Ufindus Blogger Blog

Getting to grips with the control panel

2007-06-22T16:26:00.000Z

If you want to see what invoices have been paid and what are outstanding then there is no problem, the information is right at your fingertips. Use the username and password that you were provided with when you commenced the service and go to http://ufindus.com/advertise.php and log in. From here you will also be able to see all the UFindUs services you have as well as other useful information regarding your account. If you have any queries then don’t hesitate to call the UFindUs Support line on 0845 013 5104.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs put their adverts on YouTube

2007-06-19T17:04:00.001Z

If you have missed our TV adverts then why not catch up with them either by clicking the link or by typing in UFindUs on YouTube.

UFindUs Add WordPress to their Blog List

2007-06-15T16:47:00.000Z

We continue to work hard to ensure that our customers are able to access as much accurate information as possible about UFindUs through our main site and through the blogs that I post on a variety of sites. As the internet is ever changing we will continue to use different ways of keeping in touch with out customers, so if you already have your own WordPress account you can check us out on there now.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

Take the UFindUs challenge!

2007-06-14T14:00:00.000Z

I’m not really the betting sort but I had a bit of a bet with a friend of mine who was pouring cold water over the effectiveness of search engines, which meant that in effect the UFindUs directory and our customer Rapidsites would struggle to get found on the likes of Google.

Straight away I asked him for some trades that might be found on the directory. Then he decided on 4 locations which were from all over the country. I laughed when we got the results, more from the look on his face than anything else. Roofer in Edinburgh showed a UFindUs result in 3rd position, joiner in York showed in positions 1,2,3 and 4, plumber in Oxford showed as positions 6 and 8 and window cleaner in Lancaster showed 3,4,5 and 8. The links we found were either to one of our Rapidsites or to a UFindUs directory. Not only a simple and yet effective way to prove a point but now I’m a fiver richer and he’s invested £5 in becoming a little bit wiser. It just goes to show if you know what you are doing the internet is a great place to get found and make money!

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Server Relocation

2007-06-13T13:48:00.001Z

Tuesday 29th May saw the relocation of the UFindUs server which has not only been moved from one end of the country to the other but the new platform that we are using basically means that our server capacity has effectively doubled which will give us far more capacity that ever before for expansion when we need it.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

Turn to UFindUs when you want to find it.

2007-06-11T13:08:00.001Z

I thought it would be good to share something that I was told over the bank holiday weekend. My parents will think nothing of buying golf clubs on eBay, enough books from Amazon to stock a small library and book holidays online with Expedia (even though I still struggle to find my way round that site) These silver surfers when armed with a laptop and a cup of coffee are quite content to put their trust in these sites to make purchases and yet they are also the sort of folk who reach for the security of the phone book when they need to find something locally.

Well that seems to have changed. They were looking for someone to give them a quote for some gardening work and thought that they would give UFindUs a try. They now have the names of three people from the directory that they will be calling this week. It is now stored in their favorites and Mum has spent time on adding every birthday and special event to the diary in My UFindUs. I don’t expect that the phone book will be going in the bin just yet, there is something quite comforting in having it tucked away in a drawer, but now they have discovered our online directory who knows what will be next.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs – a case for brickbats or bouquets?

2007-06-01T16:35:00.000Z

One of the many great aspects of my job is getting to spread the good news not only about UFindUs as a whole but also our staff. Unlike many organisations who overlook their most valuable asset we like to make sure that they receive credit when it is due. A very insistent customer was put though to me as they wanted to discuss a member of staff. It turned out that she was over the moon with our customer service and one member of staff in particular.

Nikki had not only dealt with her problems but she had, in the customers words, “listened to me and made the package fit my needs”. She had apparently been letting the whole thing worry her for a couple of months before giving us a call. This is one more testament to the level of commitment and pride that our staff take in their jobs in order to make the whole UFindUs customer service experience memorable for all the right reasons.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

Online shopping hits all time record spend of £10.9bn

2007-05-31T16:46:00.001Z

The internet is ever growing in its power and SME’s shouldn’t underestimate the power it has on being able to capture new business. 2006 is now quoted as being a record year for online spending as it hit the £10.9 billion mark. What’s more experts predict that online sales are expected to almost treble to over £28 billion over the next 5 years. This is basically made up online spending on goods and excludes other things such as tickets, flights and insurance.
The future prediction is an increase from £606 as being an annual average online spend in 2006 to £1,056 by 2011.Which show that those businesses which are investing in an online presence now will be well placed to reap the rewards in the future.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

Tell UFindUs what your thoughts are!

2007-05-30T11:02:00.001Z

For anyone that wasn’t aware already Thursday 24th May was National Learning at Work Day. As I was sat at home last night it occurred to me that learning is so much more than just training staff. UFindUs is a great example of a company that puts this into practice.

No one can say that we don’t listen to our customers. Everything we do is based around the needs and wants that our customers have told us they expect us to deliver.. By listening and learning it means that we keep happy customers and we make sure we don’t get complacent.

The internet isn’t the place to sit back relaxing, so we will continue to develop products that ensure we stay one step ahead. If you want to help us then any comments, good or bad, are always welcome. Go on, drop me an email at ad@ufindus.com.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs - Passionate About Service

2007-05-29T12:27:00.000Z

It’s not true that the Italians or the French have the monopoly on passion. Last week Mark Hallam, our sales director, showed us the passion and commitment that he has for the products that UFindUs promote by proving just how effective they were.

Mark feels it’s just as important that the teams who work in Support, Customer Relations, and Accounts have the same depth of knowledge about the product as the sales staff do. Getting your point across in plain English is harder than it looks but Mark accomplishes it perfectly every time, and because it’s relevant to their jobs it’s easy to take on board.

He was showing how easy it is to see the immense success of our Rapidsites that we put on the net on behalf of our customers. He showed us how Google, the world’s best known brand and arguably the Holy Grail of search engines, features thousands of our sites that appear in the top 10 on their searches.

It proves a first page listing on Google is not only possible it is affordable as well. The level of passion we have for the UFindUs brand ensures that we will keep delivering results for our customers and stay ahead of the game.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Delivering Customer Support

2007-05-25T15:59:00.000Z

It has not been a surprise to see that over the last 8 months the level of complaints at UFindUs has dropped to an all time low. This has largely been due to the significant steps taken by our sales managers to make sure that the sales teams are giving out relevant information for customers to make the important decision as to whether or not they should purchase a UFindUs product.

