Author: Matthew Green
My Friend Fraser
There is a common aphorism that simply states, ‘there are no friends in business’. I have no idea who to credit the quotation too, nor am I going to argue its merits. Instead I would like to tell you about an exception to this ‘rule’.
Several years ago I was running my own company and one of the products we specialized in was a range of software for magazine and newspaper publishers. It was a fantastic solution, still is in fact, but it was new to the market place and needed quick traction in order to succeed. With that in mind I targeted the three biggest magazine publishers in Australia, a task that would involve frequent demonstrations, lengthy proposals and the bashing of my head against a solid brick wall of negativity.
Ah, the joys of being a sales representative 🙂
I hate cold calling! All sales people do. Show me someone who likes it, and I’ll show you someone in need of a visit to the loony bin. But in this instance I had no choice and eventually my constant chipping away at the stone wall called ‘NO’ lead to an introduction to an enigma named Fraser Crozier.
Andrew Lomas and Fraser Crozier at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin
Fraser was larger than life. A giant man both in stature and personality, with a goatee like a rebel biker, a smile wider than the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and a laugh as wicked as any evil comedian. Fraser’s work persona was balanced by an intimidating knowledge of publishing software and a gentle kindness when explaining said processes to those that were not up to his level.
At first he frightened me. Not literally of course, but I was never confident in conveying my sales pitch to him purely because he knew more about my product than I did. Fraser surrounded himself with other brilliant minds and guarded his domain with the tenacity of one of Tolkien’s dwarves. He was a terrible target for cold calling and in the early days of our friendship I had to psyche myself up just to make another attempt to get through.
Fraser had a strong pre-press background, which is the same industry I had come through. As a result I knew many of the people he had worked with in the past and had done business with some of the companies who had employed him. With common ground established Fraser formed a strong friendship with myself, and my two business partners. We worked closely together and produced some incredible solutions, but more importantly we socialized together and shared some marvelous memories.
One of my fondest was the conference we attended together in Spain in 2007 with my business partner Andrew Lomas. Our hotel was a health spa on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and although the days were occupied in obtaining product knowledge, the evenings were spent drinking Tanqueray gin, sampling the various tapas restaurants in the backstreets of Calafell Village, and generally partaking in many other ‘unhealthy’ activities.
Fraser, Andrew and I solved the problems of the world during this trip, built ethereal publishing solutions that would make millions, argued about the vocal range of Billy Joel, laughed at the improbable antics of fellow conference attendees, and enjoyed each other’s company. By the time we returned to Australia a strong bond of friendship had been established.
In the years that followed dinner parties, Christmas parties, birthday parties and any other excuse to share a meal were easily and frequently found. Fraser helped us build our business, shared in our successes and generally became ‘one of the family’. He had truly transcended the boundary between client and friend.
Fraser Crozier passed away on Sunday 7th July 2013, 21 days shy of his 43rd birthday. Cancer is such an arbitrary disease.
The magazine publishing community mourns an industry gentleman, but I grieve for a friend taken way too soon.
Rest in Peace.
We Buy Any Car Scam Update 2
On the 30th July 2012 the dodgy dealings of webuyanycar.com.au (WBAC) finally came to a head and the company was sent into administration and ultimately, liquidation. Many people lost money including employees, business associates and customers who sold them their motor vehicles in good faith.
I wrote about this unethical dealership in three blog posts. The first one titled Life Lesson Well Learnt outlined my own personal experiences in dealing with them before they went broke. With the flood of comments that soon appeared I realised I wasn’t the only one to experience their callous disregard for other peoples property. Luckily my story was able to find its mark and prevent others from suffering the eventual loss.
My second post came out after they were already placed into liquidation. In that article I included correspondence from Mr. Jeremy Herbert from webuyanycar.com in the USA who was keen to point out that they had no relationship with the Australian business or the Burbages. Unfortunately, it was already too late for many Australian consumers so I pointed people in the direction of Worrells solvency agents to make their case.
Other sites like Stuff Review and Product Review were also doing their best to inform the public as to the devious dealings of the Burbage business, but unfortunately all we could do was become a sounding board for those that had already been hurt.
Then everything went quiet. There has been nothing in the Australian press on the subject of WBAC for many months now and it seemed the Burbages had become harder to find than Christopher Skase. Their dead-of-night Houdini act cost them a million dollar home in Fig Tree and wife Lorraine’s $200,000 Bentley. It also cost around 1,200 trusting consumers over $3.6million dollars according to the Courier Mail.
