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Post by JoY on May 12, 2006 9:21:14 GMT 1
I have sent this email to my FSM and await a response....
From: joy hodge
Date: 05/12/06 09:11:33
To: Paul Stothard
Subject: PL Insurance
Hi Paul,
I have now received my letter about the proposed changes regarding accidental damage to customers houses.
Can I ask a couple of questions, and can you answer by email, as I wish to post your response on the Advisor Website.
The letter states that we will be "asked" to pay the first £250 of a claim for accidental damage. Does this mean we are not obliged to pay it?
Will the £250 be deducted from our commission, or will we be invoiced for it?
Will our jobs with Hillarys depend on us accepting this new change? If so...
Will we be getting a new contract to sign, to acknowledge acceptance of the new conditions ? If so, is it possible to see a copy well in advance?
The letter we received was very informal in as much as it was not signed, other than by "The Hillarys Team". Who is the "Hillarys Team?" and are we not part of it anymore?
Regards
Joy
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Post by gloryboy on May 12, 2006 14:09:46 GMT 1
I have sent this email to my FSM and await a response.... From: joy hodge
Date: 05/12/06 09:11:33
To: Paul Stothard
Subject: PL Insurance
Hi Paul,
I have now received my letter about the proposed changes regarding accidental damage to customers houses.
Can I ask a couple of questions, and can you answer by email, as I wish to post your response on the Advisor Website.
The letter states that we will be "asked" to pay the first £250 of a claim for accidental damage. Does this mean we are not obliged to pay it?
Will the £250 be deducted from our commission, or will we be invoiced for it?
Will our jobs with Hillarys depend on us accepting this new change? If so...
Will we be getting a new contract to sign, to acknowledge acceptance of the new conditions ? If so, is it possible to see a copy well in advance?
The letter we received was very informal in as much as it was not signed, other than by "The Hillarys Team". Who is the "Hillarys Team?" and are we not part of it anymore?
Regards
Joy
maybe we should compile a list of questions we all want answered that we can each send to our fsm and further up the chain, then there will be no room for the 'its only you' scenrio to return. in addition to those offered above by joy and mik, wasn't our commission rate originally calculated to allow for these costs to be met by Hillarys? if so why has our exposure been increased but commission not? where is the appeal procedure? surely there must be one put in place for legal requirements? of the 'six-figure sum for the whole year' what percentage of claims were for £250 or less? why isn't 'drilling into the electrics in a conservatory' negligence? how are these changes any clearer and fairer than the system prior to the 8th May? i'll add more later, got to go my ice cream is melting ;D |
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Post by hereticus on May 12, 2006 15:30:44 GMT 1
Gloryboy asks "why isn't 'drilling into the electrics in a conservatory' negligence?"
Cheeky ! Its only because he knows I did exactly that and he's trying to wind me up.
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Post by gloryboy on May 12, 2006 16:44:42 GMT 1
Gloryboy asks "why isn't 'drilling into the electrics in a conservatory' negligence?" Cheeky ! Its only because he knows I did exactly that and he's trying to wind me up. you spotted it!!!!  i'm still confused how breaking a pane of glass isn't viewed as negligent but damaging wallpaper is. its still too vague and open to interpretation.  |
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Post by pyramid on May 12, 2006 19:37:07 GMT 1
Some time ago I got a small spot of blood on a louvre. I had not noticed the cut at the time. It was only later I realised I'd done it replacing the end cover ( they seem to fall out occasionally , I meant to put a tongue in cheek smiley here but mine don't work)
Now who was negligent ? me or the person who did not put the endcap on properly.
It's going to be a minefield!!!! with us as the casualties.
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Post by farmer on May 12, 2006 21:26:36 GMT 1
Have read and re-read the posts on this issue . The main point i am interested in is HOW will Hillarys take this money from an agent who has the mis-fortune to have such an 'accident' and then be held liable ? Farmer said this .....Also on a legal issue, can Hillarys take the £250 out of the commission before they give it to you. Or should they bill us for it separately. would it be a good idea to seek legal advice on this matter. If they reclaim this money direct from agents commission , then i think this is really Bad News. Imagine you just made enough commission in that month to pay your morgage etc, then suddenly see a Minus £250 ! That is well out of order. We MUST ensure these deductions are SEPERATED from our earnings ... Back me up on this you guys? Dug outr my Business Law books again, "The law of agency". Under Reimbursement of expenses and relief it says "The principle must also relieve his agents of any liability which he incurs, while properly carying out his duties". That would indicate to me that Hillarys are responsible for any damages. However, under The duties of the agent owed to his principle it says "An agent must excercise due skill and care in performing his tasks... If an agent fails to take care and his principle suffers loss, he could be sued for damages for negligence". So Hillary's cannot just help themselves to your commission, they would have to prove negligence and obtain damages, possible through the courts. thanks for looking into that. So if Hillarys think by sending out this letter that is the end of it, then i am afraid it is not on. I am hoping it wont happen to me but its sods law it will now. If they take monies that are due to me, ie commissions from fits, i am assuming that this is wrong. They cannot be judge and jury to any claim that any customer might throw at them. we must be able to defend ourselves. I would be the 1st to admit to any damage i may cause. Also my fitter paid out of his own pocket for a new toilet seat he cracked, thats how i work. I want it clarified exactly how it is going to work. Will we just see the deductions on our commission statement. wil we have chance to defend ourselves. will we get some sort of disclaimer on the final invoice, to say that things were "as we found them", Our local t.v.shop will not deliver their products, unless the customer has cleared the "path" of all breakable items, and sheeted up. the company which has supplied our bathroom suite, would not carry the thing beyond the 1st convienient room on the ground floor, all because of this public liability issue. So its allright hillarys having a half baked list on the memo, but it just is not clear enough to me. I agree it needs to be put in writing. Verbal explanations/agrements are not to be trusted. We should all know that, -" i asked for blue not green", More importantly..... My solicitor will be looking into my rights to sue Hillarys for withholding my commission if this should happen. its bad enough with "clawbacks", but i for one am not standing for it. trouble is this makes it appear that it happens to me every other fit. Well with 5 claims in 16 years, is should not be an issue. It gets you thinking now, what if ? . Its the culture we live in, and we have got to look after our own interests. So again, If Ross, Mr Risman would be good enough to respond, (and yes i know you probably think its all a fuss about nothing) but talking to other tradesmen of all walks of life, it appears we get off very lightly when it comes to this issue. I personally would be happy with a paragraph on the invoice for the customer to sign, to say that no damege has been caused. THEN SIMPLE LETS GET ON WITH IT. Thats all it needs surely |
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Post by desmorse on May 12, 2006 23:48:44 GMT 1
Having been away for a few days, I've just spent a pleasant half hour reading all these postings. Funny, but I got a very different message from it than most of you, though I think phugly touched on it.
