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COMPANIES TO AVOID
If you've had any bad experiences, let me know
and I'll add the details here. These are just a
very small cross section of the many scams around.
E-mail
me if you'd like information on a particular
company if you have any concerns.
I S Trading - Somehow manage to keep
trading despite obtaining registration fees for
typing work but never actually providing any. They
have been featured countless times on Watchdog, in
the press etc and last year Trading Standards
raided their offices and found application forms
from 8,000 people who had sent in registration fees
of £15 to £20.
Leading Edge Inc, (Also known as Lands End or L.E. Marketing Services
or Data Marketing Direct etc. etc) PO Box 133, Shildon, Co
Durham, DL4 1YW or PO Box 3, Caerphilly, Mid Glam. CF83 3YX and other Welsh PO Box numbers.
Registered office is 229 Nether Street, London,
N3 1NT
CASE HISTORY
I have just been humiliated by a company I
thought I could trust. I am that sort of person who
will not be sucked in, Well now I have.
I received a letter for stuffing envelops. It
was 25p per envelope and I was looking for work I
can do at home for extra money as I'm skint. It
said you can do as much or as little as you like so
I thought I could do at least 500 a week at home in
my spare time.
I sent £35.00 for my starter pack, which
did not specify what was in it, I expected allot. I
received a jiffy bag with 21 envelopes 21 addressed
labels and instructions on what they wanted me to
do. It also told me to affix 21 2nd class stamps
which I thought was cheeky.
I did exactly what they asked me to do by the
letter, I was so careful because I new how funny
these people can be.
So far it has cost me £35.00 package
21env 21 labels 1 instruction letter; the postage
£3.99 21 x 2nd class and 89p to post it all. I
should have received £5.25 for the work I had
done as well. Anyway, today I received a letter and
1 envelope containg one envelope and letter I had
sent, it read as follows, ( in short) I am sorry to
have to let you know that following receipt of your
agency work I have to inform you that the batch was
unacceptable. In accordance with your instructions
no payment can be made and no further work
forwarded.
If you could see this envelope you would
agree it is ludicrous to even think about rejecting
my work as they said the label was not central and
inside the letter folded perfectly had a red line
along it which I don't understand.
They then tell me that if I want the rest of
the assignment back to reclaim the postage ( How
the hell do you do that ) send a C4 size STAMPED
addressed envelope otherwise the batch will be
destroyed in 10 days from the date on the
letter.
Basically I have been conned and I feel
bloody stupid and annoyed that they might get away
with this. So sorry to go on but I'm in tears here
with this, I Hope they know what they do to
people.
Transcribejobs.co.uk
Transcribe Recruitment (UK)
82 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3JL
NOTE - VSystemgroup, mentioned below, are not connected in any way with VSYSTEMS Ltd of www.vsystems.co.uk who are a totally legitimate company.
CASE HISTORIES - May 2003
"All started at the beginning of april, when this
company contacted me on the phone claiming that I
applied for one of their vacancies on the internet (I
do not remember doing that)."
"They sent me an information package with a
demonstration CD. The job offered was data entry for a
medical company, paid £12/13 per hour. It all seemed
very serious and realistic."
"All I had to do was pay £99 to another company,
VSysTek UK Software Distribution Studios
(1 Providence Street, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE30 5ET
UK), for the use of the software called VSystem
VoiceData Plus, Which I did, I sent a cheque."
"Now, the software is not working, they sent me another
CD but the installation is to take place online but
there are continuous faults or technical problems."
"Now Transcribe say that they are not working with that
software any longer, so if you want another job you
have to pay for the licence for another program to
some other company."
"So I ended up paying £99 and wasting time for nothing."
"The case history on your web site is almost identical to mine.
I was approached by Transcribe's Lynn Cartride asking me if I was interested in
working from home earning £12.60 an hour for typing in messages. I agreed,
I paid the £99.00 for the software, now Transcribe's rep John Marshall
(telephone 07092 024 544) is highly offhandish and aggressive"
WARNING
If you have installed this software on your computer, you should be aware it
contains spyware and adware that will watch what you do and record where you go
on the internet. For more information on this and to find out whether your computer
is infected, visit
spywarenuker. Incidentally
if you've ever downloaded anything from the Internet, I'd recommend you
check whether you have any spyware or adware running.
Transcribe and VSysTek both claim to have now ceased trading,
but be wary of any offers of work that require you to purchase software.
If you've had any dealing with Transcribe and have any further information about them, please let me know.
UPDATE - I am receiving daily e-mails from victims of this scam so to
find out the latest, visit our new page of Transcribe experiences and other correspondence.
NOTE - VSystemgroup are not connected in any way with www.vsystems.co.uk who are a totally legitimate company.
