FAO therapists in the South - scam advertisers

[brandy1]

I thought that I would bring this to your attention. About 18 months ago I agreed to sponsor a boxing club organised by the Police Community Clubs of Great Britain. They offer advertising in return. The magazine is published by Community Innitiative Associates.

The short version is, unbeknown to me this magazine was then used by scam charity publications to target me and the other people in the magazine for scam advertising - they ring and ask if you want it. You say no. Three months later they ring back and convince you that you have agreed saying that they record the call. The amount is usually £299 but they give you a discount if you pay there and then. I have had a horrible time trying to get these people off my back.

These people are predominently based in the North West - Liverpool and Manchester and they will be very convincing. I did talk to a Northern based Trading Standards officer and he told me that they don't call locally as it is too easy to track them down so hence they call the other end of the country. Don't talk to them just put the phone down.

The reason I am post this thread is because I received a call today from them so they are obviously doing the rounds again and I really don't want any of you to fall into their trap.:sad:

 

[Martin Duffy]

I had the boxing club call today, tried telling me that there has been a rise in 'yoof' crime in my area, which I had to laugh at as Arundel is just full of mature 'ladies wot lunch'! I did ,y usual "not interested" and hung up.

 

[dolled up]

I'm from the west midlands but I had a call from the 'community police' or whatever a few days ago (already read on here in the past about these scams so thankfully I knew it was bullcrap!' but I couldn't get him off the phone & had to say I was out shopping so couldn't continue with the call! I also recieved a call today from a poorly children's charity- didn't catch the name as he said it so quickly! He said to me that we had spoke before but we hadn't & he said their would only be one type of every business in the magazine and that I had been picked & that there was a 50% off discount for this year, so £100 for a half page full colour advert . Of course I said no thanks but I couldn't get him off the phone either so I asked to be sent some info through the post just so I could put the phone down. So irritating!!!!

 

[FlawlessBeauty]

These people are always trying it on. My last one was from a "children's charity" claiming that i had previously agreed to sponser them £250. Obviously i knew i hadn't and at first nicely said they had made a mistake.

They started getting a bit shirty saying how i had agreed and i couldn't go back on it, so i asked what proof they could offer me. For example, had i signed something? They begrudgingly said no and i said well there's your answer then and hung up.

Cheeky buggers. I don't work all week to pay for their living, lol xx

 

[MariposaKelly]

So glad i saw this! I had a call from the 'community police' asking if i would like to advertise in a newsletter that would be posted over the area because of an increase in crime, i was in the middle of subway ordering my lunch so told him to ring back later... He never did.

If i get another one ill politely tell them to remove my number from their list of potential 'clients' and not to bother me again.

I wasnt really listening to him so when i put the phone down and i thought about it i thought.. Why would they have my number? And what the hell does spray tanning have to do with an increase in crime? Haha! Some people will try anything to bamboozle you into a scam!

 

[Lil'Gem]

This has been going on for years. There are various ones police/fireservice/charities. I used to get them all the time when I managed pubs. The worst was a supposed children's charity and I used to get calls at least once a day for months on end. It was always the same guy. He used to try to guilt you in to Parting with cash

"Gemma just think of all the little children dying, they are dying Gemma, why won't you help the poor children Gemma" Over and over again. Good job I'm not a sucker for sob Stories!

 

[souz]

i say no to all advertising and charities that call me and explain that i organise my own and then i put the phone down!!!let them record that and misinterpret it lol

 

[Trinity]

This has been going on for at least 8 years, I was targeted when I first opened my business in 2004, sadly for it to be going on as long as that people must fall for their con regularly. Shame on the phone agents doing to calls too knowing full well they are ripping people off.

The other one to watch for is the apparent Doctors surgery offering a calendar/wallchart/poster/etc featuring local buisness

Your best course of action is to never buy from cold callers, report anything like this to the police so they can keep a check on the volumes of calls in the area and issue warnings if necessary.

I'm glad you managed to get them off your back in the end, but I suspect it was quite a stressful time :sad:

 

[Andrea85]

I'm in the north west and I had a call from the "police" one about a year ago. I think they'd seen my advert on Gumtree. I also had one a few weeks back from a "children's charity", that call didn't last long!

I really hope this sort of thing can be stopped, I would hate to think that people could fall for these scams.