Review of askagonyaunt.com
By Carmel, 12th Sep 2010 | Follow this author
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Review of the website askagonyaunt.com by Carmel Brulez, retired professional agony aunt
Everything you need to know about askagonyaunt.com
I worked as a full-time professional, self employed agony aunt for many years. During that time I came across a lot of people who claimed to be agony aunts but were not up to it, and were either in it for the money or their ego.The first thing you need when you go to a web site for advice is someone running it who is properly qualified and has a good reputation. With this site, ask agony aunt, you get that.
It was interesting to note that Charlotte Craig actually bothers to do a site, ask agony aunt, when she has been working for many years and could easily retire. Really the amount of money she gets from ask agony aunt is not worth it for her if she is taking it seriously financially, so she must be doing ask agony aunt because she wants to help even more people than she already has.
The home page at ask agony aunt is well laid out and gives you the opportunity to join, for free, to gain various advantages to non members, who can also use the ask agony aunt site ask agony aunt.
You can consult Charlotte Craig personally, something I think a lot of people would take for granted, as most agony aunts employ others to do their mail! This lady does not get staff to do all of her work even though she is more qualified and more experienced. Please note that all other sites employ people who are less qualified than Charlotte Craig and pass on their work. This ask agony aunt is the only site online at the moment where you can personally consult a well known and highly qualified agony aunt. Charlotte Craig has over 30 years of experience. You will see on the ask agony aunt site that Charlotte Craig has written for newspapers and had famous clients.
You can read other peoples' problems and reply to them on the ask agony aunt site, read articles, go to the forum at ask agony aunt and post and read and make friends or chat in the chat room.
You can also buy cheap but very helpful booklets written by this experienced and famous agony aunt, depending on what your problem is.
I think a good touch is that it is possible to end up working as a paid agony aunt for Charlotte Craig on the ask agony aunt site.
Ask agony aunt is the best agony aunt site online at the moment, I doubt you will ever get a better one as there are no others out there with more qualifications or experience, and the few who might be as qualified and experienced as Charlotte Craig are either retired or they get others to do their work and just head the organisation. Remember too that well qualified and experienced agony aunts would usually charge a lot more than Charlotte Craig charges on her ask agony aunt site.
Askagonyaunt.com will be popular with anyone who has problems, likes to give advice, likes to make friends and likes to learn.
So why am I bothering to tell you all this now that I am retired? Simple. Although I have been retired for over twelve years I still get a lot of people contacting my office asking me to deal with their problems or pass them onto a suitable agony aunt I can recommend. I used to tell them I was sorry but I could not help. Then I decided to look at all of the websites online and find out which one I can safely recommend. This took a long time and a lot of dedication. But I preferred to do that rather than telling people I cannot help.
Having poured over the many sites online and compared them, including ask agony aunt, I found that a lot of them were housewives or disabled people who set it up because their lives are boring, or because they are lonely. Others are set up by people with no qualifications or skills or proper work experience who want to make some money quickly and easily and cannot think of any other way to do it. I am very wary of the very young ones who set up sites and claim to be all knowing. At least with someone like Charlotte Craig and ask agony aunt you know she has been around a bit and has experience of life and she is not doing it because she is short of money. A site like ask agony aunt is not set up to make money. The woman already made her money years ago. And if money was the main thing she would charge higher prices on the ask agony aunt site. She could easily charge a lot more and still get a lot of customers.
To give you an idea of how incompetent a lot of so called agony aunts are that have no proper reputation or qualifications, I get an average of ten every week writing emails to me asking me for advice on how to become a paid agony aunt. They tell me they are very clever and know all the answers and would be great at it, but need someone like me to get them on the road to start with. Why? If they are that good they would not need any advice or help! Nobody ever gave me any advice or help, I worked it out for myself. And I am sure that Charlotte Craig never got advice about ask agony aunt or any of her other work.
