Our posting on here should not be taken as any kind of recognition of this forum, or thread, as an important media to share news to make announcements.
Previously, Proviation had written explanations in response to specific issues individuals had raised, and discussed the business in more detail.
It is widely advised that businesses do this, in order to bring a balance to an otherwise one-sided argument. However, on this forum, this seems to have been a mistake. Never before have we seen such small-minded vindictiveness; the retorts given to our previous posts offensive, and highly critical without a sound basis in fact.
There is an individual peddling ideas on this thread, and he is not in any position to do so. There are others (one, in particular) who The Company knew to have a malicious intent, given that he represents the interests of a competitor. Unfortunately the highly visible nature of this thread, thanks to the constant feeding-of-the-flames by such people meant that The Company invested time and money in approaching Internet Brands, and carrying out additional background research into the long-running authors of these remarks. The negative aspect is being drawn in to having to combat these comments when, naturally, employees would rather be managing our company.
Secondly the Company has established many, many facts about one other individual in particular. In some cases- as experienced in our store, there are no ‘real’ people behind some of the stories; just as the Company has experienced such ‘fake’ customers ordering products in our store. Luckily we grew wise to this in time.
Having paid little attention to the specific remarks made here (the good, business advice heeded by some very successful heads of retailers was to ignore it and focus on the business), recently the Company has had to study the remarks in order to present a case to a defamation law firm.
We are staggered that one person in particular can wage war against a company for 12 months. One should not flatter him to say he has built any kind of loyal following here and we respect those people who have read this thread, and have not been drawn in to posting responses. For those who have genuinely had a problem with Proviation, clearly we as individuals understand the human mindset and the need to appeal to a community for help, or advice, or simply to vent frustration.
On the whole, one can see a person who considers himself some form of warrior or heading a ‘cause’. Anyone who shares his view is deeply ‘misled’ rather than misguided. We will show more respect to him than he has shown to the company owner withholding his name from this statement. This person is not qualified in any way to perpetuate negative comments about Proviation Ltd. Here is not the place in which we will not go into any detail about this order, since it will result in a defence which will dilute the real issues here, and the purpose of this post.
However, all of the goods ordered were delivered. In cases where he found the manufacturer’s description of that product to be slightly inaccurate – a complaint never before received in previous years selling this item- the item was collected by Proviation and returned. A back-and-forth over a 1-2 week period, with Proviation sending couriers to exchange unwanted items only resulted in his deeply critical feedback on Trustpilot, and a personal attack, accusing the owner of supplying misleading information, and later of bribery. The true intent was, as anyone would do; seek to mitigate the effects of the feedback by asking for the opportunity to make things right. It was clear at the time that this individual felt very deeply about his views on the company, and his ‘cause’ began as he tried to make contact with another individual. This second individual incidentally posted a highly negative review despite our being unable, ever, to verify him as a real person; and it was noted he was not registered at either of the two addresses given. Nor was even his name consistent.
After returns were made the order took around 2-3 weeks to complete. There was an initial week’s delay, which certainly was due to drop-shipping, which he feels very strongly about. We can assure the public that every company employs an element of drop-shipping- either by formal arrangement, or by informal, one-off, ‘help’ at times. Remarks have been made about companies which don’t do this; please don’t be fooled.
Proviation Ltd actually started with no drop-shipping whatsoever. As the company dovetailed into new brands, a drop-shipping facility was in fact offered by many suppliers but largely was not taken up. In the case of the flight simulation peripherals brand purchased by the individual in question; these products were drop shipped as they were not core business and took up valuable shelf space- being large, bulky, and commercially- low margin goods.
In respect of the order; with regret it shipped late, however it was purchased as a package. While seemingly the Company is accused of misrepresentation, it should be noted that our Terms and Conditions have always been firmly rooted in Law and make accommodation for an item being unexpectedly unavailable. In light of having no real-time stock updates from our supplier, one or two items of said package were outstanding when Proviation ordered the products. We regret occasions where this happened, but they were always remote. In any case, the order was fulfilled well within the lawfully obligated 30 days. Furthermore the Company incurred substantial additional expense well in excess of any profit made on the order, and substantial time costs of dealing with this customer.
