Has anyone else been caught out?

[sash1]

Hello all,
i am just wondering if anyone has been caught out by the scams that i fell for.
Companies are ringing up saying that they rang a few months previous and you agreed to advertise in their mag and they will be forwarding the proof of the ad and then shortly after that the bill normally around £195. Being quite new to all this i fell for it a couple of times at the end of last year and it ended up costing me approx £650. I had another one call today and said she spoke to me at the beginning of this year (i know thats not true as i am doing very limited advertising this year and i wouldnt of agreed to any of it) and she was just checking what size ad i wanted, i told her that i had NOT agreed to anything and when i asked for the company name and phone number she hung up.
please be warned about these companies, i wouldnt want any of you to get caught

sash x

 

[littlepinkfairy]

We had somebody do exactly the same thing to us at the salon i work at, luckily my boss is on the ball and told them where to go.

 

[riverpebbles]

I have had the same problem but as all advertising approval goes through me, I was quick to figure it out before handing over any money. Another recent scam is someone sending letters out re: Data Protection. They tell you that you must register with the Data Protection Agency for £95 or you may be fined... it is a complete scam - watch out!

 

[JDs]

/Always..keep the word NO at the tip of your tongue. Due to businesses not taking regular sales calls, they had to come up with a new tactic..
You must always be on your toes and the keep the word NO on the tip of your tongue.

 

[angel fingers]

theyve tried it on me too a couple of times, way back.
my budget only extends as far as yellow pages though, so i knew it was b/s.
they are very insistent though, i can believe anyone would have the nerve to make the call.
i guess it might work in a bigger business, where different departments handle different matters, but i'm a one man band, so i knew i haddnt agreed.

 

[Kim Lawless]

I can't believe you fell for this scam. Even if there was doubt in your mind, why on earth didn't you just say you'd changed your mind?

 

[ClaireWalsh]

I can't believe you fell for this scam. Even if there was doubt in your mind, why on earth didn't you just say you'd changed your mind?

Or ask them to fax you a copy of the agreement that you'd allegedly signed...

 

[Debbies Gellies]

I have had loads of this type of call

If you are listing your business on google free listings etc they sell the list of new ads to who ever want them I do know for a fact that Yell.com did this as the Kent Police actually asked if I would advertise in their mag and I asked how did he get my number.

As I use my mobile for business I get 'Withheld' or 'unknown' show on the phone so now I do not answer them or if they continue I answer and tell them the business no longer exists that gets them in one go to hang up!

Be warned about emails that say you need to click on the link to verify your account details DONT DO IT it is Phishing! I had Nationwide and Lloyds bank recently they look fantastically real but they are not. I know that the email account they sent the message to is Nails only not personal. Otherwise I may have been fooled.

 

[vicky2512]

I have had loads of this type of call

If you are listing your business on google free listings etc they sell the list of new ads to who ever want them I do know for a fact that Yell.com did this as the Kent Police actually asked if I would advertise in their mag and I asked how did he get my number.

I had this too, again from an agency saying they were printing adverts in the Essex police Magazine and the add would br £199 + VAT etc etc, the guy was so pushy i siad i couldnt possibly make a decision there and then as My advertising budget was spent for the year and said you will have to call me back - they called back no less then 8 times in a 1 hour period on the last call i told them I wasnt intrested and the fact that the guy was using "agressive selling" techniques i had no intrest in being assosoated with a company who act so unproffessionally and if they contine to ring me I would contact the police regarding harrassment (funny seeing as it was the Police's publication they were trying to push) I never heard no more from them!

I second what you said about yell.com because all my cold calls come direct from that ad.

Now when i get marketing calls i just say - "my advertising budget is spent for the year, i do my own marketing and i have my own website - so instead of wasting my time and yours, just tell me what you are selling and i'll tell you whether i want it or not? ..... tends to be a long silence and they give up!

 

[bombini]

I have had loads of this type of call

If you are listing your business on google free listings etc they sell the list of new ads to who ever want them I do know for a fact that Yell.com did this as the Kent Police actually asked if I would advertise in their mag and I asked how did he get my number.