I recently set up a dog clothes business, which pays me very badly but it is a lot of fun. So you can see that I really have turned my back on the agony aunt world. I am sure that it will not be that long before Charlotte Craig resigns and closes down ask agony aunt, as she is not a young woman. But I hope that then she will continue to run the ask agony aunt site in some way, so that the site is still available, perhaps just putting in a few hours monitoring who does the work. In the meantime you can be sure that Charlotte Craig, the famous, highly qualified agony aunt is available personally through ask agony aunt.
Comments
8th Jun 2011 (#)
Askagonyaunt website
I have been on the askagonyaunt website for three weeks after applying for a job as an agony aunt with them. When I first read the information on the site I was rather skeptical particularly as they asked for no age restrictions, qualifications or experience but offered training at cost. The training does not have a time period but ends when Ms Craig believes that you are ready.
For those who did not wish or could not afford training the other option was to prove that you were had time available, could write well i.e. no spelling mistakes good grammar and can offer appropriate advise without rambling. Interestingly despite the insistence that spelling and so on is of great importance I noted spelling errors on the website. After three weeks a decision would be made as to whether you were accepted for the post but you would not be notified if you were not successful. .In respect to this option there is no means of direct contact with future employer or any indication of future terms and conditions.
For those who are successful through training they have to undertake 5 years of work otherwise suffer financial penalties if they paid for the reduced training package.
A new feature on the website is where a newspaper or magazine advertises for agony aunts but requirements seem to be that you are trained or work for askagonyaunt and or are a member of the Agony Aunt Association which from my research is only achieved by training with Ms Craig. I found no other official recognition of this association.
During the three weeks on the website I contacted a well know agony aunt who currently works for UK national newspaper and she in no uncertain terms warned me against paying this website any money for training and not to go down the route to become an agony aunt as offered by this website. She said that most agony aunts are journalists and she offered advice re becoming an agony aunt.
I have put a number of questions to Ms Craig and her associates but few have been answered. Unsurprisingly I was not offered a job!
Reply to this comment
22nd Jun 2012 (#)
tHIS IS A REPLY I GOT FROM THE SO CALLED AGONY AUNT??
You actually call your possible employees SILLY for asking questions about
> the type of job she/he may be applying for. Your Agony aunt site is so
> unbelievably rude to it's agony aunts who give THEIR FREE TIME UP TO ANSWER
> QUESTIONS UNPAID...WHILE YOU REAP THE PROFITS AND MISLEAD AND INSULT YOUR
> VOLUNTEERS. Disgraceful!!!!
Hi all from your friend Charlotte Craig ! askagonyaunt.com
Friday, 22 June, 2012 20:33
Get your facts right. You came here to do a job interview. Nobody benefits from that. Nobody wants the advice of amateurs who
are not qualified. The clients who come to us have a 1 2 1 session with one of our tested paid qualified staff. They are not
interested in your opinion and they can get one for free if they want an amateur. That is all clear on the site. Why would
anybody pay us to sort out that you advise them when you are an amateur? They can go to amateur sites for free advice then or
ask their friends and family. You are not a volunteer. You were applying for a job. Obviously you are just sour and angry
because you are not worth employing. Which is hardly our fault. Our staff ge t paid very well and they are the only ones we
allow to deal with actual client's letters. Do you honestly expect us to be grateful to you just because you applied for a job?
You should have read the frequently asked questions page. You are not doing anyone any favours by doing a job interview and you
are obviously not bright enough to be offered the job if you cannot see that.
God bless.
From the team at askagonyaunt.com working with Charlotte Craig the famous agony aunt and advice columnist.... take care all
THIS IS A NO REPLY EMAIL. DO NOT REPLY. WE DO NOT READ REPLIES. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW IS ON THE SITE.
Reply to this comment
10th Jun 2011 (#)
I have been an agony aunt long enough to know, and I have worked for national magazines and newspapers.
The famous ones DO NOT read and reply to their own mail, they get juniors to do that. They get about 1000 letters a day, so be more realistic. Why would anyone warn you against paying for lessons? You must have thought you needed lessons or you would not have asked?
