auction world tv - avoid!!!!!!

trisontana

More news about Auction World. It gets worse and worse ! :-

(Credit Riddles UkShoppingTV)

Today the BBC's Your and Your's programme revealed that they have carried out an investigation into the Bidding on a number of auctions on Auction-World.tv and they have revealed that Auction-World staff AND Directors were on a regular basis ringing in and bidding for their own goods, OVER 1,000 calls have been traced back to telephone and mobile numbers owned by auction world and infact approx 395 came for the Managing Director's own Line.

The You & Yours programme contacted the Police to ask if this was a legal way of doing business, the Police revealed that this behaviour known as "Shilling" IS ILLEGAL, and may begin investigations into this matter.

On one occassion the auction world staff bid numerous times for one particular item forcing the price up by thousands of pounds. And when the call centre staff rang this number at the end of the auction the person (Staff Member) would just say they had changed their mind and no longer wanted the item.

Sarfaraz

Disgusting behaviour! :-( Thank god they are off the Sky EPG now :-)

trisontana

Last Friday they finally lost their licence. Here is a summery of the Ofcom statement :-

Under powers delegated from the Ofcom Board to Ofcom’s Content Sanctions
Committee, Ofcom has decided in accordance with section 238 of the
Communications Act 2003 that the licence held by Auctionworld Ltd (“Auctionworld”)
to provide the service known as Auctionworld should be revoked with immediate
effect for the following reasons:
a) Auctionworld Ltd (in administration) has failed to comply fully with directions
previously imposed on it by Ofcom to take action to remedy serious breaches
of the Ofcom Code; and
b) Ofcom is satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest to do so because:
• the seriousness of the Code breaches committed by Auctionworld,
combined with Auctionworld’s inability to remedy its failures in accordance
with directions issued by Ofcom, are such that the continued holding of a
licence by Auctionworld is not in the public interest;
• Ofcom is concerned to ensure that such breaches are not perpetrated in
future by Auctionworld or by any successor to Auctionworld;
• Ofcom does not believe that Auctionworld, which is in administration, is
capable of complying with all the other directions Ofcom has made
including those seeking to remedy Auctionworld’s failures in respect of its
dissatisfied customers; and no evidence has been produced by the
Administrators of Auctionworld to suggest that it is capable of doing so;
• In the light of Auctionworld going into administration, Ofcom has reason to
believe that it was materially misled as to Auctionworld’s financial position
(it has not paid any of the fine of £450,000 imposed by Ofcom and
payable to HMG);

• Auctionworld will not be able satisfactorily to compensate its dissatisfied
customers: the Administrators have stated publicly that the vast majority
of customers who are awaiting either refunds or goods will not receive
anything owed to them from the Company;
• There is no persuasive evidence that revoking Auctionworld’s licence will
have any material adverse effect on the ability of the Administration to
provide appropriate compensation for Auctionworld’s dissatisfied
customers.

Here is the full ruling :- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/adv_comp/aw2.pdf

Sorry it is a PDF file but it is worth reading.

trisontana

Well Auction World have actually won an award !

Mirror's Sorted Column:

HIS business has shafted at least 27,000 people, so we were not surprised to find George Spitaliotis appears to have gone into hiding.

The runaway winner of our 2004 Awful Service Award was nowhere to be seen when we turned up at his £1million home.

Even one of his neighbours asked: 'Is that the award for the biggest d**khead of the year?'

Spitaliotis is the man behind collapsed TV shopping channel Auctionworld.

For much of 2004 we warned about the shabby service coming from the channel's Hertfordshire base: goods paid for which never arrived, hollow promises of refunds and permanently engaged customer 'help' lines.

Then in November TV regulator Ofcom backed up our allegations, saying the company was guilty of 'severely inadequate failures in customer services'.

The watchdog branded Spitaliotis's attitude as 'unhelpful and indicative of an approach that appeared to disregard the consequences - and the effect on Auctionworld custom- ers.'

Within days of the report the channel had gone off air and the company had called in the administrators.

It is still early days in the complex process of sorting out Auctionworld's debts, but we understand that £6million is owed to customers.

A further £14million is outstanding to others, such as banks and the taxman - a quite impressive disaster for George, a 'businessman' who is just 35. With this record, there was no question that he was due our trophy, so we pitched up at his massive house, just yards from where Victoria Beckham's parents live.

The usual Bentley wasn't on the drive, and, unlike most of his neighbours, George had skimped on the Christmas decorations.

One former Auctionworld employee, who, like most of them, is still fighting for his pay, told us: 'George has a taste for exotic holidays. He'll be sunning himself on a beach, surrounded by women.'

Furious victim Stefan Daniels of County Durham summed up the thoughts of many of you who lost money when he told us: 'Surely this is fraud.'

It could be, Stefan, but investigators need your evidence to prove it. Anyone who has lost out should register with accountancy firm PKF, who are probing the books and Spitaliotis's behaviour.

Call PKF on 0870 042 8120.

trisontana

For those of you who haven't heard the news , two directors of Auctionworld were found guilty last week over false guide prices , were fined nearly £30,000 between them, and barred from being directors for 18 months. The two defendants were George Spitaliotis and lawyer Nigel Rowley.

This not the end of the matter. The charges, bought by trading standards, were just to do with the guide prices. The DTI and Serious Fraud squad are carrying out their own investigations about how the company was operated. This could lead to much more serious charges. In addition Rowley is being investigated by the Law Society . This could result in him being struck off.

According to today's Mail on Sunday, Rowley tried bully-boy tactics in trying to silence critics of Auctionworld. When a woman, who felt she had been swindled over a diamond ring, told Auctionworld she was complaining to the Mail, solicitor Rowley demanded that police investigate her for blackmail. They chose not to. Rowley also threatened to sue the Mail if they printed any stories about the shopping channel.