SMEAR BUSTER - CITIZEN FREE PRESS: September 2011

Barclays banking brands Banana skin

Extracts from the media:

The Independent
Barclays is still the UK's most complained-about bank after figures showed more than 250,000 new disputes were recorded in the first half of this year.

Barclays also topped the chart during the second half of last year, with more than 205,000 complaints, although the banking giant pointed out that the latest figure was down 14% on the same period last year. Read the full story HERE

BBC News

Barclays heads UK complaints list among banking brands

More complaints were made about Barclays than any other banking brand by UK customers in the first half of the year, figures have shown.

The bank received 251,563 complaints, with 53% of closed cases upheld in customers' favour, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) figures show. More here

Banks Miss Selling

If you are unhappy with a financial product or service it can be difficult to know the right steps to take to deal with the issue. Find out how to resolve a dispute and the latest news about complaints.

Financial services firms regulated by the FSA must have a procedure in place to resolve disputes with their customers.

If you have a problem it is best to firstly ask the firm involved to put things right. However, there is more you can do if you are not satisfied with their response.

There are three steps you should take to make a complaint about your bank or insurance, mortgage or other financial services company.

REMINDER
Chris Field "This Is All Very True, Barclays Ripped Me Off"
Duane Griffiths " I was ripped of myself"
Mathew Prictor "I have also been ripped off by Barclays."
Melvin Jarrett "All I want is an end to this nightmare at the hands of Barclays"
Sajid Bashir "Barclays have done the same with me and are fobbing me off"
Nan "B P F have to be accountable for their action"
Read more HERE

IT’S YOUR RIGHT TO GAIN JUSTICE don’t let a bank

SMEAR YOUR NAME

Train4TradeSkills Smear BUSTED they were not on Watchdog

I received an interesting letter which originated from one of the highly respected legal firms in London. The letter is pictured below:

The letter reads:

Media Relations – Defamation

I am delighted to inform you that BBC Watchdog has now confirmed they will remove the references to the Train4TradeSkills business from their web site. They have specifically confirmed that Train4TradeSkills was not featured on the BBC Watchdog program.

PHIL SHERRELL

For and on behalf of BIRD & BIRD LLP

So I took a trip over to the Watchdog site and sure enough the reference to Train4TradeSkills has gone! A SMEAR is BUSTED again.

Now a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. For those that haven’t worked in the real media, the first thing we would have done is remove any references to Train4TradeSkills being on Watchdog and if we had done so there would also have been a well placed apology. In today’s world the consequences of retaining false claims have bigger ramifications and can be costly. I trust readers’ take on board that advice. When a SMEAR IS BUSTED you should remove any references to such a smear – you have been warned.

New Career Skills Misleading advertising says ASA

The Advertising Standards Agency has blasted New Career Skills for "Misleading advertising" and also "not to make misleading impressions about the potential for employment that might follow from the courses they offered."

The ASA reviewed the web site of New Career Skills and upheld five complaints regarding key claims on the site, one being "homeowners are no longer able to do their own electrical work, without it being signed off by a Part P registered electrician".

The ASA concluded: "We told New Career Skills not to make claims unless they held relevant documentary evidence to substantiate them. We also told them not to make misleading impressions about the potential for employment that might follow from the courses they offered."

Am I like everyone else in thinking that if a company can make so many mistakes it brings into question the entire business?
Right now training is needed by so many as they change careers, the very least people like New Career Skills can and should do is tell the truth. "Misleading advertising", as the ASA puts it is nothing short of a down right LIE.

The horrific judgement on New Career Skills by the ASA can be seen here:
http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/9/New-Career-Skills-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_159455.aspx

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Disclaimer

People here are basically going to have to follow the rules we deem fit for this place. We know that many won’t like it and not all forums have the same approach, but we do!

Here’s some the legal bits, no libel, slander, lying, fabricating, defamatory comments. NO bad language, even words use by kids in the playground, as parents will get embarrassed. Don’t try insulting groups or individuals. Equally we don’t accept racial slurs or religious bigotry. In other words, don’t try threatening people, as we won’t allow it. Also no toilet or changing room humour, it’s not big and isn’t funny.

We LOVE heated debate, be robust please but keep it civil and don’t suggest people are dictators. This is a public place and so behave as we wish you to behave.And to make it clear if we think you are bullying or being nasty we reserve the right to edit or even pull messages and if necessary we’ll remove membership. Initially, membership will be freely given to those who prove via e-mail they have something valid to say.

Membership will only be issued to those, finally, who have a real e-mail address and provide a name that isn’t from a children’s movie or other fictitious world.If you surf off to other places, you do so at your own risk. If you steal or reproduce anything from this site without written permission we will get extremely upset, by the way please see the section “you have been warned” – especially those within the EU. Finally, we’re human and if you see something you think is wrong do please let us know via e-mail.

It now seems bizarre to say this, but enjoy your stay – we hope you do seriously!

HOW DO THEY DO THAT?

One citizen, yes one citizen, can make it appear that a story is true by cross-posting to multiple - online services.
In plain language please Rick?
Let’s assume you have a grievance with a company and literally nobody will listen or the journalists you approach either start by acting on your story and then subsequently fail to follow it up. This should indicate to the person that the story or grievance has no merit. In many cases it is just a citizen missing the whole point of what they purchased, as it’s normally a consumer issue. Some clever people understand how Forum Readers (sorry jargon but click on the links if you want to know now), RSS (an abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication Feeds) and SEO (Search engine optimization) work can be used to make it appear that a story is very important and has hundreds of people agreeing with it. However, the truth is just one person writes something on the Internet and with cyber magic it appears all over the world. The main problem is the citizens reading such material MAY NOT KNOW it is not really a hundred people. At that point the Citizen should check the last 3 months of the bona fide media. Check if professional journalists have picked up the claims made by the single poster. If the answer is no then the chances are there is NO STORY as the grievance has no merit. If that is hard to do, simply use Google again and search the story with a combination of CNN, Sky News and your preferred national/regional newspaper. That should finally give you the answer – TRUTH or SMEAR CAMPAIGN, better known today as Doing A McBride If at this point you still need help please go to OFCOM (the UK's regulator) and read the ADVICE FOR CONSUMERS about the Media

You have been warned

Below are a few pieces of what we think are good information for anyone thinking of being stupid on the web – don’t do or it could bite you where it hurts.

www.website-law.co.uk

“author” means the originator of the statement, but does not include a person who did not intend that his statement be published at all;
“editor” means a person having editorial or equivalent responsibility for the content of the statement or the decision to publish it; and

Dealing with defamatory posts on your website forum or blog
If you have an online service - have a read!

Content: kinds of illegality
"Examples of content that may give rise to civil liability include:
- Defamatory material- Material infringing another person’s copyright (or other intellectual property rights)- Material infringing another person’s rights of confidence or privacy..."

Internet contracts and jurisdiction
"Similarly, where a supplier is obliged to bring proceedings against a consumer in the consumer’s jurisdiction of domicile, then that obligation cannot be altered by a choice of jurisdiction clause."