Success in our campaign to end rip-off TV!
Our Rip-Off TV video has led to real change!
The Rip-Off TV campaign was launched by our Thrive project in Stockton-on-Tees. We found that many people on low incomes in the area were paying huge amounts of interest and experiencing other problems when they purchased household appliances through the company Buy As You View.
We produced a comedy video highlighting the issue, which was watched by over 1,000 people on YouTube. Campaigners then emailed and telephoned Buy As You View's Chief Executive, asking him to respond to our concerns.
As a result, the boss of Buy As You View visited Thrive in Stockton recently to listen to some long-term customers of the company.
Graham Clarke, the Chief Executive, along with four senior executives, was very receptive and respectful to our concerns and the ideas we put forward. He admitted he had some of the same concerns and made promises to progress on some on key issues.
Thrive's members felt very satisfied at the end of the meeting and are writing to Mr. Clarke to formally confirm what was agreed by the company. Getting a boss of a company with 100,000 customers to talk to us on our own ground was a real achievement.
Thanks to all the campaigners who took part! Real change can be achieved with the right pressure.
And here's the comedy video that helped to make the campaign a success:
