Mr Hussein, Private Investor

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Background: Mr Hussein invests in small businesses. However he likes to carry out his own form of "mystery shopper" on the businesses he's interested in.

Mr Hussein explains: "I was considering buying a business and thought I would see what it was like from the customer's point of view by calling the business and seeing how they handled my call, thereby experiencing their customer service first–hand.

Using Record Your Call, I placed random calls through a period and kept recordings of each one, using the tags feature so I could make a note of any training issues, or any areas of concern in each call.

I had been told by a friend that the business's customer service was of a low standard, but the company's their sales material and its current owners told me a different story, saying they had 99% customer satisfaction.

My evidence, however, told a different story. The more I listened to the recordings, the more I lost confidence in the company I was considering investing in.

I used Record Your Call to record all the conversations I had with different members of staff in the business after buying some of their products. I was concerned by their attitude and felt I was being spoken down to on several occasions. I even had my family call to resolve these issues and, after listening to the recordings, it was clear that they too were treated poorly. Of course, the company's employees had no idea I was recording the calls and testing them.

After collecting the evidence, I downloaded the mp3 files from the Record Your Call website, and I approached the management as a potential investor. I did not inform them that I had these recordings, but explained my experiences with their company. They replied that this must have been a one–off incident, and claimed it was a specific member of staff who would be dealt with. Even when I played the phone calls back to them, they were unwilling to accept that a major problem existed.

This made it obvious to me that the company had customer service issues which its management was unable, or unwilling to address. I pulled out of negotiations as I felt I had no confidence in the company's management.

6 months later, the company filed for receivership and 92 people lost their jobs. 2 directors were banned by Companies House, and as result of the receivership, creditors lost a fortune.

Thanks to Record Your Call, I never lost a penny. Even though the warning signs were there from day one, this tool helped me make a decision I will never regret. I shall continue to use this service for future business deals."

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