Radio 2 Discussion – eBay’s Removal Of Psychics

I was asked to join the famous skeptic and psychologist Richard Wiseman on the  Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 about Ebay’s ban on Psychic readings today. I have never advertised our services on Ebay except when I auctioned myself for charity as I don’t think it is the appropriate place however I do feel it is wrong to ban it. Richard Wiseman was in favour of the ban but we both agreed that the psychic industry needs regulation. Some of the readers on Ebay clearly breach the Advertising Standards rules and give us all a bad name but some have 800+ 5 star reviews. I think Ebay is making a moral judgment and as we do not live in a fundamentalist society, a wrong one, it just needs to bring it inline with the law! However, one of the reasons I started this service is that a lot of people are getting ripped off. Michele Knight Psychics have a very strong code of conduct and here is just a small part of it. We need to stand together to make the psychic industry one we can all be proud of.

Client confidentiality is crucial.  You must not discuss who you have done readings for or the content of any readings with anyone outside of the company at any point.

Industry regulations state that we must not talk about anything related to health – this covers making diagnoses and talking about pregnancy or the gender of a child to a pregnant woman.  Other than saying it’s a good time to make savings, you should also steer clear of anything to do with financial matters.  Also, don’t talk about anything to do with court cases.  This covers expected judgements in criminal or civil law proceedings. If a person has been charged and is in pre trial judgement case it is known as Sub Judice and as such it is illegal to make comment in public.  What you say over the phone may be written down and published by the client and you as the reader could be held in contempt of court.

Please encourage callers to contact services that may better suit their needs, such as their GP for any health concerns or the Citizens Advice offices for practical advice related to legal or financial matters.  If you feel that your client just needs to talk, please remember that the Samaritans offer a free service.

You are expected to maintain appropriate boundaries with clients at all times and work to the highest professional standards.

You are there to use your psychic skills to help clients make their own decisions and choices in life – not to tell them what to do.

Don’t keeping clients hanging on the line.  Readers aren’t paid for any time in excess of an hour and a half per reading unless there is an exceptional reason as to why a call is taking that long,

If you feel that any client is showing signs of dependency on you, either by calling you too often – especially if they are asking the same questions again and again – or trying to make you responsible for the decisions they need to be making in life, then do flag clients up to reception.  If possible and relevant, we will contact them to encourage them to use more services that offer them more appropriate support.

Be very careful about using the word ‘soul mate’ in a relationship reading.  Monitoring thousands of readings has shown us that people have associations with this word that you might not intend.  It can set up a whole set of expectations that can lead the client to disappointment.  It’s such a loaded word that we advise that it’s just easier if you don’t use it and don’t let yourself get pushed into saying someone is or isn’t a soulmate!

As part of all of our commitment to continuing professional development, it’s important that you work with monitors should the need arise.  All calls are recorded and randomly monitored to ensure that the highest professional standards are being maintained.  Very occasionally, we receive complaints and every complaint is thoroughly investigated.  If we find that any reader has broken our code of ethics or conduct, they are immediately removed from the service.

If you join the team you will be asked to sign a contract which in part will state that you agree to work to industry regulations and our code of ethics or conduct.  

You might be able to listen to the show here. I appeared on 21st August 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wr3p/episodes/2012

What are your views on the Ebay ban?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.