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Businesses beware....
MORPH3US
Posts: 4,906 Forumite
A little advice to everyone in business or thinking about starting a business....
I know for a fact that there are companies out there who will go onto Yell, print off lists and lists of Businesses and then cold call them without any regard for privacy or telephone preference service rules....
But it gets worse, the companies that I know of will start by saying that they called you about 4 months ago and that you agreed to "sponsor" one of their advertising campaigns for a cancer charity.....
They make some small talk about how successful the campaign has been and then ask you for the cash that you promised to help....
Of course you have never really been contacted before and never promised any sponsorship....
The people will even tell you that they are volunteers and they they are not getting paid and that they do lots of charity work....
Of course there is no advertising campaign and these people are NOT volunteers....
Its amazing how many people will agree to part with hundreds of pounds just on the say so of someone on the end of a phone saying they work for a charity...
Of course there are genuine charities out there, but any calls such as the one above should be treated VERY suspiciously.....
ask them who they work for (they will probably lie, make one up or hang up)
ask them their name (they will probably lie)
ask them which SPECIFIC charities they are working with / for
tell them what their phone number is
THEN
ring them straight back and see if they answer - chances are they gave a wrong number if they even gave you one at all...
research on the internet to find out about the company
ring the charties involved and check if they are really working with these companies
and most of all, if it turns out to be a scam, make sure you let the charity know, ofcom know and everyone else possible, complain, complain, complain.... if this has happened to you, chances are its happening to thousands of others each day, only by complaining to the right people will this stop...
Sorry that went on a bit but if it helps one person then its been worth it
Let your friends know, let your colleagues know, pass this on.......
M
I know for a fact that there are companies out there who will go onto Yell, print off lists and lists of Businesses and then cold call them without any regard for privacy or telephone preference service rules....
But it gets worse, the companies that I know of will start by saying that they called you about 4 months ago and that you agreed to "sponsor" one of their advertising campaigns for a cancer charity.....
They make some small talk about how successful the campaign has been and then ask you for the cash that you promised to help....
Of course you have never really been contacted before and never promised any sponsorship....
The people will even tell you that they are volunteers and they they are not getting paid and that they do lots of charity work....
Of course there is no advertising campaign and these people are NOT volunteers....
Its amazing how many people will agree to part with hundreds of pounds just on the say so of someone on the end of a phone saying they work for a charity...
Of course there are genuine charities out there, but any calls such as the one above should be treated VERY suspiciously.....
ask them who they work for (they will probably lie, make one up or hang up)
ask them their name (they will probably lie)
ask them which SPECIFIC charities they are working with / for
tell them what their phone number is
THEN
ring them straight back and see if they answer - chances are they gave a wrong number if they even gave you one at all...
research on the internet to find out about the company
ring the charties involved and check if they are really working with these companies
and most of all, if it turns out to be a scam, make sure you let the charity know, ofcom know and everyone else possible, complain, complain, complain.... if this has happened to you, chances are its happening to thousands of others each day, only by complaining to the right people will this stop...
Sorry that went on a bit but if it helps one person then its been worth it
Let your friends know, let your colleagues know, pass this on.......
M
0
Comments
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You've also missed out the ones who will tell you about needing to register under the Data Protection Act and can obtain your domain name for you. To date, the highest fee I have seen quoted for 'attending to your needs under the Data Protection Act' is £195!!Gwlad heb iaith, gwlad heb galon0
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Mark7799 wrote:You've also missed out the ones who will tell you about needing to register under the Data Protection Act and can obtain your domain name for you. To date, the highest fee I have seen quoted for 'attending to your needs under the Data Protection Act' is £195!!
Also varied by purporting to register your company with Health & Safety Executive!
These requests have died off a bit, but basically, you will receive what is made to look like a summons, with an option to pay immediately to register. The summons is fake, and meant to scare whoever receives it into paying up. If you receive one, call your local Trading Standards Office to report it (only public intelligence keeps the investigations ticking over), and then bin it.0 -
There is also the ones that send you details of your FREE ENTRY on their site, which they want you to check and update and return to them.
What you don't notice is that if you also sign and date the form (which you think you have to do, to confirm the corrections), this then consitutes turning the Free Entry form into a Contract to Pay them, usually for 3 years, with no Get out clause!0 -
Just wanted to bump this up as I know for a fact that this is still happening on a very regular basis.....
M0 -
Bastages the lot of em. I put an ad in yellow pages this time and have had more calls off people trying to flog me advertising than I have had for jobs.
The correct procedure with these people is - as soon as you recognise they are flogging you something is to say nothing else and put the phone down it isnt impolite they should'nt be bothering you in the first place <
thats impolite.0 -
hate these people.
Stopped advertising because of them.
KILL THEM ALL0
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