Hmmmm... Cheeky sods!

Hmmmm... Cheeky sods!

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V8 FOU

Original Poster:

2,991 posts

154 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
quotequote all
I received an invite from the GRRC to go to a talk with Derek Bell in London.
Great. Accept invite.
Then I checked up on the organiser...... some "wealth management " company. So you get about 30 mins of DB then around 90 mins of their sales pitch. There wasn't any mention in the original invite or the email from the organiser of how this was going to work. I did wonder why costs, etc weren't mentioned. I thought it might be a charity event or similar.

Not going now. Very suspect that nothing was said apart from "come to a talk by Derek Bell". Probably contravenes something with the FCA it wouldn't surprise me.....

Timeshare next?

ecsrobin

17,831 posts

172 months

Wednesday 6th June 2018
quotequote all
Is that confirmed that’s it’s a 30min talk vs 90min sales pitch or an assumption?

northwest monkey

6,370 posts

196 months

Wednesday 6th June 2018
quotequote all
Of course it isn't confirmed - it's an internet outragelaugh

For the OP - I wouldn't worry about it. A place I used to work at did this stuff all the time - it's just a corporate awareness thing & they won't try and sign you up to anything. Maybe a business card if you're lucky.

ecsrobin

17,831 posts

172 months

Wednesday 6th June 2018
quotequote all
northwest monkey said:
Of course it isn't confirmed - it's an internet outragelaugh
I demand my membership back!!!

No ideas for a name

2,404 posts

93 months

Thursday 7th June 2018
quotequote all
An update for you...

V8 Fou is broadly spot on.

I went to this last night - 45 minutes of Derek, but no sales pitch.
Pluses, Derek was entertaining, and there was a free bar.

Minuses, it was only a short talk - problem with this was it finished literally hours before the stated time.
This is fine if you work in the City, not so fine if you have travelled hundreds of miles to get there. I had booked a train for 22:30 and was back at the station before 20:30.... There were literally hundreds of attendees too, rather more than I was expecting.

I think Smith and Williamson should have been a little clearer about the timings. I spent four hours in the car plus two on trains, all for a 45 minuite 'listen'. (Car only as the train connections didn't work if I left London at 22:30)

I enjoyed Derek's stories, and no sleight on him, but I don't think I would have gone if I knew the full story of the evening.

The Mad Monk

10,612 posts

124 months

Thursday 7th June 2018
quotequote all
No ideas for a name said:
I think Smith and Williamson should have been a little clearer about the timings. I spent four hours in the car plus two on trains, all for a 45 minuite 'listen'. (Car only as the train connections didn't work if I left London at 22:30)
Why bother going?

No ideas for a name

2,404 posts

93 months

Thursday 7th June 2018
quotequote all
The Mad Monk said:
Why bother going?
It is a good point, with the benefit of hindsight.

Originally when I got the GRRC invite, I thought it was a bit more of a competition/draw and would be 'lucky' to win.
I only looked at trains after the confirmation from S&W. Due to the stated late finish it changed a simple single train taking 1 hour 20 minutes, to a multi-leg journey having to drive to a station and pick up a train there. Thinking it was a smaller event, not 100's of people - I wasn't going to back out after I said I would go.

Probably still glad I went... but poor information on the format.

trawler

178 posts

202 months

Thursday 7th June 2018
quotequote all
Enjoyed the evening, no sales pitch. Free bar/food, which, was a pleasant surprise.
Could have listened to DB all evening.. Shame it was not longer.

9.3

1,153 posts

199 months

Thursday 7th June 2018
quotequote all
Free food / bar. Being one of Smith Williamson’s clients, I suppose I helped pay for that!

No ideas for a name

2,404 posts

93 months

Thursday 7th June 2018
quotequote all
9.3 said:
Free food / bar. Being one of Smith Williamson’s clients, I suppose I helped pay for that!
That must be the first time a PH member has provided a real beer rather than a virtual one.
I enjoyed Derek's stories and my bottle of Becks.

beer
drink

9.3

1,153 posts

199 months

Friday 8th June 2018
quotequote all
No ideas for a name said:
That must be the first time a PH member has provided a real beer rather than a virtual one.
I enjoyed Derek's stories and my bottle of Becks.

beer
drink
You’re more than welcome!

Olf

11,974 posts

225 months

Sunday 17th June 2018
quotequote all
Not sure how anyone could complain about this event. Timings were clear, beers were free, Derek was entertaining, 45mins was about right given it was a standing venue. Chance for a chat afterwards with no hard sell on anything.

Thanks to the organisers for a good event.