Carter Mills & Co....help please

baz2277

Hi all,

I received a call from this company this week telling me they could reduce my business rates and made an appointment for today (Friday). I then had a call first thing to say the rep couldn't make it and they explained to me how I could get my rates down to zero!

Carter Mills said they would do all the legwork and would be free up to that point. If there was a saving to be made/or an appeal to the valuation office then this would be a one off fee of £495 & vat.

My rateable value is 10250, and I pay £4800 minus small business relief. I've also just successfully applied for the retail discount as well saving a further £1000. So I've already halved the original amount myself.

My question is : Has anyone had experience of this company, and is there a likelihood of a successful appeal?

I started trading last February and actually had a valuation officer out at the time to look over the site as I wasn't using the full area.

Carter Mills implied that I could backdate any reduction to that point. If they are that confident of further savings could I appeal myself and is it easy to do? It sounds very much like no win no fee to me but I'm not sure!

Any help gratefully received.

Cheers

CKhalvashi

Speak to the council.

If you're claiming the maximum already (I'm currently in my car at Heathrow T5, but will get the figures when I get home), then there is no way to get this down further, that you can't do without saving £495.

CK

firefox1956

Don't like the sound of it myself.......

Aquamania

baz2277 wrote: »

Hi all,

I received a call from this company this week telling me they could reduce my business rates and made an appointment for today (Friday). I then had a call first thing to say the rep couldn't make it and they explained to me how I could get my rates down to zero!

Carter Mills said they would do all the legwork and would be free up to that point. If there was a saving to be made/or an appeal to the valuation office then this would be a one off fee of £495 & vat.

My rateable value is 10250, and I pay £4800 minus small business relief. I've also just successfully applied for the retail discount as well saving a further £1000. So I've already halved the original amount myself.

My question is : Has anyone had experience of this company, and is there a likelihood of a successful appeal?

I started trading last February and actually had a valuation officer out at the time to look over the site as I wasn't using the full area.

Carter Mills implied that I could backdate any reduction to that point. If they are that confident of further savings could I appeal myself and is it easy to do? It sounds very much like no win no fee to me but I'm not sure!

Any help gratefully received.

Cheers

I'll do it for you for £450 + VAT

bertiebassett99

This company is a complete fraud. Be warned - they will charge you whether you agree to it or not, and whether they do anything or not! They are massively unethical, and take advantage of people who clearly don't understand what is on offer. I wish I'd read a warning like this before getting involved, so please be assured my only motivation is to save others from getting ripped off!

cheltenham6932

I agree completely with bertiebassett99. I have received an invoice for £495 + VAT which I am going to fight not to pay :mad:
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!

george54

We received a similar call and accepted an "appointment" with Carter Mills' "surveyor". Around the time of the appointment there was another call from [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] (not her real name, I'm sure) to say that the surveyor was ill and had had to go home, but that he wanted to let us know it was well worth claiming as other premises in our area were getting good reductions. There would be nothing to pay unless they were successful, so I agreed to let them move forward with this. It all sounded plausible and there was apparently no cost yet.

There was then another call to say "congratulations" your appeal has passed the first hurdle by being accepted onto the VOA system. Sure enough, when I looked on the VOA website, there was the appeal logged. It all looked above board and I waited to see what would happen. I now know that this initial registration means nothing other than that the form has been filled in without errors. This VOA registration gives the whole thing the impression of authenticity and the VOA need to do something about this process to make it more crook-proof.

We then received an invoice. Thinking all was OK we tried to pay by phoning up and using a credit card. We could not get through on either number on their invoice and at this point I became suspicious as it seemed unprofessional.

I then looked them up on the web and found a lot of negative posts about Carter Mills. My suspicions were now fully aroused and when I received a call from [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] the next day I told her that I believed them to be scammers. They have an answer for everything and are still calling me.

I have now reported Carter Mills to The Police Action Fraud line whom I found to be very helpful and professional. Their advice is "pay nothing" and that the recorded conversation - apparently used by these fraudsters - would be unlikely to stand up as Carter Mills have not yet delivered on their side of the bargain. This is now in the police system for follow-up.

I also looked Carter Mills up on the Experian credit checking sytem which we use. They have no trading history or assets and an appalling credit rating. The sole director is a [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM].

Of course, they NEVER will deliver. Don't touch them with a barge pole.

george54

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

Beware of this post. It has been planted by Carter Mills.

They are a scam outfit. Nothing more.

Beware of them.

paulacton9156

I ve used This company to reduce my business rates on my public house,The appeal was completed relatively quickly and i found them very pleasant to deal with ....... I m surprised at some of the negative comments on this site....

mikey007

Aquamania wrote: »

I'll do it for you for £450 + VAT

You can do this yourself for free... all you need to do is fill a form out correctly for the VOA.... So NO need to pay them or any other company to do this just contact the Valuation Office Direct on 03000 501501.. Sounds like just another company trying to make money out of small businesses ;(

mikey007

user001 wrote: »

I used this company back in September 2014, I received a great experience throughout the whole process. I was always updated on the progress of my appeal and before you all ask yes my appeal did get me cash back I will be using these again for the next appeal.

I will also recommend this service to others as without it i would have even bothered to claim against the amount im paying in business rates.

Upto this point I have only been charged the one off fee as they promised I will try to keep you updated on the next rates list to see if they ask for more money or not.

but either way brilliant service!

You can do this yourself for free... all you need to do is fill a form out correctly for the VOA.... So NO need to pay them or any other company to do this just contact the Valuation Office Direct on 03000 501501.. Sounds like just another company trying to make money out of small businesses ;(