Be Excellent To Each Other

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/29201191

6000 staff, and a business that makes money currently, has been put into administration after losing 2 of its suppliers (Vodafone and EE).

That's a bit of a shitter, seems like it has come as a big surprise to the staff too!

Better to declare the business dead immediately and wind down with profits on the book, rather than frantically trying to restructure the business with a new model while haemorrhaging money.

Crap for all involved internally, but the mobile market has moved on. There isn't very much advantage to the networks if they can market effectively direct to consumer.

Yeah, I can understand why their suppliers pulled out. I really feel for the employees though, you'd expect yourself to be reasonably safe working for a company that makes £100m in profit.

Surprised its not caused more fuss, it must close down an area of choice for many people as there is one less chain offering a choice of deals across networks. Also putting 5,000 people out of work when a business looks viable.

There is a lot of money involved I suppose, they turned over a billion last year and still made 100 million after all the staff wages, shop rents and paying the suppliers their cut

Maybe there is 2-300 million that can be sucked back from direct selling

My experience of the company was excessively aggressive and unpleasant salesmanship, plain lying tp my face and little attention paid to getting what the customer actually wants.

So there's that.

When I worked for Gamestation, you tended to get a feel for what all the other various retailers were like and Phones4U had the worst reputation for staff happiness and customer service. I don't know how true this is - I have doubts to be honest - but I was told back then (circa 2006) that Phones4U stores were expected to remain open until they'd hit their sales targets for the day. Certainly I know there were Saturdays where I'd close my branch of GS, tidy the store, cash up, leave and then spot our town's Phones4U still open and trading, despite all other shops having long since closed and the town centre being deserted. It struck me then as being a horrific place to work, even for retail.