http://www.boltoninterweb.co.uk/index.php/Special:RecentChanges Track the most recent changes to the wiki in this feed. en MediaWiki 1.15.0 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:34:27 GMT http://www.boltoninterweb.co.uk/index.php?title=Dipstick_Business_Of_The_Week&diff=685&oldid=prev <p><span class="autocomment">NCP Car Parks / 3i Group - 5 September 2010:&#32;</span> </p> <table style="background-color: white; color:black;"> <col class='diff-marker' /> <col class='diff-content' /> <col class='diff-marker' /> <col class='diff-content' /> <tr valign='top'> <td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black;">Revision as of 00:00, 7 September 2010</td> </tr> <tr><td colspan='4' align='center' class='diff-multi'>(One intermediate revision not shown)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>In this article we name the business that each week shows the most remarkable lack of customer service, the one throwing business and profits away, the one you shouldn't invest your pension fund in, the one most in need of an injection of common sense. Hopefully none of them will be in Bolton or the North West! When I started this article I was worried that I would not be able to find a weekly candidate. The candidates have to be doing something wrong that impacts on their whole business, a general corporate failing, and not a one off complaint. Sadly, so far, it hasn't been a problem and there have been times it could have been a daily award so some big names have got off for the moment. This is not a good sign for British business. However, it has to be said that in deciding who should win the bad business award, it makes you think more when you get good service and I have to admit I have been pleasantly surprised several times. &nbsp;</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>In this article we name the business that each week shows the most remarkable lack of customer service, the one throwing business and profits away, the one you shouldn't invest your pension fund in, the one most in need of an injection of common sense. Hopefully none of them will be in Bolton or the North West! When I started this article I was worried that I would not be able to find a weekly candidate. The candidates have to be doing something wrong that impacts on their whole business, a general corporate failing, and not a one off complaint. Sadly, so far, it hasn't been a problem and there have been times it could have been a daily award so some big names have got off for the moment. This is not a good sign for British business. However, it has to be said that in deciding who should win the bad business award, it makes you think more when you get good service and I have to admit I have been pleasantly surprised several times. &nbsp;</div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">==== NCP Car Parks / 3i Group - 5 September 2010 ====</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">4 years ago I started using a multi storey car park run by NCP. It is not in the best part of town and I once came across drug users on the stairwell late one evening. Not a lot going for it except that at £6 a day it was the cheapest around and so it was generally about 80% full. When arriving after 9:00am you could easily find yourself on the 9th floor, the first two floors being contract spaces. The price started creeping up and is now £12. I switched to weekly tickets a long time ago. Two years ago that was £25. Last year it bumped up 20% to £30. And a month ago there was another 20% hike to £36. However, 18 months ago I had discovered a monthly ticket for £80. Those price hikes now mean that generally I can park on the 4th or 5th floors. With the contract spaces empty this means that only 3 floors are now effectively full - 30% capacity. If you can retain the same income with half the customers then that can make good business sense if your overheads decrease as a result. The reality is that they have systematically driven away firstly the daily parkers, then the weekly parkers, leaving only the monthly ticket holders, those who yield least in revenue per vehicle. The monthly tickets haven't gone up at all and, in fact, my latest bill shows a reduction from £80 to £65. There is a price point beyond which people will not buy goods or services. In this case that seems to be £6 a day and anything more means people go elsewhere. NCP first lost their £6 a day parkers, then their £5 a day weekly parkers, then cut the £4 a day monthly-based ticket to the equivalent of £3 a day. My best guess is that a couple of years ago there was a daily income of £1700 and this has now dropped to £450, a substantial and inexcusable drop that is no doubt being explained at Head Office as &quot;recession&quot; but in reality is a consequence of incompetent management who cannot grasp the basic concepts of profit maximisation. NCP is owned by private equity firm 3i. 3i seems to have made a whopping great loss in 2008/9. In 2007 3i shares traded at over £7.60. Today you can knock a fiver off that: £2.70, and last year they were edging down to around £1 level. Seeing how they make key managerial decisions that directly result in a 70%+ loss of revenue, and are still making those kind of poor judgements, you would not catch me putting any of my investments in their direction yet one or two brokers say &quot;Buy&quot; though I doubt they see NCP car parks in action. Once upon a time you could assume that big market leaders like NCP must have brilliant leadership to have achieved that position. Clearly wrong and NCP you are the weakest link. Goodbye. Runner up goes to North-West-based Holmeswood Coaches on contract to National Express for dangerous driving on the M40. Coaches are too big to weave in and out of lanes without putting lives at risk. Maybe National Express timetables are unreasonable and being late carries penalties - that might explain it - but I am sure most passengers would rather get to the destination late but in one piece.</ins></div></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr> <tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>==== Findmypast.com / 1911 Census - 15 August 2010 ====</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>==== Findmypast.com / 1911 Census - 15 August 2010 ====</div></td></tr> <!-- diff generator: internal 2010-09-07 00:34:27 --> </table> Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:52 GMT Psrose62 http://www.boltoninterweb.co.uk/index.php/Talk:Dipstick_Business_Of_The_Week