Its A Rip Off !!!!

[Stemmy]

Just thought I would post a message telling you about the con merchants out there.

This directed a you Craig because they are obviously in the area.

Last week I was contacted by my local venue (where I do 15-20 weddings a year) They said that a company would be contacting me with regards to a new DVD brochure they were producing for the venue. A dvd with all the venues recommended suppliers would be sent to every new enquiry and existing wedding booking.

As I am the venues "Recommended Photographer" I almost felt obliged to do something to keep my "Relationship" with them.

Sure enough the next day a rep rang and we made an appointment. I listened to the sales rep, it all sounded very good. The cost would be £1800 over two years. Sounds a lot but it only needs to generate two wedding bookings to break even. I signed up and paid an installment of £400 ish.

As I laid in bed that night I analysed what I had done and started to worry.

I know the manager of the venue well so I rang him the next morning to ask him how commited he was to this project. He advised me to steer clear as he had no history on the company. After talking to the sales staff they told me that they had never contacted any suppliers. The advertising company had been ringing people saying they were from the hotel sales team.

I was straight on the phone and cancelled the cheque I had written. I then rang the sales rep - who I might add was a very charming lady - and told her I was cancelling my order.

How she changed !!! She turned into sales rep from hell. After 10 mins of her ranting I quoted the 14 day cooling off period attached to any contract and told her to stick the order.

I have talked to the sales staff today at the bridal show and they said they were supposed to get the DVDs to put in the brochures last month - but nothing. They also told me that they had had five other exibitors asking them why they couldn't contact the company and they weren't returning any calls. They have obviously done a runner.

I feel a bit embarrassed as I try to be as shrewd as I can in business and as I was in
sales for 7 years before I was a photographer I thought I could smell a rat.

Ah well you live and learn. I feel sorry for all the others who have lost their money. Another lesson learned - "If it seems too good to be true it usually is" :(

[storm7]

I know the venue - they've already contacted me ...needless to say, I got rid of them sharpish - said venue is up for sale ???

[Stemmy]

yes 20 million ish. Do you want to go halves Craig.

Heard rhumour yesterday it has been sold. Only the jungle drums. Nothing official.

[Kirsty]

cnt beleive ne 1 wud do tht- rude! tut tut! r u gna b able 2 get ur money back?

[storm7]

Go halves :eek: I want me EOS5D first ... :D

[michael]

That was an interesting contribution regarding the DVD scam. We nearly fell foul of something very similar that apparently from the parent company of the hotel where we are recommended as their wedding photographers. I got a call from someone who said he was from head office and would I like to be in the handouts that they place by the side of guests beds. We arranged to see this guy and had to listen to a 45 minute hard sell before he came out with the fee which was in the thousands. When I objected, he kept disappearing for chats (which I now believe to be make believe) with the general manager. I rejected the whole idea and he went off in a huff. It had no impact on the hotel who didn't appear to know much about it.

Incidentally, that last comment about the EOS 5D. I bought one of the first few to arrive in the UK this October and this camera is in a class of it's own. Canon have just cornered the market and the others will need to catch up or be left behind. However, the recall of the 24-105 IS lens that I bought at the same time is a real downer and I apparrently have to wait until perhaps early next year, as they have all been recalled by Canon, but I will wait for it as the camera's resolution is so outrageous that it is wasted if you put anything other than an L series lens on it.

Michael

[Dotty.c]

We were contacted just before christmas and asked to advertise in a brouchure for the emergency services, unfortunatly for the sales rep. they did the same last year, and even though we said NO they still went ahead and billed us, of course we didnt pay, then a nasty legal letter arrived with the threat of court. Our reply was "see you there" never heard another word wonder why? We did check with people from all over the region (SN post code) but no one had ever had one of the booklets through the door.

[tonymidd]

Another scam for the shredder is the invoice for supurious European directories, had one the other day for an e-mail address directory! 1200? get real.

[peterjones]

When I get contacted by a company such as "anotheripoff.com" that promises the earth on advertising and it costs say £500 pa you do not break even after one wedding; that is the fast way to go out of business.

You calculate how much money you allocate per wedding that you spend on advertising and promotion.

E.G. You book 40 weddings pa and spend £2000 pa on advertising and promotion. (These figures are entirely a fabrication) That means you spend per wedding £2000/40= £50 per wedding on advertising.

So returning to my first example of anotheripoff quoting £500pa you need 10 weddings to break even not one!

So next time you get a call promising advertising heaven and 79 virgins divide the figure they quote by the amount you allocate per wedding and if you don't think that their proposal won't bring you at least that many weddings the answer is simple.

Peter.

[MichelleJones]

Interesting thread and it's fantastic that this has been noted, I got ripped off by a company doing that, they took me for £500. Luckly I have a solicitor friend and I managed to get most of the money back, but not all of it.

These people simply have no morals.

