Safety Guide Services

I wonder if anyone else has had any contact with this company.

My husband has a small business and received a phone call from these people in April.
They were offering advertising in a booklet which was being sent free to local schools. The booklet offers help and advice to children and their parents on how to keep safe online; how to deal with bullying and various other 'problem areas' for children (or vulnerable adults).

My husband has just lately been diagnosed with the beginnings of dementia and where, in the past, he would have been very wary of cold callers, he is now more easily fooled. However, he forgot about the call and then received another a couple of weeks ago, along with an invoice saying the payment was late.

He asked me to pay it on my Barclaycard rather than sending a cheque, which I did this afternoon. I was told there would be an email confirmation of the order within a matter of minutes but when this didn't arrive, the lightbulb began to flicker :(

I think we've been scammed but I'd be grateful if anyone else can give me confirmation one way or the other. We give to children's charities and the thought that these people are taking advantage of that for their own greed is positively sickening :mad:
I let my mind wander and it never came back!
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Comments

  • AVOID

    And put the cat out before retiring.
  • Not sure if you ever got a reply to you original post.
    I also run a small business, and I too was tricked into thinking I had agreed to sponsor a set of books to go to my local primary school.
    They are still applying the same sneaky tactics, trickery and downright lies to extort money from unsuspecting charitable people. Part of the book was supposed to cover child sexual abuse, which is a subject close to my heart for several reasons, which made me think it was something I would sign up to even though I coudnt remenber doing so, when they told me I had.
    I paid up, then last week they phoned again and told me my second payment was due (three times as much as tge first one) I complained and got told to check the terms and conditions and be expecting a call from bailiffs.
    Thats when I checked them out a little deeper, and found out the entire outfit is a scam.
    Cant wait for them to call again on the 28th Feb, they are going to get a right ear full.
  • AndyPix
    AndyPix Posts: 4,847
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    This is an old , well used scam .


    It started in the early 90's and used to be the "police magazine" that would apparently be sitting in police station break rooms up and down the country.


    It is very devious because if they are ever approached by authorities, they claim they are waiting until they have enough adverts to fill the book before they print it - ind even do print it in some cases but only put it out in 1 or 2 locations so that technically they havent broken the law


    [EMAIL="b@stards"]b@stards[/EMAIL]


    The reason they wanted your card details rather than cheque is because they have likely set up a CPA , or continuous payment authority with your bank.


    So the first thing to do here is call your bank and have this CPA removed.
  • Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344
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    Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    You should see your GP about that sleep apnoea ;).
  • I have had these people ring me ,very sincere about bullying booklets which my daughter's school would be receiving the booklets,they didn't as I phoned the school n asked them ,they said no! Still getting calls now blocked n invoices sent to me. NOT GETTING A PENNY!
    They used to do the same scam years ago with the emergency services magazines,didn't fall for it then either!
  • I too received a call from these people the other day claiming we had spoken back in May, I couldn't remember the call to be honest. There was a mention of a £163.00 invoice during the call for sponsoring the anti bullying booklet... alarm bells began to ring as i know i would not have agreed to this. I have asked for a recording of the original call as proof of support, but I suspect that I will never hear it.

    Phone number blocked and invoice semi filed just in case...
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812
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    The question to ask these scammers is always, how many of the booklets are being printed.
    It's the same question should be asked when asking to buy an ad in the " police diary" or anything that claims to support the forces.
    I know someone who worked for this type of company.
  • kanbandave wrote: »
    I too received a call from these people the other day claiming we had spoken back in May, I couldn't remember the call to be honest. There was a mention of a £163.00 invoice during the call for sponsoring the anti bullying booklet... alarm bells began to ring as i know i would not have agreed to this. I have asked for a recording of the original call as proof of support, but I suspect that I will never hear it.

    Phone number blocked and invoice semi filed just in case...

    I had an identical telephone conversation the other day which a women who also referred to a previous telephone conversation of last May (which i do not recall) and i have now received an invoice in the post ... i have called them to inform them that i hadn't signed up to anything with a price tag and suggested he cancel this invoice....but it says it all when the rude abrupt guy who answered the phone was more interested in having a dispute with me over "he said she said" in an aggressive manner. I am all for supporting charities but these con guys are using trickery and bullying in their Anti-bullying-campaign. Be warned
  • This company contacted our business and have used misleading tactics to repeatedly take money out of our account. I paid them in full reluctantly and part of their promise was to remove us from their database, sending us an email to that effect.

    A couple of months later another call to say they had gone ahead with another book and there was another sum to pay. Please do not enter into any agreement with Safety Guide LTD.

    Ive still never had a call from the school I was told had received the booklets. No proof of how many were printed or even if these were distributed. Safety Guide Ltd rely on the goodwill and charitable nature of the people they contact, the truth is they work under the radar and mislead you by supposedly printing these booklets and then requesting payment.

    If they take anymore money from our account, they will be doing without permission and I will be taking legal action. Be warned
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