Mac,
Paolo is right, your e-mail address clearly demonstrates your connection to French Connections. I agree that you don't have an axe to grind -- but I do think you have a company to promote.
I couldn't find any obvious connection between the person who penned that testimonial and FC, so the testimonial may be absolutely honest and unbiased. That's fine -- but you are affiliated with FC and posting that testimonial here is against the rules of the forum. Posting it as though you're just a random user who happened to come across it and thought it could be useful is simply dishonest.
Again I have to wonder if French Connections is aware of these posts. There is much debate over the effectiveness of the new FC site, but Karen Viney and others with FC have always (in my experience) been forthright about their identities and affiliations. This doesn't seem like them.
What the users Say
Mac,
You have to say something like that to defend yourself, but we all know it is total cobblers. You have been caught with your trousers down and I am going to save you any further embarrassment - you're banned from the forum.
Unfortunately for your client, any postings like yours in praise of French Connections will from now on be treated with heightened scepticism.
You have to say something like that to defend yourself, but we all know it is total cobblers. You have been caught with your trousers down and I am going to save you any further embarrassment - you're banned from the forum.
Unfortunately for your client, any postings like yours in praise of French Connections will from now on be treated with heightened scepticism.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
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sazzleevans
- Posts: 290
- Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:48 am
- Location: costa de la luz
- Contact:
Well done Paolo
I am so pleased that you have banned Mac from the forum. People like that really spoil it for everyone else. I have just launched my own little forum for owners in my area after being inspired by this site and even though its only been up and running 10 weeks I have had countless attempts to self promote on the site.
The whole idea of these forums are to share views and ideas with like minded people and not swayed by companies taking advantage of the forum.
Thanks for banning the member. I am just sorry people try to do these types of things.
Take care and thanks for the forum.
Sarah
I am so pleased that you have banned Mac from the forum. People like that really spoil it for everyone else. I have just launched my own little forum for owners in my area after being inspired by this site and even though its only been up and running 10 weeks I have had countless attempts to self promote on the site.
The whole idea of these forums are to share views and ideas with like minded people and not swayed by companies taking advantage of the forum.
Thanks for banning the member. I am just sorry people try to do these types of things.
Take care and thanks for the forum.
Sarah
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Karen Viney
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 7:10 pm
- Contact:
I have just read the postings from Mac and the comments in reply from other forum members and would like to confirm that French Connections was not previously aware of, or connected with, Macs comments/posting on the forum. These were posted personally by him without French Connections knowledge or approval and, had he asked us for permission to do this, we would not have consented. We do believe that the testimonial link supplied by him is a genuine one but we can see that this looks odd indeed to forum members as TMG are a major supplier to French Connections and have been fully instrumental in our new website design. We are a very open company and would never attempt to hide our identify or the identity of our suppliers.
We can see from the postings that some forum members appear to still be disappointed with the performance of their advertisement on our site. I am sure that, in the ethos of honesty, forum members are aware that the French tourist market has been a lot tougher this year. [Post edited by admin]
The new website has been blamed by some for a reduction in bookings but we 'honestly' cannot see any evidence for this being true. With the search facilities being more refined on the new site we would expect owners to receive less enquiries, but the enquiries that are received are undoubtedly more focussed.
[Visitor stats and percentages edited out]
As there has been so much (what we consider) unjustified negative feedback on this forum about the success of French Connections new website, I felt it was necessary to give you some actual statistics.
If any forum member has any individual problems with their advertisement, please do not use this forum as a ground for personal issues and simply contact us direct by emailing sales@frenchconnections.co.uk or telephoning +44 (0)1580 755888 where we will always personally respond and try our best to help.
We sincerely hope that your FC bookings are now picking up as the season progresses and we sincerely wish you every success wherever you choose to advertise.
Best regards to all, Karen Viney, Marketing Director, French Connections www.frenchconnections.co.uk
PS. We would also like to advise/confirm that VF is not affiliated in any way with French Connections. Our companies parted ways in December 2004.
We can see from the postings that some forum members appear to still be disappointed with the performance of their advertisement on our site. I am sure that, in the ethos of honesty, forum members are aware that the French tourist market has been a lot tougher this year. [Post edited by admin]
The new website has been blamed by some for a reduction in bookings but we 'honestly' cannot see any evidence for this being true. With the search facilities being more refined on the new site we would expect owners to receive less enquiries, but the enquiries that are received are undoubtedly more focussed.
[Visitor stats and percentages edited out]
As there has been so much (what we consider) unjustified negative feedback on this forum about the success of French Connections new website, I felt it was necessary to give you some actual statistics.
If any forum member has any individual problems with their advertisement, please do not use this forum as a ground for personal issues and simply contact us direct by emailing sales@frenchconnections.co.uk or telephoning +44 (0)1580 755888 where we will always personally respond and try our best to help.