You have to be very careful with the companies calling up up, saying that they're from a charity and are doing a wall planner, leaflet, booklet for the charity to raise money for sick kids or whatever. This is a major scam and it works 9 times out of 10 as it appeals to your sympathy, it is hard to say no, but do as this scam is awful and saying yes encourages them.

[Gadget]

There is similar scam kicking around but they only seem to be targetting Federation of Small business members.
you gat a call from a guy saying he is from a parlimentsry or govenment department and they arelooking to hire someone who does particular work - this is being tried on all sorts, printers, web designers, a cleaning company.
They take lots of details and then next morning profile order arrives from waht appears to be a publishing company. It appears the call was mearly to get details to raise an invoice for advertising in a directory. £1500

Second one is a parcel delivery scam.
you get a card saying a comapny called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) saying they tried to deliver a parcel and you need to call a specific number to arrange a new delivery. you call the number and are automatically billed for £15 for the phone call. Police are also onto this one so beware.

[lostmysnorkel]

My wife got the delivery one a while ago - and she gave me a b''l'cking for it.

Apparently, according to the card, I had orderd an expensive digital camera that they couldn't deliver!

[PaulChubb]

Little trick I picked up back in my days working for Barclays Bank. You guys mite know this already but for those who don?t. Always pay by credit card!! Even if you clear it the next day!

Under the credit consumers act, the credit card company is liable fro every single transaction over £100. So if it is a scam, you cans till get your money back!!

I can explain more if you want me to because there?s a few little tricks with this.

[Mal]

Hi Paul
Please do I have been caught by the looks of it!!!:ops:

[PaulChubb]

quite simply if you paid useing credit cards then u have esentialy been leant money by your bank to make the purchase. if the transaction was not fullfield in any way then the then the loan was not used for its intended purpose. the bank must then recall and cancell that debt. so if you pad for this advertisng service by credit card, but the service was not recived, then debt to your bakn/card can be canceld.

Its been a wile since iv had to go through this, but if you give tradeing standards a call they will be more than happy to fill you in. dont try and ask your bank about it though as its one of these pieces of information theyd rather you didnt know.

its gose alot further to. for example you buy a nice shiney knew car...pay the first £100 punds on your credit card and the rest by what ever way u like, your still coverd for the whole thing!!

[StagePhotography.co.uk]

Check the small print....

As soon as they mention "non-refundable" I'm not sure a
credit card can save you...

[PaulChubb]

As soon as they mention "non-refundable" I'm not sure a
credit card can save you...

Ah but it wont be the company refunding you. its the bank reimbursing you. 2 diffrent things.

[Mal]

Let you know if I am successful

[.Ray]

Stumbled on this old thread while searching for something. Interesting thread that everyone should read.

Re the credit card thing, I think Paul is right there. On the other hand, the same applies if your business is taking credit cards for payment... the customer can complain to the bank, who can in turn take the money out of your account. I think this is why the banks will check you out thoroughly and/or ask for a huge deposit before letting you loose with a credit card machine.

[chrishoggy]

Interesting, but not sure the thread needed dragging up 1 1/2 years down the line. However on the point of accepting cards for payments. You need no checks or deposits to take credit card payments. A simple paypal account can take all credit and debit cards for payments, and all you need is a bank account to get one of those up and running.
I think "charge back" on credit cards is quite a well known fact now, and many places will not even accept cheques as a form of payment.

I like cold hard cash, and I stick it under my bed :clapping:

[.Ray]

You never know if someone might try an old scam again. The more you know, the better you are at detecting them. Nawt wrong with digging up an old thread is there?

[chrishoggy]

Yeah knowledge is good, but I think this particular scam company will be long gone by now (or should be) :) Others may pick up where they left off though, so I guess some info is relevant :ok:
Nawt wrong with digging up an old thread is there?

Not my place to say really, but it is not good forum practise to drag up old threads. I know many forums where you get warnings (and in some cases banned) if you do it:)

[cozmoz007]

Not my place to say really, but it is not good forum practise to drag up old threads. I know many forums where you get warnings (and in some cases banned) if you do it:)

Hi Chris,

Haven't we been told on here though not to start new threads when information is already in existance, as this just duplicates information... we've been told to use the search function before asking a question or raising an issue.

Maybe if the forum doesn't want 'old threads' to be re-raised, then they should be locked or closed to further comments after a certain time period.

Just my thoughts xx :)

[chrishoggy]

Hi Chris,

Haven't we been told on here though not to start new threads when information is already in existance, as this just duplicates information... we've been told to use the search function before asking a question or raising an issue.

Maybe if the forum doesn't want 'old threads' to be re-raised, then they should be locked or closed to further comments after a certain time period.

Just my thoughts xx :)
Yeah searching for a topic to gain info is correct, it's posting in/bumping an old topic that many forums don't approve of. I'm not saying that is the case here, but I assumed it was. All the other forums I belong to do not like really old topics being boosted to the front. :) :(x