Feedback that we have had from our customer support department show that overall levels of customer satisfaction are now exceptionally high, and whilst we cant please everyone our support team is making a great impact in rectifying our customers problems on the first call. I have had the privilege of spending a morning sat listening to them in action. Considering that our support team has only been up and running since early March they have lived up to and exceeded expectations already. One more point to make is that the volume of second calls coming in, where the issues are still unresolved, are have now dried up to a slow trickle. It can only mean one thing, UFindUs are delivering on their promise to make our customer service experience second to none.

If you have had a recent experience of our customer support team then why not share it with us, we look forward to hearing from you.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

National Learning at Work Day – UFindUs take it in their Stride

2007-05-24T09:31:00.000Z

Today is National Learning at Work Day! (It never ceases to amaze me just how many “national” days we have), but its no different at UFindUs because every day is a training day here. We are lucky enough to work in one of the most exciting jobs around, but with the excitement comes the need to keep on top of things or you will miss opportunities for yourself and your customers.

Today we have got our “training champion”, Emma, carrying out a refresher on emails. We make sure everyone gets regular coaching to ensure that all our teams keep on delivering a first class service. Emma has the patience of a saint and will make sure that, especially for a new training subject, everyone fully understands it before she will let them back on the phones again.

The other training session covers search engine optimisation (SEO) and involves about 30 staff from two of our offices. Our technical MD regularly updates our training manuals and this is the first seminar run following the latest updates. Although the majority of the web designers who are being trained know most of it already it never goes amiss to refresh their memory, stop bad habits from forming, and, as Stuart (the MD) is a very hands on guy it keeps him fully in touch with any problems or queries the team may have.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Department Profile - Web Administrators

2007-05-23T16:46:00.000Z

The new team of web administrators are settling into their new roles very well. They have got to grips with the Rapidsite software and other systems and are now producing some great sites. I know that all of them are looking forward to the new Rapidsite software being released once it s makes it through development. For now however here is a sample of their work which includes putting together the script for the site from information that is provided to us. Their sites today have covered everything from Villa holidays in Turkey to therapists, and central heating engineers to the Japanese art of Shiatsu and quite a few other things in between.

Graham Armstrong
Ufindus Ltd

Netintelligence Wins Prestigious Award

2007-05-22T16:15:00.001Z

Netintelligence, sister company of UFindUs and part of the hugely successful Iomart group has won the prestigious SC magazines top award for Best Security Management System. This much coveted award saw some fierce competition with over 1300 nominations competing for awards.

These awards reward excellence and are unrivalled in terms of prestige within the industry. UFindUs and other divisions within the group use the Netintelligence product to not only protect the network within the office but also any pc’s and laptops in remote locations. We know we are in safe hands. If you require information relating to how Netintelligence can help protect your business or home network then check it out now.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

MacAphee approve UFindUs.com

2007-05-21T10:26:00.000Z

It’s good to know that if you register your details with UFindUs.com you won’t be flooded with spam emails. MacAphee show us as being one of their green sites which means that they have been registered with us since May 2006 and have found no problems with us sending spam (unsolicited) emails.

UFindUs Rapidsite Updates

2007-05-18T13:50:00.000Z

Work is continuing apace to get the new updated UFindUs Rapidsite software ready to be rolled out.

I could try to explain all the fancy things that it can do…. But I won’t. To be perfectly honest it’s mind-blowing the lengths that they are going to. When Stuart, our Rapidsite developer, has finished he will have completely transformed the way our customers interact with their sites as well as making then look altogether sharper and slicker than ever before.

If you want to keep up-to-date on progress then check out his own development blog at http://rapidsite.wordpress.com/

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

UfindUs Feedback

2007-05-17T14:59:00.000Z

We have made significant changes to the way that we have run our Customer Support and Customer Accounts Team over the last 12 months. If customers should have any problems or comments that they would like us to deal with then as well as contacting us on our Customer Support number (0845 013 5104) we can also be contacted through our feedback link on ufindus.com.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

Rapidsite Updates from UFindUs

2007-05-16T17:00:00.001Z

I just bumped into the developer in charge of all the really technical things to do with the new rapidsite v3 that UFindUs will be launching within the next few months. Stuart has invited me to take a look at what has been designed so far so that I can get a better understanding of what exactly it is that we will be rolling out. It sounds very complex but Stuart is confident that within a week or so it will be passed to other developers on the team to start to design skins for the new sites to use in order really bring their presentation up to date.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Terms and Conditions

2007-05-15T16:24:00.001Z

Just a brief reminder that the terms and conditions for UFindUs customers can be found at http://ufindus.com/terms/UFU_TandCs.pdf

Easyspace: 3rd most reliable web host in April

2007-05-14T16:44:00.000Z

Easyspace: 3rd most reliable web host in April
Easyspace, the sister company to UFindUs that provides all our hosting have been named as one of the top 3 most reliable web hosts for April 2007 by Netcraft.

According to Netcraft "The three leaders each had a perfect month, with no downtime and no failed requests for their corporate sites during an entire month of monitoring from eight locations around the globe."

"This marks the first time that Easyspace have been the most reliable host in our monthly performance tracking."

Netcraft measures and makes available the response times of fifty leading hosting providers' sites. The performance measurements are made at fifteen minute intervals from separate points around the internet, and averages are calculated over the immediately preceding 24 hour period.

UFindUs Staff Profile – Bex Brannan, UFindUs Sales

2007-05-11T16:53:00.001Z

I started at UFindUs in March. I had no sales experience and didn’t know anything about the company. My induction was in Lancaster and within 3 days I had learnt a world of knowledge about the company. I was pleasantly surprised and felt at ease about the product that I was about to sell was something that was successful and made sense as a business investment.

The hardest thing was my first few days on the phone and trying to get people to listen, I was so nervous and didn’t know where to start, I had so much to say about the product I had to offer. As the weeks went by it got a lot easier, I began to get over the nerves and the no’s. I love being successful, it was the best feeling in the world when I reached my targets for the first time, something has clicked and now I am hungry to keep hitting the targets set.

This job is better than my expectations; you work in a friendly fun atmosphere, with great colleagues. It wasn’t easy but once you get it under your skin, you just want to keep doing it.

Changes to UFindUs Web Administration Department

2007-05-10T15:48:00.000Z

It has been a busy few months in the UFindUs head office in Lancaster. The next stage in rearranging the way UFindUs is organized has just taken place with the introduction of our web admin department.

