Advertising scam

[mrhsaddler]

Having been caught out by scammers, I am looking for anybody else, who placed adverts over the summer in national equestrian magazines, who then received calls and demands for money, for adverts that they did not place, they usually say they are working on behalf of the Police, fire brigade and schools, for safety awareness booklets, wall charts etc. Apparently this is a well known scam and has been going on for years,
I have been to Trading Standards, who told me there was nothing the scammers could do to get money from me, as a verbal contract is not binding, the scammers mainly opperate from Liverpool and Manchester, they have even been pretending to be my bank, asking for security details.

I will be very interested to hear from anyone else in the same position as myself.

Martin

 

[Bosworth]

I had it continuosly when I owned a saddlery, always from liverpool or manchester and always claiming to be firebrigade/police schools etc. I would simply say I wasn't paying anything out till I had a sample of what they were proposing and as they could never send anything I was Ok. i did have them getting nasty and saying I hadn't paid and threatening me so again - just ask for proof and they go away. But then I also had the pervert who would always respond to anyone who placed an advert in an equestrian mag asking if they liked leather and wanted to punish his very naughty pony who needed spurs and a leather whip. Just a fact of life when you advertise.

 

[magicgirl]

We have had this for years. I ask to see the signed agreement for the advertising, I then tell them I will see them in court. Some are very persistant and very rude and threatening, I usually tell them to Foxtrot Oscar.

 

[mrhsaddler]

[ QUOTE ]
I usually tell them to Foxtrot Oscar.

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny you should say that!! it`s exactly what I told the woman on the other end of the phone last time she called.

 

[Dubsie]

Sadly it is not just confined to the equestrian market - I have had similar calls every month, and you just have to be firm and say no. My favourite line is 'Sorry I have already spent this years advertising budget' - they can't really get round that.
A friend of mine was in a similar boat to you, even to the extent of her being taken to court but the case was dropped on the day (cost her more in legal fees than the advert), so I would say stick with it if you have nothing authorised in writing, and they'll probably drop it

I have been caught out by a large free newspaper group with 3 initial letters based in the midland/bedfordshire with a well known Sunday edition. Their sales person rang and said they were doing a feature on the product specifics we sell, and wanted an advert to accompany the article, which I agreed as it was only £75. However this was an out and out lie, when I got a copy of the paper firstly there was no article and secondly our advert was on a page completely unconnected to our product, in fact the editorial was at the opposite end of the spectrum along the lines of bath taps being advertised on a page with an article about one day eventing!

What was even worse was that for MONTHS afterwards we were phoned weekly by different branches of the same group (your details are circulated as a sucker for advertising), so I explained very nicely to the poor sales rep ringing us why we would never advertise again with that group every time and insisted we were removed from their database. This took about 4 years to effect, and touch wood I think at last we are now marked 'DO NOT CALL THERE IS A MAD WOMAN WHO WILL RANT AT YOU FOR HALF AN HOUR AS TO WHY SHE WON'T ADVERTISE ' in their database!

I also had an instance with a national very well known directory where I advertised with a small advert once as we had just moved and had to change the phone number, and at the time were paying for a call centre to handle the calls. Consequently I needed the advert to state the specific products we sell to avoid wasting money with the call centre answering calls from people saying 'do you stock x,y or z when it is clear we don't if we advertised our specific product range. The following year I said I didn't want to advertise again (as we'd stopped the call centre), but this directory firm produced a fax copy purportedly from me signed and dated. I think it was actually a photocopy of the previous years autorisation with the date changed (it looks smeary and not the way I do 4s) - as the sending fax number printed at the top of the page was the old number which of course we were no longer using on the date it was supposedly sent - but I couldn't 'prove' it, so we had to pay and some snivelling little sales rep no doubt got their commission.

Oh and our industry has a chap called Brian who is well known for his 'odd' calls. He's more of a nutter, never pervy or overly suggestive, just his story never adds up or matches the last time he spoke to you

. He seems harmless or lonely and in need of someone to spin a tale to, but you never know! He also travels miles to visit your premises unannounced. I will not entertain his visits and fortuitously as we're mail order not a shop, and are upstairs in a shared building, security on reception are aware of him - he is quite distinctive and unlike our other visitors who are younger and mostly female, they ring through to me and somehow I seem to be miles away from the premises and never due in on the day he turns up (even though I might just be tucked away upstairs

)

(Sorry bit of an essay, can you tell I have just been listening to a sales rep while I typed?)