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community network uk advertising missold

Hi all,

Hope someone can be of help.

My wife and daughter run have a shop, its a new startup and has only been running for 6 months now.

They had a sales rep from community network uk turn up at the shop and offer them some advertising on a tv screen in a local doctors surgery.

The costs kept coming down as the wife was saying they couldnt afford them. In the end they were offered a 2 year deal for £624 but it needed to be signed immediately. A 50% deposit was paid via card at the time.

They were told that the £624 was the total that they would pay and my wife was happy with this.

I have now had a look at the paper work and it would appear the costs are actually £624 +VAT per year with an additional charge of £139+VAT for the art work each year.

I've questioned my wife and daughter separately and each has said that the rep said the total cost for the two years would be £624 in total.

The paperwork has a price for each year of the contract.
She says she questioned him as to why he had put £624 on years one and two, and he said not to worry about that, and that was the figure she would pay in total.

I spoke to community network uk this morning with regards cancelling the contract and they have said its not possible and that if we do, the full amount for the two years would be due.

I'm now left wondering whether I can get the contract cancelled due to the mis-selling, or whether the fact she signed now means she stuck with it.

With regards cancelling the contract, I fail to see how she can be held to the full amount stated on the contract.
Surely she should only be liable for any costs incurred up to the date of cancellation, plus loss of profit.

None of the art work has been done and we havent as yet received the welcome pack from them so cant see that their costs will amount to much. Which bearing in mind they already have £312 as a deposit I would have though this would cover their admin costs.

The contract is a two year one that requires 12 months notice in order to cancel, what is the earliest that notice can be given. Is it possible to server notice now and end the contract at the end of year one ??

Thanks.
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Comments

  • InsideInsurance
    InsideInsurance Posts: 22,460
    First Post Combo Breaker
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    You have to remember that this is a business contract and business people are generally considered big and ugly enough not to need a nanny state to protect them from themselves. Your statutory rights are tiny in comparison to a B2C relationship

    Have you actually read the cancellation clauses in the contract and ensured what they are telling you is correct?
  • I've now read through the contract and there are no clauses with regards cancellation, other than to say its a 2 year contract of which notice must be given not less than 6 months before the end of the contract.

    Having read the contract, I have to say its quite unbelievable.

    Even though its states that they will have a 20 second ad, and the rep said that this would be repeated every 10 mins.

    The contract states:
    "no guarantee as to the frequency the ad will be played"
    so that could be once a week.

    along with:
    "the comapny reserve the right to change the shape, size, title and locale of the ad"

    So if they wanted to they could move the ad to any location in the country and there would be nothing we can do about it.

    So in short, dont pee them off otherwise you could end up with your ad being played once a month on a remote scottish isle and theres nothing you could do about it.
  • InsideInsurance
    InsideInsurance Posts: 22,460
    First Post Combo Breaker
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    stibby1942 wrote: »
    So in short, dont pee them off otherwise you could end up with your ad being played once a month on a remote scottish isle and theres nothing you could do about it.

    Or more accurately, read the contract before signing and negotiate over any terms you dont like
  • AbbieCadabra
    AbbieCadabra Posts: 1,706
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    edited 14 March 2014 at 3:35PM
    other complaints here (search on the forum there too as other threads about this company) & here, might be some useful info.

    from reading about so many of these types of operations, almost scams, but not quite, but very suspect business practices. i make it a rule never, ever to agree anything from a cold call phone call or in person. if they are that desperate to get you to sign up, the warning bells should be ringing. if they are legitimate, then they shouldn't mind if you want to go away & think (ie. google them) about it.

    already been said but you've got very little protection with business to business transactions. by signing a contract, you're agreeing to their terms & conditions, you've got to protect yourself by checking into them.
  • I think this has been a wake up call for the both of them and they now realise that not everyone is as honest as they would like. And certainly dont have their best interests at heart.

    My wifes talking about just not paying them, but in the T&C's it says theres a £25 charge for missed payments.

    Are they able to do this or would it be viewed as a penalty, which I believe is illegal on a contract.
  • AbbieCadabra
    AbbieCadabra Posts: 1,706
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    stibby1942 wrote: »
    I think this has been a wake up call for the both of them and they now realise that not everyone is as honest as they would like. And certainly dont have their best interests at heart.

    My wifes talking about just not paying them, but in the T&C's it says theres a £25 charge for missed payments.

    Are they able to do this or would it be viewed as a penalty, which I believe is illegal on a contract.

    I'd give trading standards a call for some advice, they'll also know if there are any other complaints in your area. If the rep has being doing the rounds, you might not be on your own.
  • DKLS
    DKLS Posts: 13,459
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    You and your wife need to get better at handling salespeople, there are loads of scroaty businesses like this that give you the heavy sell, and offer not much in return with punitive terms. Have you had the local police calendar calls yet?

    Learn to recognise when your being closed and never be pushed to sign there and then.

    I recently had something similar with a double glazing company, initial quote 25k, after speaking with their manager a couple of times it suddenly came down to 15k then 7.5k if I signed there and then. I told them to stick it and went with a local company who didn't employ such crappy sales tactics.
  • Community Network Scam!!!

    I am very dissatisfied inthink this company is a total scam and the same thing has happened to me.
    A sales man called into my workplace and told me exactly the same sales pitch. (With the sleezy chat up line that I had nice eyes)! What a sucker I am!!!
    14days later I receive an email to say they were having technical difficulties and that I should be assured they are dealing with this.
    On the day the cold sales called he told me I could get a 35secind ad for the price of £15 per week, a direct debiit mandate to which I was lead to believe was £780 + vat of £139. This was sold to me on the basis what I was lead to believe was (including 2nd year). I had to pay deposit of £468 so I wrote a cheque there and then and remaining direct debits would be £780 less £468 NOT ONCE DID HE SAY I WOULD HAVE TO PAY ANOTHER £780 FOR A SECOND YEAR!

    To which no advert was made and when I telephoned to complain last week they emailed me back next day to say that my proof ad from design dept was ready.

    They basically had a an ad made which was nothing to do with my business the instructions given at beginning was to research my Facebook page and not one photo or information was anything to do with my business. It was a dis grace! I then tried to send each an email with relevant info for them and wording which was relevant to my business. An email bounced back to say if my email was more than 10mb I would have to send each photo. Which now I sent a further 3 emails, and no confirmation to me to let me know that they have received it. So it's now 2 months and still no ad. They have received a cheque for £468 for nothing. Each time I ring I have been told they are experiencing high volumes of calls.

    I want to end this farse agreement but from my signed agreement I feel I am now tied into this.

    Am I able to terminate this??
    The direct debit mandate states I still have to pay 22 months of £75.55 that's over £1,666 which I definitely was not lead to believe and sakes man did not explain. I am a small business owner and it's only me I would never have agreed to this cost for advertising.

    I have contacted my bank and I'm thinking of cancelling the direct debit from my bank.

    What can happen if I do this? Will my credit rating of my business be affected?
  • Am stuck with this shower!!! And now there saying there starting legal proceedings. As I've stopped paying them as it's rolled to third year. Help !!!
  • Mistral001
    Mistral001 Posts: 5,346
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post I've been Money Tipped!
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    Many companies nowadays tend to try to sound official or even charitable, when they are far from either, by using grand-sounding names. It seems to be a trend at the minute as far as I can see.
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