Our new team have taken over the responsibility of creating the UFindUs rapidsites that we provide our directory customers as part of their listing with us. Within a few months the new and improved version of the rapidsite will be become available and they will then be building sites with far slicker templates.

The new team replace the scriptwriting team in the Glasgow group head office who have done a great job in providing this service over the last 5 years.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

One Year on @ UFindUs

2007-05-09T16:55:00.001Z

In a few days time it will be a year since the first steps were taken towards creating the UFindUs contact center which today offers all our customers a first class service.

It has grown from a small team of half a dozen people to a team of over 80 covering all manner of jobs from technical support to customer accounts, and scriptwriting to customer relations, with a few other departments in there as well.

Where our systems were previously creaking under a workload that they were never designed to take we now have state of the art accounting software we have designed and written ourselves. Our system processes have been designed in-house by someone who has an intimate working knowledge of virtually every aspect of UFindUs which means that we have an efficient system designed to make life easier for both customers and staff.

Virtually everything we need to make UFindUs run efficiently is now housed under one roof, we have under 1% of calls into service reception that are not answered, a huge improvement on the previous 20% or so of calls that rang off before they were dealt with. Every customer is guaranteed to be called back and levels of customer satisfaction are now at an all time high. We have created a contact centre “model” that others in our industry are envious of.

There are still more exciting developments to come, and I hope you will come back to our blog to read about them.

Graham Armstrong
UFindUs Ltd

Check out MyUFindUs

2007-05-08T16:49:00.000Z

To help our customers, and indeed our advertisers, we have developed some new innovative online tools to seamlessly integrate with the main Ufindus.com website.
As users of Ufindus.com ourselves we noticed that we sometimes forgot the contact details of services we had found in the UFindUs directory. So after a quick meeting we decided to do something to solve the problem.
We developed a new area of the website that allowed us, and customers, to keep track of our searches and allowed us to create our own UFindUs address book.
Now, every time you do a search and find a company that suits your needs, you can simply click "add to my UFindUs". This company, and it's contact details, will then appear in your address book for future reference.
As well as this we thought. It would be great if UFindUs would not only remind us of our special dates, but also send us details of florists or other related services in our area? Even when we were not on the UFindUs website? And for free!
So we built it.
Not only did we build it, but we added in features like the ability to send SMS reminders and emails as well making it possible to set yearly reminders for things such as Birthdays, Car servicing and anniversaries.
So whilst we were working on this, we tidied things up on the site, added in the ability to send contact details to your Email address book, show where businesses are by adding in mapping function and also keeping the ability to send SMS messages from the site.
So in a nutshell that's MyUfindus, register for free by going onto UFindUs.com

UFindUs – Customer support for suspended sites

2007-05-04T16:02:00.001Z

I have often posted on here about how UFindUs is continuing to make changes to how we operate to ensure that our service is second to none.

Part of these changes has involved reflecting on how best to deal with customers who have outstanding accounts. We have taken the decision to suspend the website of anyone with more than three months bills outstanding on their accounts. If this affects yourself in any way then once the account has been dealt with we will be able to republish the site quite quickly in order to get everything back on track again. If you have been affected by this then please call our customer support line on 0845 013 5104 and one of our support agents will be able to assist you.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs - Give up their Radio Quiz crown

2007-04-30T15:22:00.001Z

Well it finally happened. Today we were beaten by one point by a team based in a hotel gym only yards away from our offices. We managed to last over 2 weeks in total, the longest anyone has managed on the quiz. Well done to everyone who helped us along the way.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Raising Funds for Disabled Children

2007-04-26T09:19:00.001Z

It was a great weekend for UFindUs this weekend when we held the charity fundraiser for a local school for disabled children. Around 120 people turned up for the UFindUs event on Saturday night which was held in Morecambe. Both our staff members and their families as well as many of the families and children who are involved with the school had a fantastic evening which featured a disco and face painting. The real highlight of the evening was the charity auction. We raised around £400 from the auction alone and a further £900 from the ticket money. Barclays Bank also generously offered to double anything that was raised on the night as well so all in all a huge success. Our next one is already planned for September, hopefully by then they will be a bit closer to the £34,000 they need for to achieve their special school status to release the rest of the £306,000 grant they desperately need. Well done to everyone at UFindUs who helped organise and support the event.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs - Keep on going!

2007-04-24T13:51:00.000Z

Team UFindUs have just answered 13 out of 13 questions put to us in the magic minute that we have on the radio quiz. The other team today have just scored 4 out of 6 questions that they have managed to answer. More to follow tomorrow but hopefully more of the same.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs - taking over the airwaves!

2007-04-20T16:02:00.000Z

If this continues we will be going for the record. Team UFindUs have yet again achieved an astounding 11 out of 11 questions right in a minute. I had no idea just how much trivia the staff here carry around in their heads!!! Hopefully next week will see our good fortunes continue, and I will keep giving the updates. Well done to everyone taking part.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs - We cant stop winning!

2007-04-19T16:17:00.000Z

After yesterdays win the defeated team asked for a rematch and although the score was a lot closer today, in fact only one point was in it, we still managed to retain our crown as local radio quiz kings. Just how long can we keep on at this pace?

More on "TEAM UFINDUS" tomorrow.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs – Staff Profile – Ruth Tucker

2007-04-19T16:11:00.000Z

I will be getting Ruth to write her own staff profile soon for everyone to read. However I thought it would be worth while mentioning that Ruth started working for UFindUs 5 years ago this week. She is here day in day out and does a lot of work above what is excepted by UFindUs. For instance it was Ruth who took it upon herself to organize the upcoming charity night including all the local press and radio advertising she has managed to get in a very short space of time.

Well done Ruth, from all your friends and colleagues here at UFindUs.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Staff Profile - Emma Standing – Customer Support

2007-04-18T12:59:00.000Z

I started with the company in October of 2005 at 18years old, with no previous experience in this type of job. I got taken on for a job in first line sales department selling the UFindUs directory advertising package. After a period of 6 months in that job I then had got called into a meeting with a manager and told that we were bringing the accounts team down to the Lancaster office from Glasgow, and would I like to change jobs? As this was a new department and there was plenty of scope for me to develop my career I jumped at the chance, and in May of 2006 I helped start the accounts team in Lancaster. I continued to work in the accounts team until March of 2007 when I got approached about going to Glasgow for a period of 2 weeks to train on the customer services side and also to bring the customer services down to Lancaster, and that is up to present time.

