[prestige cleaners]

an aquaintance of mine has just set up a trad round and decided to call himself the same name as myself, he lives in the same city as me, and i need a friendly way of telling him to change his name before he expands and advertises himself. he has only so far got a vehicle sticker of his business name.

im registered with companies house, and advertise on yell, gumtree, google maps

what would you guys do/say?

or should i just leave it?

im worried about customers getting confused, or prospective customers calling him instead!

[prestige cleaners]

forgot to say im not called dirty windows ltd!

[Tom White]

I think you've just got to approach him in a friendly manner and explain why he shouldn't use the same company name as yourself.

[daz1977]

if u own the company name ie ltd, then speak to him, if he refuses then send a solicitors letter ordering him to cease using that name, 

what is he calling him self as u might not be able to do anything even if you own the name

[daz1977]

is this the same guiy who got a web site in your name?

[prestige cleaners]

i dont want this issue to cause a division between us so i dont want to send a solicitors letter,

and no he hasnt got the same website as me, i dont run one.

im hoping to bump into him face to face, and tell him then. im sure he will see sense in being called something different, but you dont know how people might react. ive known him 10yrs, so hopefully will be cool about it.

just dont want to come across as unreasonable to him.

makes good business sense for him too, if in the future he expands and wants to advertise.

[daz1977]

if he is using ur name and messes up up will have to prove it is not u, speak to him,  but if he is using his real name then there is nothing u can do

[cleanandshine]

so what is your company name?

[DaveG]

slightly off topic ...but howmuch do you pay to register with companies house?

Cheers Dave

[daz1977]

50 for next day i think, or 25 for 7 day service,

[amayze]

You must send him the solicitors letter.

You own the intellectual rights to the name. If he is trading under a name either the same or very similar to yours, especially in an area close to you....than he is breaking the law.

Your solicitor will write to him, inform him of this, proving that you were using the name before he was and give him a reasonable time, normally 7 days to change it. Your solicitor may want to see proof of the name change.

If it does have to go to court, you can show the solicitors letter as evidence. The judge can then instruct him to cease trading until the name has been changed, and can even make him pay you a % of his earnings as well.

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

spark him out lad 

[cleewindows]

Too right knock on his door and knock him out.let him know who's top dog.

spark him out lad 

[Jack Wallace]

Why not ring him up and say you have had 1 or 2 phone calls from people who have seen his car and tracked you down from the company name using google.
Say he will never achieve the google ranking you have so he will lose loads more customers as a result.

Tell him it makes more sense to change or people will continue calling you as he grows.

Doing it this way will seem as if you are doing him a favour and retain your friendship.

If it does not work, Sue his ass 

[jonnyald]

out of all the millions of names out there he chooses your name- that cant be coincidence.  either he is trying to ride along on your shirt tails or trying to nark you right off.

 you say he is an aquaintance,i would be getting a word into his shell-like quickly before he buys more signs . id say "what are you doing  pretending to be me ?" thisll make him sound a bit nutty

[woody1]

I think you need to go have a word mate dont ask him to change his name tell him, its bang out of order, i dont think i would wait for a letter from courts just deal with it mate he is taking the pee out off you