Back in March this year I received a comment on my article about WBAC going into liquidation from a reader who was convinced that Hampshire Vehicle Sales in the UK was a new business that the Burbages were involved with. I ran the comment and was contacted five days later by Mr. Ryan Overton who claimed to be the proprietor of Hampshire Vehicle Sales and had no affiliation whatsoever with the Burbages.
Mr. Overton stated that he was the sole Director and owner of that company and that they were doing their best to trade through difficult times. He asked me to remove the links and, finding no evidence to link the Burbages to the company, I did so as a gesture of goodwill. Unfortunately I may have been misled.
Stuff Review ran an article over the weekend also linking Hampshire Vehicle Sales with the Burbage family. They went so far as to perform a whois search to ascertain the registrant of the website and according to their site it is Lorraine Burbage. I checked this last night and found the same information – see the image opposite.
Needless to say the comments are now back visible on my website.
Over the weekend I received an email and a comment on one of my posts from a Mr. Henry Winster who informed me that,
“Mr Burbage has been summoned to attend the Federal Court in Brisbane to answer questions in regards to his involvement as a director in the company. This is to be held on 3rd July 2013 I think. Worrells have more information for people wanting to attend as it is open for the public to view. Mr Burbage is not in Australia but has fled back to the UK where he has opened up another business with I guess the same intention of ripping off customers again.”
I checked the Commonwealth Court Portal and both Richard Burbage, and his business partner Mr. Armand Daiga have been summonsed to appear. The case number is: QUD171/2013. If you want to look it up yourself follow the link and click on ‘Federal Law Search’ in the top right of the image on the page you are directed to. You may have to accept the terms of use but after that you will on the search page where you simply enter the case number and hit ‘Search by file number’.
The guys at Stuff Review also picked it up Mr. Winster’s comment and added,
“Regarding webuyanycar / Karlands liquidation. Worrells are currently conducting a public hearing in the Brisbane Federal Court and have already questioned key secure creditors and Karlands ex accountant. A second 2 day hearing is scheduled for 2nd & 3rd July in Brisbane where both directors (Burbage & Diaga) have been summonsed to appear. Whether both will attend is yet to be seen as Burbage is in the UK and has started a similar business.”
Whether Hampshire Vehicle Sales is a Burbage concern or innocent bystander remains to be seen however, just because their names don’t show up on a company search does not mean they are not involved. In my experience ‘silent partners’ are not always that silent so, if you are going to transact with this company do your research and perform your due diligence before you part with your car.
And to everyone in Australia still feeling the pain, good luck and stay strong.
Richard Burbage.
The Honey Hunt
For those of you who don’t know me, and that’s probably a lot of you considering I’m a very private guy 😉 , will probably know that I don’t share a lot of personal information on the web. Oh sure, I wrote all those wonderful iDad stories about my family, but I rarely ever post pictures of my children or myself in social media, unless it is for close friends and relatives.
I’ve been on Facebook since 2007 and have kept a lot of my private information off there. Over time however there have been a couple of facts creep in such as birthdays, job changes and educational achievements, but the majority of my comments, likes and status updates are innocuous and of no interest to anyone outside my circle of friends.
Or so I thought!
When I separated from my wife a little over two years ago I changed my relationship status to single. It was a weird, hollow feeling selecting a different line in that drop down menu and I resolved that I would not alter my relationship status again – regardless. Thankfully my partner feels the same way and we have kept our private life private from all but those we love.
In the months after changing my status I added more ‘likes’, went to a few ‘events’ my friends had organised, commented on pictures of food, tattoos, other people’s kids and holiday snaps, and checked in at a few sporting arenas and concerts. All the while, in the background, Facebook’s algorithms were quietly categorising me.
I didn’t make it easy for Facebook. I never told them whether I was interested in men or women. I never indicated a political preference. My religious status is right out of Monty Python – He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!
They know I live in Sydney, but not where.
They know I am a male, but not what I look like. My avatar is a bleeding voodoo doll with a pin sticking out of his neck.
They know where I work because my profile is linked to the company page.
But that’s it.
Over the last few months however I have noticed that the sponsored links on the right hand side of my news feed have become somewhat more targeted.
I have posted comments about Rugby League and my love of the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the past. Now I am seeing ads for Tom Waterhouse Betting who has a direct link to the National Rugby League and its broadcaster, Channel Nine.
I have commented on the ink my friends and relatives have etched onto their skin. Now I am being invited to view images of sexy tattoos from Harlow Minx.
When I posted that I had signed up for the City to Surf this year my feed was flooded with sponsored ads from Adidas, Nike and Puma.
Comments about my career have lead to offers of MBA study at various universities.
The day I taught my children to ride a push bike I was offered 70% off cycling shoes from SportPursuit as well as florescent wheel reflectors and special sunglasses.