I love my job because I get on with the people I work with and we have a really nice friendly atmosphere in the office and also I enjoy job satisfaction and being able to resolve our customers problems and issues. This has been a big challenge with lots to learn and I have loved every minute of it so far

UFindUs - the winning steak continues

2007-04-18T12:58:00.000Z

We have done it again, 11 out of 11 today for the UFindUs quiz team taking part in today’s local radio challenge. This is the 4th day we have won, lets hope we can make it 5 when we go back on the air tomorrow!

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Support Team are setting the standard

2007-04-16T14:19:00.001Z

It has been a few weeks now since the phones went live and the last piece of setting up our support centre here in Lancaster was completed.

Looking back on the figures I can report that we have gone from answering around 80% of all calls that came into us in the past to a staggering 98.5% of calls that are now answered in under 25 seconds which includes queue time as well. UFindUs are confident that this system is setting an industry leading standard which others will find hard to beat.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs winning on the radio!

2007-04-13T14:29:00.001Z

The weekend is nearly here and there was a bit of fun in the office today, when, as part of our fundraising efforts we had contacted the local radio to get some extra publicity for our family party night coming up. Our directors PA, Ruth, was then roped into organizing a team to go head to head with the current champions on the Bay Radio workplace quiz.

A big well done to the guys who took part and scored 10 out of 10, replacing the existing champions which means going back on the radio on Monday to try to keep their title.

I dare say there will be more put on here to report on their good fortunes next week.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Easter at UFindUs

2007-04-12T16:46:00.001Z

Well the Easter break seems to be fading fast into the distance but everyone has come into the office with smiles on their faces. There is much talk of going out with boyfriends and girlfriends, family days out and quiet nights in, it seems that there was lots happening over the weekend. A good weekend really helps to set people up for the coming working week and one of the great things that all our offices enjoy is a real family feel and it certainly makes a difference when people enjoy their jobs.

The UFindUs charity fundraiser is drawing closer and the steady trickle of donated goods continue. Ticket sales are going well and everyone at UFindUs is hoping that we will have a great night.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFndUs Ltd

UFindUs Customer Support Number

2007-04-11T16:59:00.001Z

With all the changes that have been going on over recent months I just wanted to let everyone know that the UFindUs customer support line is 0845 013 5104. Anyone calling in will be have a support case raised for them and will be notified by text or email as to how long it will be before they receive a return call meaning no more lengthy waits on the phone.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs - the Place to Look

2007-04-10T10:29:00.000Z

With Easter upon us we are anticipating that the recent upturn in “garden” related enquiries will continue. In the office we have large screens displaying a whole host of information which includes what the latest searches are that are being made on the UFindUs directory. Having kept an eye on the screen nearest to my own desk I have noticed that in the last half hour alone there have been searches made for garden centres in Stevenage, garden supplies in Oswestry and lawnmower repairs in Cheadle. Lets hope that we all get to see some sunshine over the Easter period and remember if you are looking for anything then make the UFindUs directory your first port of call. (As I finish writing this there’s just been another search for patio furniture in Stoke!)

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Staff Profile - Mike Cook - Premium Design Team

2007-04-05T15:02:00.000Z

My name is Mike Cook and I am 19 years old. I’ve worked for UFindUs for nearly 18 months. I began my time with the company as a salesman, selling Premium Design websites to existing customers. After a month I found that the job wasn’t for me, and I was offered a transfer to Premium Design admin to replace someone who had been promoted.

I found that the web designers I was working with were much more my type of people and enjoyed the job much more. After doing administration work for about 10 months, I managed to pick up some basic web design skills, so after a couple of designers moved jobs I started doing changes to existing websites. This was much more stimulating work and with higher targets and greater pressure to meet them, and I enjoyed it considerably more.

Eventually the demand for a new designer became greater, and I was given the opportunity to join the team of web designers in January 2007, something that could never have happened without my previous experience with the company.

I now work doing customer services for UFindUs Premium Design team, as the number of callback requests from customers was getting too much for our one man to cope with. I was naturally disappointed to be taken back off doing design work after such a short time, but I quickly realized that the reason I had been chosen was because of the experience I had with customers and the knowledge of the company I had gathered over the past year.

After working at UFindUs for 18 months I have learnt a wide range of skills, which have been reflected in the range of different jobs I have done for the department. I feel as though I’m part of the team, and better yet that the team would be compromised without me.

To quote Nicholas Cage: “I am not a demon. I am a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion.”

The Power of the Internet – UFindUs Can’t Stop Being Found

2007-04-04T10:16:00.001Z

We have today received a call from someone wanting to complain about UFindUs. His complaint was that whenever he Is searching for anything on Google he keeps getting links that direct him back to the UFindUs directory. An odd complaint but in this instance I am glad that we cant do anything about it, its great testament to the fact that UFindUs does work and has an effective presence on the internet.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Customer Support Number

2007-04-03T08:47:00.000Z

With all the changes that have been going on over recent months I just wanted to let everyone know that the UFindUs customer support line is 0845 013 5104. Anyone calling in will be have a support case raised for them and will be notified as to how long it will be before they receive a return call meaning no more lengthy waits on the phone.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Busy Week for UFindUs

2007-03-30T09:00:00.000Z

As the week draws to a close here at UFindUs everyone is feeling pleased with how smooth the transition has gone with moving our support function from Glasgow down to Lancaster. This means that for the first time everything is now under one roof in respect our customer service, support and accounts functions. This is a great step forward for UFindUs being able to build on the hard work already done to ensure we offer customer service that is second to none.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Charity Fundraiser Update

2007-03-28T15:52:00.000Z

Things are moving on nicely with the charity fundraiser that we are planning in April to help out with raising much needed money for a local school for children with disabilities.

We have dad a good response so far with several large organisations making donations already, it has even included an item of clothing worn by a member of the Coronation Street cast.

We are all looking forward to it being a great family night out.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Support Centre – Goes Live!

2007-03-27T12:58:00.000Z

We had an early meeting yesterday morning just to make sure that all those involved were fully briefed and any last minute questions were answered.

We have been live with the phones for just over a day now and our new support centre is working perfectly. I’m sure that UFindUs customers will be able to see the benefits from the system that we have developed to make sure no one is hanging on the end of a phone as all calls will be answered straight away and a callback scheduled for the support team to call you back, with the customer always being kept informed of progress by text or email.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Staff Profile - Danielle Smith

2007-03-26T08:40:00.001Z

I have worked for UFindUs Ltd since September 2006. I initially started working on the Customer Accounts Team which I found both challenging and rewarding.

