Advertising scam
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Carlap
Posts: 1 Newbie
Hi guys, I’m very new to this, but I’m just after some advice.
I opened my hair and beauty business in March of 2015 in the April/may we were approached by a ad agency, (I’m not sure im allowed to put any names so I won’t for now) they sold us a deal which would have our ad on certain post office screens around my local area. After confirming the add we left it a month or so and went to the post offices to see how the ad was looking. The post offices we went to didn’t even have any screens for advertising like they said they would, and after speaking to the owners, there was no plans on putting any in. So I contacted the company who were not helpful at all. I ended up calling my bank and cancelling my dd to them which I’d already paid a couple of hundred pounds. Fast forward 3 years and no contact from the company atall, I’ve has a phone call to speak to a Reece on this telephone number, he said we are in a thousand pounds or so debt and am I willing to start a payment plan, I again explained the situation and told them that my advert was never anywere to be seen. He ended the phone call with a ‘ok I will take this further’ to which my reply was, ok thanks bye! I find it very odd that if this was a legitimate company then they wouldn’t of left it 3 years before actually wanting to know why we arnt paying them, or taking it further, as he said it wants to. I’d kindly like to advice on this matter. Thanks in advance.
I opened my hair and beauty business in March of 2015 in the April/may we were approached by a ad agency, (I’m not sure im allowed to put any names so I won’t for now) they sold us a deal which would have our ad on certain post office screens around my local area. After confirming the add we left it a month or so and went to the post offices to see how the ad was looking. The post offices we went to didn’t even have any screens for advertising like they said they would, and after speaking to the owners, there was no plans on putting any in. So I contacted the company who were not helpful at all. I ended up calling my bank and cancelling my dd to them which I’d already paid a couple of hundred pounds. Fast forward 3 years and no contact from the company atall, I’ve has a phone call to speak to a Reece on this telephone number, he said we are in a thousand pounds or so debt and am I willing to start a payment plan, I again explained the situation and told them that my advert was never anywere to be seen. He ended the phone call with a ‘ok I will take this further’ to which my reply was, ok thanks bye! I find it very odd that if this was a legitimate company then they wouldn’t of left it 3 years before actually wanting to know why we arnt paying them, or taking it further, as he said it wants to. I’d kindly like to advice on this matter. Thanks in advance.
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Comments
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You can name the company if you want.
Ask them for proof of what post office screens it was shown on and how often and take it from there.0 -
The issue is that you are a commercial customer, and as such, are expected to do your own due diligence.
As long as they fulfilled the criteria - IE it was shown on the correct number of screens for the correct duration - you may be out of luck.
Did you at the time check other nearby post offices?0 -
I'm with Comms on this. You're going to need to find the contract you agreed. You say your ad was to appear on 'certain' screens, did it specify which? Or just how many?
It's worth noting that although this is almost certainly one of the many if-not-a-scam still definitely-not-worth-the-money advertising schemes, I have seen a large screen in one post office I go to occasionally. I can't remember whether the adverts were all Post Office related or genuine local businesses, which shows how memorable it was.Signature removed for peace of mind0 -
as above, read your contract
the post offices near me certainly do have such advert screens (as do some doctor's waiting rooms)
whether the ads appearing on them are relevantly local or are just, as implied, an ad someone has paid for in return for it being "screened" anywhere in the UK, comes down to what your agreed in your contract0
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