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CA Britline considering charging for English Speaking Service


minnie
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[quote user="Judith"] reminds me of the marketing dept of a bank I once worked in  - I lasted about 6 weeks - I was too honest!
[/quote]You never know, you might have been good at it.  In my experience, no marketing professional nor idea ever succeeded on the assumption that the customer was stupid.
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[quote user="Renaud"]I am with Britline, thing is when it comes to money my French is probably OK but I don't like 'probably' in this respect.[/quote]Quite.  What's more, whilst my French is pretty much OK, my o/h's isn't.  Yes, he can cope but I know he doesn't feel confident with the really critical stuff so Britline's English speaking advantage was a real help to him when I wasn't conscious - and for some time after.  Are all the couples on this forum really confident that BOTH of them could deal with the banking in French if called upon to do so?   I know that many are but there must be some where it always falls to one to do the business stuff because of thelanguage thing.
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Yes, but some will think that it isn't, R/H.  Hence my little scenario above.  My marketing head (you've guessed, I suppose, which of the characters is me?) says it's a bad idea.  But the money men usually win the argument because they only look at one side of the balance sheet and customer goodwill is worth nothing to most of them simply because they can't easily figure it out in Euro terms. 

It's pretty common.  In  a recession, the marketing and advertising budgets are the first to be cut and it's the companies who see beyond the obvious costs to the value of both, which tend to survive.  Branson isn't rich by accident.

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[quote user="Renaud"] I always was interested when the term 'negative goodwill'.[/quote]It's just what it sounds like and is precisely what I was describing.  Whereas it's pretty easy to quantify how many customers you have, how many are brought in by the introduction of a new product, an ad' campaign, or whatever, it's very difficult to put a monetary value on negative goodwill.

Here's an example of negative goodwill from my own personal experience. 

I've been buying cases for holding DVDs which I've recorded myself for some time now from the same manufacturer.  They are really well made and hold 300-odd DVDs, most within the main wallet pages, and 2 dozen or so in a removable wallet which attaches to the inside front of the thing.  It's not so good because you can't see what's in each slot but you can use it when travelling to transport them around. 

When I bought the last one of these (and I mean last, not latest), it turned out that some bright spark had decided - undoubtedly because it was cheaper, and perhaps because they thought it would cut sales of smaller, portable wallets which they make - to sew the removable wallet into the front cover of the main part, so it's no longer usable as a portable case.manufacturing process.  However, on the minus side is the "negative goodwill" generated by the change, which means that I, for one, won't be buying any of their products any more.  I have found somebody else who when they say "holds 300 DVDs", really means it.  And what's more, I tell people about it.Does that make sense?

What the proposal which Britline have mooted to some in their survey does, imho, is precisely that.  Whereas most would probably cough up and put up with it, there would be a behind-the-scenes negative knock on effect, such as we are seeing from some posters on here.  The "well, I liked the service but it's a cheek to expect us to pay for something we really don't need any more" bunch.  The same people who feel conned each time a mobile phone company promises that your credit won't expire and then changes their t&c's once they've got you to buy their SIM card. And they onlyhave to start moaning on a forum (for example) and the problem multiplies itself. It may seem like a good idea to an accountant, but it's suicidal in marketing terms precisely because of the negative goodwill it generates. 

When I worked in the hosptiality business it used to be said that one dissatisfied customer had a negative effect on your business equivalent the positive effect of ten satisfied ones, just because they'd  be ten times more like to complain to others about their bad experience than they would to say nice things about a good one.

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In the banking sector there are a couple of key factors that are critical to marketing decisions to change pricing structures and product ranges:

Churn v Customer lethargy - this is the number of customer who will always move to a better deal v those who will stay even if the price increases.  This churn / lethargy factor depends on a number of things including the complexity involved in switching product (current accounts will always have a lower churn than a credit card for example), the increase in price, age of customer.  In the above, Britline offers a current account (perceived as more difficult to switch), customers are largely older (retirees) who tend to be more lethargic (resistant to change) and they have the additional 'stickiness' of the language barrier.

LTV (Life Time Value) - LTV is the money that can be made from a customer over the customer's lifetime.  Younger (preferably potential professional i.e. high earning customers) are preferable to older customers.  The younger group, particularly university students, will usually be offered better deals than the older age group.  Again, retirees in France would be perceived to be a lower value customer base using LTV measures than young customers.

(Re negative goodwill - this arises on a business acquisition when the amount paid for the business is *less* than the fair value of it's aggregate net assets.  It can arise from brand perception but there are other reasons why negative goodwill arises.)