Currently our customer support team is based in Glasgow. On 26th March it will all be transferred to us here at the UFindUs Lancaster office. I was recently approached by my manager and asked if I would like to become a part of this team, I jumped at the chance. Although I enjoyed my previous role I knew instantly that this would be far more rewarding, as I would be the initial point of contact with the customer. I knew I would be taught a lot of technical information which would enable me to rectify most customer queries myself.

I have just been to Glasgow for 2 weeks with several colleagues to learn all the ‘technical info’ and training within this area and I am now fairly competent with the technical side of things. (I hope!) I have now returned back to the Lancaster office where we are currently in the process of implementing the new ‘customer support team.’ It is an exciting time for me and everyone within UFindUs at the moment. We are taking measures and ensuring that all the staff do truly care about our customers and want to help resolve any issues that they may have.

I see this as a new challenge which I am sure I will rise to and I know I will get far more job satisfaction from helping the customer directly and resolving their problems myself. We have the new QaD system which monitors each customers query and ensures it is resolved both efficiently and effectively. Hopefully by immediately giving a great service and helping the customer (you) with any queries we will lower the customer complaints we have previously had in the past.

I am excited I am going to be a part of the future with UFindUs, I believe in both the product and the company. I am looking forward to my new job role and the challenges I know it will bring!!

Product Update: New Ufindus Rapdsite

2007-03-23T16:33:00.000Z

An integral part of the UFindUs listing has always been our free website builder software called Ufindus RAPIDSITE. We created a sophisticated piece of software that would make it extremely easy for our customers to make changes and add content to their websites with absolutely no knowledge of design skills.

Many people have criticized our sites and have said that they are no good. In actual fact our sites are everywhere on the internet and achieve fantastic rankings for our customers because they are designed in a way that makes them extremely search engine friendly. What they mean is that even though we have made modifications to how the sites look over the last 4 years they haven’t kept up with the times and they do look a bit dated.

To bring everything up to date we have decided that the next version will be fully web based to cater for PC and MAC users and to solve the problems of updating the software due to firewall issues.

Our in-house development team have started work on the new software which when completed will be rolled out to not only new customers but also as a free upgrade to all out existing customers. This is just another example of the way that UFindUs are demonstrating our commitment to maintaining our position as one of the market leaders in our field.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Excitement Grows at UFindUs

2007-03-23T16:25:00.000Z

I have just been stood in the staff room here at UFindUs head office and have overheard the conversation between two of my colleagues who are involved in the new Customer Support team. As I’m sure you will be aware if you have seen some of my previous postings we finally go fully live with the support function on 26th March.
The staff were literally bubbling with the excitement that on Monday morning they will be taking the first live calls. They were saying about how excited they were that they finally get to deal with live calls and that they know they will cope but the fact that the calls will be a bit of an unknown quantity is also adding to the general anticipation.

All the teams involved have an early start on Monday to make sure we set off without any hitches. I’m sure there will be the odd one or two but with the high levels of commitment form the staff any problems will be ironed out very quickly.
UFindUs can be proud of the staff working in all of the support functions for their dedication and commitment to make sure it gets off to a flying start.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Customer Support

2007-03-22T15:03:00.001Z

The culmination of many months of hard work will happen in just over a weeks time.

For the last 12 months UFindUs have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure that our philosophy of “customer first” is put into practice. The final part of the main transition will happen on 30th March when the last of the calls from customers phoning the UFindUs customer support line will be answered in our Glasgow group head office.

On Monday 2nd April when our support staff arrive for work here at the UFindUs head office in Lancaster they will then be responsible for dealing with all the incoming calls. We have had the support team in intensive training for over 6 weeks and for the last couple of weeks they have been dealing with all the support queries that come in by post, fax and email. Without exception all the team are looking forward to taking the first of the live calls. Our support team will aim to deal with over 300 phone calls per day as well as the other queries covering anything from email to domain names to general website problems.

I look forward on being able to update everyone with the progress we make.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Staff Profiles

2007-03-21T11:38:00.001Z

UFindUs employ around 400 staff and are based in 5 offices located in the North West of England and Scotland. Being such a large organisation it is easy to lose sight of the fact that our staff are a huge asset to the business. Over the coming weeks I intend to give you a unique insight into UFindUs by posting some profiles of staff that they have written themselves. They will cover all departments and feature staff at all levels, from junior positions to senior management.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Making a difference for charity the UFindUs way!!!

2007-03-20T16:18:00.000Z

With Red Nose Day having just gone it is a time when we tend to focus on the more charitable side of life. Everyone at UFindUs is fortunate enough to be fit and able to lead normal lives but obviously not everyone is that fortunate.

Whilst we have entered into the charity spirit we have taken the decision to adopt a charity a little closer to home and one that certainly has great relevance to us at UFindUs. Our Technical Director, Stuart Forrest, has previously posted on his own personal site about his 6 year old daughter, Lily, who is quadriplegic. We have therefore chosen to help the local school she attends to raise funds that will benefit all the children who attend the same school. We are off to a flying start and today, our dress down day in the offices has raised over £800 and we will be continuing the fund raising with a family disco next month.

I look forward to keeping you updated on further progress as and when it happens.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Training and Development

2007-03-16T14:06:00.000Z

James Wright
Training and Development

I have been an employee of Iomart / UFindUs for 4 years. With no previous sales experience and equipped with an irrelevant politics degree, I was given an opportunity as a telesales executive for which I thoroughly enjoyed. The training was vigorous but fully enjoyable. After being a team leader I was given the opportunity to join the training department to improve the quality of the calls and improve levels of professionalism as we expanded into multiple branches. I have seen the company grow now to 5 very successful branches and more importantly, I have witnessed the growth and success of the UFindUs directory first hand.

I am very proud of what we have achieved as a company and for the results we achieve for our customers and for what I have a achieved in the training department. Each sales person now receives regular quality and delivery training and we have also seen fantastic development from the team leaders, who themselves, provide excellent training and guidance to the sales staff. At 22 and very ambitious, I saw the advert wanting telesales staff and I can honestly say I didn't foresee a career in this sector. However, the growth I have experienced in our customer base, the improvement in our after care for clients and more importantly our ongoing plans for the directory gives me great confidence for the future.

UFindUs – Great Service, Great Results

2007-03-09T16:55:00.000Z

UFindUs have for many years now been responsible for putting the websites out customers receive, as part of their UFindUs directory listing, at the top of the major search engines such as MSN, Yahoo and Google to name but a few. The beauty of our sites is that they are very search engine friendly with many enjoying not only first page listings on the search engines but actually being right at the top of them.

