To Help - or Not To Help - How will you be remembered ?
The hotel is closed.
We have been for over a month.
We will not even start thinking about re opening until the Lock-Down / Quarantine is liften by the government.
We have absolutely no idea when that will be.
Clearly, even when restrictions are lifted ;- it will. be many monmths before people start getting back to normal.
MILLIONS could / will / may be unemployed after this
Business' close for good - as any stimulus cheque does not help when it comes 3 months late.
Cannot blame the government for that - they are working under extreme circumstances and coming up with whole new payment plans for millions of people - tens of thousands of business as well as 80% of peoples wages and as for the self employed nightmare.
Right in the middle of this my hotel insujrance came up for re newal and I asked what dioscounts they were offering concidering we would be closed for a minimum of 3 months - and the answer was - basically - FUCK ALL.
So I went elsewhere for my insurance.
My Car Insurance came die and I asked th same question that - as I am not allowed to use my car for - maybe some months - what doscount are they offering, and they refduced my yearly fee by just over £150.
But only after I asked.
Here is my e mail to a company we rent our credit card charger through:-
As we are closed and not using the terminal, and as thousands of other business' are closed and in shut down, what are you offering small business as some form of discount for this period where you are charging full fee while we are all in lockdown and not using our terminals.
After this is all over, we - business' will remember - and we will follow those who offered help and support and we will remember those who have not.
We shall then vote with our custom, or not, especially in such a vast market of available services available.
What are you offering struggling small business at this time ?
John Bellamy
and here is their reply:-
I refer to your recent enquiry regarding your card terminal agreement mentioned above. Paytek would be willing to assist our customers being affected by the COVID-19 lockdown as long as the business have an active DD in place and are not in arrears with their repayments. We would be willing to provide a payment holiday up to 3 months from May to August for an administrative fee of £2.00 per month. You will only start paying the contractual amount from August. However, please note the holiday periods will be added to the end of the term. If you wish to take advantage and proceed the payment holiday arrangement, please reply this email message and ensure your Direct Debit is active. Kind regards,
and as I stated, we will remember who helped and those who did not, and as a business and a member of society, we all have that choice when this is all over to know and to see and to appreciate those who did anything to help - or not.
Friends will let you down. Those you will have thought better of in an emergency - and then there will be others who will surprise and will rise up and prove themselves more than you thought.
BIG THANKYOU to those companies who have risen to the challenge and have decided to help rather than think about profit over everything else.
