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We were tearing our hair out with DataPro – a young Gary Sweidan instructed his team to supply us with nothing more than a box. “It’s not our job to help you …”. Strange, but true.
The irony of this is that Datapro is most probably one of the largest and best hosting companies in the country. If I need something from them the response is normally HUGE and things were sorted immediately, they constantly walked that extra mile for me. Besides that, what company will tell you, it is not their job if it is? This is sickening from a person of Peter's stature and I do not believe this statement for one second.
Telkom often appeared at the top of the complaints list before becoming a company who responds – which involves an annual fee and safeguards companies from appearing on this list.
Well, I suppose it makes sense, if you are a "company who responds" then you won't appear on the companies who don't respond list.
Having a look at the site again there are two lists, top complimented company that responds, and top complaint company who does not respond.
Two missing lists there, top complaint company that does respond, and top complimented company that does not respond. Essentially the companies that do respond are shielded in a way from direct bad publicity.
Seems to defeat the purpose a bit - if you suck, you suck, whether you respond or not. Surely paying an annual fee should not keep you out of the spotlight?
I have used Hellopeter 10 times now, all with great results from the companies. Yes they WERE all companies that do respond (big corps) but if you take the leaque the likes of Vodacom, Edgars, MTN etc run, it is correct to claim that a fee of R60K is fair. It's a drop in their budget bucket, for the use of a great site like Hellopeter.
For the smaller companies, I agree with bullfrog-you are small and therefor it is WRONG for someone to even go and complain about you! Smaller companies are supposed to be so service related nowadays, they probably deserve the negative publicity they might receive on Hellopeter.
I do have a problem with companies that misuse the system i.e. Amazing Vouchers and deserve to be "blacklisted" on Hellopeter. Surely Dave would "ban" or "blacklist" me if I had to misuse this forum/site?
The FACT remains that Hellopeter was established to assist the CONSUMER before making any decisions on a new purchase i.e. 3G or Nokia or Webmail. So convenient to search the site, and make your (rightfully yours) informed decision before acting upon it. Companies that want to stay in the kitchen, has to pay the price to handle the heat.
I also see many "unknown" companies listed as "newest companies that respond". Surely they did'nt cough up R13K for that? Hellopeter has never come across to me as a company/website/service provider that acts unfair or
unapproachable.
I will continue to use Hellopeter, because I sometimes enjoy the way the bigger corps themselves when they get that complaint. And no I did not only complain. I have a healthy 4 compliments vs 6 complaints sitting on Hellopeter. And it felt good to give those compliments, because those companies really deserved it....
It is time us consumers stand together, and stop eating the the world tries to feed us everyday. It is a form of "de-sensitising" us from good proper fair value-for-money service and product we deserve.
I think your post highlights why this is a dilemma.
Hellopeter works! It produces results for consumers where traditional methods have failed. But is that as a result of the fact that companies have to pay fees to respond? Or as a result of the prospect of negative publicity?
How many companies that are listed as "Companies who do not respond" would in fact respond, and even service the consumer, but for the matter of a fee to Peter Cheales for the privilege?
And is the option of being able to respond a privilege - or a right?
For the consumer to insist that a business should pay a fee to respond is essentially vindictive, and does not contribute to them getting their complaint addressed.
My biggest issue with HP is the fact that he offers no value to businesses. Blackmailing them to respond doesn't mean he adds value. The number of Small to Medium business far outnumber the bigger businesses that can afford to pay the fees, and probably do get some value out of PR. The fact that consumers can state anything they like and a busines has to pay to respond is a flaw and will stay that way for as long as his business model stays the way it is.
Thank you Dave for the welcome. And Chatmaster for your input.
I think that companies may choose to pay for the priviledge to join Hellopeter, and that they will add value to their PR by having access to:
1. Registration and set up
1. Email Notification : Immediate notification by email each time hellopeter.com receives a comment bearing your name in the Supplier panel.
1. Customer's Contact Details: Each comment is submitted with a user name. Companies Who Respond receive name, email and telephone number of customer.
1. SMS Notification: In addition to the email notification you have the option to receive a FREE sms on your cell phone alerting you to comments on the site.
1. Supplier's Response: The right to reply. Each time a comment is made about your company, you have the right to respond on the site and contact the customer directly.
1. Update Response: The facility to respond in more detail to existing comments when new information comes to hand.
1. Hyperlink your Company Website: By supplying a hyperlink next to your company's name, users can click through to your own website.
1. Customer Feedback: Users are asked to rate your response to their comments 36 hours after posting a comment.
1. Newsflashes: Home page publicity for your company. Special offers, discounts, announcements may all be publicised.
And after all, this being a forum, I actually went and swotted a bit on the Hellopeter website (so that I could add more valuable input to this discussion than "Oh Really" this and "Oh Really" that) and noticed the following regarding the fees:
http://www.hellopeter.com/comp_subscription.asp.