Once the initial site is built then customers can go in and alter their sites to add extra pages, photo galleries and whatever else they feel appropriate to promote their business. Changes can be made as often as they like so there is no excuse for never having an up to date site. We provide the customer with sophisticated software which is really simple to use and can be downloaded from our main site. If you are in any doubt as to the sort of results that can be achieved with one of our “rapidsites” then why not check out the following links. Both have first page listings on Google at the time of this posting and both the customers have taken time to adapt the site to suit their needs, the result is a great site at a fraction of the cost that you would normally pay.

http://www.liaisonslingerie.co.uk/
www.weddingdressesnorfolk.co.uk

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs – Part of a Bigger Picture

2007-03-08T16:34:00.001Z

It’s often easy to forget that UFindUs is a major part of the Iomart Group PLC, who, today announced that they have acquired a controlling stake in a data centre business that means we now have one of the largest carrier neutral facilities in Europe.

This type of facility is to put it simply, the kind of place where banks and many other large organisations host their on-line facilities in a secure and fireproofed environment.

The new data centres are based in Central London, Nottingham, Leeds, Glasgow and Leicester. This is a fantastic coup for the Iomart Group and has kept the directors very busy over the last few weeks. All UFindUs platforms will be moved to the new high performance data centres during the next calendar year.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs Offer Quicker Customer Support Solutions

2007-03-08T11:34:00.001Z

As part of the ongoing commitment to training that UFindUs has we currently have 3 of our most experienced staff, who are based in the Lancaster support centre, working out of our Glasgow group head office for 2 weeks so that they can be trained to a higher level on resolving the technical issues that customers call in about.

When they return their expertise will complete the skill set that we require to enable us to resolve the majority of technical issues on the phone whilst talking to the customer rather than having to wait. The small number tasks they won’t be able to resolve will then be directed through to our dedicated technical team who are not generally customer facing.

By empowering your appointed UFindUs agent with the knowledge to resolve those issues that previously would have been passed round different departments will mean that customers will be assured of getting a resolution for the issue far quicker than they would previously have expected.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

UFindUs - Getting it Right!

2007-03-01T10:16:00.000Z

Here at UFindUs we just love to hear about how our customers can really benefit from the service we offer. Whilst we can use statistics to show just how successful we are we prefer customer testimonials. As with any business it’s always harder to find the good stories rather than the bad ones, but sometimes there really is no containing the excitement of some people.

Last week we had a customer place the promotion of their business with us, however after signing up he then came across some bad publicity regarding UFindUs. On the basis of what he found out he took immediate steps to cancel his package.

After another call with the original sales person he decided that he would in fact continue with the service. In his own words, in less than 24hrs, he received an enquiry that resulted in a “substantial” order. This has resulted in not only being able to recoup his original expenditure and a lot more as well.

After calling in to tell us of this fantastic result he also asked us to check out the website we provided him with so that we could see all the alterations he had made in customising the site by adding extra pages, pictures and company profile. There was even an extra page on there as well that is his own personal testimonial to UFindUs.

Many thanks to Mr Fix It for taking the time to let us know how it had worked for him so quickly. Why not check out his site yourself. http://www.mrfixitheating.co.uk/ufindus.html

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Behind the scenes at UFindUs

2007-02-28T16:28:00.001Z

Part of our drive to wards excellence has been the relocation of the fulfillment department for UFindUs. Fulfillment basically covers our service reception staff who answer customer calls and also deal with the post room function. I have already described the changes we have made to how we deal with calls coming in previous postings, but I haven’t mentioned the post room yet.

All post for UFindUs is now being processed at our Lancaster centre. Everything from our welcome packs, monthly statements to general correspondence are now sent out from here on a daily basis. The volume of correspondence sent is staggering and requires a full time team of three people to ensure everything runs smoothly. We are obviously reliant on all the technology they have, such as franking machines, batch printers and the machine that folds and stuffs the many thousands of letters each day, are all working. If there is a problem with any of these things it can have severe knock on effects in ensuring everything is sent out on time.

After a month of having our new post room in operation the transition has gone smoothly and the staff at UFindUs have risen to the challenge, their hard work in making it happen is a testament to the level of commitment to customer service that UFindUs has.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Text Alerts

2007-02-27T09:30:00.000Z

I have been speaking to our service reception staff here at UFindUs to monitor how the new systems that we have been mentioning are working. They have noticed an upturn in the positive reactions they now receive from our customers. Once upon a time it was possible that if a customer called in their call would be dealt with far too slowly, now you will receive a text message whilst you are still on the phone to us detailing your case reference number and an estimated time of when you will be called back. Further text and email updates will be forwarded on to advise you of which agents has been assigned to your case or if there is going to be any undue delay in responding.

A great step forward for all UFindUs customers.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

The Pursuit of Excellence

2007-02-26T09:47:00.001Z

In the pursuit of providing a first class service the technical team at UFindUs have analyzed every sort of job request that staff will get and have assigned it a length of time it will take to resolve, then they have thrown into the equation anything else that can come up during an average day to give an estimated time of when a customers call will be assigned to an agent to be dealt with. The system will even update you with another text or email should it fall outside of the timeframe already notified.

Whilst it is still very early days the indications are that this aspect of the new QaD (Quality and Delivery) system is working to an incredibly accurate degree. This is just one small example of how UFindUs have listened to criticism and have not only resolved the problem but have gone above and beyond what is required to create the new standard for call centres which others will undoubtedly follow.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Customer First

2007-02-20T17:06:00.000Z

It’s been a busy few weeks at UFindUs since I last posted on here. The first stage of our improvements to the way we deal with our customers is now well under way.

The system for dealing with incoming calls is fully operational with anyone calling the UFindUs support line (0870 757 3222) now receiving text and email alerts as to the progress of their case. We now assign your case to one person who will oversee everything from start to finish, a major breakthrough which very few service centres can match. We have invested a lot of time in retraining UFindUs staff in basic technical knowledge so there is more chance that your query can be dealt with whilst you are on the phone. It won’t stop with the initial training either as further comprehensive training will be provided to maintain and increase their knowledge base.

To make this way of dealing with customers even more efficient different agents have also been trained to cover different specialist areas where greater knowledge is required. Our service reception staff will identify what your call is about when you make contact with us and they will then be able to assign your case directly to one of our agents with the correct skill set to be able to deal with it, saving a lot of time and wasted calls for both our customers and ourselves.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

New Year, New Systems

2007-01-04T08:54:00.000Z

Here at UFindUs we are looking forward to 2007 as being the year when we will put into operation the plans that we have been making in 2006 to improve our customer services to the point that it will become the model on which other large organisations will base future changes.