This individual singled out his issue as some symptom of doing business with Proviation. He felt qualified to do this on the basis that he is also a business owner, and a highly successful one with an extremely busy schedule. On the numerous occasions the owner called to discuss the order, he was told that it was inconvenient, as he was very busy; his consulting work meaning he was on the telephone to clients in the far East, and other countries internationally. He purported to be an expert in business strategy and, since he was so busy, was confident enough in his appraisal of Proviation to offer one of his ‘clients’ contact details via Skype; she would be invaluable to talk to about our ‘issues’.
This client he mentioned did not exist. As discussed earlier, we have copious amounts of information on this individual and at no time did we see he has any business experience whatsoever. His circumstances mean he is unable or unwilling to work. His very statements about his alleged business would be grounds to raise the matter with the relevant Government department of work and pensions. A mere scan of this forum, and the round-the-clock monitoring of our Trustpilot review profile, and his posts and activity on other internet sites, would suggest without any doubt that this person has spare time aplenty, and did at the time of writing his initial review, and the subsequent protracted correspondence. We also note that there is some history of conflict with other retailers and or manufacturers.
Readers of the forum should note the above; the facts of his Proviation order, his self-proclaimed yet false position in the business world, and, on a minor note, a distinct lack of any aviation background whatsoever on which to make claims about an aviation supply company; and in fact it could be proven that he harbours anti-aviation sentiments, given contributions he has made on other social media.
We’re unable at this time to provide a strong case for any kind of link with a competitor, and would put it down to bad fortune that our paths crossed.
However the power of the internet to distort facts is perhaps its most prolific trait. Due to the high-ranking nature of this discussion forum, our customers are naturally drawn to it, and in raising a defamation claim we have had to swallow the reality that the forum had in some way lost Proviation new business.
However, what was more apparent and critically important to the company, is that those with outstanding orders with the company were more likely to cancel based on what they read here. Customers who ordered goods which came into short-supply were given emails which have been repeated on this thread, thus also creating an air of suspicion and a ‘me-too’ complex.
The thread urges individuals to make formal complaints to Trading Standards. As a company we have actively ensured that our ‘due diligence’ is in place and followed. And in line with SafeBuy and Trusted Shops regulations, that orders were completed in line with their parameters.
This recommendation circumvents the internal complaints procedure we have in place; although some customers are sensible enough to raise their complaint in-house, where it would be dealt with. This in itself was recommended by Trading Standards, with whom we have been working closely as an organization to ensure our full and on-going compliance with the Law.
Due to the endeavours of this thread, our official complaints peaked in the last 6 months. In the first 4-5 years in business, Proviation had no official complaints whatsoever. And, the early posts which began this thread were all resolved, and referred to hand-made items, not offered by other companies. Our status as a new operation likely spurred curiosity and worry among buyers. Back then, we also did not have the resources to take all telephone calls. This changed when we substantially grew our staffing level in 2011.
Despite the peak in complaints in the last 6 months; all of these have been handled to our knowledge. Of these complaints, many were not substantiated by our operating outside of the Law. In most instances the company has not acted outside of its obligations; i.e fulfillment within 30 days; refund within 30 days; or offer of a refund or continuation of the order, after 30 days. In cases where a refund was not received, this has fallen due to ongoing issues with our past merchant acquiring bank, and the difficulties we faced with physically being able to process the refund successfully via our terminal. In all cases, we have hand-held customers down the path to retrieving their funds.
Despite this peak, we have basis in solid fact to state that our complaints rate was 1.4%. The company processed almost 4000 orders in a six-month period to date. 97.6% of orders did not attract a complaint. The Company has already produced this information to a government department voluntarily.
It should be noted that our departure from Trusted Shops was not a result of disputes, and we praise Trusted Shops for a very diligent approach to e-commerce. We always tried to ensure that any invitations to Buyer Protection ( a service we paid to offer- protecting the consumer up to a value of £2000) were fully dealt with and answered. The reason for the departure is a commercial one, taken on the basis that the costs of the service had not been in line with what was expected as a service fee against the previous InternetShoppingIsSafe accreditation body.
