Consumer power?

Every little really does help...

Well well well. I guess Tesco are finally realising every little really does help when it comes to profits. This morning news has broken that they are 2.3% down on like for like sales and suffering from a 9-10% decrease in share prices. That equates to a loss in share price of £3.7 billion. That's 3.7 billion pounds wiped off their share value...incredible.

Perhaps the 'if you don't like it then shop elsewhere' attitude wasn't the most progressive for business development then?

Of course there are lots of factors which have lead to the downturn. Its hapeneing to lots of the major retailers. Tesco are certainly not alone. The thing is I think they could have helped themselves by helping those who shop with them.

Sure the recession has probably attributed to the fall in sales and shares. Although reportedly high street sales were up over the Christmas period. Maybe then its something more than that.

Maybe its their attitude? The fact they feel they seem to believe that they can do no wrong? Their constant bids to take over shares in other specialities, fields and trades? Too much ambitious expansion in a fragile market?
I think its a combination of all of these factors.

I had cause to contact Tesco customer 'service' a couple of months ago abut a letter they had sent me regarding parking. Apparently I had 'overstayed' at their car park on two occasions and they were not happy. They threatened to fine me on the next occasion. They re-iterated they did value my custom but still issued me with a 'warning' not to do it again.

As I had been in THEIR store, doing my weekly shop and then in THEIR in store coffee shop for the rest of the time, I rang their customer 'helpline' number to let them know that i was not happy to receive a letter containing both a threat and a warning. I was after all spending my money at THEIR benefit.

I honestly thought they would apologise and tell me they would amend their records. I really did. I maybe optimistically thought that they would perhaps thank me for my custom.

Did this happen? Did it heck. The operator actually said "well if you don't like it then you can just go and shop somewhere else". OK then love, i will.
I have not set foot in a Tesco store since that day. I never will again.

I wrote to them to point out that;
a) I was still not happy to have received their letter; and that
b) their customer service lady may need a bit more training...

They didn't bother to reply. Not even an acknowledgement of my letter. Nothing.

I know that its not a case of not having received it. My friend had the same experience and sent a letter also. They didn't reply to her either. Two letters sent at different times would be too much of a coincidence to get 'lost in the post'.

Its clear to me that they simply didnt value our custom. They didn't seem to feel that there would be any loss from one or two customers going elsewhere.

Could it be that other people have encountered a similar lack of response and decided to take their custom elsewhere also? 

In my letter I pointed out that although they had the leading majority of the market share, this could easily change. It can change quickly. Consumers are fickle creatures.
The recession has meant people look more carefully at where they spend their money. With so much choice in the open market, why stay with a company which doesn't value them?   That doesnt even bother to reply to their complaints?

I quoted the old saying in my letter; a happy customer may tell one other person about their experience but an unhappy customer will tell at least 5 others. Ive told anyone willing to listen. As a result my whole family and some of my friends boycott the store. My friend has also spread the word with imilar effects. That's two customers in our area. The effect being that at least 15 people have now withdrawn their custom.

If 5% of their customers have a poor experience and take the same action as me and my friend, surely that could have a devastating negative effect on business in the long run?

Its not just Tesco that fall foul of this perceived lack of care either. It seems that lots of big high street stores now feel that they are better than the customers they serve. They don't care if people threaten to take their custom elsewhere as they don't think that one person will affect their business. The thing is that it easily can affect it in a very real way. The just fail to appreciate the probable consequences.

Utility companies were in the news yesterday for similar fouls...theyve had to pay out because of their mistakes. Maybe retailers are just paying their dues in a different way?

The other problem i think Tesco have is their ever growing ambitious expansion plans.

