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There is a brand new organisation with a fantastic web site for locating Irish building companies. The company is called the IFMT and the website address is http://www.tifmt.com. Its a very new web site which has not fully be launched, but I know where I will be getting a Tradesmen from when I next need one.

Hi, The opening page of the web site looks very impressive, however I have serious doubts regarding that particular organisation. As a tradesman / contractor like all business owners I examine the credentials and history of any organisation I am invited to join. My experience / knowledge of the Feration of Master Tradesmen is anything but positive, some might think I am not eligable for membership, however the opposite is the truth. Sadly anybody who wishes to be a member must pass the main membership criteria and unless an awful lot has changed recently the main qualification needed is the membership fee. I would not be included on that web site even if I was offered a prime front page advertising slot free of all charges because I am very particular about the company I keep. I expect there will be many who will join especially when they realise they will get a nice logo as well as a web site listing, some will join because they are honest tradesmen / women. Caveat Emptor. I usually sign my name to all posts on web sites but as the party who posted the advertisement failed to do so I feel no obligation to sign on this post. .

Ouch!

A number of new sites have being launched in Ireland recently targeting the Home Improvement Market Here are links to them. http://www.pickapro.ie http://www.mytrade.ie/ http://www.onlinetradesmen.com/ http://www.ratethebuilder.ie/ http://www.dreamhomes.ie http://www.beautifulhome.ie http://www.homewise.ie Thats a lot of companies targeting this sector. We at Furniture.ie will continue to build on our established presence and enhance our position as market leader in this area. We Lead, Others Follow... Thanks, Richard Moyles

I came across this post in our web site traffic reporting and this post is directed towards the "guest" who had made false claims about the Irish Federation of Master Tradesmen. [u]In response to your first comment[/u] Firstly the "guest" mentions his/her doubts. What doubts do you actually have? Would it not be better to mention to your doubts so that they can be clarifed? [u]In response to your second comment[/u] You are very correct in examining the credentials and history of any organisation you are invited to join but if you are to post a defamatory remark you should at least be more specific. You are leading others to think that their is something about the company history that isn't "quite right". This is defamatory. You mention that your EXPERIENCE is anything but positive, What experience do you have of this organisation? How can you make a claim of having an experience being anything but positive when you have not dealt with this company? If you have had a bad expereince with this company then of course your are right to express your views but unless you have had a bad experience your comments are totally unfounded and again defamatory. [u]In response to your third comment[/u] You make a statement that the IFMT's only membership criteria if the membership fee. I have to laugh at this comment because Membership's have been FREE since the launch of the company website right up untill 1st May. In fact we exhausted a lot of company resources in doing so. We provide all of our members with a micro web site. Why would we do this for absolutely no profit is we are only concerned with the fee? The membership rules as with most organiastions covers just about every rule of membership and does state that a percentage of membership fee's be paid in advance which will be fully refunded if an application is unsuccessfull. (This applies to memberships that require a fee) ANY other representative body do the same, We obtain genuine references for all applicants, in addition to check with the CRO office and other application proceedures. We also carry out spot checks on members throughout the year. Like you we are very particular about the company we keep. We adopt a far more thorough application process on all applicants than most other trade bodies to ensure that we provide consumers with the very best tradesmen in Ireland. We work closely with the general public through ongoing surveys, listen to consumers and adapt our company code of practice based around consumers needs. If you had bothered to take a look at the membership rules properly you would have seen that most of the emphasis is based around the applicants ability to offer a professional service and provide genuine references. I would invite anybody reading the previous post to visit the web site and in particluar take note of the Aims and Objectives. We are a Quality not Quantity based organisation and are 100% consumer focused. Yes we are a business not a charity so we do charge a fee (as from May 1st), In fact the fee's to join are considerably lower than any other competitors. We are not in the business of advertising Tradesmen. You could offer us any amount of money to be listed but unless you can prove you are skilled and reputable we are not interested. Of course we do actively promote our members on the website. Consumers come to the website to find a skilled tradesmen. It would seem pretty pointless in not listing our members wouldnt it ! We are a totally transparent company. We are a LTD company registered in April of 2005. Please check the Companies Registration Office. In addition we have a lot of other companies who support our website, this includes some of the County Councils and Chambers of Commerce. We are a new company and have a long way to go yet but I strongly urge this user to be careful when posting defamatory remarks with no prior knowledge whatsoever. We not only have our own reputation to think about but the reputation of our members. If this "guest" user's experience was less than positive then surely he/she would have been more specific allowing people to form their own oppinion. Without a name I can only assume that the "guest" submitted an application that was unsuccessfull or is from a "competing" organisation or company. I do hope the adminstrator allows the post of this message as I think it is only fair that we be allowed to clarify some of the issues raised. Kind Regards Emma Brown IFMT Ltd http://www.tifmt.com

Hi Emma, Well it seems you have certainly responded well to the post. We implemented a new member system so anonymous posting can if necessary be tracked. We however would only do this in exceptional circumstances. Thanks, Lisa www.furniture.ie

Hi Lisa, Thanks! The new system is great. Don't get me wrong I agree with freedom of speach and the write to voice an opinion but this was a case of an unknown person making claims of which he/she new nothing about. For example if I had a genuine issue with a company and decided to post a message about it I would offer more details as to the nature of my complaint. It sometimes makes you wonder what else people could post that is untrue in an attempt to give your company a bad name. Anyhow the new system is great. At least people can be traced should the need ever arise. Thanks a Million Emma Brown IFMT LTD

[quote="administrator"]A number of new sites have being launched in Ireland recently targeting the Home Improvement Market Here are links to them. http://www.pickapro.ie http://www.mytrade.ie/ http://www.onlinetradesmen.com/ http://www.ratethebuilder.ie/ http://www.dreamhomes.ie http://www.beautifulhome.ie http://www.homewise.ie Thats a lot of companies targeting this sector. We at Furniture.ie will continue to build on our established presence and enhance our position as market leader in this area. We Lead, Others Follow... Thanks, Richard Moyles[/quote] Just for reference I used a number of the above companies over the weekend to try and find a painter to paint a bedroom. Majority of the sites didn't have a painter listed for the area I wanted and the ones that did I either got an email back from the decorating companies involved saying they did not give there permission to be listed on the site and the others I have heard nothing back from. So all in all I would give it a score of 0/10

Hi Fintan, Firstly I am pleased that the IFMT would not have been one of the web sites you visited only to find people listed that didnt give their permission. We only list our members. Your comment is very interesting. A lot of business directory sites and sites that you have recently visited over the weekend tend to "pack" sites out with hundreds if not thousands of business listings. A lot of the data you find will be duplicated on a number of other sites and quite often if the data is not purchased from a list provider then it is simply taken from the likes of the golden pages. This is usually done for 2 reasons: 1) To pack the site out with content making it look like they have more customers which also generates paid advertising. 2) To provide a wide variety of listings for customers to choose from. Don't quote me on this but I am pretty sure that there is not a law against listing a company without its permission. I am certainly interested in finding out but from a customers point of view it must be very frustrating phoning companies only to find that they did not choose to be listed and therfore probably do not need to advertise. This is very interesting because from a customers point of view is it better to: a) Visit a site with fewer listings that display the details of customers who actually want to be listed and therefore are actively advertising its services or products. 2) Visit a site that is packed with 1000's of listings only to have to waste time and money by contacting them and still not find what you are looking for. Personally I would choose A Kind Regards Emma Brown IFMT LTD

Hi Emma None of the painters listed on your site, responded to my email. Thanks Fintan