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searchforcompanies
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paulpud
Posts: 338 Forumite
Working as a manager in a small business I was this morning handed a document that had arrived in the post, my boss asking me what I had signed us up to as he did so.
The document was from a company called Hansa Media and was headed searchforcompanies.
searchforcompanies.co.uk appears to be an online database of businesses, simlar to Yell. The format of the letter made it look identical to an invoice with our reference number, web PIN and the monthly/total charges for the service from 25th Jan 2011 to 25th Jan 2012, to be paid by 24th April. Underneath were the payment details for both BACS and cheque payments.
It certainly left us scratching our heads as we couldn't recall agreeing to anything of this nature. I was about to look on the net for further info when I saw the small print at the bottom. Amongst the bumpf it explained that this was an offer of a service and not a demand for payment. If we didn't pay up our details would be removed.
In my opinion this is a very underhand way of doing business and more than a little naughty. There's no doubt a document like this could get passed through to finance as an invoice and in some cases get paid.
Beware
The document was from a company called Hansa Media and was headed searchforcompanies.
searchforcompanies.co.uk appears to be an online database of businesses, simlar to Yell. The format of the letter made it look identical to an invoice with our reference number, web PIN and the monthly/total charges for the service from 25th Jan 2011 to 25th Jan 2012, to be paid by 24th April. Underneath were the payment details for both BACS and cheque payments.
It certainly left us scratching our heads as we couldn't recall agreeing to anything of this nature. I was about to look on the net for further info when I saw the small print at the bottom. Amongst the bumpf it explained that this was an offer of a service and not a demand for payment. If we didn't pay up our details would be removed.
In my opinion this is a very underhand way of doing business and more than a little naughty. There's no doubt a document like this could get passed through to finance as an invoice and in some cases get paid.
Beware
0
Comments
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I would think you could report this to the Advertising Standards Authority - if it's basically an ad, being passed off as an invoice.
http://www.asa.org.uk/Complaints/How-to-complain.aspx0 -
Cheers for the heads up on this underhand way of touting for business .. ill pass it on to our finance dept to keep an eye out for anything similar..
But yeh report them"If you no longer go for a gap, you are no longer a racing driver" - Ayrton Senna0 -
For anyone interested I have uploaded a scan of the document (with the sensitive data removed)
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x14/paulpud/searchforcompaniesb.jpg0 -
Well known scam.....tens of millions of pounds per year scammed.
Been around for decades.....well known as ECG [European City guide]
See iirc www.stopECG.org for efforts to stop it.Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why then you're as thick and stupid as the moderators on here - MSE ForumTeam0 -
There has been an adjudication on this type of company just this week:
http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/3/The-Phone-Book-Ltd/TF_ADJ_50061.aspx0
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