To a degree, forget about negligence claims, it's a rarity. To me, the most significant part of the letter is the last 2 paragraphs. " .....why we are introducing them. They are the result of the output from the Advisor forums ......."
i.e. This is what Hereticus, red, russel, farmer, motters et al asked for, so why are you whining? Your "representatives asked, we've responded!
I now think the whole gist of what they've done is aimed at discrediting and undermining any form of advisors getting together and realising "it's not just you".
Let's just summarise what's been achieved to reward good advisors.
Mismeasures increased from £7.50 to £20, or 266%. Doesn't matter how good you are, or how many blinds you do, no allowances whatsoever.
Multiple DOR's paid for, but all Hillarys staff re-trained and definition of DOR changed to ensure it never happens.
Fixed reward of £15 or £20 for service calls during guarantee. Used to £15 first hour + £10/hour after that. So if you had to collect a blind, send back to H/O then refit, you got 2 hours or £25. So extra reward is -20%
Damage claims - nuff said already.
And all this was asked for by your representatives - that'll bl00dy well teach all of you to stay quiet in the future. So to all those of you who took time out to try and improve what should be a working partnership - you've been well and truly shafted
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Post by Blind Scout on May 13, 2006 9:25:26 GMT 1
Some time ago I got a small spot of blood on a louvre. I had not noticed the cut at the time. It was only later I realised I'd done it replacing the end cover ( they seem to fall out occasionally , I meant to put a tongue in cheek smiley here but mine don't work) Now who was negligent ? me or the person who did not put the endcap on properly. It's going to be a minefield!!!! with us as the casualties. Who is to say the blood is yours. The louvres have a mark on it. By the time it's replaced, and returned, it will be very dark almost black. DOR as normal or do you want a £20 fine for one or two louvres. The other way I have noticed cutting my hands, is on the edge of louvres, some are like razor saws. Of course, this could be a H & S issue, and we could sue Hillary's for supply dangerous goods. I find the end caps are regularly falling off, so much so if it's not noticable, I now leave it off, otherwise touch of hot glue keeps it on. If you look at the end caps, they display a positive curve, that will not flatten. Another of those cheaper replacement products, as I have noticed it is only on the new Delta white rails. I don't seem to have the problem with beige or brown end caps. |
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Post by BlindWizard on May 17, 2006 8:50:09 GMT 1
Silence on this thread of 5 days. Is everyone happy with the changes and the clarification ??
I was going to write to Mr Risman again as I think the changes balance in Hillarys' favour and cost us money and do not address many of the issues discussed at the January forum. I also feel that we need clarification in writing as these are contractual financial matters. If I'm a lone voice, as it's been suggested to me, then there is no point in me wasting my time put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Is it just me ?
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Post by tojaws on May 17, 2006 8:58:06 GMT 1
It's not just you
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Post by gloryboy on May 17, 2006 9:04:52 GMT 1
not just you.
has anyone received written answers to their written questions yet?
has anyone had acceptable answers from their fsm's?
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Post by russell on May 17, 2006 9:08:39 GMT 1
bw
you are not alone ! even though the changes probaly wont cost me "touch wood" they are mainly one sided and not in any way motivational des also agrees with you they are also differant to proposed changes put to myself and a few others on here {to gauge reaction) before they were released and show me that consultation was thrown out of the window when the calculator showed how much they could lose!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by JoY on May 17, 2006 9:19:16 GMT 1
not just you. has anyone received written answers to their written questions yet? has anyone had acceptable answers from their fsm's? No.....still waiting for my reply from my FSM. He has "tried" to ring me, but i asked for a reply in writing that I could post on here...and so far....nothing.... |
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Post by grumperbear on May 17, 2006 12:15:47 GMT 1
No you are not alone.
lf its not in writting its nothing.
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Post by desmorse on May 17, 2006 12:46:49 GMT 1
No, not happy, think we, and more importantly those who attended the meeting and then misled days before the letters, have been totaly screwed.
No phone call at all from my FSM
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