Frederick Charles - Fine Art Investments

garmeg

Was cold called today by someone called Amy at this company. Tried to lead my answers to questions about art investments. They are going to send me details by post - to an address i moved from 14 years ago. Not going to tell them my address has changed. Lol.

Would I like the art to hang in my home or do i want them to look after it in secure storage for me. Hmmm let me think about that, lol.

Cold calling about investments is a bit of a no no really.

EDIT: 1471 returns their number as 02037457562

dunstonh

Would love to see their justification under the GDPR for retaining details over 14 years old.

MaxiRobriguez

dunstonh said:

Would love to see their justification under the GDPR for retaining details over 14 years old.

"We are scamming people for profit, and it's easier to scam people if we retain as much data as possible about them."

Old_Lifer

It appears to me that if anyone was mindful to scam you,  they wouldn't bother too much about  GDPR

garmeg

Hopefully this page is a google hit when someone does a search for this company.

The company does have a website but it doesnt mean it is genuine, not a scam or at best buying overpriced art. London Capital & Finance and their ilk also had websites!

Zanderman

garmeg said:

Hopefully this page is a google hit when someone does a search for this company.

The company does have a website but it doesnt mean it is genuine, not a scam or at best buying overpriced art. London Capital & Finance and their ilk also had websites!

Are you sure the person who rang you was from this company?  Or were they pretending to be from there?
The number on their website is 020 3137 1525 - not the one that rang you.
I can't see how you can tell who they really are from a phone call so you may be misjudging them as it might not have been them.
And you won't ever see the stuff being posted as it's going to an old address. 
So you can't tell from that either.
The only thing to judge them by is the website - which looks reasonably genuine and was set up 5 years ago according to a whois search.  and they're active on fb and instagram (but not twitter or pinterest).  So they seem quite respectable, not the sort to cold-call.
Of course that's just first impressions - which can be misleading - but you may have been talking to a scammer, not this company.

Zanderman

On the other hand, this guff, from their About Us page seems rather too full of investment-babble to me - too much about time efficiency, market trends and storage recommendations (but I know nothing about art....):

We provide a transparent and time efficient way to buy and sell a range of artwork. By using Frederick Charles, you will have access to our team of consultants, who will update you on the market changes, give opinions on trends and valuations based on the current market.

We attend the world leading auctions, this provides us with a wealth of market data to analyse both past auction results and current market trends. In addition we can offer our professional opinion on condition and value of artworks. Furthermore, you will be able to utilize our distribution arrangements and storage recommendation for piece of mind.

NottinghamKnight

JamesRobinson48 said:

Zanderman said:

On the other hand, this guff, from their About Us page seems rather too full of investment-babble to me - too much about time efficiency, market trends and storage recommendations (but I know nothing about art....):

We provide a transparent and time efficient way to buy and sell a range of artwork. By using Frederick Charles, you will have access to our team of consultants, who will update you on the market changes, give opinions on trends and valuations based on the current market.

We attend the world leading auctions, this provides us with a wealth of market data to analyse both past auction results and current market trends. In addition we can offer our professional opinion on condition and value of artworks. Furthermore, you will be able to utilize our distribution arrangements and storage recommendation for piece of mind.

For me, the first red flag from their website is the many errors of spelling, grammar and syntax:  of which "piece of mind" (sic) is only the most risible. 

That's presumably what they are given from many of the people they cold call.

MaxiRobriguez

JamesRobinson48 said:

Zanderman said:

On the other hand, this guff, from their About Us page seems rather too full of investment-babble to me - too much about time efficiency, market trends and storage recommendations (but I know nothing about art....):

We provide a transparent and time efficient way to buy and sell a range of artwork. By using Frederick Charles, you will have access to our team of consultants, who will update you on the market changes, give opinions on trends and valuations based on the current market.

We attend the world leading auctions, this provides us with a wealth of market data to analyse both past auction results and current market trends. In addition we can offer our professional opinion on condition and value of artworks. Furthermore, you will be able to utilize our distribution arrangements and storage recommendation for piece of mind.

For me, the first red flag from their website is the many errors of spelling, grammar and syntax:  of which "piece of mind" (sic) is only the most risible. 

It's not an error, it's a Klimt painting.

[Deleted User]

Zanderman said:

garmeg said:

Hopefully this page is a google hit when someone does a search for this company.

The company does have a website but it doesnt mean it is genuine, not a scam or at best buying overpriced art. London Capital & Finance and their ilk also had websites!

Are you sure the person who rang you was from this company?  Or were they pretending to be from there?
The number on their website is 020 3137 1525 - not the one that rang you.
I can't see how you can tell who they really are from a phone call so you may be misjudging them as it might not have been them.
And you won't ever see the stuff being posted as it's going to an old address. 
So you can't tell from that either.
The only thing to judge them by is the website - which looks reasonably genuine and was set up 5 years ago according to a whois search.  and they're active on fb and instagram (but not twitter or pinterest).  So they seem quite respectable, not the sort to cold-call.
Of course that's just first impressions - which can be misleading - but you may have been talking to a scammer, not this company.

For what it's worth, the company I work for has a UK number on our site which we always give out, our phone system which gives out a London number when we dial out which is a completely different city - not impossible the company is legitimately calling, albeit for illegitimate purposes

Zanderman

Deleted_User said:

Zanderman said:

garmeg said:

Hopefully this page is a google hit when someone does a search for this company.

The company does have a website but it doesnt mean it is genuine, not a scam or at best buying overpriced art. London Capital & Finance and their ilk also had websites!

Are you sure the person who rang you was from this company?  Or were they pretending to be from there?
The number on their website is 020 3137 1525 - not the one that rang you.
I can't see how you can tell who they really are from a phone call so you may be misjudging them as it might not have been them.
And you won't ever see the stuff being posted as it's going to an old address. 
So you can't tell from that either.
The only thing to judge them by is the website - which looks reasonably genuine and was set up 5 years ago according to a whois search.  and they're active on fb and instagram (but not twitter or pinterest).  So they seem quite respectable, not the sort to cold-call.
Of course that's just first impressions - which can be misleading - but you may have been talking to a scammer, not this company.

For what it's worth, the company I work for has a UK number on our site which we always give out, our phone system which gives out a London number when we dial out which is a completely different city - not impossible the company is legitimately calling, albeit for illegitimate purposes

Well sure, they might have more than one number. 
Their staff might even be working from home.
I was merely pointing out the absence of (any, so far) evidence that the call was actually from them.