My business needs to complain about another business, how?

Hi all,

Just abit of advice needed please.
I run a small beach cafe in south Devon and have an issue with a company called Sanderson Harper publications, based in York.
They say we agreed to post an advert in their publication Smart Choice and have issued an invoice for £129.
I have not seen any proof of the advert they claim to be posting , I have no idea what it looks like, how big it is or have seen a copy of their publication. Their website looks like a two year old could have done it and they have no company number or VAT number. I cant seem to find anything about their company online or the publication they claim to produce.
They tell me that I will see the advert after I have paid the invoice!
None of it sits well with me and I have bad gut feeling about it.

I just wondered what my rights were for withholding payment and how I could complain about them to warn other small businesses?

Comments

  • Alter_ego
    Alter_ego Posts: 3,842
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  • 00ec25
    00ec25 Posts: 9,123
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    edited 13 October 2017 at 1:57PM
    did you, or did you not, formally order an advert from said company or sign a contract agreeing to pay for such?

    there is an age old fraud involving false "directory entries" whereby a company is sent an invoice for a directory entry in the hope the recipient will process and pay the invoice without question

    if you have not ordered/contracted to pay for the advert then all you have received is an invitation to pay and you can decline the "invite" by filing it in the rubbish bin

    meantime check out the "company" and such "directory entry" frauds with the Government's action fraud line:
    http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud-az-business-directory

    if you still want to "complain" then report them to action fraud
    http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud

    EDIT
    searching on "who is" https://www.whois.com/whois/sandersonharper.com
    that website was set up in May 2017 and is registered as a private individual. Since it is ostensibly a company that is a breach of registration and a strong flag that the website is fiction and likely to disappear to prevent further tracing.

    as you yourself observe, a website which does not provide any indication of how to buy the product they are selling suggests there isn't one to sell, particularly given the only google results list them as magazine retailers not wholesalers!
  • This fraud has been going around for years, do not pay them a penny until that can show that you have signed an order for this work. The old favorite use to be an advert in the such and suck police diary. Its a con, do not engage and they will go away.
  • firefox1956
    firefox1956 Posts: 1,548 Forumite
    Yes its an old scam going the rounds again by the look of it.
    Ignore them...........
  • Totally a scam. Spend no more of your time thinking about it.
    No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...
  • Would second all the others, let them chase you - ignore it.
  • These guys are demanding money from me on a very similar story to yours. Their rude and persistently aggressive approach has been quite shocking. Did you report them to action fraud? Their website makes them seem legitimate but I am pretty certain they are not and are making a small fortune out of people who don’t stand up to them.
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