Regrettably we did not have the resources in place to track shipment times, but simply note that the majority of orders shipped on-time and in full. As we sold more one-off and hard-to find items in order to diversify from our competition and bring extra value to the under-equipped UK market, our products were sometimes subject to importation, and in may cases arrived late, and beyond what we quoted online. However, at all times it was communicated to the buyer.
The Company notes that out of thousands of customers served, the ‘me-too’ cases on this thread are negligible.
As has been discussed in great detail, we ran a Trustpilot review page, and our average score over 6 months was 7.2; a big drop from previous years More on this later. So, not as high as we would like; however the likelihood of a customer taking the time to leave a review is well documented ; and the split between those more likely to leave a negative comment rather than a positive is a known statistic also.
Most intelligent people will note that a 7.2 average score in that period is entirely a ‘believable’ score and that of a Company which has never manipulated Trustpilot. In fact we have found Trustpilot to be very credible, and extremely pro-customer and in fact, anti-business, to an extent.
Our individual on this forum has copied-and pasted negative reviews against Trustpilot’s terms of service. Following a letter to Trustpilot; they were already aware of this and have expressed in writing on no less 5 occasions that they are pursuing the unauthorized copying of reviews; presumably with the forum owners.
It is interesting to note that, in spite of the comments which suggest we should ‘learn a lesson’ and improve, he is actively blocking current five star reviews which ordinarily would suggest that we are offering good service.
In many cases the negative reviews have been turned into good ones- not through ‘bribes’ as he would have you believe, but by being honest and forthright, and turning around a bad situation. We appeal to the good nature of most people, and ask them to give us a chance; merely to satisfy them, and prove we ‘want’ to give the best service possible. Due to the one-sided argument on this forum, you will not find any evidence that these bad-reviews-pasted have been reversed. This is despite the proclamation of this individual in numerous posts that he wishes to see Proviation improve. It is quite clear that the intent is not to be a warrior for whatever cause he seems to believe, but instead to ensure that negativity is perpetuated and retained on this forum for perpetuity. In all cases where we have had a major problem with a customer, that customer has more-often-than not expressed their dissatisfaction, but with the caveat that they hope we improve next time, and wish us luck in the business. This is truly healthy criticism, unlike the bitter views harboured here.
He has implied that we have written false reviews, and has for the last 12 months consistently blocked positive reviews of legitimate customers. He will be delighted to learn that the Owner has had to spend valuable time emailing these customers, apologizing for the inconvenience of their review being taken offline, and asking them to spend more of their valuable time in submitting evidence to Trustpilot.
In the early days of this happening, we did not know how to respond, so frequently we lost tens of positive reviews. This is what had originally caused our score to drop noticeably from over 9 points almost overnight. However more recently, Trustpilot have given guidance and by encouraging customers to forward their order confirmations and respond to Trustpilot’s emails, our reviews have been re-instated on most occasions.
That someone who purports to want to see a company improve, we cannot understand why he would continually block positive reviews unless to ensure the company is seen in the worst light.
This has come to a climax in the last 7 days where every positive review left has been blocked almost immediately.
As a company we are encouraged not to block negative reviews. In many cases we don’t; but in some examples where we find a situation unacceptable, we have, in order to communicate with the buyer. But mostly, to prevent scare-mongering on this thread, the copying of the review, and in order to prevent any undue panic among customers if the subject of the review was based on an unavoidable outside problem.
Trustpilot has NEVER removed a bad review from our profile and in most cases the suspension is lifted within 48-72 hours. Trustpilot is very much on the side of the consumer.
However we do note profiles which carry a very high rating with a distinct lack of any problems; even couriers mishandling items; items being lost in the post, or damaged or a late or incorrect delivery. We also note by the volume of orders taken by these firms, that the ratio of positive feedback is unusually high.
We have always felt that a score of 7.2 is entirely legitimate and a solid basis for improvement as far as the Trustpilot review page goes. On the basis of the extreme negativity here, and the ‘hospital waiting room’ style of our Trustpilot page, we express that our service must be exceptionally good to prevent further additions to this page.
