[Alan Rowley]

I've just had a phone call from someone claiming that I had agreed to sponsor a leaflet to tackle drug problems in schools. Apparently, I agreed to do this in November.

I told them I hadn't agreed to anything, but he insisted I had and wanted to know which school I wanted them distributed to. I again insisted I hadn't agreed and he said the leaflets had all been printed.

I told him I wasn't interested and he could see he was getting nowhere. He told me to f--- off and put the phone down.

Beware!

[trevor perry]

there are loads of these about , they ring up claiming you had agreed an advertisement and they wanted payment just ask them to show you evidence of you agreeing to advert they put the phone down and you dont hear of them again. it does make you wonder how many do fall for this scam though.

[Alan Rowley]

I would imagine many companies fall for this sort of scam - especially larger companies where several people make the decisions. Can't imagine smaller companies falling for it, though I was scratching my brains for a few seconds trying to remember if I had agreed to anything.

[*Chris Browne]

Yep, have these creeps all the time...

[martin19842]

hi there,

ive got my sponsorship fair and squarely where i can see it, at the local equestrian centre.  amazing how much business you get for very little outlay.

sponsoring all the signage and scoreboards for their one day events, with vans on site during the event. about £500 for the year.

only need a couple of calls from that and it pays for itself.

apart from that i sponsor a charity, the one that starts at home.

and anyway were all sponsoring Northern Rock for the next 5 years, so definately done our bit i think

regards

martin

[steve doyle]

I also find asking them for there address helps end the call,

You should contact the local trading standards, provide them with a few details and they usually get shut down pretty quick. If they are quick to get shut down hopefully they will stop setting up again.

[pro-clean]

T..... T..... Publications were the company that carried out that scam on me

it iniciated with the guy calling me by my first name and telling me i agreed to sponsor a book about bullying that would be distributed to schools and that he was just about to send me out the form for me to choose 1 school that i would like the book sent to, explained to him that i couldn't remembering sponsoring any books but he insisted that an agreement had been made, anyhow i returned the form but queried it the next thing i know i receive an invoice for several hundred pounds and immediately started receiveing calls for payment, i told them that i had no copy of the proof or of where these books had been sent to and insisted that i wouldn't pay anything until i received a copy of the advert in the book as previously described, almost 2 months went past and numerous phone calls for payment, eventually i received a book that they said i sponsored, the advice in the book was total nonsence and i believe ill advised concerning bullying and the actual advert that they told me was in the book turnt out to be a tiny little sticker on the back cover of the book which almost came off immediately, i have had continious call off these people or at least my staff have for the past 6 months with threats of court action, they said i agreed to it vocially and loads of other nonsence, i hope it's cost them the £250 odd pounds through the continious phonecalls that we have had off them, we've certainly found them entertaining, pratts 

[chosker]

pro clean - that exact thing happened to us a year ago, drugs leflets for local school, called me by my name said I personally had booked an add a few months previously (which I hadn't)
they kept hounding us and got nasty, so we just got nasty back and told them exactly what we thought of them... then called trading standards just to make sure and they said we'd done the right thing 

retards...   :

[steve doyle]

Im surprised pro clean that you haven't just reported them to trading standards (you may of course have done, but you dont say so) i think these people give up pretty easily when TS are on to them.

Its also worth mentioning that the sophisticated scammers have been known to record  calls and edit them also be aware if someone trys to redirect the call (transfer you) as this is sometime done to record a genuine call but obviously may only be a few words with another person, try not to use the "yes"  word at all!

In general, asking fo an address and checking it on the web should tell you all you need to know regarding who is genuine and who isnt.

[Alan Rowley]

Sounds like I'm not the first to be targeted then. Anyone who phones me uninvited and tries to sell me something gets a 'thanks for calling, goodbye' response.

[Art]

Alan, register your numbers with  http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/what/

It'll stop some of the calls and the ones it doesn't just tell them that your registered and most of them will hang up

Arthur

[Alan Rowley]

Done Arthur - thanks for the tip. I registered my address and home phone with them ages ago but never thought about registering my business numbers.

[TVCS]

HAd one of these a while ago.  A lady phoned and said that i had agreed to sponsor a book deal for a local school.  At the time my lad was 3 and was at pre-school.  She asked me what school my kids went to. I told her pre-school so she then wanted the name and address of this pre-school to send the books.  What are the books about I asked. 
SEX EDUCATION she replied.  I laughed my a**e off and told her to **** off.    I had never heard of this so called company but she said that I had agreed to pay £400 towards this book sponsorship.

[angela stone]

They are annoying!  We had loads of problems last years and numerous rude phone calls.

In the end I got nasty on the phone to one, and I threatened to call the police, they had wound me up that much - I'm normally nice 

Anyhow, my advice would be to get on to your phone provider and get the service which stops any calls which withhold their number (which will probably be most of them as they don't want any unwanted phone calls back!).  It costs me £4 per month and since then I have had none, and my life is peaceful again!


Ange

[The Great One]

Hi Guys

Just to keep you all informed.

Had a call from a company who called themselves IPK.

''Hi Sir, just calling to let you know your books are ready''

''Books? What books''

''You sponsored some books to do with drug awareness, which are being distributed into school, which school would you like them to go into?''

''I didn't order any advertising?''

''Yes sir, back in August, you sponsored some books for schools and they're ready now''

''I didn't order any advertising or sponsorship of any kind, at any time''

Click...........

Be careful out there!

Regards

Martin

[dustdees]

Hi,
I  had the same thing a fews weeks ago. He didn't even speak properly. I told him I could understand him and could he speak proper english.

He put the phone down leaving a comment of "to**er".

Iwon't do anything like this as i have been stung before, and you neveer get any calls anyway. waste of time even if they are legite

[Atlantic Cleaning]

I had a similar experience myself. I owned a pub at the time. Could not believe how stupid these people are!!!! Had this guy on the other end of the phone saying I had agreed to sponser all these books about drugs etc. I told him no I did not and as usuall he kept insisting that I had. He got a bit nasty as they do but I stopped him in his tracks when I said "The reason I know I did not sponser your book is that  it would not be very responsible of me to advertise my pub in a book about drugs being sent to SCHOOLS!!" with that the phone went dead and never heard from them again.

I have to say I do enjoy winding these people up.

Duncan

[turneylogan]

We used to subscribe to Google Adwords. An invoice for £70 unpaid google advertising came in and I nearly paid it until my wife told me this was not Google. It was someone else using the Google trademark. In tiny print at the bottom it said 'payment only required if you want this service'. There was a company address also on the the invoice and when I looked them up they were private investigators and bodyguards. I decided not to pay them a visit but send their stuff to trading standards.