UFindUs have resisted the temptation to set up a foreign call centre with a never ending choice of automated options which may lead you to an agent if you’re lucky. We are instead favoring the introduction of a new tailor made software package, and, a phone system which will allow you to deal with real people rather than a machine.

There are two major points that we consider to be real breakthroughs in this area. They are, that the UFindUs agent you talk to originally will at all times have complete control over the way the issues are dealt with and it will be their responsibility to make sure that only when everything is resolved can the file be closed by that agent.

We are also creating “super agents”, experienced staff who will also be able to deal with more technical issues whilst someone is on the phone. Providing the reassurance that the matter has been dealt with there and then, with no need for further calls.

It is an exciting time for UFindUs, and our customers are already starting to feel the benefits with these new steps which are now consolidating the changes that we have already made.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Ufindus System Changes

2006-12-22T11:26:00.000Z

It is a very exciting time for UFindUs at the moment. As part of our ongoing revision of customer services and accounts we have now introduced a major part of the new computer system which will mean that if a current payment method that a customer has in place fails, due to the card expiring etc, we will be able to notify the customer straight away. In the past when this has happened it has caused customers problems, from now on this will be all in the past.

Further system changes will be introduced in the new year and we will let everyone know about them as they happen.

On behalf of everyone at UFindUs I would like to wish all our customers a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Ufindus -Changes to Terms and Conditions

2006-12-15T12:26:00.000Z

Ufindus have for many months been working with trading standards to help us make our terms and conditions completely transparent. There have been quite a few minor changes that have been made as well as a few major ones, and over the coming months once we will be able to complete the full revision of our terms and conditions as the last of the major system changes are implemented.

Some of the areas where we have come in for criticism in the past have been centered around the cancellation and renewals process. I can confirm that all customers now have a right to cancel in the first 5 days of the package being taken out and a full refund given. Ufindus now remind customer about their renewal not once or twice but 3 times before the renewal happens, well above and beyond what trading standards recommend.

Ufindus aim to have a completely transparent set of terms and conditions for our customers so that they will have the confidence to know that their interests are being well catered for.

Ufindus will keep all our customers updated about future changes as and when they happen over the coming months.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Previous Posting Amended

2006-12-14T09:27:00.001Z

Our posting of the 28th contained inaccurate information regarding a dispute between UFindUs and orange pages. We apologise if this was misleading as that was not our intention and we have now amended the posting accordingly.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Ufindus want the truth to be known

2006-12-04T17:16:00.000Z

Another example of the constant lengths that the orange pages will go to discredit UFindUs is in their selective postings on their site.

I was shocked to see a posting dated 4th December from a UFindUs customer who had indicated he was being “fobbed off!” over his right to cancel. It should be pointed out he decided to cancel after reading negative postings on sites such as orange pages.

In actual fact he was dealt with under the 5 day UFindUs cancellation policy, and we agreed he could indeed cancel his package with immediate effect He was also refunded his initial payment.

Having spoken to Luke Jones, the customer in question, he told me he was happy with how he was dealt with and has said he will make a posting on the orange pages to that effect. Luke also told me that he made the posting over a month ago and yet it has only just appeared.
Lets see if they publish his response on their site.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Ufindus vs Orange Pages

2006-12-04T15:09:00.000Z

I was somewhat saddened by the posting I read from "The Team" at the orange pages on their blog site. Mainly due to the fact that they are obviously still firmly focused on trying to do damage to the image of UFindUs at every opportunity. Having said that, it did make me smile to see how their obvious hate for UFindUs has spilt over into a "rant" (their words) that really shows them for who they are.

We make no excuse for the fact that:

UFindUs are a changing company.

UFindUs are investing heavily into the systems, personnel and software that will mean we can continue to improve our customer service levels.

UFindUs do have a genuine passion to help customers rectify any issues that they have.

UFindUs provide a first class, and successful service of which we are rightly proud.

I can appreciate that they wont want us posting on their site to promote our service over theirs, fair comment, but when the postings are blatantly not true it seems a little harsh to deny UFindUs the right of reply.

I would just like to point out that their last statement is wholly inaccurate. They say "our only concern is for the complainants who come to us under their own steam and without solicitation".

Maybe if that is the case and they areas good as their word they should stop getting their staff and associates to make postings which advise people the orange pages are the only people who can help them.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

If there's a problem, let's talk

2006-11-29T12:30:00.001Z

Once again I have been disappointed with yet another person, who claims to have issues with UFindUs, that has gone one step further than not letting us have the opportunity to respond to the comments on their site.

As part of their personal crusade they have blocked our IP address in order to try to stop us seeing the lies they are drip feeding to people. If they are really serious about these postings then surely they would welcome UFindUs being more accountable and open in our responses. Apparently not!!!

Makes you wonder if they are the ones who really have something to hide.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Orange Pages

2006-11-28T14:55:00.000Z

I am constantly asked about the negative postings UFindUs gets on theorangepages.com and how even from an outsiders point of view the so called “Team” that respond to the postings is a: totally unprofessional in how they talk about issues raised, and b: how they actually seem to do their best to try to whip people up into a frenzy, very often over fairly minor things.

We feel their attitude towards UFindUs has developed around June 2005 when he informed us of his objection to our trademark being registered due to the “find us” element of the name and the “swoosh” device which we use to surround the UFindUs name. Both of which he felt were too similar to his own.

It’s a shame that they obviously can’t get over it as at the end of the day there is enough business for everyone. Its also a shame that they wont let us post replies on their Orange Pages site either, they claim to campaign for fairness in business practices but I somehow think they have a lot to learn in that respect.

Graham Armstrong
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

"If you really want to know, look in the Mirror" - or not as the case may be

2006-11-23T15:45:00.000Z

The great thing about the profession I work in is that every day will bring about new challenges.

Take this morning for instance, when I arrived in the office I was greeted with an email saying that the Mirror had run an article on UFindUs which was less than complimentary. At the end of the day we appreciate that papers have to sell copies to survive, a bit like us selling new packages to customers and retaining old customers year on year, but sat here at my desk which overlooks the credit control team I saw an article that was certainly not representative of the current situation. As newspapers seem less interested in selling stories phrased in a way that show the facts more clearly I thought it would be an idea to cover off a few of the points mentioned.