PLEASE NOTE: there is an annual registration, set-up and admin. fee payable by EVERY Company Who Responds. The annual fee is R315.00 excl. VAT. Companies are also charged an Annual Response Fee according to the number of comments made about them. Companies with less than 4 comments pay NO Annual Response Fee.
Lovely to see that it is even affordable for a small company like mine, and that this at last destroys all rumors and false allegations on the "fees" previously speculated about.
The way I see it, fraud, misuse and abuse by the companies and their staff in question which has resulted in the removal of their profiles from the Hellopeter site, has re-labled the "every action has a consequence" law of life as "blackmailing".
apropos, Peter should put you on his payroll, lol. Seriously I have a serious issue with the business model. He cannot charge business any money for responding, what is the service in that? I mean surely his add revenue alone makes him a handy profit each month! As a consumer I would rather know for a fact that the business I am complaining about can respond, regardless of payment! How can I be sure that my complaint will be looked at, unless I do not care and simply want to damage their business... And how many complaints are made because the consumer messed up something but still want a freebie? How easy is it to view HP as a blackmailing strategy to get it your way regardless of your own guilt or mistake? Some companies will clear the issue simply to avoid bad publicity imo.
Thank you Dave for the welcome. And Chatmaster for your input.
I think that companies may choose to pay for the priviledge to join Hellopeter, and that they will add value to their PR by having access to:
1. Registration and set up
1. Email Notification : Immediate notification by email each time hellopeter.com receives a comment bearing your name in the Supplier panel.
1. Customer's Contact Details: Each comment is submitted with a user name. Companies Who Respond receive name, email and telephone number of customer.
1. SMS Notification: In addition to the email notification you have the option to receive a FREE sms on your cell phone alerting you to comments on the site.
1. Supplier's Response: The rt, you getight to reply. Each time a comment is made about your company, you have the right to respond on the site and contact the customer directly.
1. Update Response: The facility to respond in more detail to existing comments when new information comes to hand.
1. Hyperlink your Company Website: By supplying a hyperlink next to your company's name, users can click through to your own website.
1. Customer Feedback: Users are asked to rate your response to their comments 36 hours after posting a comment.
1. Newsflashes: Home page publicity for your company. Special offers, discounts, announcements may all be publicised.
And after all, this being a forum, I actually went and swotted a bit on the Hellopeter website (so that I could add more valuable input to this discussion than "Oh Really" this and "Oh Really" that) and noticed the following regarding the fees:
http://www.hellopeter.com/comp_subscription.asp.
PLEASE NOTE: there is an annual registration, set-up and admin. fee payable by EVERY Company Who Responds. The annual fee is R315.00 excl. VAT. Companies are also charged an Annual Response Fee according to the number of comments made about them. Companies with less than 4 comments pay NO Annual Response Fee.
Lovely to see that it is even affordable for a small company like mine, and that this at last destroys all rumors and false allegations on the "fees" previously speculated about.
The way I see it, fraud, misuse and abuse by the companies and their staff in question which has resulted in the removal of their profiles from the Hellopeter site, has re-labled the "every action has a consequence" law of life as "blackmailing".
The privalage of joining the site and replying is essentially the same thing...which is an issue.
Emails notification: Charge an extra for that service.
Customer's Contact Details: Possibly charge for that too, but I personally think that this could be waived too.
SMS Notification: Definitely a service he could charge for. Also just a clarification. If you pay a yearly registration or what ever fee, the sms's ARE NOT FREE! You are paying for them!
Supplier's Response: This is a basic right that should be free. If it's not free it's blackmail by putting the company on a list that makes it seem like the company is crap and doesn't care. You have the right to defend yourself without lining the creators of some sites pockets!
Update Response: Same as above.
Hyperlink your Company Website: Charge for that service and call it advertising.
Newsflashes: Same again. Have that as an addon that you get charged for seperately as advertising.
I can't really comment on the part that is on the site regarding the fees but I believe that wasn't always there.
If a company does something wrong, fine go ahead and ban them from the site. Don't go and automatically move them to the no reply list. Rather start a new list and call it something like the shame list. This might be a cliche by now, but 2 wrongs don't make a right. Having one company who cheated doesn't give them the right to lie and say the company doesn't respond or even worse add false complaints to the company. This sounds like something that the owner will do if he so pleases. Like I have said before, a site like this with such a great impact of companies big and small shouldn't be run by a child. It must be run by someone who is professional and doesn't let his emotions get in the way!