Reportedly their plans to take America by storm havent panned out and theyve suffer significant losses because of that project. Thats not all though..
Tesco are guilty of constantly trying to move into and take over all sorts of other markets. In the legal world we have been living in fear of the introduction of 'Tesco Law' for several years. Its predicted that opening up the legal market to mean that virtually any Tom, Dick or Harry can provide legal services will devastate law firms. Barristers and Solicitors alike will directly feel the effects of clients being able to pop a divorce in their trolley on the way to the check out....

Its not just law that Tesco are meddling in either. They are having a go at anything and everything. Electronics, pharmaceuticals, gifts, cards, toys, holidays, insurance, phones.....the list goes on and on...you can pretty much re-design your life with one short trip to your local store.

This may seem like a good thing on the surface. You can get everything you need under one roof...the thing is that it has a massive knock on effect to the rest of society.

If you can get everything at Tesco...you don't need to go to the smaller independent retailers...they have no trade..ergo they don't exist.  Its simple maths.

The problem for Tesco is this; If you drive your competition out of business, how can you expect those who were making a living from it to shop at your store? They have no money to do so!

Its not just Tesco who have had difficult times recently. Argos, Mothercare, Mark and Spencer, the list goes on and on....are consumers fighting back in favour of independent retailers. Do we value our rights and want respect from those who profit from our money? Only time will tell I guess...

The message to retailers seems straightforward: value your customers. They may be in your store today but tomorrow they can easily go elsewhere. Don't take them for granted. Don't try to drive them out of business. Just do what you do and leave them to theirs.

Lets just say...CONSUMER POWER ROCKS!!

Soap justice...

I hope your not one of “those” Criminal lawyers....

i warn you in advance that this one is slightly about work :@) but it was inevitable at some point... so here goes...

Im never sure exactly what that question means. It seems to imply something negative. Something sinister. I am a criminal lawyer I reply. Oh they say....backing away...clutching their bag close to their side...

You see I think what they mean really is “you don’t defend criminals do you?” . they think that I would be bad to do that. It would be a preference to work for the Crown prosecution Serivce and be one of those nice lawyers that helps victims. Solves crimes. Generally saves the world.

Instead that stand in front of one of the other ones. A criminal defence one. As bad as our clients. Guilty of the same crimes. But slightly worse than the criminals because we in some way condone what they have done.... we make them look good when what they have done is so terrible they should not even be allowed to speak to defend themselves... let alone have an expensive lawyer do it for them. At the cost of the tax payer obviously.

Im not going to go over the point that of course not everyone tried for a crime is guilty of it. That the prosecution and pocice do make mistakes. That there can be miscarriages of justice. That we still have the notion of innocent until PROVEN guilty...

Its too hard to convince people that they could easily end up in the dock having done absolutely nothing wrong. They change their minds quick enough when they're banged up though.

I think that this misconception is born from the media. To be more specific, soaps. Not only soaps but also serial dramas, who have a good go at misrepresenting the true legal system as well.

Not only do they constantly get the law incorrect but also the procedure. This does not help those of us who have to advise real people.

When Gail stood before Wetherfield Magistrates Court at her first hearing, charged with the murder of her husband, her lawyer made a failed application for bail and she was remanded into custody. A good story. Factually incorrect.

You cannot make applications for bail at the first hearing in the Magistrates Court in a murder case. That was the law then and its the law now. Sure it hadn’t long changed, but changed it had.

 You try and explain that to clients who watched that episode. They believe that over us! That's the power of the media. “oh no we can make an application for bail I saw it on Corrie last night....” yeah well you can stand up and try that one then matey!

In Hollyoaks Zoe was tried for the murder of Sarah Barnes within about 6 weeks of her death....what?!!.... on what planet?.... In what town?.... Never would that happen. Not here that's for sure! You wouldn’t even be out of the  Magistrates court in reality. That's if you weren’t still on police bail.....

Im not even going to get started on some of the programmes that profess to be about the legal system....Law and Order UK is as fictional as an Enid Blyton novel and Judge John Deed certainly needs to be reported to the Judicial Standards Authority for his conduct.