It is an amazing marketing tool that Facebook possesses here, but the one offer I seem to receive the most is love.
At first it began with a little ‘fun at forty‘ which lead to an immediate regret at telling them my birth date 😉 Then I was offered some cheeky social love, dating profiles on Zoosk and all manner of pretty girls apparently looking for boyfriends.
After a while of not clicking through to any of these offers they became more persistent. I was being introduced to young women, mature women, some that wanted faithful men and others that wanted love from a distance. I could buy three dollar lingerie for any potential prospect, which I am sure would be itchy and uncomfortable, and get some rhinoplasty for my nose. They even tried to convince me to join a website that purported to be able to get my ex-wife back.
Each month the promise of love was greater and greater until yesterday when I received the attached image as one single line of adverts on my Facebook feed.
No more shoes.
No more credit cards.
No more bank loans.
Perhaps I should change my relationship status after all?
An open letter to Manly coach Geoff Toovey.
Dear Sir,
Let’s examine some recent evidence.
Manly centre Steve Matai leaps into the air to clothesline George Burgess with a violent swinging forearm and only gets a one week suspension with an early guilty plea.
Manly coach Geoff Toovey spits the dummy.
Manly fullback Brett Stewart drops his elbow into Andrew Everingham’s jaw, even though Andrew wasn’t even carrying the ball, and gets away with the offence through an early guilty plea.
Manly coach Geoff Toovey has a whinge.
Manly forward Richie Fa’aoso drops Greg Inglis on his head not once, but twice, in a blatant and dangerous spear tackle and only gets an eight week suspension. Bulldogs centre Krisnan Inu got five weeks for doing it only once to Greg Inglis. Based on the precedence Richie Fa’aoso should have got at least ten.
Manly coach Geoff Toovey sooks to the cameras.
Manly forward Jason King also hits Greg Inglis with a spear tackle and drops him on his head, resulting in six stitches for the South Sydney fullback. No penalty at the time. No charges laid.
Manly coach Geoff Toovey bitches about how unfairly his team are treated.
Anyone could easily think that this list of misdemeanours occurred throughout an entire season, but they didn’t. They happened in one spiteful 80 minutes of Rugby League when Manly coach Geoff Toovey’s team showed up to fight and the South Sydney Rabbitohs concentrated on playing football.
In the post match conference, after Souths had run out convincing winners, Manly coach Geoff Toovey complained that the elbow to the jaw and the swinging arm did not warrant penalties. Manly coach Geoff Toovey also suggested that Greg Inglis was taking dives and falling on his head on purpose.
WTF Manly coach Geoff Toovey! Are you serious?
Manly captain Jamie Lyon claimed Greg Inglis head butted the ground on purpose so he could get a quick play-the-ball.
Yeah, right.
Manly winger Jorge Taufua thought the illegal forearm by Manly centre Steve Matai, was “f. . .ng awesome, man, I love playing outside that guy. When he pulls it off, I just lose it.”
Oh dear!
Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans thought the illegal forearm by Manly centre Steve Matai was “a cracker of a hit.”
I wonder if he would feel the same if it was his face that Manly centre Steve Matai sought to rearrange with his right forearm.
Sensibly Manly forward Richie Fa’aoso hasn’t commented yet. Don’t forget though that this is the same guy who hit Gold Coast forward Ashley Harrison with an illegal shoulder charge earlier in the season. Ashley was left concussed and had to be stretchered off the field. Manly coach Geoff Toovey lashed out at the judiciary via every media outlet he could find that would listen to his insane rantings and managed to have the charge downgraded. Richie Fa’aoso only got a one week ban.
Manly forwards Justin Horo and Brenton Lawrence were put on report for dropping West Tigers centre Blake Ayshford on his head in round 4. Nothing happened to them.
These are not simply heavy hits from hard men in a tough game of Rugby League. They are blatant, illegal practices from a coach with no other ideas.
Greg Inglis (with stitches) and Adam Reynolds from South Sydney
Well congratulations Manly coach Geoff Toovey, you have once again galvanised the entire rugby league community into a hatred for your team, something previous Manly coach Des Hasler had worked so hard to change.
Perhaps, Manly coach Geoff Toovey, you should concentrate on actually coaching your players on how to play football? Thuggery and brutal stupidity might have you riding high on the competition ladder at the moment, but as your players build up an unsavoury reputation with the judiciary, and the suspensions become longer and longer, you will slide into oblivion.
Just a thought.
P.S: Yes I am a South Sydney supporter and no, I have never played Rugby League outside of high-school. So what makes me qualified to comment? Check out the video above and see for yourself.
Images from the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC, and Fox Sports.
Matt's Notes 