Attempts to contact Safebuy to complain, by the individual in question, have not been entirely heeded by Safebuy in correspondence with Proviation, since the order was completed. As an organization we have never been struck-off or received any formal warning from SafeBuy. Our complaints rate has numbered less than a dozen in 2-3 years, which given the presence of this forum, is worthy of note. In all cases, the complaints have been resolved satisfactorily. Any thing presently outstanding is being resolved.
As a Company director, and long-standing aviation nut, the Owner has always sought to conduct business affairs with the utmost professionalism. Our industry is cut-throat in terms of competition; but unlike others in the industry, the Owner has conducted business affairs in a cooperative manner at all times and with the backing of the majority of other players in the industry. The Company has always aimed to create and share value among other participants in the market and enjoys close relationships with other companies and connections which the Owner is extremely proud to call friends.
So it is with extreme regret that we announce now that our position in the market is now untenable and we have ceased trading.
Last week our website was taken offline and our web hosts cannot explain why. At the same time most of our positive reviews were blocked. For days before this our site crashed continually and checkout pages froze. Owing to the outage, and the constant advice given on this thread to encourage customers to ‘charge-back’ their cards, we had received a sudden charge of chargebacks in a short period. In 2/8 cases, the goods were shipped. In one case, the customer hadn’t received a refund yet but this was still within limits. In the remainder of cases, all items were not shipped, but there had been good correspondence with the customer on the causes for the delay, and we assumed they panicked when the site was offline.
We received notification from the merchant bank that the sudden chargebacks had prompted a risk assessment of the company. Based on our short length of time trading with them, of only three months, set against the formally acknowledged presence of a discussed thread which tells people to use chargeback, they felt that there would be a risk for them to continue the relationship. This therefore renders the company unable to trade.
So again, we mention the huge power of the internet, and the effect of power in the hands of individuals who should not hold it. The implications of the closure will affect many companies, and in turn individuals, some of whom depend on our trade. Despite raising trade in our industry and breaking through the downturn to bring life back into our sector, we will now have to leave our suppliers and customers.
We’re sure the contributors here will expect they have achieved their goal.
We hope the round-the-clock monitoring and discussion, and filling dead airtime when there was nothing really to say was a very productive, valuable use of your life. We only get one.
This is not completely the case; as a Company we have to take responsibility. But we assess the facts and we see a good company for the last six years. The proof is undeniable and cannot be refuted- not least by a forum which calls itself a ‘Rumour Network’ and has damaged lives in the past.
We will take this further, and given the ‘what-have-we-got-to-lose’ situation we now find ourselves in, we will pursue any perceived wrong-doing with as much vigour as it was given out.
Please take note on the comments and remarks you may leave on forums in the future. They are long-lasting and damaging. They affect far more people than you expect, far-reaching from our Company itself, and are far out of proportion to any ‘complaint’ or objection you felt you had. If you were aware of how wrong you were, you would see the facts and would reel back. In the case of the main individual on this forum; he lacks this balance. Undeniable through the contradictory comments he has left; his desire to not see the Company address issues; his un-called for, personal attacks on an individual, his distortion of the truth and the very fact that he feels the need to lie about his background and circumstances.
The owner has meticulous notes of events and decisions taken in recent years and on recent discussions with friends and colleagues, has acted in the best interests of customers and suppliers at all times, tirelessly, for years. While the individuals of this forum will likely continue or find a new target, we will move on from this in time.
We fully expect this post to receive a short and terse dismissal, and will not expect to find any support in a forum like this one. But do take heed that- in this age of recession and proliferation of media programming about ‘rogue’ companies; one needs to remain grounded and, at times, should not judge companies against what they hear or read. We thank the majority of customers who did have a problem for being so patient and understanding, and not taking matters to the nonsense-extremes we read here.
In closing thank you to the customers who have supported us over the years. We are sorry to not be able to serve you again, and we hope that you go on to flourish in your hobbies and activities.
We will not re-visit this forum again, nor give it any recognition as a place for genuine news or information, and therefore we are signing-off now. Any news will be posted onto our website only.