BBC Watchdog website writes....
Anderson Clarke Publications
2nd March 2004
Anderson Clarke Publications (ACP) produce school books to help kids with growing up. It sounds like a good deed but it's not. The publishers get money by leaning on local businesses to stump up sponsorship cash. The book, 'Be Aware of Self-Esteem', gives confusing and contradictory advice on how to deal with strangers, and throughout the books there are grammatical and spelling errors.
Tim James runs his own business building adventure play equipment for children. Tim says that when Anderson Clarke Publications called him, he'd agreed to sponsor a series of booklets. He couldn't recall the conversation he'd had with them so he asked them to send him some details through the post. The only details Tim received was an invoice for nearly £240. That's £6 a book.
ACP called Tim requesting payment. Tim says "When he phoned me and he said he was going to freeze my bank account to stop me from trading if I didn't pay, it was a bit of a shock. He then went on to tell me that I could pay there and then by credit card, and it was only £250 but £250 to me was a lot of money."
Eventually some details did arrive. A letter threatening legal action.
Susy Greaves, a self-employed wedding photographer, also got a call from ACP. She was pleased to sponsor the school but she was disappointed to find that all she received was an invoice.
She said "What really incensed me was the fact that it's not even for the right age group. It's a primary school booklet. It actually says so on the back. And yet they knew I was sponsoring a secondary school."
Watchdog viewer Steve Whitby runs a small family business. He had 20 booklets arrive at his works address along with an invoice for approximately £180. His initial reaction was – what order?
He said "there's no way they could justify £10 per book. The standard of the literature inside was absolute rubbish".
Ian Goodacre, head teacher of Monkwick Junior School said "The inaccuracies in terms of grammar, spelling and so on are a major concern. I think it's inappropriate for primary school children, and I certainly wouldn't want it used in my school".
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