Georgeson shareholder

catz1ct

Damn right.

Bromley86

A recent related thread on this board:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1341965

skintscouser

They are legit. I got a letter asking if I was Mr. ..... and if I had ever lived at a certain address. At first I wondered were they bailiffs or debt collectors chasing me up for something from the past. However, if u look on the above links to the website, they are tracing people who are owed money from shares. I spoke to someone at the office who explained the process.

They tend to have only limited info to go on. The letter will ask if you lived down a certain road / street. It won't say what number. If you did live down that road, then you will be owed money. They'll also ask if you have had any shares and you need to fill in the blanks. So check back if you had any old building society accounts where they have floated and now are plcs. If it is 'you' and you can satisfy their verification procedure, they will start the process and send you forms to sign. They want results as they get commission, which is fair enough as they are helping people at the end of the day.
Good luck to anyone who is owed money, esp at this time of year.:beer:

Ema_M

How do I find out what this is in relation to without paying Georgeson? Got a letter from them this morn? Not sure what it is concerning though?

Ema

martmc

My wife has just received one of these letter out of the blue from Georgeson, but it's pretty vague as to who the shares belong to. It just says "Our research shows that you may be the person that is entitled to an outstanding entitlement from the company in question". With no reference to who 'The company' is.

Upon further research it looks like these guys have been exploiting legal loopholes to gain control of unclaimed shares and charge whatever they like as commssion. Unfair, but all above board:
http://www.altlaw.org/v1/cases/1135771
http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/legal-services-litigation/5697149-1.html

I think we're going to steer clear and do some homework ourselves.

Hardtofindafreshname

Firstly thanks to those who posted above, this is my first posting on the site. Out of the blue my parents emailed me a letter they'd received recently from a company called simply "Georgeson," trying to trace me. Instantly I thought it was a scam as it is so vague, of unprofessional appearance, and doesn't even refer to a previous fixed address of mine, but a location from where correspondence was collected, certainly never registered with any financial operator with whom I held accounts.

As usual I checked out the addresses and postcodes on the letter on Google and BT phone book (in which it didn't appear), and any other refs I could find on the net. Amazingly I have 3 different postcodes for their alleged Pavilions address and Im confident I could find more ! On one document they even show 2 diff postcodes in the space of a few inches as can be seen here :
http://www.georgeson.com/unclaimed/pdf/Georgeson.Terms.and.Conditions.pdf

Google earth searches resulted in the following locations matching the various post codes : One was in Bridgwater Road BS13 8AE, another was in Headley Lane 1.2 miles away at BS13 8AL, and the one on my letter was 6.1 miles away on the other side of the city BS99 6AB which appeared to be a residential only area.

After careful thought I came to the conclusion that the letter was a scam, ask yourself how many legit companies would have three diff postcodes for one address ? And that's before we start talking about phone numbers, I have seen 3 different freephone numbers, and 3 different from outside the UK numbers, again I'm sure I could find more if I tried. Add some of the reports from the above postings and it doesn't sound good does it ?

I think it's possible that a "bogus" Georgeson sent out this letter, in the hope that replies would end up at BS99 in which location the scam may be centred. There does appear to be an organisation "Georgeson Shareholder" which could be the organisation being duped ?

Oh and by the way, the letter wasn't even signed or details of any staff names quoted ! Coincidentally I do have a policy with one of the three companies that have been mentioned in this thread so I will contact them in the morning informing them of the letter I received today. Finally please note that many of the people who have defended Georgeson on this thread are newbies, that could also arouse suspicion. Hope this has been of help.

Lansdowne

I have no reason to defend Georgeson but have you read all the posts about them? including their web site?
Basing suspicion on Google is loony. Business postcodes very often do not correspond with their geographical address, for example BS99 is probably a PO Box number. Have 3 different freephone numbers? No staff names mentnioned? Just look at your phone, gas etc bill, bank statement. It's quite normal.

There are plenty of perfectly legal scams run by legal companies. Many people object to companies hired to clamp visiting cars on private land who charge £150+VAT to release the vehicle, but it's (usually) legal. And the obnoxious adverts 'let us help you claim compensation' ads. And many others.
Looks as if this company is running a similar business to legally part people with their money on a dodgy premise. And if it turns out you are a Standard Life shareholder without knowing it, they may have done you a favour without any payment by you.

dini_2

They are on the level. However, they will charge a commission.

I googled a bit, when I got my letter, and realized it was probably to do with a With Profits fund I started (and stopped as I really couldn't afford it ) about 18 yrs ago with Standard Life. (Probably only remembered them because they are the only people I have ever taken out anything like that with).
Anyway I phoned Standard Life, and went through security questions, and discovered I own 346 shares (currently worth about 700 quid) that were awarded to me when they changed to a PLC. I also have dividends due to me of about 90 quid and a cheque is on its way to me.

So if you can remember setting up a policy or an endowment with them ring them directly.

Hardtofindafreshname

Lansdowne wrote: »

I have no reason to defend Georgeson but have you read all the posts about them? including their web site?
Basing suspicion on Google is loony. Business postcodes very often do not correspond with their geographical address, for example BS99 is probably a PO Box number. Have 3 different freephone numbers? No staff names mentnioned? Just look at your phone, gas etc bill, bank statement. It's quite normal.

There are plenty of perfectly legal scams run by legal companies. Many people object to companies hired to clamp visiting cars on private land who charge £150+VAT to release the vehicle, but it's (usually) legal. And the obnoxious adverts 'let us help you claim compensation' ads. And many others.
Looks as if this company is running a similar business to legally part people with their money on a dodgy premise. And if it turns out you are a Standard Life shareholder without knowing it, they may have done you a favour without any payment by you.

In response to the above,
1. Yes I have read all the threads, I spent approx three hours referencing
2. There are TWO different Georgeson websites in existance, one appears genuine, the other possibly not. I guess you are unaware of this ?
3. Suspicion was not "based on Google," however some information was obtained from that source as stated. That was how I found this thread.
4. The BS99 on the letter I received is not a PO Box address, it forms part of the Pavilions address on such.
5. Utility bills have no comparison whatsoever to such letters, utility bills are legally binding contracts to supply services to known persons at known addresses. No utility bill ever asked personal questions as to the whereabouts of any particular missing individual, did it ?
6. It is incredibly poor business practice to fail to sign a letter in such circumstances, especially given the nature of the enquiry, thus arousing further suspicion
7. Car clamping is off subject and has no relevance in this thread whatsoever
8. Please study my original posting again, as clearly you overlooked the fact that I suggested there be TWO organisations parading as Georgeson, one legit, another not.

The one thing that is surprising, is that no one from a legitimate company named Georgesons, who must surely be aware of this thread by now, has come on to the site to defend any negative feedback.

Feel free to post any postive on-subject response please.

Hardtofindafreshname

dini wrote: »

They are on the level. However, they will charge a commission.

I googled a bit, when I got my letter, and realized it was probably to do with a With Profits fund I started (and stopped as I really couldn't afford it ) about 18 yrs ago with Standard Life. (Probably only remembered them because they are the only people I have ever taken out anything like that with).
Anyway I phoned Standard Life, and went through security questions, and discovered I own 346 shares (currently worth about 700 quid) that were awarded to me when they changed to a PLC. I also have dividends due to me of about 90 quid and a cheque is on its way to me.

So if you can remember setting up a policy or an endowment with them ring them directly.

Thanks Dini, this is a good posting. On the basis of it's content, would you please post up the exact Georgeson name, and details they supplied of their address inc postcode, phone and fax numbers. To clarify, thats the details on the letter you received but didn't act on directly. This would be most helpful. Thanks in advance.