I had this too, again from an agency saying they were printing adverts in the Essex police Magazine and the add would br £199 + VAT etc etc, the guy was so pushy i siad i couldnt possibly make a decision there and then as My advertising budget was spent for the year and said you will have to call me back - they called back no less then 8 times in a 1 hour period on the last call i told them I wasnt intrested and the fact that the guy was using "agressive selling" techniques i had no intrest in being assosoated with a company who act so unproffessionally and if they contine to ring me I would contact the police regarding harrassment (funny seeing as it was the Police's publication they were trying to push) I never heard no more from them!

I second what you said about yell.com because all my cold calls come direct from that ad.

Now when i get marketing calls i just say - "my advertising budget is spent for the year, i do my own marketing and i have my own website - so instead of wasting my time and yours, just tell me what you are selling and i'll tell you whether i want it or not? ..... tends to be a long silence and they give up!

I had the police thing to ! I have to say they are very convincing, I was skint anyway so couldn't of taken up there offer but called the police area headquarters to confirm this was a genuine offer, they confirmed it was.....

Then about a month after there was an article on it in local paper, saying it was a scam !!! I couldn't believe the police of all people were targeted and thought it was kosher :grr:

 

[estherlou]

I had the police thing to ! I have to say they are very convincing, I was skint anyway so couldn't of taken up there offer but called the police area headquarters to confirm this was a genuine offer, they confirmed it was.....

Then about a month after there was an article on it in local paper, saying it was a scam !!! I couldn't believe the police of all people were targeted and thought it was kosher :grr:

i had this too with the police mag, was almost tempted, a friend of mine's hubby got scammed for £150 and to add to that they said they would donate vouchers for kids football lessons to a school of his choice!
i get about 3 of these calls a week and i just tell 'em where to go x

 

[CadenceAlex]

Nooooooooooo!!!

I used to work for a company like this... when I left school in the Summer.... !!!

It is a load of rubbish... I got paid £150 a week - cash (everyone was on Cash, and loads were getting Dole)... we would have to ring up and make people buy advertising space... and if they didn't but had bought in the past.. ... we would have to make them confirm their postcodes.... I didn't understand why until one day.. I turned up for work and the boss told us to leg it!

The 'company' had gone into liquidation, all assets were being seized.... and all paperwork... thing is... some of the lads who worked there had done this job for years and had customers for years, from various organisations.... they broke into the building to get all their paperwork...

It is fraud. There are many of them in Liverpool and on Wirral... they set up in different offices for a few months. The way it works is... you get people to agree to advertise.. giving them various slots on a Calendar... then you tell them your confirmer will ring them up to confirm postcode. If the confirmer does this and the postcode is confirmed, you would get your bonus (you worked basic plus commission).. however, when the customer got the details... obviously go white and try to cancel... 'cancys'... you would still get your commission. I never fully understood it... however, I quickly realised that it was impossible for all these people to get onto one A2 calendar!

I can genuinly say I was there a very short time and had no idea, thankfully, anyone I had booked would not have been ripped off because the company went bust.

Every week you see them advertising.... there is one called McKenzie Campbell in Liverpool (they ring EVERYWHERE) and they are also at it.... BEWARE.... never give money to anyone who says they are from the Police/Fire Service or any emergency service. It is bull. There is one calendar that they send YOU only. Costs about 30p to make. Not the £600 or so you are paying... and as for advertising? How would anyone else ever see it if you were the only one who got a copy?

BEWARE!!!!!

Genuine charities do not ring up and continue speaking when you are trying to get off the phone.

I am so sorry to hear you got stung. It is probably unlikely that you would be able to retrieve this money also.

I have to add.. that we had to work from Yellow Pages books... there were hundreds of them in the 'office'!

If your name is in Yellow Pages.. you will be targeted.

