Mr. Teen has urged me to get a new pet insurance for Flint, the wheaten terrier. For those of you who have followed this blog since years ago, you've never really been properly introduced to Flint. We had to say goodbye to Sir Orange FlaggyTail as we left the US, and we still miss him dearly. So we were pet less for about a year and a half, before Flint came along. He is our first dog in a long line of cats. It's been an incredible experience, and although a dog ties you up in ways you never imagined (I don't mean that in a naughty sense, in case you wondered). Flint has been a gem. But let me tell you, pet insurance is e x p e n s i v e.
So when Mr. Teen found out that Tesco offered 40% off their insurance if ordered online, we sat down to investigate. A bit of google flimsy gave us Compare Pet Insurance This site gives you a ranked list of pet insurances for you to explore. Tesco is number one on the list, with five shiny, golden stars.
Now, Tesco isn't traditionally know for offering the best insurance service after you pay, so this impresses me. "Wow," I say, "Lots of people actually like Tesco's insurance?!" Maybe I've been a snob. Maybe Tesco isn't bad after all? Let's see. I click "Get a quote". Now you're sent off to Tesco's own site. Getting a quote involves giving away all your personal details, like address, age, marital status, email address, pet's name and number of lovers (just kidding) etc. After much ado, we were told that Flint, the wheaten terrier, could be covered for up to £4500 a year for a monthly fee of £18. That's almost half of what we've been paying. Although his other insurance is way better, we haven't used it ever so this is very tempting indeed!
But hang on a moment. Mum's a social media designer. So she wants to know what those stars marking the rating of this insurance back at "Compare Pet Insurance" were all about. Who exactly rated Tesco's pet insurance....? This matters to me.
"Tesco" says Mr. Teen, before I even hit back on the browser. I want to know how he knows this. "They probably own the site" he jokes. So we poke around the site for a bit, but there is no explanation how this rating came about. It certainly wasn't from you or I. Because we've given no tools to rate anything on this site. So where, then, did Compare Pet Insurance get these ratings from?
Alrighty then. So we can compare, but not rate. Once again, where does these ratings come from, then?
Looks like fraud. Social media fraud. Obviously Compare Pet Insurance is not claiming to get their ratings from you and me, they're just conveniently avoiding telling visitors where they're getting their ratings from. By visually using stars to rank the services in the same way as social community sites will do, they're tricking customers into thinking that other consumers where already here and left their feedback. Is that fair? A dirty sales man's tactics? No, it's fraud. Social media fraud.
These kind if issues are going to be huge when brands fight for credibility in the future.
Friend: "Oh, did you see that site with the pet rankings insurance? I'm thinking of changing my cover to Tesco"
Me: "Yeah, saw that, it's FAKE. "
So, was Mr. Teen right?
A quick whois search show that compare pet insurance is registered to UK Web Media.
A quick google search show that the Tesco Insurance website is...
Shamefully independently run, if you ask me. I'm sure Tesco/UK Web Media when asked can explain how the ranking on Compare Pet Insurances were calculated, but while we wait.. have a look at these real customer's experiences.
So when Mr. Teen found out that Tesco offered 40% off their insurance if ordered online, we sat down to investigate. A bit of google flimsy gave us Compare Pet Insurance This site gives you a ranked list of pet insurances for you to explore. Tesco is number one on the list, with five shiny, golden stars.
Now, Tesco isn't traditionally know for offering the best insurance service after you pay, so this impresses me. "Wow," I say, "Lots of people actually like Tesco's insurance?!" Maybe I've been a snob. Maybe Tesco isn't bad after all? Let's see. I click "Get a quote". Now you're sent off to Tesco's own site. Getting a quote involves giving away all your personal details, like address, age, marital status, email address, pet's name and number of lovers (just kidding) etc. After much ado, we were told that Flint, the wheaten terrier, could be covered for up to £4500 a year for a monthly fee of £18. That's almost half of what we've been paying. Although his other insurance is way better, we haven't used it ever so this is very tempting indeed!
But hang on a moment. Mum's a social media designer. So she wants to know what those stars marking the rating of this insurance back at "Compare Pet Insurance" were all about. Who exactly rated Tesco's pet insurance....? This matters to me.
"Tesco" says Mr. Teen, before I even hit back on the browser. I want to know how he knows this. "They probably own the site" he jokes. So we poke around the site for a bit, but there is no explanation how this rating came about. It certainly wasn't from you or I. Because we've given no tools to rate anything on this site. So where, then, did Compare Pet Insurance get these ratings from?
www.compare-pet-insurance.com has been setup to allow insurance customers and potential customers to compare the many services currently available and to see offers listed for the various merchants and policies on our site.
www.compare-pet-insurance.com operates independently of all the insurance providers that are displayed on our site. This site is run in order to allow potential customers to compare companies, products and services.
Alrighty then. So we can compare, but not rate. Once again, where does these ratings come from, then?
Looks like fraud. Social media fraud. Obviously Compare Pet Insurance is not claiming to get their ratings from you and me, they're just conveniently avoiding telling visitors where they're getting their ratings from. By visually using stars to rank the services in the same way as social community sites will do, they're tricking customers into thinking that other consumers where already here and left their feedback. Is that fair? A dirty sales man's tactics? No, it's fraud. Social media fraud.
These kind if issues are going to be huge when brands fight for credibility in the future.
Friend: "Oh, did you see that site with the pet rankings insurance? I'm thinking of changing my cover to Tesco"
Me: "Yeah, saw that, it's FAKE. "
So, was Mr. Teen right?
A quick whois search show that compare pet insurance is registered to UK Web Media.
A quick google search show that the Tesco Insurance website is...
....run and operated by UK Web Media Ltd, and UK Web Media is a registered company in England & Wales
Shamefully independently run, if you ask me. I'm sure Tesco/UK Web Media when asked can explain how the ranking on Compare Pet Insurances were calculated, but while we wait.. have a look at these real customer's experiences.
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