We can still rightly maintain that we are a popular choice as far as business directories go. Whilst we don’t propose to be as large as Yell, UFindUs are certainly much bigger than the likes of the orange pages, who relish every opportunity to try to perpetuate the impression that we are poor firm to deal with. That may have something to do with the fact that our directory, as a for instance, received (21/11/06) an average of 2.2 page views per million users compared with their 0.4 page views per million. On the same day we had a daily reach of 60 users per million compared with their figure of under 5 users per million.

As regards our profits, the figures mentioned were for the whole group, and given the fact Iomart own many different companies that in turn have many different brands the contribution from UFindUs is only a portion of this.

A lot of our UFindUs business will come from “cold” rather than “warm” leads and we would rather think of them as a sales team rather than give the impression they are an “army” out on maneuvers. In the past there was more chance that our sales people could have over sold the product and possibly not have made sure that the customer was fully aware of the terms and conditions. This has all changed, staff receive more training, and our sales managers have worked hard to bring about a change of attitude towards the job in the sales staff which have resulted in lower instances of complaints.

Two of the three customers featured have had refunds agreed before the article was published and we believe that these matters have now been resolved using the channels we already have in place. Unfortunately one of the customers still has issues which I personally am now looking into and I believe a satisfactory resolution is about to be achieved regarding this matter.

As for the comments that were made by our Finance Director, Richard Logan, well the heavily edited responses couldn’t have been painted in a less flattering way.

It is true to say that we have in the past had a problem over taking payments that shouldn’t have been taken, this was sorted in the summer and for customers who have come on board recently they have had within their terms and conditions a cooling off period

Too little too late? I don’t think so. These along with many other changes are making Iomart and UFindUs a much stronger business, with a greater customer focus. We have a very small proportion of problem accounts, and as much as we would like it is impossible to please all of the people all of the time, but what we can do for unhappy customers is listen, learn and act appropriately.

Graham Armstrong
Senior Customer Relations Manager
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Right of reply

2006-11-22T10:41:00.000Z

Following on from the comment I posted yesterday I would like to reconfirm my disappointment with theorangepages.com as they still haven’t found time to moderate my posting from last week which was in response to a comment posted by a UFindUs customer.

Stuart Conway wrote to complain that he couldn’t seem to “get rid” of UFindUs and that we were threatening him with bailiffs for non payment.

This adds weight to the fact that you shouldn’t always take at face value everything that is read on blogging sites or indeed in the newspapers, especially when you then read my, as yet, unpublished response.

“I am writing in response to Stuart Conway’s comment from the 6th November 2006. Stuart did have an opportunity to discuss his case with one of our agents in the Customer Accounts Team and on back of this discussion an agreement was reached on the amount of arrears that was paid. The fact Stuart’s posting was made on 6th November and implies that we (UFindUs) are still pursuing the matter by phone and through bailiffs is misleading as Stuart paid his account on 18th October 2006 and to my knowledge no further contact has been made in respect of the account arrears.

Should this not be the case then I am more than willing to discus the matter with Stuart personally in order that I can offer my assurance this matter is now closed.”

I have today tried to contact Stuart by phone and hope to be able to speak to him in person over this matter.

Graham Armstrong
Senior Customer Realtions Manager
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Right of Reply

2006-11-21T14:20:00.000Z

It would seem that we are having problems with the "orange pages" getting round to posting a couple of replies relating to comments posted on their site recently. The information below is one of our responses that as yet remains unpublished by them.

"Further to your URGENT UPDATE posted on the 6th November I would like to advise that the terms and conditions do now appear on the sitemap to help add clarity should anyone have trouble finding them.

The main link for the terms and conditions that relate to Advertisers on UFindUs are to be found in the Advertisers area that is accessed via any of the three links on the Ufindus.com homepage. We have not needed to make any alterations to the location of this link as it has quite deliberately been set on its own to increase its visibility and ensure that it will not be lost amongst anything else which may more easily distract the eye. This link will be found in the main section of this page which promotes advertising with UFindUs.

Many thanks for raising this point which we have been happy to respond to."

I’m not sure if the T&C's are that hard to find at all as it only takes two clicks of a mouse to get you straight to them but the omission from the sitemap, once pointed out, has been very easy to rectify.

Graham Armstrong
Senior Customer Relations Manager
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

2006-11-20T17:30:00.000Z

Welcome to the UFindUs blog.

The very fact that you are looking at this site will probably meant that you have some association with either UFindUs or our parent company Iomart.

Over a number of years now UFindUs has received attention from a wide variety of sources which has often told the business world of our successes as well as occasions when it has been less complimentary.

Our parent company, Iomart, employs in excess of 500 staff based at 6 centres throughout the North of England and Scotland working on a variety of business brands such as UFindUs, Internetters, Easyspace and Netintelligence. The dedicated Iomart staff that have pioneered many innovations which have helped to shape the way tens of thousands of businesses are successfully and safely promoted on the internet today.

As part of the continuing development of the UFindUs brand we have established the Accountability Department to address the negative remarks, many of which are based on outdated information, that are posted on a whole host of public domain sites and to which we unfortunately have little or no right of reply.

The decision to try and make ourselves more accountable and open in the way that we deal with our customers that may have unresolved issues has been welcomed by many but likewise it seems to have caused irritation to others who are adamant that the internet should only be seen as a place to keep perpetuating the criticism of UFindUs based on comments that have been in circulation for up to 3 years.

When we tried to reply to comments that have been posted for instance on the cantufind.com site, the result was that the Administrator of the site has banned us from accessing the “secret” UFindUs forum which is password protected and has sent a vBulletin message to me saying “Date the ban will be lifted: Never”.

This unprofessional approach is both regrettable and unnecessary and so we hope that in order to create a more balanced view on things, as well as provide UFindUs with an opportunity to listen to constructive comments, from the people that matter, namely our customers, we have created our own discussion arena. On an ongoing basis we will endeavour to listen to, respond to, and inform our customers, past, present and future of changes, new developments, and resolutions brought about as a result of the feedback we receive.

Please feel free to post your comments and let me know your opinion on what we see as an exciting breakthrough in becoming an increasingly more responsible and more accountable company in the future. Your opinion does mater, it has made a real difference in how our organisation is run and we want it to continue to count in the future.

Graham Armstrong
Senior Customer Relations Manager
Accountability Department
UFindUs Ltd

Welcome to the Ufindus Blogger Blog

2006-11-20T15:41:00.000Z

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