 

[liza smith]

this sounds very similar to what i now know was a scam.
i was contacted by phone by someone saying that id agreed to sponsor a drug awareness campaign and which local school did i want the literature to b sent to?
even though i didnt recall the conversation, i told them the name of my daughters school.
at the end of the conversation, i was informed that the invoice for 199 +vat would b sent to me fter the litereature had been delivered to my chosen school.
i was told that they were a non-profit making organisation blah, blah, blah.
i felt very obliged to continue, as at this point i thought that even if id been tricked into supporting the cause, it was a good cause & i said ok.
once id hung up, i instantly had a moment of clarity!
even if this was guenuine, £200 was a lot of money for some awareness literature.
luckily she called me back about something and i asked for a copy of the literature to b sent to me b4 i paid anything.
when it arrived, it was all in black & white, and consisted of a small booklet which was actually good reading, & some individual leaflets.
apparently, there would only b 60 sent out, which would only cover 2 classes.
i have a few clients who r teachers & i asked them what they thought.
they both said, that for £200, i could buy a text book for each pupil or half a dozen excellent books for the school library.
i decided to not go with it, & the company did try numerous times to talk to me, but eventually gave up.

what really annoys me, is they made it personal by getting me to invole a school local to me, which made it more of a commitment in my eyes, which is really low.
i would have cottoned on much sooner if it had been the average ad thing like the others in this thread.
so beware, they are getting lower & lower!

 

[Susie H]

the only one I had was from sky Some young cocky sod called me up to tell me that my insurance had run out and before he restarted that he just wanted to tell me about sky plus.
He was most put out when I didn't fall for his fast patter, stopped him and told him I most certainly would not be renewing my sky insurance, and wasn't interested in sky plus, he got very petty and childish, what would I do if it broke down etc, I said well this one is in my husbands name so I would go to commet and buy one in my name and start again, someone is always doing a 12 mth deal with free box. Honestly this guy started behaving like a kid telling me I couldn't do that and sky wouldn't let me, got mad as hell when I laughed at him and said in that case I'd sell my T.V and spend more time on the internet:lol:

 

[CadenceAlex]

the only one I had was from sky Some young cocky sod called me up to tell me that my insurance had run out and before he restarted that he just wanted to tell me about sky plus.
He was most put out when I didn't fall for his fast patter, stopped him and told him I most certainly would not be renewing my sky insurance, and wasn't interested in sky plus, he got very petty and childish, what would I do if it broke down etc, I said well this one is in my husbands name so I would go to commet and buy one in my name and start again, someone is always doing a 12 mth deal with free box. Honestly this guy started behaving like a kid telling me I couldn't do that and sky wouldn't let me, got mad as hell when I laughed at him and said in that case I'd sell my T.V and spend more time on the internet:lol:

I always wondered about this Sky insurance thing... we have had several letters... so isn't it part of Sky then?

 

[MINKUS]

I have had loads of these calls - i just said hang on i never agreed to anything the only person who answers this phone is ME and i have NOT agreed to anything other than my yellow pages ad !

I also had the data protection thingy too

http://www.salongeek.com/nail-geek/8075-data-collection-services-scam.html

if my phone comes up with ANY witheld, or Private number i DO NOT answer it - if its important they leave a message and i ring them back - simple !

 

[sash1]

my gosh it looks like they do target everyone. well let me tell you i have got very wise to this, i now ask them for the company name and a contact number so i can forward it on when i report them, needless to say they hang up straight away, leave it for a couple of days then try me again. i will never be falling for any of it again.
sash

 

[breeksy]

I had someone on the phone insisting that I had agreed to the advertising, and as it was a charity thing, implying that I was basically a heartless cow, and that they had spent the money I had pledged already on printing the materials. Etc etc. Except I am a one woman band and I knew I hadn't spoken to anyone about this.

Eventually he said he had my original conversation on tape. I said if he sent me a copy I would reconsider. He said he would. Six months on I am still waiting for it...

 

[*sarah*]

Since I put my free listing on yell.com I have had them all the time, but at the end of the day if I want to advertise or help charities I'll contact them I just say no! oh but sometimes let them waffle on for ages if I'm bored he he