Risk Disk Opinions

[DavidWH]

Had a phone call from Risk Disk today, and am currently on a trial till Monday with them.

I am mightily impressed with their website, ease of use, and the information available.

Payment options are interest free £75.00 a quarter, with 4999 limited co's and 4999 sole trader searches per year.

I am giving it some serious thought as we've just instructed out debt collector to recover nearly £2k of work.

I did a check on a very regular customer of mine, and got some interesting/surprising results.

Just after peoples opinions of their service and their costs?

 

[APC Nexday Overnite Ltd]

Absolutely fantastic bit of kit!!! We get it at a good price due to a national deal as all the APC depots have it. We never had any credit checking software beforehand.
Two features to utilise that are brilliant!
1) payment rating - this sends out a request to any company who monitors or has viewed the particular company. it asks what their threat level is, good payers etc..... It's brilliant to get information back from other companies with what they think. One problem is though is that it's anonymous feedback so as to how reliable it is must be measure BUT if you have 6 different ratings all saying bad then its safe to say the company is bad
2) monitor company - this allows you to have regular updates on the company you're monitoring so the directors change youre notified, their credit limit value changes youre notified....they get issued with two CCJ'S youre notified. I absolutely love it and "riskdisk" all potential customers.

 

[Business News]

We have used Credit Safe for years and found it does all that you can ask for regarding credit rating, director history and finance history. We have in reality an unlimited package for company and director searches at a price lower than you have been quoted.

The watchword with these companies is feign disinterest and you'll be offered discount after discount. I guarantee if you do this you'll get the package you want for a much lower price than you have been quoted. Remember for these guys there is no extra direct costs associated to a sale so for them every sale is a good sale at whatever price. If your contact hasn't had to revert to their manager at least twice then you probably don't have the best deal.

 

[Business News]

I am giving it some serious thought as we've just instructed out debt collector to recover nearly £2k of work.

Regular credit checks on customers or fresh checks on prospective new customers does provide good protection against you making bad choices of business trading partners but do remember the data is a year our of date. We have had a customer of good credit rating and history with 13 years of trading go down this year so it's not infallible.

 

[Neil@Cremanass]

Great to hear people are taking this seriously - slow payers can have a massive effect. RiskDisk is OK but notorious for not being updated regularly enough, although this has improved a bit since they moved from the "disc" format to an internet system.
Cremanass Ltd can offer you an alternative, which is a much more comprehensice service:
We are a well respected, National company, and the ONLY one in the UK who offer Guaranteed Credit Checking, Guaranteed Debt Collection and In-House Litigation - All under one roof. Our credit checking is more comprehensive than RiskDisk and Creditsafe, and we can monitor your clients too (lets face it things change don't they?). Our Debt Collection service typically recovers 95% of outstanding debt within 28 days, with 60% being recovered within the 1st 7 days alone. We do this without jeapodising the goodwill between you and your customers, and offer a money back guarantee to boot.
I am happy to let you have more details if you would like to get in touch:

 

[DavidWH]

Its something we should do but never had.

We're only a small business, with a few larger customers.

I don't think we need 10k searches a year. So would certainly be interested in cheaper alternatives.

 

[Neil@Cremanass]

Are you looking for a system that includes debt collecting too? What I would say honestly, is that our systems are more expensive than RiskDisk, however are FAR more comprehensive, and can include debt collection.
It depends whether you are driven by price, or whether you wanted a better service. Sorry, I wanted to be honest and tell you up front that we cannot do this for £75 per quarter, but what we can do is MUCH better than using RiskDisk, and would avoide the need for a separate debt collector.

 

[DavidWH]

Touch wood we've only needed to get debt collectors in a handfull of times in many years.

We really just need the credit checking. But not so many checks per year.

Should be able haggle with risk disk

 

[Momenta]

Having used RiskDisk in the past I would highly recommend it. You get far more for your money when compared to the likes of D&B.

 

I would recommend both RiskDisk & CreditSafe

I would strongly recommend also that you invest in some training on how to use the systems properly for your purposes, as good information badly interpreted can be more destructive than no information.

