by MrScotland » 18 Mar 2010 20:49
I find this thread extremely strange since I have worked for Boing UK for many years now.
I have made quiet literally thousands and thousands of pounds from the work they provide from the Police. They have provided me with some much work that I have been able to expand my company considerably. I also know a number of other contractors that have also made considerable sums from them.
Yes sometimes the calls do drop off from time to time, mostly due to the time of year and the rate of crime in the area.
I accept every call they give me, and whilst I do have a number of jobs that I have difficulty obtaining payment for I also have many more that I do get paid for, easily making up for it.
I do understand that your experience may differ to mine, but that is mostly due to the police forces that you are signed up to work for. From what I gather from speaking to the staff in the response centre, the different police forces have different agreements to what they or the owners of properties pay for. Some better and some worse.
Like I said though I accept all the work they throw at me, even if it is 4am in the morning and I'm hung over, I answer the phone and get one of my guys on the jobs. The more work you accept then the more money you make and you lower your ratio of bad calls to good calls. It could be that you are missing out on work because your contactors on call are not answering the phones, are asleep when the work is coming in and lie to you about it the next day. Or you cannot be bothered to answer the phone yourself, because you are lazy. The proccess of rotation of different contractors is religiously adhered to at Boing, because I have tested it with other contractors I know on their books, so all this talk about them favouring one contractor over another is purely unfounded speculation.
Boing is now under a new owner from what I understand, and under a slightly different name, and everything from what I understand is running exactly the same as before.
It is a shame that you have had bad experiences from Boing. I would suggest that it is possibly due to the Police forces themselves and not actually Boing.