We sincerely hope that your FC bookings are now picking up as the season progresses and we sincerely wish you every success wherever you choose to advertise.
Best regards to all, Karen Viney, Marketing Director, French Connections www.frenchconnections.co.uk
PS. We would also like to advise/confirm that VF is not affiliated in any way with French Connections. Our companies parted ways in December 2004.
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Karen,
Thank you for that open and honest posting. It is totally in keeping with the way in which you and your team have dealt with me on a personal level.
For me, there is no doubt that the level of enquiries from your site for 2005 has been low but, so it has been for all the other sites where I have an entry. There will be many reasons for this but I think it is largely a reflection of the state of the French holiday market in general – 18% down for the year according to some sources.
Regards
Alan
Thank you for that open and honest posting. It is totally in keeping with the way in which you and your team have dealt with me on a personal level.
For me, there is no doubt that the level of enquiries from your site for 2005 has been low but, so it has been for all the other sites where I have an entry. There will be many reasons for this but I think it is largely a reflection of the state of the French holiday market in general – 18% down for the year according to some sources.
Regards
Alan
Well I must say that I think the lady is to be applauded,it's easier to sit back and say nothing altho I don't like the stats we are bombarded with, but hey- that's marketing! I don't know much about French Connections,other than the perception that they used to be THE site to advertise on, my bad experience is with Visit France.
Hi Karen,
as a relatively new user on this excellent forum, I find that whilst it's refreshing for someone like you to post and 'explain' your position, I also find it distasteful to ask members the following - "please do not use this forum as a ground for personal issues and simply contact us direct..."
This forum exists purely for users to share experiences and 'air' their grievances in such a way. When members are treated in the way that some obviously have been, where else are they going to chat about it?
I was considering using your website to promote the gites we're about to own in the Loire Valley, and am having second thoughts after reading so many negative posts on here. Your website obviously works for some, but not for the majority of others as experienced on THIS forum.
Please feel free to convince myself AND others that you really are worth the money we're prepared to pay for a service you seem to be failing to provide.
as a relatively new user on this excellent forum, I find that whilst it's refreshing for someone like you to post and 'explain' your position, I also find it distasteful to ask members the following - "please do not use this forum as a ground for personal issues and simply contact us direct..."
This forum exists purely for users to share experiences and 'air' their grievances in such a way. When members are treated in the way that some obviously have been, where else are they going to chat about it?
I was considering using your website to promote the gites we're about to own in the Loire Valley, and am having second thoughts after reading so many negative posts on here. Your website obviously works for some, but not for the majority of others as experienced on THIS forum.
Please feel free to convince myself AND others that you really are worth the money we're prepared to pay for a service you seem to be failing to provide.
Here here!! With VF I tried many,many times to make contact- they never responded! Even when I phoned they said they would rectify the situation but nothing happened! After many more e-mails and on-line "contact us" form filling I eventually got a reply (from the person I had spoken to!) saying that the person dealing with "France" was on holiday and she would pass it on to him!! This attitude is totally unacceptable.I realise we are talking about 2 different companies here but is the attitude similar? Where else can we air our experiences? We all want these companies to do well- we expect them to provide some guests for our holiday homes!!I also find it distasteful to ask members the following - "please do not use this forum as a ground for personal issues and simply contact us direct..."
I have edited Karen's post because there were stats and 'facts' about French Connections in there that cannot be corroborated.
I don't doubt that 'Mac' acted without FC's knowledge.
One thing I would say in French Connections's defence - they have changed from having no indication of availability to an availability calendar. I used to get dozens of enquiries from FC, but all for the same summer weeks. Now I get very few, but then again have very little availability showing. So before you decide the site no longer works, have a look at the number of your past enquiries that were for unbooked weeks, as opposed to total enquiries. Then you will be comparing like with like.
I don't doubt that 'Mac' acted without FC's knowledge.
I can see why you would prefer that your company is not talked about negatively in public, but that is what forums are for. There are listing sites that get rave reviews here and if FC performed like them, they would be praised too.If any forum member has any individual problems with their advertisement, please do not use this forum as a ground for personal issues
One thing I would say in French Connections's defence - they have changed from having no indication of availability to an availability calendar. I used to get dozens of enquiries from FC, but all for the same summer weeks. Now I get very few, but then again have very little availability showing. So before you decide the site no longer works, have a look at the number of your past enquiries that were for unbooked weeks, as opposed to total enquiries. Then you will be comparing like with like.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
This forum should be used as a way for owners to discuss sites that are working or sites that are not, after all we are paying them to provide a service that they should be delivering. It might be a bit scary for the rental sites who have not had the opportunity to read collective criticism before, but any site worth their salt would sit up take notice and do their best to address any issues that are raised.