How can you say you are bright enough to work as an agony aunt when you are bombarding websites and agony aunts for (free) advice?
Agony aunts are problems solvers, they do not need advice from other agony aunts.
Reply to this comment
23rd Jun 2012 (#)
Carmel sounds very similar to me in her agony aunt style????hmmm notice the word BRIGHT pooping up,
Reply to this comment
15th Jun 2012 (#)
What do i think...not a lot about this particular agony aunt especially the way she sends emails to her volunteers practically threatening them to answer more and more questions for free!!!! or they won't even get any offer of a job paid. Yeh Right!!!! recieved one today...her caring attitude towards her volunteers is (don't bother to reply with silly questions about these jobs) this is hideous thinking she can get away with talking to her helpers like this that actually DO HER JOB WHILE SHE POCKETS THE PROFIT. WATCHDOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SHOULD BE WATCHING THIS AGONY AUNT WEBSITE AND OFFICIAL BODIES CHECKING IT OUT.
Reply to this comment
12th Jul 2012 (#)
Here is the latest verbal abuse from C,G agony aunt !
Thank you for that hilarious laugh. YOU a qualified psychotherapist. You cannot even spell the word. And it is clear you are
not good with people or well balanced enough to work in mental health. If you had a very good job you would not be getting
annoyed that you were turned down to work with us. We have not broken the law. You are simply sour because you wanted to earn a
lot of money with us and failed. A genuine psychotherapist would not care, they would be too busy running their business.
Please buy yourself a dictionary and next time you wish to lie about your job spell the word correctly. People who come to our
site and do a job interview are not volunteers, idiot. They are doing a job interview, we get nothing from that other than
wasted time. Beautiful is with one l not two. No wonder you could not get a job working for us. You cannot even spell. You are
a fraud.
Reply to this comment
12th Jul 2012 (#)
Not a very nice agony aunt is she.... this Charlotte Craig. Fancy name calling people how childish and how angry is she? just because she is getting found out.....I may not be a good speller but quite frankly
Reply to this comment
15th Jul 2012 (#)
Hi ALL who want to know the truth about Charlotte Craig Agony Aunt! Here is another abusive email After i sent a reply asking her to leave me alone.
READ ON!!!!!
What a moron you are. A bad speller does not apply for a job as an advice columnist. Idiot. Anyone with half a brain knows that
you need good spelling to do that. And you are clearly mentally ill anyway. Now piss off. And stop sending us abusive messages.
Go and get a job lazy cow.
From the team at askagonyaunt.com working with Charlotte Craig the famous agony aunt and advice columnist.... take care all
What a moron you are. A bad speller does not apply for a job as an advice columnist. Idiot. Anyone with half a brain knows that
you need good spelling to do that. And you are clearly mentally ill anyway. Now piss off. And stop sending us abusive messages.
Go and get a job lazy cow.
From the team at askagonyaunt.com working with Charlotte Craig the famous agony aunt and advice columnist.... take care all
What a moron you are. A bad speller does not apply for a job as an advice columnist. Idiot. Anyone with half a brain knows that
you need good spelling to do that. And you are clearly mentally ill anyway. Now piss off. And stop sending us abusive messages.
Go and get a job lazy cow.
From the team at askagonyaunt.com working with Charlotte Craig the famous agony aunt and advice columnist.... take care all
What a moron you are. A bad speller does not apply for a job as an advice columnist. Idiot. Anyone with half a brain knows that
you need good spelling to do that. And you are clearly mentally ill anyway. Now piss off. And stop sending us abusive messages.
Go and get a job lazy cow.
