Email/phone agreement by a Hypnotherapist

Whittleme

blue_monkey wrote: »

She is not plotting her next move, she realises she is screwed!!

If she re-invoices you then ignore the invoice - or write back saying that you would prefer this to be taken to small claims court and a judge can deem whether the things she has charged, are a fair price. She has already charged you £200. Yes I thought by telling her she could keep it with my best wishes would have been really pleasing for her as she really had done nothing. At least I didn't
say, I'm sorry I can't carry on due to financial problems... oh by the way I want my £200 back. I wrote the £200 off as I had asked her to help and had wanted her to help me, so saw it as a penalty.

She is making herself look very desperate, money grasping - and insane. I totally agree with you. How can a supposed professional act like this and be credible?

Someone asked - Small Claims court takes about 48 hours for the documents to get to the plaintiff. You MUST respond else they will find in her favour, you will be able to request that the hearing is held nearest to you - which means she'll have a long journey ahead of her to fight it. Oh yes I would reply immediately. Her registered office is about 180miles away from me, so it's quite a trek!

She has done this before, you can pretty much guarantee this, be the first to stand up and say no. It's really sad I know how low I felt when I first spoke to her, you just want to cling to someone who shows you a small amount of hope to end your misery. She is just out to fleece people like that.

I would also reporting her to her local Trading Standards as well as every other single Hypnotherapy body you can find to ensure she never tries to register with them. I can't find any Hypnotherapy bodies where she is actually registered... yet.

I am having a think as to why she is VAT registered if she has several different companies? Why not spread the work over the companies and not pay any VAT and keep that money herself? It is a serious question. If she is taking in £100k, why give £20k to the VATman when you can keep it yourself by billing through separate companies? The only real reason for doing this is if you have expenses you can offset - and if she is giving phone 'therapy' she is probably on a tarriff that gives free calls so there is virtually no expenses there and reading emails, no expenses there. She is doing something else..... can someone else work out why on earth she would be VAT registered? I don't know enough to answer that question.

Thank you for your input blue_monkey, I appreciate it.

Whittleme

peachyprice wrote: »

So she can go shopping at Makro/Costco and claim back the VAT of everything she buys there probably, plus the tax on her petrol and her gas/electricity/phone/BB. It can be quite lucrative working from home and being VAT registered.

I am learning something new every day on this forum.

Cheers peachyprice!

Whittleme

Padz wrote: »

Have you considered posting her business contact details OP?

Would be interesting for a few of us to contact this person pretending to be prospective clients and see what she says!

The reason I haven't named and shamed is because I want to find out from the CAB if I am in the wrong in anyway. I know I have been wrong in lots of ways but I mean if I have broken the law somehow.

If she is in the wrong and they say she is exploiting people then I will probably name her. I would not want anyone else to feel what I have felt this last week, also I wouldn't want them to give her any money as that's all she cares about, she is not interested in helping people really.

barbiedoll

I don't think that the CAB will tell you that you have done anything wrong, all you're guilty of is trusting someone who is not worthy of that trust. And as I said before, you're not alone there.

I do hope that you find the confidence to "name and shame" her, I'd definitely give her a ring! (And I bet I'm not the only one, she deserves a few outraged MSEers on her back! :mad:)

Glad you're feeling a bit better about the whole thing.


ps...even if we don't ring her, if you name her and we keep this thread going for a bit, whenever anyone researches her name, this thread will pop up, mwah ha ha! (That's my evil laugh! :rotfl:)

blue_monkey_2

peachyprice wrote: »

So she can go shopping at Makro/Costco and claim back the VAT of everything she buys there probably, plus the tax on her petrol and her gas/electricity/phone/BB. It can be quite lucrative working from home and being VAT registered.

I work from home and am VAT registered - you really can't just go shopping and stick petrol in the car and claim the VAT back like that. You have to have a reason for it and it has to be a business expense and there has to be paperwork in case you ever get inspected.

Plus she is registered at companies house so you cannot just put everything through as she will need to be properly audited and the accounts submitted. Maybe a few reams of paper, loo rolls and coffee (which I do not bother doing tbh) I have expenses because I have to send out mail so have mailing bags, labels, toner and paper to buy but you cannot claim everything back just because you are VAT registered and work from home - well, I guess you could but maybe I am too honest, you'll be screwed if you get inspected. There are not even any business rates or rent to pay when you work from home. You could try and get away with it if being a sole trader but as a Ltd company - not a chance.

The same with Phone and BB, if you are using it in home you cannot claim 100% of the bill either.

