Warning Ladies/Gents! - Scam! Please read

[lashesbeauty]

I had a call like this when I was living in Swansea last year

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[Ruthlm]

Just had one uesterday, a so called booklet to be delivred all around fife blah blah blah and it was all in aid of anti bullying blah blah blah, explained to him that I knew that the booklet would never appear, and so I definately would not be interested, and as he started to be rather aggresive on the phone, I hung up....politely of course he he, x

 

[TigerNails]

I had one of these calls on Wednesday!!! Frightened the life out of me when he mentioned Police as I thought something terrible had happened! Certainly got my attention........but my attention quickly disappeared when he asked for a fee. Ill tell you where im at Mr Police Newsletter Man.....IM OUT!

 

[Peppy]

Ive had two of these calls, one about a Community Police Magazine and the other one i cant remember, but it was connected to the Police in some way.

I'd not heard about this being a scam before so im sooo glad i didnt take it any further. With the second caller, i asked him to give me his number and i would think about it and call him back, and he turned very agressive saying i would need to agree to it now etc....

When i asked them they did say they got my detials from Yell.com which i had signed up to a few weeks before.

This is where Salon Geek comes into its own, educating us all about things like this! :irked:

 

[Dolly6410]

oh my god thank you so much for listing this! i actually got a phone call from so say gloucestershire police last week, and i thankfully am quite stingey and told them their prices were too expensive but they siad they'd call me back if they had any spaces left and could do me a deal. what a cheek! i'm horrified! some people are vile. i think its great that we have places like this to inform one another about it. thanks ladies :hug:

 

[Ammej85]

It's a common scam; those cold calling companies do rather like scaring people into submission by saying that you've entered into a "legally binding contract" on the phone; I'd put my money on the judge ruling in your favour and laughing them out of court if it ever got that far!

Put it this way, if it was a "verbal contract", then the only proof they would be able to provide would be a tape of your initial conversation - which anyone with half a brain cell would realise didn't make any mention of you agreeing to any contract; these low-life scum are just relying on people being naiive and scared of lawyers!

With regard to recording calls, isn't it against the law to record someone without their knowledge? So you could use that one against them too?

 

[Ange1Dust29]

I have had loads of people saying that they are calling from : The Police, WYMAS, Doctors surgeries, NHS etc and they have no connection with them what so ever. They want a fee of £100 to advertise for the year in this directory of there's. Nobody sees it and its a con. Never advertise in a directory its a complete waste of money. You might as well buy yourself an expensive handbag or a pair of shoes!

I hope that you get your problem sorted out soon. I would tell them if they dont stop harrassing you then you'll get the Police involved. Gits

 

[serendipity]

it's even here in new zealand they rang my hubby's work a few years ago and it was just like the call's you've all had!

 

[iconic]

Omg- I too had a call from someone saying they were from Avon and Somerset police about advertising in their crime prevention magazine which would be distributed in the area.. Once he told me it would cost £100, I said I wasn't interested. He was asking why I wasn't interested? And said that I would be the only hairdresser advertised in the magazine as they are only allowing 1 business per trade to advertise in order that the businesses that do advertise get maximum benefits from advertising in the magazine! .. I kept saying I wasn't interested and that I didn't have money to use on advertising at this time as I had other priorities to spend my money on. Anyway he finally hung up, but then I got another call the following day about the same thing! I said I had already had a call about this and said I wasn't interested and he said oh sorry-it hadn't been logged that you had been called but I will update the system. Obviously he didn't either as I continued to get the same call about 5 times so eventually I told them I had stopped trading as was no longer hairdressing!! .. I'm guessing there is no 'system to update'! .. I was unaware at the time that it was a scam, just thought it wad a pressuring sales man trying to reach his sales targets!! Xx

 

[Extrovert]

I keep getting similar calls, the latest one was thanking me for agreeing to advertise and the campaign (anti drugs in schools) was a success, before she went any further I asked how it had been a success and she didn't know what to say lol! She wanted me to pay my bill, which I'd never agreed to or received by the way, I told her sorry I am going bankrupt and she hung up!! These people are scum, I had been ripped off for Facebook advertising but my bank got my money back! Stand up to these monsters and don't ever fall for it. Xx

 

[cilverangel]

the one that rang me went on aboutpreventing drugs usage in teenagers. sounded very genuine but my 6th sense jus wouldnt go with it. i just stopped answering their cals and they gave up a few months back.cant report them as they are careful enough to hide thier ids.