I think it would be great if he can make simple company responses free and some of the more advanced features a pay service. Will he do something like? No he won't cause it's all about his bottom line...how much money he can make from the site. He saw a market and made a product for it. He is in it to make money and in the process just happens to help disgruntled customers by blackmailing companies.
What he is doing is forcing companies to buy his product, nothing more, nothing less.
Edit: I don't visit the hellopeter site often but just thought i'd go take a quick look. One strange thing I noticed is how easy it is to make it onto the don't reply list. If you get a complaint, you get put on the list... Fine, fair enough. If you get a compliment you get put on the don't respond list...wait what?????!?!?!? So the don't respond list is a list of companies who don't say thank you for complimenting them. What a strange spin this puts on things
Supplier's Response: This is a basic right that should be free. If it's not free it's blackmail by putting the company on a list that makes it seem like the company is crap and doesn't care. You have the right to defend yourself without lining the creators of some sites pockets!
This is so true. Something Peter is good at is playing with words to create that impression. His entire site is a play of words imo.
And after all, this being a forum, I actually went and swotted a bit on the Hellopeter website (so that I could add more valuable input to this discussion than "Oh Really" this and "Oh Really" that)
Genevieve.
If you back up a bit you will see that some of us have had first hand experience of hellopeter - have also used hellopeter, (all without success in my case), have tried to communicate directly with peter cheales (with no response), and have done our own research (which is why you see the various negative comments) and we have posted our thoughts somewhere on the forum sa and this thread.
You made the general statement, that all small companies deserve what they get on hellopeter. I cannot argue with this statement as I have not got your insight on this matter. Is that researched? If I do not like something you do and I just post a complaint, its ok because you are a small company and you probably deserve it?
Or that hellopeter is apparently an altruist who started his site for the 'consumers benefit' before making a decision to purchase. Can't discuss this either - its a fact according to you. Researched fact again? Can you point us to a source?
I also do not agree that that there is nothing wrong with hellopeter. But you are so convinced, who can argue with that!
I took these from hellopeter - regarding Apropos complaints - the first two are your responses to complaints.
Utterly disgusted: Haha, yip, I got the blackmail (thought so). Will see what happens in my bank account.....
Indifferent: Spoke to the driver, said that he was in a hurry. Operations Manager called and said he will check the GPS, and get back to me. I am still awaiting his call back
This is a standard company response - again taken from your complaints.
Thank you for your E-Mail. We will investigate your complaint and advise you accordingly.
Chubbs (your last complaint) standard reply to the majority of their complaints:-
In keeping with Chubb's policy to deliver personal service, this complaint will be taken-up with the client personally. A satisfactory solution to the matter will be found.
I cannot see from these examples how this actually helped your situation or that you were satisfied or that anybody via the hellopeter site actually delivered a service. How did a bad driver report in Benoni affect my decision to purchase from Chubb in Durban? Was the company maybe not deserving of any complaint because they are not a small company?
I don't believe all small companies that receive complaints are probably deserving of being found guilty of bad service and have to defend themselves on this system via one email within three hours or they lose all their rights to do so.
I do believe the concept of hellopeter is good but the underlying system seems to be suspect.
Last edited by Dave A; 30-Dec-08, 07:58 PM.
Reason: character set issue
Quite a contraversal topic! I had the misfortune of being "threatened" with Hello P post should i not make right. Obviously there are always 2 sides to a story and this where the site maybe needs to be looked at??
Basically one of our service suppliers insisted that we had contracted them. What had actually happened is that we referred them to the client who contracted there service then refused to pay insisting we should pay! This is obviously complex, so leave it at that!
The threat then came if we did not settle the R2000 odd, they would list us on Hello Peter. Having investigated what they were (Hello peter), how it worked etc and being part of a large sa franchise on our side, it wasn't an option.
The solution proved fairly simple in this case is that if they posted, we would summons for damages Got interesting! Needless to say they never posted the complaint - At the end of the day it is quite clear that the HP site was used quite simply "force" the issue.
Isn't another word for this blackmail? Imagine we hadn't had the opporttunity to stop it before it appeared. I really don't approve of the site anymore (i used to), although there is no doubt need for something similar, just rethink the consequences.
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themselves when they get that complaint. And no I did not only complain. I have a healthy 4 compliments vs 6 complaints sitting on Hellopeter. And it felt good 
to give those compliments, because those companies really deserved it....
the world tries to feed us everyday. It is a form of "de-sensitising" us from good proper fair value-for-money service and product we deserve.
Make money by referring hosting clients to us.
Got interesting! Needless to say they never posted the complaint - At the end of the day it is quite clear that the HP site was used quite simply "force" the issue.
Imagine we hadn't had the opporttunity to stop it before it appeared. I really don't approve of the site anymore (i used to), although there is no doubt need for something similar, just rethink the consequences.
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