It is a good headline and it is also probably good advice, but it is really just a warning to be careful.
You want to hire a limo for a special occasion and you start the task of employing your favourite search engine to find you a few likely candidates, then you visit those sites. As you trawl these websites, you are consistently bombarded with generic company names ‘Limo Hire London’, ‘Hummer Limo Hire’ or maybe even a company with, apparently, the same trading name as their company, for example; “welcome to WhatAGreatLimoCompany.co.uk”. Now, maybe, just maybe, this is the their real trading name, but then, they are required by law to make this clear, for example, ‘Teddy Smith trading as Limo Hire London’. So why don’t they bother, why indeed?
Then, what about the subjective and undoubtedly exaggerated claims? You know them. ‘we are the largest limo company in the area’, ‘leading limousine company’, ‘London’s finest limousine company’, ‘our service is unmatched against our competitors’, etc, etc. What complete and utter rubbish. These are all claims that are, inevitably, not substantiated, so why make the statement? Simple, to try and seduce us in to believing that they are the sort of company that should be entrusted with your business. But, if they have to blow their own trumpet in such a subjective way, what do they have to hide? Do the people who write the copy for these websites really think we are impressed by their claims?
So what about the companies that claim to be a member of an organisation, affiliated to one or approved by one? If they are members of an associations, why don’t they make it clear what that means, is there a criteria they must meet, a code of conduct, business oversight, ongoing vetting etc., if so, why don’t they make clear what this is? Affiliates, what does this mean, are they owned, by the organisation they claim to be affiliated to, or are they just subject to their rules? If it is the former, then surely they must make this clear and if it is the latter, then what are the rules? Similarly, if an organisation is ‘Approved’ by another then they should make it clear what type of relationship there is between the company claiming to have been approved and the one offering the approval. What does “Approved” actually mean, is there a code of conduct, a vetting procedure, an ongoing relationship etc? If so, they why don’t they make this clear wherever they make the claim? Another thing, just who is it that makes up the rules for approval or membership, what qualifications do they have to offer a membership or approval programme? The bottom line is most of these types of arrangements are commercial and therefore they should be completely discounted unless or until those making the claims make clear what benefit you receive as a result of their membership, not the other way around.
If we discount throwaway statements and have to call into question the value, from a consumers perspective, of some of the membership or approval programmes, what else can we look for? Well a good start would be to see if they include their trading address. Apart from the fact that they are required to do so by law, why would a company not be prepared to include their trading address, after all, assuming they do own some limousines, they have to park them somewhere! So if they do not include a street address (no PO Box numbers etc.), you should just give them a miss. Similarly, if they do not make clear who you would be doing business with, avoid them, after all, you would not pass your money over to a stranger in the street who have not even given you his name, let alone his address.
Whilst this does not necessarily mean that they are a company to be avoided, you should consider carefully any company that only advertises a mobile phone number. We all know that mobile phones are a disposable product, so if there is a problem in the future, this may not help you. However, if they only use a mobile number and do not include on their website, a proper trading name and trading address, move on, don’t place your business with them.
In the case of limousine companies, you could also look at the images they use on their website, do they look real or generic? If the business of the website owner is primarily the hire of limousines, surely they would want to show you images of what they own. Remember, they are anonymous to you, because you will almost certainly not visit their premises or meet the people that run the company, so you need to be certain that limousines they are showcasing on their website are owned by them.