I am not with French Connections so can not comment on them individually but I would be worried about a site that wanted to bury issues so that they were not available on an open forum. It is also true that people have different experiences with sites and this should become visible on the forum also which should give a balanced view. .
As more an more people purchase holiday homes it will become more competitive therefore it will be even more important for owners to discuss who they are finding the most effective. It might mean established sites have to eat into their profits and spend more of their budgets on advertising or similar and a forum like this is the ideal place to get unbiased customer feedback. I would hope that for rental sites this would prove most useful.
I am not with French Connections so can not comment on them individually but I would be worried about a site that wanted to bury issues so that they were not available on an open forum. It is also true that people have different experiences with sites and this should become visible on the forum also which should give a balanced view. .
As more an more people purchase holiday homes it will become more competitive therefore it will be even more important for owners to discuss who they are finding the most effective. It might mean established sites have to eat into their profits and spend more of their budgets on advertising or similar and a forum like this is the ideal place to get unbiased customer feedback. I would hope that for rental sites this would prove most useful.
Always Learning
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Karen Viney
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 7:10 pm
- Contact:
This was said due to previous postings from us on the Lay my Hat forum generating responses that could not be dealt with via the forum. We understand that this forum should be used for general comments, observations, complaints or praise but not for individual problems with individual advertisements.If any forum member has any individual problems with their advertisement, please do not use this forum as a ground for personal issues
We respect that everyone will have a personal view on why or where they should or should not advertise and appreciate the forum functions for this. We are simply maintaining that approaching us direct if there is a specific problem will be more helpful to you as our staff do not access this forum.
Best regards, Karen Viney, Marketing Director, French Connections. www.frenchconnections.co.uk
PS Paolo has removed the website statistics from my previous posting. If any one wishes to see the stats I posted, please send me a personal email and I will email you back with them.
paolo wrote:In fairness to French Connections, they have no connection with VisitFrance, so should not be tarred with the same brush.Fraise wrote:This attitude is totally unacceptable.I realise we are talking about 2 different companies here but is the attitude similar?
No- you are right..... but I was asking the question - quote- "I realise we are talking about 2 different companies here but is the attitude similar? Where else can we air our experiences? We all want these companies to do well- we expect them to provide some guests for our holiday homes!!"
I understand they shouldn't be tarred with the same brush
Hi again Karen,
You said - "We are simply maintaining that approaching us direct if there is a specific problem will be more helpful to you as our staff do not access this forum..."
As has already been said elsewhere on this forum, it's been 'trial & error' to generate a response from your company which is why members resort to using the forum to express their disappointment, surely?
As I pointed out, it's refreshing to see you posting in order to 'put things right', yet I still can't understand why you'd rather have people mail you or call you directly only for them to go away dissatisfied. This in turn generates the ill-feeling that prompts them to post on here to seek out whether it's just them that has the problem, or if others have in fact had similar experiences. From reading this thread, and others elswhere on the forum, it appears that many share the same apathetic attitude when dealing with your company. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but like you, we're trying to earn a living from what we do. A great deal of effort goes into selecting a suitable promotion media (or it has on our part), so we need to be reassured that when we part with our hard earned, it's actually going to 'help' our businesses, not hinder them.
Please don't take offence, I'm not trying to stir things up and I genuinely do applaud you for having the 'guts' to post on here. Long may you continue to be so honest, just try harder to get things right for us I think is the general message not just from me, but others as well.
Apologies Paulo if this seems a tad 'harsh' on Karen, please feel free to edit.
Bon Chance.
You said - "We are simply maintaining that approaching us direct if there is a specific problem will be more helpful to you as our staff do not access this forum..."
As has already been said elsewhere on this forum, it's been 'trial & error' to generate a response from your company which is why members resort to using the forum to express their disappointment, surely?
As I pointed out, it's refreshing to see you posting in order to 'put things right', yet I still can't understand why you'd rather have people mail you or call you directly only for them to go away dissatisfied. This in turn generates the ill-feeling that prompts them to post on here to seek out whether it's just them that has the problem, or if others have in fact had similar experiences. From reading this thread, and others elswhere on the forum, it appears that many share the same apathetic attitude when dealing with your company. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but like you, we're trying to earn a living from what we do. A great deal of effort goes into selecting a suitable promotion media (or it has on our part), so we need to be reassured that when we part with our hard earned, it's actually going to 'help' our businesses, not hinder them.
Please don't take offence, I'm not trying to stir things up and I genuinely do applaud you for having the 'guts' to post on here. Long may you continue to be so honest, just try harder to get things right for us I think is the general message not just from me, but others as well.
Apologies Paulo if this seems a tad 'harsh' on Karen, please feel free to edit.
Bon Chance.