Today Tonight ge story

Duffman · 07-03-2006, 09:26 PM

Hay guys was at gym last night but saw the GE story on today tonight about bullying consumers. I was wondering what was it about? I couldnt find a link to it or a vid on the today tonight site.

I use to work for them in finance but now moved. Im interested to see the story because it looked very true. The rule was lend it like its Ge's money and collect it like its your own when we I was there.

Psycho Chicken · 07-03-2006, 09:32 PM

Ahhhhh GE, pretty damn useless. I'm not behind on payments though so I'm sweet. They love to give it out! Got approved for a HEAP more than I expected. Took a bit but there was no way I was taking the lot.

Yummy Mummy · 07-03-2006, 09:35 PM

I worked for them for 6 years, and I would never say they "bullied consumers". Not sure where you worked, but the philosophy you lent by was not the same as we used. There was some questionable practices by some employees, but ultimately the decision to act in the manner they did was an individual one, and one thing is for sure about GE, if you act without integrity, in the end they will find out.

GE is the worlds largest organisation. Servicing so many consumers, they are going to have their fair share of negative media. It is exactly the same as the big four banks. They are a business, not a charity. GE is extremely transparent in their policies, almost to the point of being anal with their compliance to legislative requirements.

Duffman · 07-03-2006, 09:41 PM

Very good on their polices but the complaints from things like creditline and buyers edge was out of control. They also payed their employees preety poorly for the amount of work you had to do considering the billions they made from it.

The only thing I really found is they where so big it was hard to follow up problems there where just too many and in the end there just was not enough time to even be able to follow things up. The collecting could get a bit on the bully side when consumers get called 10 times a week and it only counts if you talk to them and then you can still talk to them 3-4 times a week.

rodderz · 07-03-2006, 09:46 PM

The guy who bought my ute has got the lease through GE Money, I had to do a fair bit just to finish the sale. I had a stack of forms to fill out, then fax rego slips etc to the office, then do a roadworthy, then get the car personally inspected by GE after that...i had to take 2 days off work just to sell it. The last few days I've been faxing off more sheets and sending other though express post.

You'de think I was the buyer!

Yummy Mummy · 07-03-2006, 09:46 PM

Under new regulations, they are now only allowed attempted contact 3 times per week, including if you get answering machines etc. Any employee who spoke to a client more than 3 times in a week is breaching the harrassment legislation anyway. That is an individual/management issue, not a GE one.

Duffman · 07-03-2006, 09:50 PM

Yeah I remember reading about that.

Does anyone have a link to the story I just cant seem to find it on the site

Yummy Mummy · 07-03-2006, 09:55 PM

http://seven.com.au/todaytonight/ On the right hand side there is a blue GE logo.

It looks like it is a story about consumer bullying in general, banks included, not just about one particular company

Duffman · 07-03-2006, 09:59 PM

Yeah I found that and clicked on it but just took me to a page to fill out info on a complaint. I wanted to read about what actually the story spoke about.

**Falcon Coupe** · 07-03-2006, 10:00 PM

When i financed my new car in December with GE, they were sent the forms including direct debit, one month later they rang me to say i had been charged a $30 dishonour fee for being late with payment, i said it's direct debit ? they said we have it down as b-pay, i said well where is my info with biller code ect..... they said we are behind with our paper work and haven't sent it yet

:
So now it's set up as direct debit, but i have not been refunded the $30 they charged me for being slow with their paper work, i have most lilkely got a black mark against my name as well. :togo:

Scott · 07-03-2006, 10:00 PM

On a tangeant - Yummy Mummy, I thought that Wal-Mart & Microsoft had the top 2 spots?

fiery · 07-03-2006, 10:03 PM

GE are a nasty mob... would never ever deal with them again..
I could really let fly but Im not going to... not in a public forum.. but if you think GE wouldnt or dont bully, wouldnt and dont lie, then you are wrong..

nasty nasty company....

