rivermead Engineering. Are you sure this is the same outfit?
From the advert on page 188, Land Rover Monthly 2006
Exchange Engines & Gearboxes Rivermead Engineering, Unit 1 Twickenham Trading Estate, Rugby Road, Twickenham TW1 1DQ For Engines call: 020 8607 9060 For Man Gearboxes call: 020 8892 2828 Trade and Export Sales: 020 8744 2525 Online
Mike Rowan appears to be a director of Rivermead
"just because you're paranoid don't mean their not after you"
Go-on, £5 for anyone who knows the song it's *originally* from?
Nige
Exactly who are 'we' mate?
On or around Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:53:35 GMT, "Doorbell" enlightened us thusly:
I notice that the report refers to "engines direct" whereas your other comments refer to "exchange engines" Which?
and BTW, you don't need to top-post as well. Snipping some of the garbage would be nice, though.
...and Nige spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
Friday-Ad - weekly advertising paper covering SE/Midlands/S Wales. We don't come further North than Wakefield/Halifax, so you've probably never seen it.
We had a lot of trouble from a certain kitchen manufacturer recently - poor customer service and they weren't answering their phones, so customers were calling US to complain! We pulled the ads (and it hurt us, as they are big customers of ours) until we had spoken to them and had some kind of assurance from them as to future conduct. No complaints since.
Our copy deadlines are often Weds night or Thurs for publication on Friday, so we don't have the ocean-tanker turnaround times of the glossies.
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