 

[Business News]

Touch wood we've only needed to get debt collectors in a handfull of times in many years.

We really just need the credit checking. But not so many checks per year.

Should be able haggle with risk disk

You can buy individual credit reports if you don't want to subscribe and have access to thousands. We only serve 40 customers and use 10 suppliers so you could say we don't need an unlimited package. The main reason why we do is that any amended information on monitored companies is fed to you instantly. Whereas, if you do PAYG you are unlikely to update regularly so data changes will pass you by. In reality our unlimited package doesn't work out any different in price to doing a load of one off checks. When we renew we base our offer price on our usage and our supplier works with us on that.

 

[DavidWH]

We have about 3-5 larger credit account customers. These are the ones where we've granted credit into the 1000's, and would seriously damage the business if they were to go bump. However, whilst the goings good it's a lot of revenue for the business.

 

[Ian J]

These are the ones where we've granted credit into the 1000's, and would seriously damage the business if they were to go bump.

Credit reports are notoriously unreliable with instances of them recommending credit to companies that had recently gone bust etc. Have you thought about credit insurance in view of the likely effect of one of your major customers going bust?

 

[Business News]

Credit reports are notoriously unreliable with instances of them recommending credit to companies that had recently gone bust etc. Have you thought about credit insurance in view of the likely effect of one of your major customers going bust?

I'm not certain I'd agree with the 'notoriously unreliable' quote against credit ratings as the credit insurance industry will apply the very same 'unreliable' rating information to their insurance quotations. However, IanJ and I don't find much to agree upon so thats probably just me being churlish.

Credit insurance is a good option to consider where large customers or individual contracts have the potential to damage a company though it clearly comes at a cost and it will have an aged time limit on debt. With small businessed there is often a bend over backwards desire not to upset customers, particularly strategically key ones, so if your credit insurance covers say 30 days of debts and your customer starts dragging things out then it is very easy to overrun the insurance time limitations and thence, very quickly, have a large proportion of the credit that then falls outside of the insurance protection. Insurance can be either account specific or for the entire turnover and if you have a few large customers that dominate your business then there probably isn't much difference between the two.

You wont find any credit insurers that openly quote rates or charge guides on their website which makes it all very cloak and dagger so you'll need to apply for quotations and negotiate from there. As a rough guide though if you factor costs around 0.75 to 1% of turnover to insure 30 to 45 days of credit you won't be a million miles away.

 

[Geoff T]

For credit checking - my advice is to get in an info buyer, rather than an info reseller like riskdisk... agreed, it looks good if you've not used it before, but a firm paying for the info will be more up to date... (cost is directly related to info quality and age)...

HTH...

 

[iklemiracle]

We have about 3-5 larger credit account customers. These are the ones where we've granted credit into the 1000's, and would seriously damage the business if they were to go bump. However, whilst the goings good it's a lot of revenue for the business.

Hey Seymore,

Just spotted this thread.

I work for Creditsafe. (albeit the Netherlands office)

You can actually track your 'Crown Jewel' customers as part of the licence subscription with creditsafe. This will act as an early warning system for you through automatic email updates whenever there is a change in their information that could be vital to you.

I can show you the live system if you like. It will at least help you make an informed decision about which solution to choose.

Let me know if you would like to see some free reports and a tour around the site.

Good luck.

 

[Neil@Cremanass]

We offer this but uniquely with a guarantee, which I believe no other company does.
Happy to tell you more.
Regards
Neil

 

[internetspaceships]

Creditsafe uses a lot of data that is out of date. They take a lot of their information from Thompson Local.

They have been unable to get even our own company details correct for three years.

We finally gave them the boot when they showed a company with a rating of 80 a 2 weeks AFTER riskdisk warned us they were subject to a winding up notice.

So i'd take Riskdisk over Creditsafe any day from experience.

Also as mentioned in a previous thread I'd seriously look into the small print of what exactly consitutes a guarantee of credit collection if you're being offered it as a service.