What really riles me is when someone is credited as “legal advisor” in the credits. Who are they? Surely not practising lawyers. If they are they don’t practise in any area of law relevant to that particular episode.

I don’t watch anymore. It annoys me too much. Its also pretty annoying for anyone who happens to be in the same room as me when the programme is on. No matter how much I try I cannot help but correct any inaccuracies very loudly. Im that kind of geek.

The trouble is, as I have said that the clients often believe what they see on screen and this poses difficulties. You are often hard pressed for time in the cells at the Magistrates Court. You have to see your client before they go up into court and there is often a large volume of material to go through with them as well as advising them as to bail and procedure etc. There is not time to discuss why a particular soap has misrepresented a particular legal scenario.

They should be more careful. They really should. Its just a bugbear. Im sure reality is far more dull than the dramatisation they make of our laws for the small screen. If they showcased the reality of the Magistrates Court then it probably wouldn’t be anywhere near as popular.

If you don’t believe how wrong they can be in their presentation of the law and legal system, why not go and sit at the back of your local Magistrates Court for a morning. I swear you'll be shouting at you TV next time one of soaplands characters finds themselves in the dock.

Anyway...rant over...back to my happy place :@)

So sue me...

They would all sue the shirt off your back if they could.......”

I don’t really want to talk about work too much as I feel that it Is

a) potentially very boring

b) likely to get me fired/sued

c)not going to solve any rage issues.

There are however certain elements that are interlinked with annoyances in my actual life. Thats right I just referred to it as an “actual life” as in outside of my professional life. Believe me I would rather the two parts of my life stayed entirely separate and that there was no cross over whatsoever. Really I would.

Other people always want to talk about it though.

Picture the scene. You're in a bar. Its a Friday night and you are not on call. You want to get a bit merry because you haven’t had a weekend off for a long while. Your drinking away, not a care in the world.

Then you get talking to another punter. They ask what you do for a living. You panic. Tell them your a lawyer. The floodgates open.

They feel the need to ask you the ins and outs of every legal situation they can possible think of.

This usually starts with the highly original “how do you defend someone you know is guilty?” They then take a tour through all the legal issues they have ever had in their life from divorce to buying a house to suing their local kebab shop for food poisoning.

Then you get to the slagging off phase. They will invariably try to slag off all other lawayers they have ever instructed and will try to get you to agree that they gave the wrong advice/were in cahoots with the other side/were too expensive/ were too slow/ secretly sacrifice small children.

Then they try to undermine you. Put your legal knowledge to the test. They create situations and then quote their own verskions of the law at you. This I will call the legal degree from soapland. Its never correct. They want you to rise to the bait. To argue it out with them.

By this point I would quite like to tip the drink I have in my hand over their head.

You know that they will be slagging you off to the next lawyer that they meet. You will be reduced to their ridiculous attempts to undermine whatever it is that you have discussed.

Ive now become an expert in dodging this kind of scenario. There are various ways to do this. These I will list below;

1. Lie about your job. This will avoid all of the above. Of course you risk someone else dropping you in it at a later stage. The truth also has a horrible habbit of surfacing at the most inopportune moment.

2. Avoidance of the topic. Just repeatedly change the topic of conversation once you fear that it is swerving dangerously close to the employment area. This does carry the risk of making you look slightly manic. Also someone else can always come over and casually mention what you do, thus ruining all previous avoidance work.

3. Ignorance. When asked any legal questions, just say “I don’t know”. Do not be pushed to give any other answer. Of course you will come across as the most stupid lawyer ever.

4. Walk away. Lawyers are always thought of as rude. Why fight the image if it means you can have a quiet drink.

5. Raise your glass. Laugh a little and turn away. Polite. Implies you either didn’t understand the question or cant hear. Makes you look fun loving if a bit odd.

6. Inform them politely that as it is your night off you would really rather not talk about work.

Of course the last option is the most apporporiuate. After a few drinks however its not always the easiest to follow.

