Caution - Not All Client Testimonials Are To Be Trusted!

We at Geoffrey Miller Solicitors take great pride in our bank of online client testimonials. We have collected over 100 testimonials since the firm started to request them back in 2005. All of the people providing testimony to our services as expert motoring lawyers are real clients of the firm (even when names have been withheld.) It may be surprising to see that last sentence. Of course they should be real but we know from first-hand experience that some law firms are less than truthful in their marketing materials.

Stolen Testimonials

Back in 2008, we were made aware of a firm that used details of our clients’ cases without permission from the clients and they also sought to pass them off as their own clients rather than clients of Geoffrey Miller Solicitors! We successfully pursued the firm  and we and our clients succeeded in recovering a donation to charity and damages respectively.

Fake Testimonials

Now in 2014 we have been made aware of another firm using the powerful tool of client testimonials in an unscrupulous manner! The image used on the personal injury law firm’s website came as a bit of a surprise when it was sent to me by a colleague! I had morphed into a Mrs Barnsbrooks who sued her employer for an accident at work. Not really, my image had been lifted off the internet by a law firm and they held me out as one of their clients!

It was a shame really as when they received a letter from my lawyers, they tried to justify the clear case of “passing off” as an honest mistake and tried to argue that the damage was not significant as they were actually a brand new firm and had not yet commenced trading! Begs the question how they were able to have testimonials in the first place and claim to have been a leading law firm?

Again, not motivated by personal gain, I sought to have my image removed from the offending firm’s website and they have agreed to make a charitable donation. This time to a charity that is close to our hearts set up in memory of our Operations Manager’s brother who died in 2013 following a long history of mental illness:

http://www.justgiving.com/Anthony-Seddon

Geoffrey Miller Solicitors’ Interactive Testimonials

I have known for several years that testimonials are one of the best ways to successfully market a business. However, I have also known that the consumer (quite rightly it would seem) can be a cynical “so and so!” 

This is why in 2010 I devised a unique interactive testimonial scheme where not only can the prospective client read about our (real) client’s experience of us from their written description published online, but they can also make direct contact with the referee to verify what they have said and ask any questions they want about us. We are not involved in the process and don’t even know when a prospective client makes use of the “Ref Me” scheme. I wanted to create a tool that was the next best thing to asking a trusted friend for a recommendation because when a client comes recommended, their suspicion and fear is massively reduced. 

We are in the business of selling solutions and providing relief to clients who often sorely need this. The last thing they want is to be duped by the lawyer who uses fake or stolen testimonials to capture their clients!

Hopefully, our  “Ref Me” scheme reassures clients that we are what we say we are, and, even more importantly, what our client Julie says we are – the best motoring solicitors in this country!

Beware of "Sex on the Beach" in the midday sun!

Co-authored by Jeanette Miller and Jonathan Berry

Isn't this sunshine gorgeous?! Doesn't it make you feel so much happier when you open those curtains and see glorious blue sky? Like many Brits, does this seemingly rare heatwave also increase your tendency for an alcoholic tipple or two in the sunshine. Maybe because it is so rare to be able to sit freely outside, more people are encouraged to go for a drink after work or on their dinner hour and can decide to ‘chance’ driving home. The excitement of the summer sun is then short lived when they are arrested for drink driving and are looking at a minimum 12 month ban.

The summer sun can also increase the temptation to look at the cocktail menu. Popular cocktails such as the ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Long Island Ice Tea’ have several different spirits in and because of the home made aspect to these drink consumers are often unaware of exactly how many units they are drinking.

Despite the fact that the drink driving limit can be exceeded even with one drink, there is a common view across the country that any more than two pints is unacceptable. There is little or no guidance out there on how many cocktails you can have! Possibly because most cocktails on their own would send you straight over it.

I have been harping on for years about the "2 pints" theory being flawed in itself as every drink is different and contains varying alcoholic content. The amount of ‘acceptable’ alcoholic drinks is completely different from person-to-person.

Factors that people need to take into consideration are:

• The person’s gender
• The person’s weight
• The person’s current levels of stress
• The person’s age
• Whether the person has eaten in the past few hours; and
• The person’s metabolism

Cocktails have several different spirits in them and the flavour is usually masked by fruit-based mixers and sugar. Many people can get carried away sipping their ‘sex on the beach’ and can easily be convinced to order a ‘mojito’ to follow.

Cocktails are commonly served in large jugs and are regularly ordered between friends. Again, this can be very dangerous before driving home as you are unaware the amount you are drinking and exactly how many units are in the glass you have poured yourself!

Drinking pints of lager these days is just as hazardous as fashionable cocktails! There are many continental lagers and beers now on the menu and people very rarely ask the percentage of the alcohol content when a pint is ordered.

Half a pint of 3.5% beer/lager or cider is approximately one unit of alcohol. Following reading this blog, I hope you will now notice that many continental lagers are now closer to 5% or even 6%!

This drastically effects the volume of lager that you can drink, alongside the other factors stated above, before being caught driving over the limit.

Apart from taking a breathalyser test before getting behind the wheel (and even they have their faults!) there are no definitive physiological indicators whether you will be over or under the limit. If caught and convicted, the "chancing it" cocktail could cost you your job and have a knock on effect to innocent third parties, such as family members.

The vast majority of people who call us to find out what they can do about the drink drive prosecution they face start by saying, "I'm not a drink driver and I completely disagree with drink driving". I don't doubt that for one minute as I am yet to come across someone who supports getting behind the wheel when drunk. The common theme amongst virtually every client we assist is a lack of awareness and poor judgement. Don't let the cocktail menu tempt you to join this club!

If you have unfortunately been caught drink driving and would like to pick up the phone and talk things through with one of our experienced caseworkers , then please get in touch on Free phone 08000 85 27 84.