Paco
New Member
- Messages
- 490
Well I thought I'd seen most scams and could recognise one coming but the latest is very smart indeed, seems to have been doing the rounds for a while but I'll mention it here in case any of you run your own business.
You get a phone call talking about advertising on a wall chart/desk diary with the profits for a charity, nothing committed, prices mentioned etc etc just general stuff.
Shortly after you get call number two, only this one is being recorded (without you knowing). The script is very clever and comes from the "art dept" just verifying details and then saying "what I'll do is put a proof in the post" to which you/your employee says "OK" and bingo, you apparently have a verbal contract.
The proof is pathetic but has 7 day approval terms on the back, which if it was sent over Christmas means you get it too late.
The money isn't much - £100 or so, but you tell them to f-off because you never wanted it in the first place. This is where I am at.
According to various sources on the net the same entrepreneur owns a debt collection agency!! Guess what, the next thing is they are knocking on the door....
Here's how the law protects them:
They can record you with out telling you and it can be admitted as evidence
The employee is assumed to have authority to make company spending decisions irrespective of role/responsibilities
The recorded telephone conversation is scripted so that it sounds like one thing to the person who also was party to the original call, i.e. an innocent follow-up, and another thing to say the court, who get to hear it in isolation.
Nice work if you can get it!!
If someone calls you about advertising on a wall planner or desk-diary for any charity don't go near it, and tell every member of staff they are not to take marketing calls (unless they are responsible for marketing I guess!!!).
A driver for one of my businesses took the call, thought we had probably arranged it and he was just confirming our address where the proof could be sent.
They sent me the recording of the conversation, it is very cleverly scripted. However I beleive that if it makes reference to an earlier conversation that isn't produced we can argue that the offer was based on false assurances (i.e. that management had already agreed to it) and is therefore misrepresented - apologies for going legal but if there are eagles out there please comment!
I took the free legal "advice" from the FSB I drafted a letter to send them that basically tells them which bus they can hop on, and for £100 I doubt they'll sue me but the net is full of folk who have been stung for much more.
Moral of the story, I don't know really, probably "where there's a will there's a robbing shyte"
You get a phone call talking about advertising on a wall chart/desk diary with the profits for a charity, nothing committed, prices mentioned etc etc just general stuff.
Shortly after you get call number two, only this one is being recorded (without you knowing). The script is very clever and comes from the "art dept" just verifying details and then saying "what I'll do is put a proof in the post" to which you/your employee says "OK" and bingo, you apparently have a verbal contract.
The proof is pathetic but has 7 day approval terms on the back, which if it was sent over Christmas means you get it too late.
The money isn't much - £100 or so, but you tell them to f-off because you never wanted it in the first place. This is where I am at.
According to various sources on the net the same entrepreneur owns a debt collection agency!! Guess what, the next thing is they are knocking on the door....
Here's how the law protects them:
They can record you with out telling you and it can be admitted as evidence
The employee is assumed to have authority to make company spending decisions irrespective of role/responsibilities
The recorded telephone conversation is scripted so that it sounds like one thing to the person who also was party to the original call, i.e. an innocent follow-up, and another thing to say the court, who get to hear it in isolation.
Nice work if you can get it!!
If someone calls you about advertising on a wall planner or desk-diary for any charity don't go near it, and tell every member of staff they are not to take marketing calls (unless they are responsible for marketing I guess!!!).
A driver for one of my businesses took the call, thought we had probably arranged it and he was just confirming our address where the proof could be sent.
They sent me the recording of the conversation, it is very cleverly scripted. However I beleive that if it makes reference to an earlier conversation that isn't produced we can argue that the offer was based on false assurances (i.e. that management had already agreed to it) and is therefore misrepresented - apologies for going legal but if there are eagles out there please comment!
I took the free legal "advice" from the FSB I drafted a letter to send them that basically tells them which bus they can hop on, and for £100 I doubt they'll sue me but the net is full of folk who have been stung for much more.
Moral of the story, I don't know really, probably "where there's a will there's a robbing shyte"