It is not 'lucrative' working from home and being VAT registered and you cannot just claim everything. This is why there has to be some other reason for what she is doing. She is not even having many face to face meetings (and those she does she is charging £1000 a time for). Ridiculous. You cannot claim all the VAT back on cars, my initial though was her running a 100k car and claiming the VAT back on that. She could be leasing an expensive high powered car though and putting that through to offset the VAT. maybe she is running several as she has a few businesses. Hmmmmm.

blue_monkey_2

You have done nothing wrong, she is using her skills to determine whether you have low confidence and so she can try and fleece you for money. She is a con artist. Pure and simple and I think you should start adding reviews telling people what she has done. Let her say it is slander, you have all of her emails to prove it if she tries to take you to court.

Tell others she bills at £500 an hour for reading emails and sending texts. Also that her sending texts asking how you are is considered are billable time and part of your therapy. It is laughable. Use the words she has written like this as part of the review so you can PROVE none of it is slander.

Review her 'services' at every opportunity where you can - she is bringing the profession into disrepute as well so this is why I say you should report her to anyone you can and maybe they will do something about it. I'd certainly report her to Trading Standards (different to consumer direct, get the number of them from Google, they try to get you to go to CD but you can bypass and find your local Trading Standards)

There is only one thing you can do to people like this and that is make sure they cannot rip anyone else off. Ever. Now you have found the strength, please try and do this. She should not be allowed to do this to anyone else.

The CAB are not going to blame you, she took advantage of you and this is nothing to be ashamed of. We all do things when at our lowest ebb, you are being strong and finding the strength to say 'no' and you should be really proud of yourself and maybe this will be the first steps of your recovery - although you'll not realise this.

I'd also champion slimming World, it helps you understand what you are eating and if you need to eat, you still can but things that are good for you instead of bad things. My husband lost 6lb this week on his first week, just by not eating junk. Give it a try, even if it is by signing up online. I found WW too restrictive with counting whatever I ate, this works for me and even if I want to eat it makes me choose healthy choices instead of bad choices. Good luck.

Laz123

If she persists I will draught a letter for you which will shut her up. It involves mentioning the NLP governing body, of which Paul McKenna is a member.

peachyprice

blue_monkey wrote: »

I work from home and am VAT registered - you really can't just go shopping and stick petrol in the car and claim the VAT back like that. You have to have a reason for it and it has to be a business expense and there has to be paperwork in case you ever get inspected.

Plus she is registered at companies house so you cannot just put everything through as she will need to be properly audited and the accounts submitted. Maybe a few reams of paper, loo rolls and coffee (which I do not bother doing tbh) I have expenses because I have to send out mail so have mailing bags, labels, toner and paper to buy but you cannot claim everything back just because you are VAT registered and work from home - well, I guess you could but maybe I am too honest, you'll be screwed if you get inspected. There are not even any business rates or rent to pay when you work from home. You could try and get away with it if being a sole trader but as a Ltd company - not a chance.

The same with Phone and BB, if you are using it in home you cannot claim 100% of the bill either.

It is not 'lucrative' working from home and being VAT registered and you cannot just claim everything. This is why there has to be some other reason for what she is doing. She is not even having many face to face meetings (and those she does she is charging £1000 a time for). Ridiculous. You cannot claim all the VAT back on cars, my initial though was her running a 100k car and claiming the VAT back on that. She could be leasing an expensive high powered car though and putting that through to offset the VAT. maybe she is running several as she has a few businesses. Hmmmmm.

Ah, but if she's churing out £4500 invoices, that could suggest she's claiming to be doing a lot more travelling etc than she really is.

Shes' proved she's clearly not as honest as you, and lest face it, if her turnover isn't that high the chances of an inspection are pretty slim. I think we've had one in the last 20 years.

blue_monkey_2

Thats it peachy, makes you wonder just what she is claiming for when she is doing sod all!! I am too honest though, that is my problem, LOL.

What a piece of work.

2 positives from this OP - 1) you have saved yourself loads of money and 2) you have gained some confidence you never thought you had, just by taking on this piece of work.

Go back to your first post and see just the change in you - we all have moments in our life where we make the wrong decisions, use those experiences to help you move forward and not backwards. Go and see your GP and talk to him.her. Write things down if you cannot say them, I am not sure how overweight you are but the GP can give you a 10 week starter course to slimming world, why not go and have a chat. Good luck, you sound like a lovely lady - this was just a little blip that has made you a little stronger.

peachyprice

blue_monkey wrote: »

2 positives from this OP - 1) you have saved yourself loads of money and 2) you have gained some confidence you never thought you had, just by taking on this piece of work.

Go back to your first post and see just the change in you - we all have moments in our life where we make the wrong decisions, use those experiences to help you move forward and not backwards.

Exactly what I was thinking, OP sounds so empowered now. This could actually turn out to be the best £200 she ever spent