I was at Peterborough Test Centre yesterday morning and
there were no fewer than 6 ‘5 DAY’ cars seemingly waiting in queue to go to
test. Oddly enough, my pupil and I did
not see one of them actually come into the car park, so quite what that was all
about, who knows. Maybe they go round en-masse
as a marketing strategy to emphasise their might.... maybe.
One of my own pupils said to me the day before yesterday
that a friend of his has paid them over £800 where he has passed the theory
test, and had 20 hrs of in car training, and now they want him to pay to go to
test. But this lad feels so lacking in
confidence he is refusing to book the test!
I took a look at their website last night to see if I could independently
verify any details, and it is impossible to – it is severely lacking in detail!
But I’m not complaining at all. Their marketing is clearly raising people’s
interest in intensive courses, and as my intensive course bookings have certainly
increased of late – they are doing me a big favour!
It’s quite entertaining to watch from the sidelines how
businesses ‘LAUNCH’ into a flurry of intense activity, and with the passing of
time, it all naturally fades away into obscurity. I wont name names as it would seem
disrespectful, but just in the 3 years I’ve been in this industry I can think of a few such situations. It’s a great example
for us ‘independents’ to learn from actually.
With time, it seems the truth does emerge stronger than all the glossy
marketing – and when the public realise exactly what is going on, these
businesses find themselves going into administration soon after.
Pretending to have some mystery key that unlocks test
booking slots from the DSA is just one such example. It is utterly mis-leading and completely
underhand to suggest to potential customers of a means of booking tests quickly that is unique to them....the DSA do not get into
cosy little arrangements with anyone. Getting
late cancellations for just a few days time is something that has been, and
continues to be available to everyone, absolutely everyone..... if this is on
an organisation’s homepage as being some kind of USP, then that says much about
the organisation.
Anyway, it’s interesting to sit back and
watch all this unfold. It is quite
amusing to watch 6 cars turn up to a Test Centre en-masse, and yet no-one is
taking a test. You have to laugh!
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