Clean It Up

UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Len Gribble on February 15, 2007, 02:26:40 am

Title: What do you recon
Post by: Len Gribble on February 15, 2007, 02:26:40 am
I can’t believe it band from a forum  so so :( :((reason unknown to me) and they then have the audacity to send me e-mail offering a massive 20% discount of a machine before the show!

What do you recon hangout till the show for a better deal

Len
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: darrenlee1 on February 15, 2007, 02:45:22 am
hi len
i got same email and loads more probably did, gets me how you join forum ,not someones data base for marketing, are they allowed to use your info like this.
i know it becomes grey area on internet, but same rules should apply, thats why so many sites want yer info first, sell it on or use for themselves, cheap marketing really, and really cheap when you restrict what is said, like the company sending out these emails
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Neil Grainger on February 15, 2007, 07:25:58 am
Name and Shame
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: stevegunn on February 15, 2007, 07:36:45 am
Cleantalk I got the same email but the said forum won't let me log in and view
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: ianharper on February 15, 2007, 09:37:59 am
good free targeted marketing. think about how you can use it?

what the old saying keep your friend close but keep people you dont like closer ?
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 15, 2007, 01:55:43 pm
LOL,... I got the same e-mail!!!
I've nothing against the company,... and I hear mostly good things about their products,....
But the way they run their forum puts me right off,... and when I spoke out,... I immediately got banned by John Bolton!!
They won't be getting any business from me,.. 20% off or not!!
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: paul wright on February 15, 2007, 05:26:12 pm
lol same here    how many people hav they baned ? lol
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 15, 2007, 05:35:38 pm
How many ppl have they banned???
Anyone who says they like a product not supplied by Solutions
Everyone who said they didn't think other forum & supplier names should be treated the way other forums treat profanity, eg. "£%$%^%"$.com"
I think Ed Valentine is the only man safe there,... for now at least!!!
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: spindle on February 15, 2007, 06:17:56 pm
having never used solutions/cleantalk.........i registered a long time ago but never looked!

i am probably banned already for not using it!!!

 LEN

thankyou for this morning letting me play with your TOY!!!

i am impressed............would like to get 1.but will save up till i can buy cash!!

how much did your TOY cost....i mean all in extra hoses etc....
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Neil Grainger on February 15, 2007, 06:26:14 pm
Are the people in charge who come on this site prepared to explain why they seem to be banning everyone.

Mr Bolton over to you?
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: HQCS (John Kastrian) on February 15, 2007, 09:33:46 pm
Only the board admin and members concerned would know why they are banned.
As far as emailing members with offers,I personally cannot see what all the fuss is about,Solutions are the board sponsors and are only trying to sell to their members.
Would as much fuss be made if our sponsors emailed or pmd offers,I very much doubt it.
There is a core group of people who obviously do not like the forum for whatever reasons,so why not just ask for your details to be removed and don't go there anymore,then you won't have anything to complain about.
Give the bloke a break,he is only trying to run a business,I have never seen any hard evidence that he has done anything so wrong.
Give the bloke a break.
John
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: carpetguy on February 15, 2007, 09:43:36 pm
Even if they come on here and attempt to justify their actions, it's obvious they only wish to communicate with "converts" regarding others as a danger to their business, which clearly indicates an insecurity...................I was banned ages ago, can't remember why, but they really don't deserve the publicity given through mentioning them......................it was obvious to me, that they really have nothing new, just smart marketing of products which are already established, but undersold, products from the US which have been modified, as Ashby's have been doing , for years, systems, which , again, have been undersold and products which are still sold elsewhere, but they give the impression of exclusivety.

This is not to say, their product range is poor, it's not and their marketing should be admired..............but like many others, I just can't take to the silly mentality shown by their insecure leader.

rob
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: stevegunn on February 16, 2007, 06:14:16 am
The option should be given if you want to receive these marketing emails especially if you cannot get onto the said forum.I know of a lot of people who would never use the said company again because of various things that have gone on between them and the company.Surely they should be trying to woo them back not p**s them off even more by sending crap like this.
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: ianharper on February 16, 2007, 06:45:25 am
guys i am impressed.

what a constructive comments on such a negative issue.

I think we all agree that solutions products are good its just the uk's distributor that is the problem. don't you think how cleaver solution uk is to have signed a exclusive deal to distribute the line of products.

look how powerful this can be. this is their USP

this shows you how import it is to all of us to have a USP

and, also how media (forums) can promote your business. now if we could build a place that was free that prospects would come and chat to each other and we could control and sell to them?

any ideas lads?

one reason i keep banging on about health is this is one area that people seek information. one other program i am working on at the moment is

http://www.billericay-estate-agents.150m.com/

these areas are reason that people have carpets cleaned. and that's what i call active marketing. looking for areas that prospect will come to us pre sold.

Respect

Ian Harper
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 16, 2007, 10:48:55 am
I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to come here,.. a forum which is sponsored, (Most of the forums I belong to/run are Independent!), and not be battered with constant posts about the latest and greatest product from Express.
It shows real character to operate a forum as big as this and not take advantage,... well done lads!
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: J. Deans on February 16, 2007, 11:31:10 am
Don't know where this one is going or know much about their equipment or company. But I was also banned and don't know why and still got the email!