CAPITOL PUBLISHING offer work filling
envelopes. You pay £35 pounds in advance as a
joining fee and only then do they tell you that you
will:
- Have to buy stamps for 250 envelopes {this
is a minimum }
- You had to get the leaflets printed from a
professional printer
- The envelopes had to be bought from a
supplier of their choice
- You were required to send a minimum of 250 a
week,
- The envelopes had to be returned Recorded
Delivery
- And then and only then "IF" they were deemed
satisfactory would you be paid approx £138
(approx 35-40p per envelope) but of course it's
all payout first with no guarantee you would get
your money back
C R Associates - This company claims to
offer all types of work but actually provides you
with the shortest directory I have seen. For
£15 you get a short booklet with full page
adverts from about a dozen companies, none of whom
look genuine. Two, for example, I know operate
scams.
The Homeworkers Register - This company
was operated by A Miller from 665 Finchley Road,
London NW2, now R Miller of 55 Derby Road, Croydon.
For £25 he claims you will receive a regular
free homeworking magazine which lists a large
selection of homeworking opportunities to meet
every requirement, and that you can have your name
and address circulated to companies requiring
homeworkers, enabling them to contact you direct.
They then detail the types of work available,
specifically mentioning a variety of craft work,
packing and typing.
The reality is somewhat different. What you
actually get is a directory listing hundreds of
names and addresses with no explanation of the work
offered by each company. In the eleven months since
receiving my directory I have had no "regular
magazine" nor have I received any offers of work.
Procraft International, Telford,
Shropshire
"Their claim was that if I sent £25 they
would furnish me with materials to make things like
computer files, pop-up greetings cards, and a list
of about 10 other items for which I would be paid
handsomely once they were returned to them (and
then be reimbursed my £25).
I sent for the materials for the computer file
and was sent one for trial, which is fair enough.
But the "materials" were so shabby, it was
impossible to create anything decent . The
so-called vinyl outer material was nothing more
than a thin crepe type of quality and the lining
wouldn't have made even a decent duster! The
"support" for creating the shape of the box was to
be supplied by myself from an empty packet of
cornflakes! This magnificent article when finished,
I was assured, was to retail at £18 and I
would be receiving a third of this for each one
produced.
"This is only the trial package", I convinced
myself, "the tester to see if I'm up to scratch for
them - coz they know full well that you must be
darned good if you can make something out of
this!!".
I was wrong. I returned a right shambles (in my
opinion) to them with a note saying that this was
the best I could offer and that there would be much
improvement when they sent me the real thing. That
was the real thing. So not only did I not get paid
for that, my deposit wasn't forthcoming either. The
letter went on to say "however if you wish to have
another attempt then please contact us and we will
despatch more materials. No way was I going to
struggle with that rubbish again, so in order to
attempt to retrieve my £25 I asked for the
"pop-up cards". The quality was undescribable
without swearing."
'Packers R Us'. Staffordshire House, Clat
Street, Penkridge, Staffs. Help line No 01785
716958.
"This is for making envelopes at £15.00
per 100 and/or packing safety pins at £5.00
per card. Easy, simple work which would suit me
fine. The cost for both was discounted to
£40.00 fully refundable. I decided to go ahead
with this one as I spoke to a very nice man called
Joe on the help line ( I could actually get
through).
HOWEVER
They sent the sample stuff which I completed
to the best of my ability. Some of the things were
impossible to do without specialist equipment - How
do you make a 10mm hole? Answer draw round a
drawing pin and cut it out Impossible to do neatly.
Paper to make envelopes was normal A4 and the
template sub standard. They just tore the product
apart.
And according to directory inquiries the
phone no and company don't match????"
Aston Marketing (UK) This company have
been around for several years and produce a
professional looking booklet describing the work
available from them. However, when you receive a
kit from them you will find it completely
unsuitable for its purpose and of a very poor
quality. If you query this, you will be told to use
your own materials. Don't bother, as when you
return the goods you will be told they don't meet
the required standards, but won't be able to tell
you why.
Riverside Marketing, Office 21, 1st
Floor, Gower Street Trading Estate, Telford
"I sent £4.95 for a 'Homeworkers
Directory' which they promised to refund if I
didn't get a job offer.
There wasn't a lot in this so-called
directory but I spotted what would be a great job
for me - working for their 'Data Control division'
using my computer to input names and addresses onto
floppy disc. It cost £9.95 (refundable on
completion of 5000 names and addresses) for a
floppy disc and a trial list of names. But after
sending the disc back I got a letter saying 'due to
lack of contracts on our behalf we are unable to
send any more work to you at present but your name
and address will be kept on file' (yeh, sure!) I
also sent S.A.E. and 6 stamps for a booklet
'Essential advice and Information for Homeworkers'
but surprisingly got no reply."