:

Yummy Mummy · 07-03-2006, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMH8TR

On a tangeant - Yummy Mummy, I thought that Wal-Mart & Microsoft had the top 2 spots?

Walmart is the worlds largest company based on sales, GE pips them on combination of assets, sales, profit and market value. Microsoft has the largest market value at $247 billion but is let down by profit and sales.

.....there, it's confirmed, I'm a geek

Duffman · 07-03-2006, 10:17 PM

I saw a quote the other day from ge said something along the lines of 'What is right is not always the same as what is profitable'. Their creditline/buyers are all call centers based in India.

07-03-2006, 10:27 PM

Don't G-E make light globes and HID's and maybe a few fluro's

Whhats the go ,can I get finance now Too..

LOL

I got GE master card
GE credit line

GE / Buyer edge
and probley many more ,,thanks GE

Paxton · 07-03-2006, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMH8TR

On a tangeant - Yummy Mummy, I thought that Wal-Mart & Microsoft had the top 2 spots?

Bzzt wrong. The founder of Micro$oft is the richest man in the world, and Wal-Mart isn't far behind billy boy, yet YM answered it better.

GE is the largest company in the world, with more departments that I have fingers and toes. EVERY one of them is profitable. Every one of them.

YM, I take it you stuck with Money? Good to hear. Its always the same crowd that come out when the General is mentioned isn't it.

Edit: Stampy, GE make the following:
Aircraft jet engines
Electricity
Entertainment
Finance
Generation
Industrial automation
Lighting
Medical imaging equipment
Motors
Plastics
Railway locomotives
Silicones

Psycho Chicken · 07-03-2006, 10:50 PM

And firearms! I wonder if I can get one of these bad boys, considering all the intrest I give the bastards.

4,000 rounds per minute? YES PLEASE!

brenx · 07-03-2006, 11:10 PM

I've got a card with GE. The only issue I have is their lack of records. According to them I've had the card only 2 years and my 1st purchase was a evaporative system for my house. I asked about the TV I bought on it and also the computer hardware etc and they had no record?!?!

Why do I think they are stupid? After having the card 5 years and purchasing a variety of items they sent me an "Identification Reference Form". I refuse to fill it in or send it back. Why? Why do I need to identify myself when I've had the card five years? I had to identify myself to get the card in the 1st place.

I'm finishing off the money owing on it and cancelling it. They'll ask why as per usual. I'll answer I refuse to identify myself and you freeze the card yet I've never defaulted yet spent tens of thousands with the card? wtf is that? GE can jam their card although it is handy. I'm in no hurry to pay their debt either. Why should I hurry

RSgerry · 07-03-2006, 11:42 PM

i bought a car from a guy who had finance with GE. what a completely useless bunch of halfwits. it took a week trying to get these muppets to provide us with a payout figure so i could buy the thing. i ended up swearing at the stupid monkey i was on the phone to. i hope he gets ebola.

LTDHO · 08-03-2006, 07:50 AM

Duffman, it was a show on TT. Which is probably 80% BS anyway.

If nieve customers don't know what finance companies are like, then they get rolled. GE isn't half as bad as the others, AGC for one.

Duffman · 08-03-2006, 07:58 AM

GE took over agc thats how they started ge money.

EA2BA · 08-03-2006, 08:07 AM

GE are increasing fee's as well if you don't direct debit, they are going to charge you more to pay them back!!

As soon as we pay the balance next month we are giving the card the flick, it is just not worth having for the fee's.

They also send you a form here have a free limit increase sign here and its yours, you dont take it up, then a few months later you decide it would be handy they give you the 3rd degree on your income and expenditure and WON'T give you an increase, GE are just a joke these days.

Yummy Mummy · 08-03-2006, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duffman

GE took over agc thats how they started ge money.

Wrong again,

GE Money was previously known as GE Finance and Insurance after acquiring AVCO in 1999. AGC was another acquisition in around 2003, and they have also since bought out Wizard Home Loans. The name change was purely a branding decision.