Mrs R51

Edited to correct typo - thanks to Stan for pointing it out :)

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Here's the deal: We joined Britline because Mr Betty is the financial brains of the outfit, and he knows to the nearest 0.0001 of a Euro how much we have in the bank at any hour of the day or night. The thought of abdicating responsibility for keeping the banking stuff in order to me would give him an attack of the vapours. Unfortunately, I'm the linguistic brains of the outfit. Thus, in the spirit of compromise, we got an account where Mr Betty could, if necessary, speak to the nice Bank people...but I get to write the cheques because I can spell French numbers and know where to write the date and stuff. Whenever I actually speak to Britline (rare) I speak to them in French. Not because I'm a big showoff, but because I know when I'm having trouble explaining something, but I can't always tell when THEY are. If they are explaining in their own language, I can understand them perfectly, and therefore I know that nothing they didn't tell me (or told me incorrectly) will come back and bite me on the bum later.

We've already ditched their credit card, and we're gradually finding that drawing our own money from our own account would probably be easier with a balaclava and a sawnoff than by going into a different branch of CA and writing a cheque on our own account. So it's becoming increasingly likely that we'll change banks anyway, and the only thing so far preventing that is that overall CA are cheaper than some. If they're going to start charging us for something we barely derive any benefit from, then they're toast.

Oh, and does anyone really spend that long at the bank that they would put it on their list of "most useful places to improve your French?" If so, my sympathies.[:D]

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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]..... Oh, and does anyone really spend that long at the bank that they would put it on their list of "most useful places to improve your French?" If so, my sympathies.[:D]   [/quote]

[:D][:D][:D]

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Not banking but as an example of negative goodwill a couple of years ago and concious of an ageing workforce and the potential sudden loss of employees with up to 20 years of knowledge and experience (covers me) my employer began suggesting that those coming closer to retirement could go onto part time work meaning 1 week on and 4 weeks off and 1/2 salary instead of the normal 2 on/3 off.

I was dead keen on this and immediately put my hand up for it. For the next year they strung me along with the promise that it was being seriously looked at by mangement and tha I would be informed of the decision very soon but still nothing so I started pushing it only to finally receive a letter to the effect that I was too valuable to the operation and therefore my application could not be considered.

Whilst it was flattering to hear that nothing had changed since I first asked about it so if it was that was the case now then it must also have been the case then so fact it was never going to happen anyway.

That effectively destroyed any goodwill and loyalty I felt toward them in that it had a material effect on how I subsequently did my job doing just what was required and no more, a work to rule if you like, andthat's how it's been for the past year or so.

Had I got the deal I had been prepared to give them say one or 2 years notice of my retirement giving them a perfect opportunity to bring in some new blood and benefit from me passing on my experience but now all they will get is one week as my 3 weeks off counts towards my months notice - and they will be getting that next week !

THAT'S negative goodwill !

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2 points here.  My French is passable (for a mere holiday home owner) but the time my cash card was eaten by an ATM at a supermarket, I was very glad to be able to speak to someone in English, there was no misunderstanding about what I had to do and they spoke to some kind of local engineer who retrieved it for me.  They assured me it was a machine fault and the card was ok to use again (which it was).  That in itself was pretty priceless.

Do I know what I pay in charges?  Not really - its below my worry threshold.  If they put it up by ā‚¬1.5 a month would I notice?  Probably not.  But would I disagree about a specific charge?  Yes because thats the rationale behind their whole offering.  Its fundamental and should be priced in - its not an extra.  Just like Ryanair its the little extras the whole time that get you riled not the total cost which is still often rediculously cheap.

 

Point 2  Negative goodwill in accounts is actually the opposite of what was posted earlier.  When you buy a business you get tangible assets (property, stock, debtors etc).  If you pay more than the value of these assets, that is called goodwill.  In theoretical terms goodwill is the right to earn profits in the future.  For example you buy an advertising asgency which makes Ā£1m in profits.  It costs you say Ā£5m.  All you get for your money is a few desks and chairs a lot of creative people some already signed up clients.  Apart from the furniture virtually everything is goodwill or the right to earn future profits.

Unsurprisingly negative goodwill is the opposite, where you pay less than the value of the assets you receive.  In some cases it could be a good deal but remember you could have bought Woolworths for Ā£1 a couple of years ago.  Lots of assets - plenty of negative goodwill but losing Ā£1b a year.

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Are not Credit Agricoles Britline customers already paying for the service, or do they get free banking and a free Mastercard?

I suspect the answer is no so what is really being discussed is will they pay even more to bolster the banks falling revenues, - how delighfully French [:D] but I suppose they have at least asked themselves the question and are seeking customer feedback.

Unlike all the now closed restaurants that slavishly put up their prices whilst offering worse food and service even when they were supposed to be reducing them for the reduction in TVA.

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I am coming to this very late so may have missed something said already, but isn't the whole point of Britline to offer an English-speaking service?

I could understand if  my branch of CA decided to charge me  for a special service in English, as it exists for French people and that would be an extra, but for Britline to charge extra for what is their basic raison d'ĆŖtre seems absurd.

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