??????
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: carpetguy on February 16, 2007, 01:13:54 pm
I endorse your thoughts entirely Mr Harper

rob
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: CARPET KNIGHTS on February 16, 2007, 02:15:28 pm
 ::)
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Mark Roberts on February 16, 2007, 03:38:33 pm
As Nick and John Bolton are banned from here  ;D  I will make a quick post.

Only a few people have been banned since Solution took over Cleantalk, the forum guidelines are more than fair and can be read before signing up. The others were banned by the previous owners.

The option should be given if you want to receive these marketing emails,
It is. When you sign up you are given the chance to opt out of admin emails. I believe this only the second that has ever been sent out.

Quote
so why not just ask for your details to be removed
There is a contact us button at the bottom of the page, if you want your profile removed its no problem, and your entitled to request this.

Quote
constant posts about the latest and greatest product
Its a Solution Forum! There are currently threads on masterblend chems, drymaster tools, cfr and loads of other products. All welcome.

Paul Wright, J Deans, both of you have accounts which are not banned. You have never posted and have logged in successfully in the last 2 weeks. You are more than welcome, so don't know why you think your banned?

Mark ;)
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: carpetguy on February 16, 2007, 03:43:32 pm
Well, Goron, as the saying goes, " you pay your money and take your chance " and if following a different route makes your business more profittable, then you have made the right decision.

Several people have elected to follow different paths in this industry, through making personal choices and backing their beliefs, others will muddle along and the majority will do much the same as the rest.

rob

Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 16, 2007, 03:46:18 pm
Nick and John are banned from here????
John has told ppl he's banned from my forum too,... which is not true, and hopefully never will be.
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Ian Puckett on February 17, 2007, 12:57:23 am
i got a email from express cleaning yesterday,,,, wots the problem nothing wrong with bisnesses selling stuff. i do it all the  time.l
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: carpetguy on February 17, 2007, 09:32:15 am
Nathaniel

Ed Valentine provides the Cross American, which John Bolton amended for the UK market, Ed has an incredible ability, to smile and be polite in everything he says.............what a gift, so is unlikely to be banned anywhere.

I've been reading / posting inforums for years and Ed seems to have always been present.

The guy who gets up so many peoples noses, only does so, because of his personality..............a bit like the Ufindus, or YP salepeople, who may well have a great product, but put off a huge number of prospects, by their style of presentation, or operation.

It's a fact of life, that the quiet, reserved guy, will never equal the loud, overbearing guy, when it comes to selling..............and that's what annoys many, not the product, which might be inferior to others, but the loud guy is generating interest, simply by shouting louder.

A slight contradiction to the above, would be, when the quiet , polite guy, is persistant and keeps making his presence felt...............you can learn from all types and apply what appeals to you, in your marketing.

What's worth noting, is that the suppliers of services relevent to our industry, are present in all of the forums !
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Len Gribble on February 17, 2007, 06:36:54 pm
Ops wished I never asked (What do you recon hangout till the show for a better deal)

Looks like a no goer then! :'(

Thanks

Noted in one of the trade mag’s a longstanding and established LM system are offering £500 off at the show. (do I see a price war) ;)

With regards to the e-mail they sore fit to ban me so they should delete any record. Don’t know where the Law stands but I bet some hasn’t covered his backside. Data protection (distress) ;D

Chris

If you have to ask you cant afford it  ;D

Len 
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 17, 2007, 09:26:13 pm
It would be sensible to delete ppl from the mailing list when they are banned,... but the occasional e-mail doesn't bother me that much really. At least it's relevant info to my business.
And Carpetguy,...I've nothing against Ed Valentine by the way, sorry if I seemed to give that impression. He's been very helpful and informative, and traded a few e-mails with me.
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: AquaMagic on February 17, 2007, 11:16:56 pm
Well Done Mark for pointing out the Liars, i annoys me when people slate something just for the sake of it, like the bloke the other day that said M-Power was crap apprantly he has 60 litres in his shed, why on earth would anyone buy 60 litres of something that dilutes a 120-1 to test. 

Anyone moaning about an advertising email in my opinion is an hypocrite, very few of us are fortunate enough not to have to advertise, why is this any different to us posting a flyer or putting an ad in the paper?, granted if you arenet welcome on the forum them maybee the email should automatically be disabled, something for them to look at i suppose.

Another simple message would be, IF YOU DONT LIKE CLEANTALK DONT GO ON IT, people complain that Nick uses it as a marketting tool, so what? he bloody pays for the thing to be run, hes only doing what ITV do or every commecial radio station in the country, and to be fair there are mentions of other products only today is there a discussion about MASTERBLEND and how good they are.  In my opinion there are a few people for whatever reason are not happy with Solution and seem intent on slating them at every opportunity, me im more than happy with them, maybee im lucky, but i know for sure if im stuck on a job i can call Nick and he will sort me out. Hydramaster too, ive also had good service from John Kelly, A & M & my local prochem distributor, but do you know how i found out about them and thier products?, it simple they advertiserd and i say the adverts, just like nearly every other business in the land.