Robert Cooper, 11 Bouverie Square,
Folkestone, Kent CT20 1BD. Mr Cooper operates
many scams of the types listed above and also uses
the names Advanced promotions and Freetime
Promotions. Be very wary of anything you receive
from this address.
Aspar Trading Co.Ltd., P.O.Box 52236, 4062
Limassol, Cyprus
You reply to an advertisement which states
something along the lines of:
We are currently hiring serious homeworkers.
Positions: home typist, clerk, secretary,
supervisor. Earn $3500 - $5000 per month!
Experience is not necessary. Part time/full time.
Anywhere in the world! Apply now!
They return with a well written letter offering
the possibility of several options in the way of
typing work - the sting in the tail being they want
a deposit up front of $100! They say "We are
only interested in SERIOUS homeworkers to work for
us. For that reason we must ask for a one-time
deposit of US$100. This is NO FEE. It is a DEPOSIT
that will be refunded to you when you have earned
your first US$100. This is necessary to protect
both you and us from unserious (sic) job
seekers.
If you're desperate enough to send your $100,
you'll then find you simply send out more e-mails
along the lines of the one above and supposedly
earn for each reply you receive, once you receive
500. Unfortunately, not only are you then actively
encouraging others into the scam in a desperate bid
to get back your money, but the company then come
out with a selection of excuses as to why they
won't pay before ignoring you altogether. With only
an e-mail address and a Cypriot P.O. Box address
there's not a lot more you can do.
First Link Internet Academy. The company
offer work from home posting advertising on the
net. You are asked to pay them £98.00 for info
and part of the agreement is that you, in effect,
have to buy a PC from them in order to work for
them. Pay them another £895.00 for the PC, get
receipts and a delivery date for the machine. It
won't arrive, then it is to be re-scheduled. The
long and short of it is that they will send you a
standard letter to say that they are in financial
trouble and at the moment cannot either refund you
or supply the machine for which you have paid. They
then offer envelope work (which they condemn in
their literature), paying £100 (although at
some point they said their rates of pay were
£300 per batch) per 1000, but you have to buy
the stamps (£200) and they say they will pay
your stamp expenses with your £100 pay per
batch. Needless to say I have my doubts about ever
getting paid. They won't reply to your letters,
faxes, e-mails and their phone is constantly
engaged or off the hook.
The directors of the company are SIMON
PETER STANFORD and PAULINE SANDRA MANSFIELD of 53
THE AVENUE, CHEAM, SURREY , SM2 7QE
M.A.N. Products, 19a Chapel Ash, West
Midlands, WV3 0TZ. This company claim to offer work
packing studs, or making handmade clockface,
Achievement Awards and envelopes. The following is
the experience of one potential homeworker:
"They sent me the envelope making kit."
(£4.90 for 50)" Even though I had asked for
something else. When I returned the kit they
returned it to me. I asked for my money back and
they said they would have to keep £10 for
administration fees. Still haven't seen any of my
£30 (I think it was that much).The envelopes
they ask you to make aren't normal envelopes, they
are like bags and it would take at least 2 days to
make 50 with all the cutting and folding and
scoring you have to do!!!"
"I recently sent money to a company which
promised work from home.They sent out a letter
telling me to advertise in shops and I would
receive £1.20 for every response...it is
obviously a racket as the advert was just trying to
get people like me. They ask from anything from
£10 upwards.They are T.F.Race
Associates,Suite 14, 59 Crawford
Street,London,W1H 1HS."
I am sure you will have seen advertisements for
Winstar Direct. They have been placing
prominent ads in magazines and newspapers for years
making unrealistic claims. A recent judgement by
the Office of Fair Trading (click
here to see the full
judgement) still hasn't stopped them. If you have
been caught out contact your local trading
Standards Office as they are currently sending out
questionnaires to establish the level of activity,
and to try once and for all to curtail the
business.
"How to Make £25 from each "Sold" Sign
that you see". You may well have seen this
advert, offered by many different companies. Every
wondered whether it really works? The following is
a quote from somebody who sent off for this one.
"Firstly you have to wait for the houses "for
sale" to actually be SOLD. Secondly, the
specially-prepared letter you send to them is a
letter welcoming the new occupants to the area and
introducing them to some of the shops &
services in the area. Before doing this, however,
you have to contact lots of shops and services and
persuade them that, in return for advertising their
services for free to new homeowners in the area,
they should give you a percentage of the sales
arising from your letter. Although the idea may be
a good one, I feel that the advertising of this
scheme is extremely misleading."
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