 

[DavidWH]

I've bookmarked RiskDisk, however will be using their pay as you go service rather than paying monthly subscriptions. It fulfils our requirement, and we've looked at who we grant credit too - basically only those we can check, and return a good score.

 

[iklemiracle]

Creditsafe uses a lot of data that is out of date. They take a lot of their information from Thompson Local.

They have been unable to get even our own company details correct for three years.

We finally gave them the boot when they showed a company with a rating of 80 a 2 weeks AFTER riskdisk warned us they were subject to a winding up notice.

So i'd take Riskdisk over Creditsafe any day from experience.

Also as mentioned in a previous thread I'd seriously look into the small print of what exactly consitutes a guarantee of credit collection if you're being offered it as a service.

Hi There,

Thanks for your comments, however it must be said that our data simpy does not derive from thompson local directories....it is simply just one of the many many sources we have used.

Ultimately - Creditsafe is the UKs first choice of provider for credit reports and business information, with over 60,000 customers throughout europe.

If you would like to put the system to the test again, I will be happy to give you some free credit reports from which you can compare and contrast against information you already have. I am also interested to put right any information we hold on your company that you deem incorrect.

After all, as it is for most successful businesses , Its only by listening to our customers that enables us to really improve our service.

Pm me if you feel you'd like to have a look.

All the best.

 

[internetspaceships]

Hi There,

Thanks for your comments, however it must be said that our data simpy does not derive from thompson local directories....it is simply just one of the many many sources we have used.

Ultimately - Creditsafe is the UKs first choice of provider for credit reports and business information, with over 60,000 customers throughout europe.

If you would like to put the system to the test again, I will be happy to give you some free credit reports from which you can compare and contrast against information you already have. I am also interested to put right any information we hold on your company that you deem incorrect.

After all, as it is for most successful businesses , Its only by listening to our customers that enables us to really improve our service.

Pm me if you feel you'd like to have a look.

All the best.

It may not derive solely from Thompson Local but it's still out of date, whether you work for creditsafe or not.

Sorry but I couldn't recommend your service as accurate.

 

[iklemiracle]

Of course. I understand.

That is why I would like the opportunity to change your mind on the accuracy of our data.

More than happy to be put to the test.

 

[internetspaceships]

Considering you've had a number of phone calls and discussions with my Operations Director already over a period of months, then I think you've had that opportunity already.

Your data resets itself when you update and and throws spurious old Director names and redundant addresses into the system no matter how those details have been altered. None of the people could explain or help. It must be noted that Emma and Natalie were extremely pleasant to deal with though. A chap called Owen was not.

As such I repeat that I could not in all honesty recommend your service to anyone on this forum.

My sincere apologies, you come across as a nice person however it would be unfair of me to paint a pretty picture of the accuracy of the service when it isn't justified.

 

[iklemiracle]

Hello Again,

Considering you've had a number of phone calls and discussions with my Operations Director already over a period of months, then I think you've had that opportunity already.

Just to be clear, 'I' personally have not.

Really, what your company has experienced seems very unfortunate and very frustrating by the sounds of it but alas sometimes 'glitches' do occure that baffle the most tech savvy teams in the biggest of companies. ...(think Blackberry)

There is nothing more crushing than finding negative comments about a company you feel passionate about, especially under 'public' circumstances therefore My responses to you have been with customer service in mind, even though I work for the Netherlands Office, we are one big team at Creditsafe, and I am more than happy to spend time with an unhappy customer to get to the bottom of your frustrations, not only to attempt to renew your faith in Creditsafe....but to negate any potential future repercussions. I will give the office your feedback on dealing with some of our staff, also If you change your mind about allowing me the opportunity to get to the bottom of your issue please feel free to let me know anytime.

It might be an idea to check the details on the last filed reports your company accountants filled with companies House. Quite often you will find that any mis-information (especially with things like Directors details) have been found wrong on our system because thats quite simply what the accountants have submitted. After all we can only report whats been supplied by the company accountant responsible for submitting such data.
Has your operations Manager looked at said records? ......Just a thought.

I can still look into the issue for you, my offer stands.