 

[Penny Vintage]

Ive been having this for the past year actually. At first i said i wasnt interested and they then came back a month later with "your invoice has been sent and youve not paid"! I told them i hadnt agreed so all this time theyve been trying to get through to me saying every time my advert is coming out and needs paying for.. Which is funny seeing as they dont know anything about me or my business lol. It got so bad with calls coming from them and other scammers between 3 times a day and quieter times of 2 a week. I got a app on my blackberry to block private and unknown calls from coming through, its bliss! But i updated my phone and it wiped the app, sure enough the day after i get home from holiday they call again, saying thanks for my advert which is for the police and ambulance services, its now time to pay over the phone!! She was very very pushy and rude, i got the ache and told her id never spoken to her. She said i answered there call in august (when i had the app on my phone) and that its a contractual agreement so if i dont pay within 7days she will get the bailiffs to collect the money or items worth that amount in 8 days time! Haha i was so fed up with it i told her id never spoken to her as i dont answer calls to scammers! Lol she said we have proof and will send it out but that means itll be 3 days until payment is due. I told her to send it as i gaurantee your a scammer and she said ok ill send that now and get ready for the bailiffs, then hung up on me! I really am so fed up of it, that one has even called from a mobile to get through my blocker!!

 

[bombshel]

hi, i'm sorry for any if you that have been caught up in this. I hadthe exact same thing happen to me when I first opened my salon. A man rang me asking if i'd like to be in the police booklet I said i'd think about it then call them back. I then received a call from the artwork dept who I told I was not interested (as I was furious that they had gone ahead without my say so) I then received a letter a few days later asking about my outstanding payment. I rang them and was told that I was being taken to court and it was out of their hands as it was now with their legal team. I ended the call and went to citizens advice bureau. I then called them back from CAB and told them that they were no longer dealing with me and passed the call over to the CAB representative. Funnily enough the 'legal binding contract' dissolved within seconds. These people are scum that prey on new businesses ran by women that they assume aren't business savvy.

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[bliss1]

This is a wee bit off topic but I just had a call from a company straight after I posted an ad on gumtree. Don't think I'm allowed 2 name the company on here. It was a sales call which he was cheeky from the start. When I asked who he was again as he'd spoke do fast from the beginning he sighed lol. Then when I asked if I'd spoke to him b4 he told me that saying it's (his name) again usually means he has!!!
Then when I said thank you 4 phoning but I really wasn't interested and went to hang up I heard him call me a stupid b****..... charming!!! Lol

 

[Keeley20]

JUst an update - got a call from the 'debt department' on behalf of the advertising company....got to say it sounded alot like the pushy man who had been ringin me everyday! lol i just told him i had reported him and put the phone down! xx

 

[Rainbow Bright]

I also got a call like this a couple of weeks ago, saying he was from the police and did I want to advertise in their magazine etc etc, I asked him where he had got my contact details from and he said that they get a list of new businesses from Royal Mail and Company's House, that made me think that something was off. I said I had no money for advertising at the moment and he hung up on me. I kind of had a gut feeling that it was a load of bull. The thing is though when you first answer the phone and they say its the police you kind of go into panic mode thinking that something has happened (my husband had gone mountain biking up Snowdon that morning!), so your actually a bag o nerves and not totally alert, and it's easy to get sucked in by these con artists.
I must admit that I fell for the Facebook advertising scam - I'm such a dumb a*se! At the time I was just trying to get as much advertising as possible and thought, yeah that's a good idea. It only dawned on me afterwards that I'd just literally given my money away - what a plonker - I suppose its a hard lesson learnt but I'll be damn sure I wont be that gullible in future and it wont happen again.:irked:

 

[pearl]

Oh my gosh. I fell for this scam about 8 years ago. I paid £120 for an add that was going to appear in a small journal and would be seen within police stations, dr surgeries, blah, blah, blah. I did it because they said that some of the money would be going to charity and 33,000 booklets were being produced.

I gave my money then .............................................................nothing

Since then I only ever deal with people I have contacted. To everyone else I am just not interested in hearing what they have to say.

Lesson learned and luckily only a small price to pay.

XX

 

[Mrs RSM]

I too have had the police scam, the sick children scam, lots of them.

Watch out too for the Electricity meter scam. They will call you to tell you that you are running on 40% emergency power on the previous owners meter. They claim to be from the government lol!

I had to have my meter fitted so I knew that they were bluffing! They tried every day, up to 6 times a day, they refused to email and any phone number they gave was always wrong. Just be vigilant. They give up eventually.

I did get a call from "first found" the other day, trying to get me to pay them to up my ratings in google. I politely declined , he swore at me and the funniest thing of all...he blew a raspberry down the phone at me! I did laugh.

 

[Extrovert]

he swore at me and the funniest thing of all...he blew a raspberry down the phone at me! I did laugh.[/QUOTE]
Sorry but had to laugh too! Bloody nutters out there!

 

[Ruth Mills]

With regard to recording calls, isn't it against the law to record someone without their knowledge? So you could use that one against them too?

You probably could - normally they need to at least have a message saying that the call is being recorded "for training and quality purposes" or whatever...