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Downsizer Forum Index -> Small Business Questions, Ideas and Advice

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Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 09 4:21 pm Post subject:
Quite remarkable. You can get your clothes clean buy beating them against a rock in a stream. Sorry i shall rephrase, physio-geo-hydro agitation subject to molecular impact by UV rays.

Monsieur Hulot

Joined: 07 Mar 2007
Posts: 7
Location: France

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 2:13 pm Post subject:
I can see why people find the science questionable but wwhy pick on this lot? They are just small fry compared with the large high street stores which also sell these products. I have seen the same advets for the wash balls in Lakeland stores and Tesco. If you want to take on someone why don't you take on the big boys or even better the manufacturers that would make more sense.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18418

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 2:16 pm Post subject:
Tesco and Lakeland don't join Downsizer and post on here trying to sell the stuff, or offering 'business opportunities'.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 2:18 pm Post subject:

County4x4 wrote:

(PS - I'm an expert by the way - on "various subjects", so if anyone needs any help.......

I think you should use that as your .sig ...

"I pass as an expert in various subjects"

Monsieur Hulot

Joined: 07 Mar 2007
Posts: 7
Location: France

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 2:19 pm Post subject:
To be fair alot of people advertise their business on here and it is called 'small business chat.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 2:21 pm Post subject:
That is a fair point, M. Hulot. However, generally speaking, we neither try to promote products that require the laws of thermodynamics to be taking a nap; or respond in quite such a bizarre fashion when asked about them.

Monsieur Hulot

Joined: 07 Mar 2007
Posts: 7
Location: France

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 2:26 pm Post subject:
Agree, but I really think that if someone has a problem with the product they should go to the manufacturers. The people who sell these products may take what they say in good faith and picking on one small business wont make any difference when Tesco's etc are flogging them. Just had a quick check and you can't blame the OP for the bizare email because that came from someone else.

County4x4

Joined: 18 Dec 2008
Posts: 80
Location: Carnforth, Lancashire

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 4:21 pm Post subject:

I can see where you're coming from Monsieur, but surely ANY business has some degree of responsibility for the advertising that it carries on it's own website?

I have owned and run a couple of businesses online in the past, and I was very careful not to publish any claims on MY website that couldn't be verified. My particular line was model and high powered rockets, where for instance, I wouldn't claim that all the kits I sold were capable of breaking the sound barrier in flight. There were a couple around at the time that would do this using the right motor, but I made sure that this was clear to the customer rather than just saying "this rocket will go past Mach 1 full stop"

If the person who responded to my perfectly civil question HAD taken the manufacturers descriptions in good faith, then they could easily have said so, rather than trying to make what appeared to be thinly disguised threats to me personally. That struck me as speaking volumes about the whole operation.

The identity of the OP is a funny one. He said his personal site was easyeco.co.uk - but if you click on that you go straight to wikaniko.com - which was where I found the contact email address.

Anyway - I won't be losing any sleep over it - if punters want to believe the stuff on the website that's up to them.

Cheers,

Andy

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 4:26 pm Post subject:
The website redirect thing is common with these MLM things. I have a friend who sells Neways stuff and the bit of her website that is dedicated to it is basically a bit of their website dedicated to her. So all sales generated from her contacts get notched up on her account.

Monsieur Hulot

Joined: 07 Mar 2007
Posts: 7
Location: France

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 4:34 pm Post subject:
I suppose this is a general problem when subscribing to any franchise operation. The OP can't pick which products to sell in this type of setup. It is probably a good argument to being independent. I've enjoyed my little participation on various sites today but as I have been sat in McDonalds car park for the last 6 hours (free wifi in France) I need to get home

Brownbear

Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 14929
Location: South West

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 5:45 pm Post subject:

Monsieur Hulot wrote:

I suppose this is a general problem when subscribing to any franchise operation. The OP can't pick which products to sell in this type of setup. It is probably a good argument to being independent.

I've enjoyed my little participation on various sites today but as I have been sat in McDonalds car park for the last 6 hours (free wifi in France) I need to get home

So, you're sitting in a car park in France and thought that, a propos of nothing, you'd join a forum and post several times in defence of some retailer with a bizarre attitude to criticism, who is of course nothing to do with you. And you are of course not some representative of said retailer conducting a damage-limitation exercise.

Sounds perfectly believable to me.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 5:50 pm Post subject:
Oooh, BB, you are SUCH a cynic

Brownbear

Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 14929
Location: South West

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 09 6:20 pm Post subject:

Monsieur Hulot wrote:

Agree, but I really think that if someone has a problem with the product they should go to the manufacturers. The people who sell these products may take what they say in good faith and picking on one small business wont make any difference when Tesco's etc are flogging them.

For a company with such a thirst for litigation, you'd think they'd have a basic understanding of consumer law. Which as far as I'm aware gives retailers a degree of responsibility for the products they sell, very much including the veracity of fanciful or mendacious claims made by the manufacturer.

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 09 6:50 am Post subject:

Monsieur Hulot wrote:

... (free wifi in France) ...

Really? I must upgrade my laptop.

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 09 7:44 am Post subject:

It would seem that the Wikaniko MLM scheme was set up just over a year ago by a couple called Trevor and Karen Blake, who have already done very nicely on the proceeds of a similar MLM operation, Telecom Plus (run by a canny fellow called Charles Wigoder, who is 612st on the Sunday Times 'Rich List' as a result), and by a chap called Paul Hughes.
I'm not sure Karen's sales pitch is likely to appeal to me, though - or indeed to anyone clinging to the last threads of reason: https://www.havenonearth.info/5101.html
But, hey, they're nice people. Karen even says she's "a Soul Guide, Messenger and Intuitive". Hmm, I'm almost tempted to part with £48 for the privilege of selling the stuff and saving the planet, and funding their lifestyle in Spain (which is also where wikaniko.com's server sits).

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