“I think that since the pre-Xmas debacle of Nov 2007, the savvy ones among us knew what was coming. Certainly take the point though that salary-wise, alternatives in the area have been scarce, so some may have had little choice but to hang on.

From a personal perspective, though, I'm glad that so many senior figures got their comeuppance.

The day that Peter Franks' email burned into those 700 inboxes, was a day when my mood oddly enough altered from the humdrum to the blindingly ecstatic. I cannot describe the hilarity it generated among my rather select group of peers, it was an entertaining piece of narrative.

And hearing about certain senior people having to go home in tears, made the £2k reward seem more deserving if they'd added a couple of zeros and sent it to Franky himself.

17th July 2008 is Helphire's 'Where were you when Kennedy got shot' day, such is the notoriety.

Shame nobody paid extra up front to take out a Reputation Damage Waiver!”

“im not having a go at anyone but honestly we all knew it was coming we were warned enough , as for jobs in Bath you are totally right its really hard , and as for different departmants getting better pay outs thats just wrong i worked there 6 years and had some really good time there its just a pity the bosses got greedy and forgot that the key to a sucessful company is goo loyal Workers , treat the right and they will do right by you !!!!!!”

“I'm not here to moan about the directors bonuses, whether you think its right or wrong it happens in every Company up and down the UK. You can't fight or change it!
My main gripe about Helphire is the ludicrous and unjustified bonus they have stumped up for the notorious Collections department, I have first hand experience of this department as well the others - when I was there they got through 4-5 managers in under 5 years, everyone was constantly moaning and there was just a general 'can't be bothered' atmosphere. I will admit that there was the odd one or two who were good at their jobs and just got on with it. On the other hand you had the 2 operations departments who were constantly under the cosh, with no incentives and had to work evenings and weekends! But was there any moaning???
Not sure if it is wise of me to put the actual figures on this public domain but all I will say is that someone who worked there for 4 years (like me) would have walked away with around £4000 pre tax, probably enough to pay for my rent and bills for 2-3 months. A Collection handler who has only been working there for just 2 years can potentionally walk away with a cool £25,000! Oh, and i forgot to mention that they also have the added advantage of having an extra 5 months employment with the Company than the other departments.”

“D "HMMMMMMMM i think anyone who stayed til the end had Enough time to look for another Job"

Have you looked on any job site for places in Bath? The only jobs going are in southmead shopping centre where the pay 'meets the minimum wage'. Im currently on just under 10 an hour, so I'd have to work a 70+ hour week just to be equal to what I'm on currently... I don't think so :)

Bath is going under, and the only thing job wise out there is retail, which has to be the worst paid job ever (store managers offered 16,000PA? ha). .”

“CJ, your right sorry for being abusive, thou I just don't like it when you put down the staff that work there - I already know the downfalls of Helphire and everyone saw this coming a long way off, I even got warned about 2 years ago to the day to leave that company as it would be going under soon.

The main point is, this was one of Baths biggest employers (and at the time employed quite alot of people from Bristol?) its going to be putting alot of people out of work, with only the bare minimum of payouts. Only reason I just a letter instead of my name is because if I wanted to express my opinion about the company openly and it got back I'm pretty certain I'd be the 2nd most wanted person after the obvious number 1 :P”

“HMMMMMMMM i think anyone who stayed til the end had Enough time to look for another Job i got out as soon as i could , i worked there 6 years and Enjoyed my Job but as some of you may Remember we were doing just fine until the BIG bosses got Greedy and tried to punch Above there weight , the Bosses are to Blame but as always the Rich just get richer , still remember to this day When Mr S was in charge and the Company was onefor Bath to be Proud of !!!!!!! Shame the same can no longer be said .”

“Hey J, no need for the abusive comment - l'm free to make comments and I do so within the rules. If I have said anything that is inaccurate, then challenge tne specifics.

Like you I use my initials to post, more so to save typing out my name each time. Far from hiding, I am sitting in All Bar One right now enjoying the evening - white shirt, brown leather jacket, holding champagne glass.

Why not pop over and say Hi and I'll introduce you to Peter Franks and give you the lowdown on Helphire and its downfall.

Alternatively, contact me through Facebook and we can chat offline.”

“*sorry for spelling mistakes at work and in a rush!"”

“'CJ' No offense but you are a complete d1ck. Sure I'm not going to sit here and praise Helphire for the way that the company has gone but at the end of the day this place closing has put roughly 500 people out of a job. To you this may be a blessing, but there are people in there who are in their mid 50's early 60's who love their job, and will now struggle to find a job simular to the salary they were on.

Being everytime theirs a article on Helphire you comment, and even on the facebook group you give your opinion why don't you give your real name instead of hiding behind 'CJ' :)!”

“The sooner this company disappears from Bath the better. My sister worked her socks off for this company with very little thanks and no redundancy package as they managed to worm out of that one with the help of HR.Disgraceful - but they have always been a boom-and-bust company since the beginning.”