📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

survey uk voucher

1356

Comments

  • Glad
    Glad Posts: 18,944 Senior Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Mortgage-free Glee! Name Dropper
    Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL] :)
    I am a Senior Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Wales, Small Biz MoneySaving, In My Home (includes DIY) MoneySaving, and Old style MoneySaving boards. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • BoingBoing_2
    BoingBoing_2 Posts: 362 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Guess what I got in the post today...

    Straight in the bin!

    Looks like they're doing Worcestershire now. Might be worth finding out what gym it is tho and the complaining to the gym about the marketing company's tactics?
  • lifeslove
    lifeslove Posts: 348 Forumite
    Got one of these this morning, I'm in Fife, silly me was contemplating calling . In the bin with it.
  • :T Hoooooray!

    I have just had the very same in the post!

    I did ring them, i like wasting there time. Oh! I have won a Gold membership, where? My local Heath club LOL!

    Also, he asked if anyone else like wife or friend would like to go? I said both my Sons are swimmers and my wife would be interested. Well, well, well. He had a look on his computer.......and......."its not very often, but I can allow you to take them with you"

    Hmmmmmm, £3.81 per week, £198.12 ea per year, £792.48 per year for all 4 of us, not quite the free gift!

    As Tommy-Tech said above, its in a crappy part of town where you wouldn't park your car for long, and don't go there after dark! What a way to get new customers....:rotfl:

    If you get one....call it....its a local number (for me) 01452 is in Cheltenham, this is where Survey UK is bassed.

    Good luck all...................:D
  • Similar to Tommy-Techs (above) case.
    When I called 'Survey UK' they told me that my 'gift' (gold membership to a local 'ladies'health club(I,m a guy)) was worth £750 over a year. Pretending to be calling on behalf of a female friend I called the health club with a general enquiry regarding the different types of membership available. There was no mention of a gold membership until I said that just 'won' one. "Ah! that's something completely different", I was told. I was then passed to a specific member of staff who told me that it was all ligit, the gold membership is normally £35 per month (that doesnt come to £750 a year for a start!). Considering there is'nt normally a 'gold' membership how can it be 'normally £35 per month'. I was told that I would only have to pay £3.81 a week "maintenance". I was seriously considering passing it on to a friend. But 'too good to be true' was bugging me, so I called them back and asked them what the standard membership inlcluded. There was 7 day access to all their facilities but not 'fitness classes'. That had to be paid for separately. "Did the 'gold' membership include the fitness classes" I asked. "eh? no". So the gold membership is actually the standard membership in disguise:cool: and can be had for £20 per month through their website. So my 'maintenance' fee is 4 x £3.81 = £15.24 per month. That makes a saving of £4.76 per month which is £57.12 in a year not £750.
    Once your in the door and find out you've been excluded from those fitness classes there's a reasonable chance that you might start paying for them. It would be interesting to find out if many guys get the membership of a ladies club. The 'gift' is transferable and if you believed this to be a truly great offer you would almost certainly give to a female friend who in turn is less likely to make a fuss when she finds out that the gift is not exactly 'gold'standard. She would'nt want to offend the friend who kindly offered her the gift in the first place. Bunch of rats eh? I passed this info along with the address of 'Ladies' Fitness Club in question to the OFT. Let's hope they pay them a visit.
    PS. Can't take legal action against anyone who has offered you a 'gift' can you?
  • BLOO_LOO_2
    BLOO_LOO_2 Posts: 19 Forumite
    Got mine today. Thanks to all your posts, mines in the bin.

    Addressed to MR/MRs 29 allocations, expires 11Jun2008.

    They been going a while so they must be making money.
  • I got one of these yesterday from Matters Consulting Ltd t/a Survey UK. Same old thing expires in a weeks time, maximum of 50 gifts available. Total value of gifts exceed £32,500
    Woohoo!

    I was bored and have spare time at the mo so did some digging. Victoria House is certainly a busy place for fitness advertising companies.

    The first mention of all of this I can find is a reference on greenspun.com in Oct 01 relating to LMD Ltd sending out the same old bits of paper. LMD Ltd are said to be connected to Opinions Ltd but I can't find anything that ties them to Victoria House.

    But theres more...

    In 1997 dutch marketer Alphons Petrus Smit set up AMC Fitness Ltd with italian fitness club manager Donana Smit. The company is registered as an advertising company, based at Victoria House and 'care of Hazlewoods' (more on this later). On the same day Mr Smit also set up Fitness Sales Ltd with british fitness centre owner Martin Flett; again an advertising company based at Victoria House. Both also are connected with 37 St Georges Road.

    Fitness Sales Ltd was dissolved in 2006 but AMC Fitness Ltd is still active.

    Next, in 1998 Carmen Kroll and italian Phillip James Kroll set up Winfield Marketing which is quickly renamed to Opinions Ltd (said to be trading as Survey UK). Based at the now familiar Victoria House this is the company that was said to be linked to LMD Ltd in 2001. In 2002 the Advertising Standards Authority ruled against Opinons Ltd (see link below). The company is still active.

    Finally, in 2006 british marketing man Peter Farnell and Amanda Phillips set up the advertising company Matters Consulting Ltd which also trades as Survey UK. They are of course based in Victoria House. Interestingly, the contact on their company return is Hazlewoods LLP of Cheltenham (Mr Smit's original company from 1997 was also 'c/o Hazlewoods') who are probably their accountants. Amusingly if you look on the back on the 'Congratulations' leaflet it says (c) 2004 Matters Consulting; 2 years before the company was formed.

    So, theres a bit of a tangle of companys there for some reason. Personally I'll be sending my gift offer back to Mr Farnell though I'm not sure if I have a stamp handy.


    http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=006mNF

    http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/non_broadcast/Adjudication+Details.htm?Adjudication_id=34914
  • Please do not touch this with a barge pole or anything else! I received one of these and got scammed! If you google for "free membership scam" you will read about hundreds of people who are very upset because they were tricked into signing a binding contract for a 2 year membership which if they cancel are supposedly bound by the consumer act to pay nearly £400! They tell you there is a small weekly "maintenance charge" but do not tell you that this is non-cancellable.
    It really is just a marketing ploy to get people to sign up for membership that not everyone is going to want for 2 years.
  • Jen262
    Jen262 Posts: 3 Newbie
    I got a congratulations letter this morning!! But aware that my next door neighbour got one too, for a laugh i rang them and i received a gym membership worth £750 what a load of *******, my neighbour also phoned them to get given the same thing, and were advised of a maintenance fee. We were aware of the scam before we phoned it......... DO NOT TOUCH THOUGH. Nothing is ever simple anymore!!!
  • Jen262
    Jen262 Posts: 3 Newbie
    I got a congratulations letter this morning!! But aware that my next door neighbour got one too, for a laugh i rang them and i received a gym membership worth £750 what a load of *******, my neighbour also phoned them to get given the same thing, and were advised of a maintenance fee. We were aware of the scam before we phoned it......... DO NOT TOUCH THOUGH. Nothing is ever simple anymore!!!
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.9K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.5K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 599.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.2K Life & Family
  • 258K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.