In the worst scenario, these questions can open the floodgates to a monosyllabic rant about the professions problems. This is most definitely to be avoided. If you do this you are playing into the hands of the public perception of lawyers.

People hammer lawyers. They go to town. They say we are responsile for all the bad things in the world. They are wrong. Generally this is not the case. I would like to be able to say that all lawyers do good for people and that all lawyers act in the best interests of their clients....

Of course there are some lawyers who aren’t as honest as the others but that's not an issue limited to this profession. There are always a few bad eggs. Im glad to say that the majority of lawyers I know show intergrity and honesty. This includes the ones that I dislke on a personal level.

What i dont want is to have to defend my profession when all i want to do is get tipsy and dance!

So if you see a haggard looking lawyer standing at the bar with a drink in hand please do not see it as an opportunity to berate them for all the wrongs of the legal system. Do not quote The Sun/Corronation Street/Jeremy Kyle as if they are the absolute in all things legal. Do not feel that you can just use them to access free legal advice and please don’t judge them by what you see on the television/hear at the pub.

Just walk away and leave them to enjoy a drink in peace.

The beginning...

These are my thoughts. A random collection of thoughts. They usually cover things which happen in my everyday life. That can of course be national events, things which make international news, things which make the local rag. It can equally be as mundane as things which happen to me in the supermarket...or on the car journey there.

Largely I’m writing these things down for my own sanity. Its been highly therapeutic. The reason I’ve needed an outlet is because there was a major change in my life. I had  baby. There really is no bigger change.

Whilst this has undoubtedly been the happiest chapter in my life so far, it has taken some adjusting.

Before the baby I worked none stop. My career was my life. I lived to work. That was all. Children had never been a factor in my life. They were not something I could see on my horizon.

I imagined that I would carry on working. Try to make partner. Muse about the short comings of the world and generally carry on as I had been for the preceding years.

Fate had another plan for me. Fate decided I was due a change.

This change has affected everything. From my financial situation to my ability to handle my ‘rage’. It also altered my ability to express myself. I realise now that this was because when I was at work I could always hide any issues I had behind those of my clients.

This isn’t about work however. It’s about what happens when you shift from being a professional woman to a mother. Its about the changes you don’t think are there but they happen anyway. Its also about my thoughts. As I have explained this is my therapy, its my release. This is all the things that I want to say out loud but cant.

I hope its funny. I hope its informative. It is only my opinion. This comes largely from my observations of life. I do not intend to be judgemental. I do not have a particular political or religious persuasion. I do not favour one ethnic group over another. I try to take all  people as I find them and assess them all by the same criteria. I hope not to come across as prejudice in anyway. If you think that I do then I apologise it is not my intention. These are just my thoughts.

I’ve found it easier to touch on things that have happened to me. In particular things which have annoyed or impressed me. This means that I have had to change the names and details of the people involved. I hope that they are not identifiable. It is not my intention to ‘name and shame’ nor is it my intention to heap praise onto anyone.

Of course it will undoubtedly be the case that I will mention those closest to me, my family and friends. I love them all dearly and mean all that I say about them in the nicest way.  They really are the best people I could ever hope to know. That is why they are part of my life.

I will at times also touch on work. It was such a large part of my life. It was my life for the past 6 years. It is all I really have for reference. I can’t avoid the topic entirely. Its not however what I hope to focus on. Some parts do feature it heavily. Others not at all. That's fine by me. You can always of course skip those bits if you want!

I'm not going to discuss specific cases in any detail. I'm not going to mention any of my clients. Any reference to work will be in a generalised sense. This is not about work.

Finally I want to make it clear that no one else knows that I am writing this stuff down. They haven’t had any direct input. All of these views are essentially my own. Of course I have listened to their views in various topics before formulating my own opinion.

This however is all mine. My conscious stream of thought. Welcome to my mind!