From the team at askagonyaunt.com working with Charlotte Craig the famous agony aunt and advice columnist.... take care all
Reply to this comment
15th Jul 2012 (#)
Hi all again who want to know the truth about the NOT SO SMART AGONY AUNT CHARLOTTE CRAIG, WHO KEEPS SENDING ME ABUSIVE ADVICE THAT I NEVER ASK FOR. tHE ONLY LIBEL HERE IS WHAT CHARLOTTE CRAIG HAS WRITTEN HERSELF, DISCREDITING HERSELF AND SHOWING HER TRUE COLOURS. I HOWEVER AM PRETTY THICK WITH SPELLING BUT HEY AT LEAST MY WORDS ARE TRUTH!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE RIGHT FINANCIALLY I DON'T HAVE MUCH, I AM A HOME CARER AND A QUALIFIED PHYCOTHERAPIST...EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY . I WORK FOR FREE IN MY WORK HELPING STOP SUICIDE , SEXUAL ABUSE, REHABILLITATION,, TRAUMA, MENTAL HEALTH AND I WORK WITH GOOD SPIRIT AND MIND AND A MONEY GRUBBING FAKE LIKE CHARLOTTE CRAIGS ASK AGONY AUNT SITE, WORDS WILL NEVER BRING ME DOWN TO HER LEVEL. YOU CAN HAVE ALL THE WEALTH IN THE WORLD LADY AND YOUR CLEANERS WILL ALLWAYS DO A BETTER JOB THAN YOU.
READ ON BELOW FOR ANOTHER COPY OFCHARLOTTE CRAIGS VERBAL ABUSE ...WHO IS THE IDIOT ?????
Wrong again idiot. You sent us two emails demanding we write to you and being very verbally abusive to us. We have copies of
them printed out. You cannot claim we abused you when you wrote worse things and wrote them first. And you are not allowed to
do no win no fee for verbal harrssment either. Stupid. You know nothing of the law. We have to know the law because we get paid
for advice. As for money not ruining you. You tried to get a well paid job here so you are obvously very keen on money, you are
simply not bright enough to get a job where you can get the money. Everything you write in the mails you sent us was
inaccurate and libellous.
Now I am telling you for your own sake go and see a psychiatrist and explain to him that you tried to get a job you are obvously
not bright enough to get, lost your temper and write libellous letters to the business. Nobody sane does that. A sane person
would not apply for a job as a writer when they cannot spell. I feel very sorry for you. It is a good thing we get sane people
who can spell and who are bright here applying for jobs. Really you are the sort who should be paying for advice, not making
out you can sell it.
If you write again we will have another email proving you are harrassing us and it is libel sweetie. But I doubt you own a
business or house or anything worth having so if someone sued you would have to go to prison instead. The usual term is 3 years.
Three years in prison if you have not done it before. Five years if you make a habit of it. And all because you got angry
because you did not get a job that you are clearly not good enough for. You really should check out your facts before you write
a lot of drivel. My cleaner is 64 and inarticulate and she can do better than you when it comes to writing advice.
From the team at askagonyaunt.com working with Charlotte Craig the famous agony aunt and advice columnist.... take care all
THIS IS A NO REPLY EMAIL. DO NOT REPLY. WE DO NOT READ REPLIES. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW IS ON THE SITE.
Reply to this comment
15th Jul 2012 (#)
You don't scare me and neither does prison, THE TRUTH always wins! and you are getting found out, that is why you are so angry. You are shocked how somebody is not letting you trample all over them. Exploiting vunerable people your prison sentance would be bigger than mine!
Reply to this comment
15th Jul 2012 (#)
II find these words rather strange that she wrote on one of the sites:
Especially the NO TRAINING OR QUALIFICATIONS NEEDED....She is a little dumb really contradicting herself ....shouting about not wanting amateurs to me.
Work as a £50 per hour Agony Aunthttp://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/work-as-an-agony-aunt
I advertise for agony aunts and uncles on one of my websites because I am now so well known and followed in this field that people who are wary of going to unknown or unproven people are happy to come to me for advice. I am always on the look out for new people - males or females of any age, no previous training or qualifications needed, who can join my team and work from home online reading emails from clients and emailing them back with support, understanding, answers and advice. I value my experts and pay them £50 + per hour and they choose their own hours, part time or full time, so long as they can give me 5+ hours a week.
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