Anyhoo... my inital invlolvement with this thread was to offer the thread author an opportunity to take a tour of our system to enable him to make an informed decision in finding a solution....
I Can still do that for you wish, dont worry, not interested in the hard sell as the system will sell itself if its what you are looking for. After all we didnt get to being the number 1 provider in the in the UK through selling outdated thomson local info.

If not then sincerely good luck with risk disk hope it does the job you need

All the best

And Thanks internetspaceships! Yes you are ablolutely right! I am a Nice person

 

[internetspaceships]

Thanks for the reply.

I can assure you wholeheartedly that our details at Companies House are correct.

My Ops Director has certainly cross checked everything and in fact the details on your system changed after being set straight on more than one occasion.

It's not my purpose to gratuitously put you down. You put yourself in the public domain by posting on the forum and as such it's "open season" for comments. Whether these be flattering or not so flattering. It's my intention to give my experiences so that people here can make a decision with both sides of the picture being illustrated.

I have absolutely no angst towards Creditsafe whatsoever, all I'm saying is that their inability to rectify errors in basic company information, (not just our own) on their database rendered the service inadequate for our uses.

 

[iklemiracle]

Thanks, and hey, I dont think for one moment that you are gratuitously putting 'me' down...or the company for that matter.

Your opinion is a valid one, and appreciated.

You wouldnt reccomend Creditsafe....I get it.

BTW forgive me for asking the obvious about CH info - but you'll be surprised about how many companies dont check.

I personally like a challenge...I wanted the opportunity to change your mind...

Yes... I do put myself in the public domain on an open forum, and I, just like you, post in order to help people make informed decisions. I still find negative comments crushing (doesnt matter whos said them/ credible or not credible)...and I dont mind who knows that...or I wouldnt have said.
But being passionate about the company and its conduct and service I simply cant let someone who feels strongly enough to air their negative feedback go by without at least trying to get an opportunity to change your mind. Thats all.

There have been positive and negative comments about Creditsafe during the length of this thread - both are always welcome...and my door is always open

So no hard feelings internetspaceships...we are all allowed our opinions arent we. No worries. Nice talking to you anyhoo.

 

[Business News]

I think it would be better for everyone were you to conduct your conversation between supplier and former customer privately rather than in open forum.

 

[internetspaceships]

I think it would be better for everyone were you to conduct your conversation between supplier and former customer privately rather than in open forum.

I'm not convinced that this is appropriate. What I have said is reasonable and the kind of information that someone would wish to see if they were looking at taking a service from anyone.

How would you feel if you took any service from someone who advertised it on the forum, found it to be flawed in some way only to be told AFTER the fact that people already knew it was flawed?

You'd hardly feel warm and snuggly would you.

I'm being generic here however the principle remains.

 

[Business News]

You have placed a supplier, through repeated posts in an open forum into a position where they clearly have felt the need to defend their position and this is unfair unless it is as part of a comprehensive comparison that encompasses a raft of suppliers of whatever service.

I gathered from your first post that Creditsafe wasn't your preferred supplier of credit information and you outlined why. For me, I do acknowledge that others may well feel different, there wasn't anything to gain from driving home the point.

 

[internetspaceships]

Ok.. that's your opinion. You disagree with my opinion and I disagree with yours.

Nothing wrong there.

 

[djp2]

Hi
How do you check the credit worthiness of a credit rating company? I have been trying to get money out of them since August. Last chance now - next stop the small claims court.

 

[djp2]

Very quick response from CreditSafe. And the money was in my account by the next day.

So just need to contact the right person.

Derek

 

[al2026]

I was cold called by Riskdisk and asked to have a look at their site. They suggested I login for the trial with a username and password..........which I assumed they would encrypt.
So stupid me!!!!
They rang me again to follow up to tell me that the password that they had on their system was my "go to" password and username!!
What's more they don't seem to understand it could be an issue!
Are they allowed to keep a record of passwords that they collect by asking punters to load a password onto a trial login page?

What's more, they seem to be pretty useless.......I would recommend Creditsafe who seem to be better, but I am sure there are others.

I hear Experian have just bought Riskdisk - what a shower they are!