... And who do I complain to?
Read their Code of Practice...
Follow the guidelines in it. Before you report Enterprise Inns to the relevant authorities (as pointed out above by John Almond, I have no idea who they are, they don't exist because all channels are in the pockets of the pubco's) I imagine it'll be like Heineken and you must first exhaust your complaint via their internal complaint procedure. So you have to make up your own relevant authorities... That is: copy in these people:
Your Local councillors and your MP, Marcus Jones, Minister for Pubs, Brigid Simmonds, CEO BBPA, the Business Innovation and Skills department and Andrew Griffiths, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, Greg Mulholland chair of All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub group and the Chair of the Select Committee Pubco's and to David Cameron and George Osborne.
Once you have all their contact details it's simple to keep them in the loop.
At the Top
Start with the fact that you had to search for their Code of Practice and that no employee of Enterprise Inns has ever drawn it to your attention and you only discovered it through researching their website which promotes how fair and open and transparent their relationship with their publican partners always is.
Say your experience is completely unlike anything that's published by Enterprise Inns on their website or promoted through their roadshows and in any pamphlets or marketing material you've seen.
Explain why you're including them at this early stage... Given the history of your relationship with Enterprise Inns you're entirely sceptical of their ability to conduct complaint proceedings according to their own COP as they've failed to meet even the most basic tenets of their promises made to you since signing your contact. You do not trust them in the least. In fact you suspect that your instigating a complaint will trigger an escalation of their historic abuse of your relationship with them...
And so on.
Copy in some journalists as well.
Helen Fospero
Roger Protz
Pete Brown
Others too, business pages of the broadsheets and Kevin Maguire at the Mirror
Their COP is really difficult to find:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.enterpriseinns.com/run-a-pub
Presumably the first port of call for those thinking of joining them!
The COP is supposed to be delivered to every tenant as part of the 'partnership' process. It is not. The above is what happens. COP means nothing, It's not policed, it's not enforceable, it's ignored as a matter of course. But Really? You know that don't you.
DeleteDo you have the exact stats on the proportion of tenants who don't see the COP (and the source of those stats)? It's easy to make unsubstantiated claims; more difficult to substantiate I suspect!
ReplyDeleteNo. You know very well that these 'claims' cannot be substantiated. The tied publicans I know - around 300 mixed from all the major pubco's and some smaller of the asset strippers - have not been issued with their COP. Most of them didn't even know that such a thing as a code of practice even existed.
DeleteCOP means nothing, It's not policed, it's not enforceable, it's ignored as a matter of course. Pubco's tell government, tell the BBPA that everything is hunky dory but why would pubco's let their tenants have any ammunition to defend themselves with? WHY WOULD THEY? There is no checking, no enforcement, no follow up.
This, as David Cameron likes to say when he's trying to get thick people to hear him, is like the writing running through a stick of rock. Every bit of rot in the tied pub sector is like that. Bullshit and lies run through everything.
But Really? You know that don't you?
I'm surprised you don't know Val Spencer, Peter Bradley and Alan Yorke amongst others who brought PICAS claims for breaches of the very COPs that you say no one knows about!
ReplyDelete