Sold advertising on phone - want to cancel, can I?

benchin440

Oncebittentwiceshy wrote: »

One more name to add to the pile safe4kids. This time its sponsorship for a safety awareness campaign. Doubtless one or two things do get distributed to keep the whole thing marginally legal but essentially the scam remains the same.
Safe4kids Ltd appeared as a name change from kids-safe who are under investigation by the Advertising Protection Agency (TAPA).

Any further info on this company as they have approched me for support

mryates56

Hi all

I would rather not say how I know, but most of these companies are scams, your adverts never see the light of day, the sales tactics are 90% lies, and you can refuse the invoices and not pay for them, tell them that the sales reps have mis-sold you the advert and unless they can prove the circulation of the magazine your not interested.

jimdec

I too have fallen for this scam. I paid £200.00 to WW,s last march for an advert in ESNews, and was then bombarded with calls thanking me for my support and could I please settle my account. They promptly hung up when I insisted I had paid. One caller - "Andy", introduced himself as the crime prevention officer for N. Yorks police, and insisted that I owed more money. He forgot to hide his phone number, and when I asked why the N.Yks CPO was calling me from Liverpool (0151) he promptly hung up ! I still have the number in my phone, but it is always engaged. I emailed WW,s and they called me to say that these calls were nothing to do with them,- yet they were the only people who knew anything about me and ESNews. The calls did stop, but they have never sent me any proof of my advert appearing in any publication, despite several promises to do so. I put it down to experience, but don't even answer my phone now if the caller hides their number.

chuffedoff

I have just joined the forum for support on this. I have not paid my invoice, but it was sent last week, for almost £3,000. Judging by the research I have done over the last few days it's only going to be a matter of time before things get bad. I have no idea what to do. i can't believe that people can be in a legally binding contract without seeing or agreeing to any terms and conditions. Surely both parties need to be aware that they are entering a contract for it to be valid??

chuffedoff

Update - I have been speaking to the advertising protection agency (TAPA) and they have been extremely helpful. I would recommend that anyone that is suffering at the hands of advertising companies should contact them to register a complaint and sign up for their opt out scheme.

jimbogti

oh dear, i have also been tricked by this, They caught me in a good mood, and there tactics are very good, they originally phoned me 3 days ago, first call being somebody from emercency services press office (yeah right) and second being weinstein williams guy, who spoke very quickly. Didnt take long for me to click what had happened... a matter of minutes.

Im a registered gas safe installer and have my number on gas safe register website, which is the only place they could get it. Im going to call consumer direct tomorrow, but i cant afford to seek legal advice.

I recieved the proof, which was actually sent to somebody else, but think thats royal mails mistake. Im wondering if being completely ignorant with them will work. Or even writing to them explaining my rights? it doesnt seem they operate like a normal business.

I really cant be doing with constant calls and letters, it seems they have made examples of some people on there website, but surely they wouldnt bother?

So what steps would people offer somebody in my position?

chuffedoff

Ignore them. They're bullies and use intimidation and threats to get money out of people. They're being investigated by Trading Standards. Registering with the Advertising Protection Agency is a good thing to do too. If nothing else, give them a ring and talk it through with them - I guarantee you'll feel much better afterwards.

redfraction2

I was also contacted by a "police man" who told me about advertising in a local magazine. Agreeing to this i was then contacted by a man from Weinstein Williams who spoke very fast. I was stupid enough to buy this straight away with my card for the 10% discount. They then sent me a proof which was terrible. I never received an invoice and never heard another word from them. This was in November last year.


Then in mid Jan, I then received a call from another advertising company called StreetBeat Associates. Saying that the advert i originally agreed to was with them and that i have a contract with them. they then sent me an invoice and another shoddy proof. i have googled them and found nothing but an address.

any advice would be greatly appreciated

owner

redfraction2 wrote: »

any advice would be greatly appreciated

Don't pay and just ignore them.

KatiePrice

We get phone calls from "the fire service" to advertise in their magazine - we always say no but recieved an "outstanding invoice" last week. My husband phoned them and they said we had to pay because we agreed to the advert over the phone. My husband explained that we hadn't agreed to anything and to cancel the invoice. They insisted they would prove that we had agreed to an advert and would phone us back. They phoned us back later to say that they couldn't find the recording of the phone conversation (... maybe because there wasn't one!) and they agreed to remove the invoice from their records :j
... so yes either ignore the invoice or get them to check their phone records; with no proof they cannot enforce an invoice