Dene
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: darrenlee1 on February 18, 2007, 03:10:14 am
i think people a getting a little lost on this post
a forum is for the people using it not for someone to use as a marketing tool, solutions uk as took over cleantalk for one reason
to use it as a marketing tool and try to keep a lot of cleaners together and put forward there products.
anyone that can not see this must be blind, granted there is odd posting on things, but there always things solution dont sell,
try posting on a similar product or yer dont think there machines ect are the best and see what happens.
ive heard it all before nick pays  for site so he can do what he wants, too true and is original idea to market from it on paper is great, but is slowly back firing as more people dont go on as it constant solution products,  nearly every post is answered with a solution product, did mr bolton nice bloke i will add post or reply on here saying use solution this or that, no he didnt so now hes in there camp all questions are answered with a soultion product most of the time.
but saying all


darren
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: ianharper on February 18, 2007, 06:14:26 am
with respect darrenlee

your wrong.

as pointed out above media providers are in business to make money. they provide content. a forum in this case to that end.

from your point of view. what you prefer is no advertising so you are in the best place for that, here.

I know how hard it is to change people minds when they have made them up, but please look outside the box on this. TV Newspaper, etc could not provide entertainment or new if it was not for advertisers.

one idea that you could use for your business is a local a5 booklet that advertises local business. this way you get free space to put over your message paid by others. we tested one locally last year and it worked great until a printer nicked the idea and stared to print a glossy version.

marketing is about putting your product or service over to people that have a need for it. finding places where these people go to is the key to success. its called message to market match. that's what solutions have done.

I like you have a problem with forums is that when a someone gets bad press about a product or a machine they don't get the chance to defend themselves. i am sure that you would not want this if it was you. this is undemocratic.

I would like to see all providers being allowed to comment when they have something said about themselves. at least cleantalk users know about how its run. no hidden agendas.

my view is to learn from these situations. and be open minded. as this in the end can only benefit me.

Respect

Ian Harper
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: AquaMagic on February 18, 2007, 09:40:41 am
Its all about freedom of choice, it isnt hard to ignore the advertsing and still take plenty of usefull information from the site.  If you dont like smokling dont light up, if you dont like advertsiments dont watch ITV watch the beeb instead, its the same with cleantalk, if its so riddled with advertisements that it puts you off dont go on there, its isnt rocket science is it.  The are some other good forums out the for you to direct your traffic to if need be including this one.  I look at 4 forums daily and another 3 or so on an occasional basis, i take something from them all, without this valuble resource life would be a lot harder. 
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: Nathanael Jones on February 18, 2007, 04:08:03 pm
I don't mind the ad's, and I don't mind the forum being used to promote Solutions products. I think its a great marketing tool for Solutions, and one that should be used. On the whole, I think its an excellent and very informative forum, with some very knowledgeable and helpful members.

I do personally think that censoring the website addresses and names of other suppliers and forums etc. is really taking it too far though.
I don't mind someone trying to tell me their product is the best in the world,.. but when efforts are made to make me think its the ONLY available product, I find it quite insulting. If this censorship was only for the public boards it would be one thing,.. but censoring PM's too seems to me to verge on paranoia.
I think removing this censorship, and easing up on the moderation when ppl mention other websites/suppliers would ultimately benefit Solutions and increase their sales. Their current attitudes on the forum have discouraged me personally from buying from them for now, although I may in the future... not going to burn my bridges just yet!
But, as has been said,.. they own it, they can do what they want with it.
That's my personal opinion, and I know that not everyone will feel the same, that's your prerogative.
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: CARPET KNIGHTS on February 18, 2007, 06:18:10 pm
Hi all

just to put my two pence worth forward...

cleantalk has always been owned by a supplier....World of clean which was also bought by solutions...
There has always been advertising on cleantalk with regards to this and the forum rules have always stated that for ay other company to promote their items on the forum that a subscription mustbe paid.

So there is nothing new there as far as solutions taking over is concerned.

I think actually all of the forums have automatic censorship and i believ it was this forum that was the first to censor of forum names. the automatic censorship software will censor everything from posts to pms.

Also lastly

I have been getting emails from a ew forum, the british independant or something like thatwhich i have never even looked at let alone registered on so how d they have my details? others must be getting these emails too but i don't see people complaining about that one.

oh yes sorry this s taken from the clean talk site and as you can see people aren't leaving it apparently it is more popular than ever.

Most users ever online was 314, 7th Jan 07 at 12:29 AM

Just stating the facts

Goron
Title: Re: What do you recon
Post by: ianharper on February 19, 2007, 06:19:25 am
guys

if you don't want emails selling stuff then filter it by using a hotmail account when you sign up to sites and know that they will send you unwanted emails.

my system is that i have a hotmail for junk and two other email one for business and a personal one.

its important to protect yourself as emails are free to send. its lucky that most business don't use this fully or the Internet would just jam up.

last year i was using a call answering service that most fast track guys use and it was great not having al those sales calls. had to stop using it as we get so many calls for the maid service from prospects that it starts to work out expensive when you have to pay for call just to say that we cant take the work on.

respect

Ian Harper