Dodgy wine investment???

Malthusian

I envisage three possible scenarios:

1) he returns your father's £20,000 if you agree to take the reviews down

2) he shows you a statement showing your father's £20,000 is now £25,000 and asks if you and your sister would like to put some money in this terrific investment and whether you really want to cash in your father's account when it's going to the moon

3) you never hear from him again

Mrs_Frog

Well, I have not heard anything via email or anything else as yet....

But you never know, after all they did call back.......

Maybe its made a bucket load of cash and we can retire to the Costa del Scam......

On a serious note, we are aware that we will probably never hear from them again, but we will be continuing with our plan to report it to as many people as necessary, fully aware that Dad's money may well have gone, but more as a warning to others as well.

Lungboy

They will probably keep contacting you with vague promises to keep you on the hook that much longer.

EachPenny

Mrs_Frog wrote: »

I am not expecting anything, and I am expecting them to try to get my sister and I to hold onto the wine and not sell it, but even if there is less cash than was invested, then we want shot of them, this company do not inspire trust, confidence or anything else.

There might be some value to that advice if that is what they tell you.

If they sell the wine on your behalf there is no telling what you might end up with.

It might be better to seek to have the wine transferred to another company and have some professional advice on its value and best disposal method.

If you are lucky then your father would have invested in specific bottles/cases of wine, which are listed on an inventory, and held on his behalf, not as assets of the company.

I would ask for that inventory - to see exactly what his money purchased - and then ask some other companies to provide a valuation on that holding as well as advice on transferring it and/or disposing of it.

If you are one of the first to pull the plug (if it is some kind of scam) then you might get a slightly better outcome than the last investor standing.

But I wouldn't get my hopes up too much.

JohnRo

Mrs_Frog wrote: »

Well, I have not heard anything via email or anything else as yet....

But you never know, after all they did call back.......

Maybe its made a bucket load of cash and we can retire to the Costa del Scam......

On a serious note, we are aware that we will probably never hear from them again, but we will be continuing with our plan to report it to as many people as necessary, fully aware that Dad's money may well have gone, but more as a warning to others as well.

Whatever you do, don't fall for another popular scam. An unsolicited approach from an agency offering to recover the invested funds, for an upfront fee...

Mrs_Frog

Oh no, guards right up!

We will probably get the solicitor to do it on out behalf, as they are named executors. Mum and Dad named them instead of my sister and I so that stuff would be done properly. They weren't daft......

silverwhistle

You could ask for the wine to be delivered to you. Have a great celebration of a life, and find out what was supplied for the 20 grand. There won't be 20K's worth but there might be some half decent wines. Storage might be an issue... Whatever you do I wouldn't leave it with them: EachPenny's advice is on the mark.

EachPenny

silverwhistle wrote: »

You could ask for the wine to be delivered to you. Have a great celebration of a life, and find out what was supplied for the 20 grand. There won't be 20K's worth but there might be some half decent wines. Storage might be an issue... Whatever you do I wouldn't leave it with them: EachPenny's advice is on the mark.

If it is in bonded storage then getting it out to consume might cause far worse problems than a bad hangover.

If there is any value then it really needs to be retained in the bonded system, hopefully with evidence it has been stored in the correct conditions.

Ideally the management of the holding just gets changed which, if the existing storage company is reputable, might simply result in the cases being moved from one corner of a warehouse to a different one.

Mrs_Frog

Well, still no contact from them in relation to obtaining the death certificate.....another 3 messages left.

The solicitor is aware, and agreed that it seemed strange that after the reviews had gone up I got a phone call.....

Anyway, I spoke to action fraud, and the police on 101, and they agreed that it would be worth filing a report with them. I have not 'reported a crime' as dad is unable to give his permission, but 'information has been passed to them', I did double check, and triple check that as I have limited evidence, and that it may only be considered hearsay, that I would not be causing problems with myself for false reports. Its not a false report, something dodgy has gone on. My husband is trying to hold on to the fact that they are just inept and don't know how to run a business, but hes a nicer person than me.

So, trading standards and action fraud have been informed.....

I'm on it!

Malthusian

You have little reason to worry about being sued as reports to the police (including Action Fraud) have absolute privilege against defamation.

In other words you could have told the police a complete pack of lies and as long as you didn't repeat them here, or to someone else who wasn't the police, you can't be sued.

Absolute privilege doesn't apply to complaints to Trading Standards as far as I know, but it hardly matters as you aren't going to be sued assuming the facts are as you've stated. Truth is an absolute defence.