Paxton, I did change companies, however the 6 years I spent with GE has given me amazing business ethics, fantastic education in business principles, and will hold me in good stead for the rest of my working life. I left for reasons which made it quite negative toward the end, but I can't take away from the benefits the company has provided me.

**Professor Farnsworth** · 08-03-2006, 11:10 AM

I've got credit with GE, and i have a habit of not paying the interest free deals then getting slapped with a tonne of interest. But hey, that's my fault not theirs, you're given a fair amount of time to pay these things off. They've always been fairly good to me, can't really complain. It can be a struggle to pay off the balance when you're paying so much in interest though, i'll be paying it for a while longer yet. As far as the car goes, went with Esanda.

4.9 EF Futura · 08-03-2006, 11:15 AM

Excellent postings Yummy.

GE is the largest company in the world based on its balance sheet - i.e. Assets. The others would have the largest market capitalisation i.e. the number of shares on issue multiplied by the share price. Share price is simply the market's expectation of a company's future abilities to earn a profit. That can be wiped away in a few bad days trading as a result of heresay, profit warnings etc.

Look at what GE are offering. Non-bank credit. If you have a banking licence in Australia, it's a licence to print money. You can take deposits at 5% and lend the money unsecured for 11.5% - that's a MASSIVE of spread... home loans generally run a spread of around 120 basis points IIRC.

GE has to borrow money from the market at, let's say 7% or 8% as it is not permitted to take retail deposits. Therefore they charge high interest rates (which not only reflect their cost of finance but also reflects the riskiness of the lending which they are undertaking - unsecured personal finance, and i bet they have the arrears, provisioning and delinquencies to show for it). At the end of the day, you borrow money from someone like GE because you cant get it from a bank... a lender of last resort so to speak, because the bank isnt interested in lending you money to buy a computer, tv or 4 new tyres.

brenx · 08-03-2006, 11:18 AM

Banks simply don't like a) small loans and b) loans to be paid off early.

I banked with a bank for 18 years. Got a loan for my Mrs car. Paid it off in 18mths. Then they wouldn't give me a loan for a house which 5 other banks would?? Bank's suck. Bank's have no idea what they are missing out on. It's a big cash grab they miss out on.

4.9 EF Futura · 08-03-2006, 11:26 AM

I assure you banks like having loans paid off early. They get a couple hundred dollars for an establishment fee... but then have the credit risk removed from their balance sheet in a quick amount of time - reducing the regulatory capital they have to hold (100% risk weighted for a car loan, effectively makes it harder to achieve a target return-on-equity).

What they dont like is when large loans are paid off early, as they do their best to naturally hedge the balance sheet and if they wind up with an exposure to interest rates (think about it - if rates go down 0.5%, you pass this on to borrowers within 30 days of it happening, but you may have a fixed term deposit locked in for 3 years and cant change the rate you are paying on it - can cost them lots of money, not to mention the regulator monitors these positions). Therefore they enter all sorts of funky interest rate swaps and securitise of the balance sheet in an attemp to manage the risk... and them some bugger walks in and pays off a $400,000 loan because they are going elsewhere for finance.

Now THATS geeky

brenx · 08-03-2006, 11:30 AM

hehe. ANZ won't like me shortly. I'm going back to renting and kissing a $300,000 mortgage bye bye ;) I cbf'd and my Mrs wants to be a lazy ИИИИ and cut back work wise. Which means less $pm. House has to go unfortunately. I've only had the loan since Nov 05 rofl!

4.9 EF Futura · 08-03-2006, 11:34 AM

Lol, im sure with their 300 billion odd dollars worth of assets they'll manage without you

Duffman · 08-03-2006, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yummy Mummy

Wrong again,

Sorrrry :(

They where a fantastic company but of course the bigger you get the harder it is to manage problems. Id love to work for them again one day but hence much prefer the industry im in now. I felt sometimes problems would come down to how poorly customers would treat staff. When staff a get yelled out all day its hard to be fair with people