Suckered by a charity

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

my Mrs signed up for a free!! trial of some tooth whitener and had to pay postage only, but somewhere in the web site they could take out repeated payments from our bank account,we only twigged when they had taken £320.0 and we lost the money

 

[strummerman]

These places should be banned :yikes:

You need to watch out for loads of them unfortunately.
Services wall charts (Police, fire, Ambulance etc).....supposedly
Drug awareness booklets going out to schools.........supposedly

Also watch out for the phone call claiming to be "just going to print, your advert, that you agreed to place". And you cannot remember who or wot they are............thats wot they expect........but claim you definately placed the order :yikes:

I got caught a couple of times when I first started, and unfortunately it has made me suspious of everyone. I registered with TPS, and MOST of the calls stopped.....still get some, but I tell them to bog off 😳

been there worn the t shirt last time i had one they ended bein done by manchester police fraud department :lol:

 

[hillhead]

I got suckered by a company lately.not advertising but i lost near 1800 quid! Ill never be caught again so be careful and very careful people.i was just lucky that i paid by credit card.i claimed under section 75 and got full refund from my card provider.bloody damn lucky id say.phew.i was sick to my guts for being so silly.

 

[mikethetile]

Mike... Gm isn't saying that the charity isn't worthy, it is the fact that he didn't get what he agreed too...

Please read the OP again

hi Dave

re read the post

definatly says that gm was rang by forresters

but it wouldnt have been forresters that rang it would have been vardis who would have been commissioned to produce this booklet on their behalf to raise funds for their charity

forresters recieve part of the payment recieved for the ad space sold,
by taking this space and refusing to pay you deprive the charity of funds

i think im going to have to agree to disagree on this matter as im seeing it from the charities point of view

ive done a lot of fundraising over the years and have seen the difference first hand it makes to others life

 

[DHTiling]

Mike.. again.. i didn't say it was the charity at fault.. i said he didn't get what he agreed too..

If he wanted to give money to a charity just for the sake of giving it ,then fair enough, but he agreed to a certain booklet advertising and he didn't get what he was told he would... this is nothing to do with giving money to a charity it is miss selling of a product/service..

I fully understand your views but why should anybody agree to something they didn't get..??..and still have to pay for it..

 

[kilty55]

Last October while in the middle of my tiling course I recieved a phone call from a charity "The Forresters Fund For Children" they told me I could advertise in their booklet which was going to be distributed to all residential and business addresses in my area. At the time I was wondering how I was going to reach all my prospective clients and thought this would be ideal as being associated with a reputible charity would make me look like an honest, caring person (which I am by the way).
I was just about to start out and was nieve, all this advertising for £349 bargain.

I agreed and was promptly phoned back to confirm the order, but this time the call was being recorded wheras the sales call had not been. Alarm bells should have started to ring but didn't as I'm a trusting soul (or fool).

A couple of weeks later received a proof through the post showing my advert and looked good and proffessionally done only now correspondance was coming from a company called Vardis. It appears Vardis do all the charities admin, sales etc, still no alarm bells.

I hadn't heard anything for about 6 weeks so I called them to ask when the booklets would be going out, only to be told that they are distributed on an area to area basis over the course of the year and that they go to hospitals, dentists waiting rooms and are sold at charity events and won't be going to everyone in my area at all.

I phoned a couple of the other adverts in the booklet, one lady had gone out of business as she'd paid up front to take advantage of their discount, this had been all the money she had set aside for advertising, another small business I contacted had received the same sales speil as me but thankfully like me hasn't parted with a penny yet.

Next step I contacted the manager at Vardis explaining how I and others had been mis-sold this advertising, after some discussion he reduced my bill to £150 but as I explained to him why should I pay anything for this as it isn't going to reach my target audience, therefore won't give me a return, he just kept telling me that it was for charity and he thinks the reduction is more than genourous.

I don't want to appear heartless and that I'm stiffing a charity but I feel I have to make a stand against their unscrupulis methods so I've contacted Trading Standards. Hope they can sort it out but I fear because the sales call wasn't recorded it's me and the advertiser in my areas word against theirs and they have a recording of us agreeing on the return call.

Anyone else been duped or am I the only idiot on here

Graeme
ETL Pro Tiling

hi mate,i was called directly by these jokers a year ago and also made the mistake of agreeing verbally to an ad in a booklet which wd be distributed,,however when the proof booklet was delivered it was a booklet to be distributed to school children based on bullying,,this was going to bring me zero work whatsoever.they called and called threatening me many a time with legal action and eventually sent me some sort of county court action threat via letter from a supposed debt collecting agency(who i later found out are actually also vardis but with another name. they are the ones who have fraudulently misled you,you are not to blame whatsoever and you are not due them any money either. let them call and threaten you all they want its a massive scam. personally i wouldnt be making some donation to the charity involved either,your a business and if they want to drag a good charitys name down with using vardis then let them,its not your problem.good luck and stick to your guns

 

[mikethetile]

Mike.. again.. i didn't say it was the charity at fault.. i said he didn't get what he agreed too..

If he wanted to give money to a charity just for the sake of giving it ,then fair enough, but he agreed to a certain booklet advertising and he didn't get what he was told he would... this is nothing to do with giving money to a charity it is miss selling of a product/service..

I fully understand your views but why should anybody agree to something they didn't get..??..and still have to pay for it..

ok Dave

i see your point

ill shut up then

 

[Fred]

Fell for it when I started out. Now I'm more aware. When the yellow pages go out in my area, January, they start. So, I listen to them, because I know if you listen they won't put the phone down and waste their phone bill, ask loads of question, then I put the phone down............love it.

You have to harden up.

 

[diamondtiling]

hi Dave

re read the post

definatly says that gm was rang by forresters

but it wouldnt have been forresters that rang it would have been vardis who would have been commissioned to produce this booklet on their behalf to raise funds for their charity

forresters recieve part of the payment recieved for the ad space sold,
by taking this space and refusing to pay you deprive the charity of funds

i think im going to have to agree to disagree on this matter as im seeing it from the charities point of view

ive done a lot of fundraising over the years and have seen the difference first hand it makes to others life

It makes no difference who or what rang him first, Charity or not he has lost money by being duped. Forresters should have nothing to do with these bogus companies that prey on people needing work in these difficult times. We all give money to charity at some point in our lives, most give and say nothing to anyone. Charity begins at home Mike, once you have got that side sorted then you might have some left over to give away.
No-one could ever accuse me of not giving to needy charities but I only do it when my family has been taken care of first and that means securing work. Each week I get at least 10 of those plastic envelopes asking for toys, clothes shoes etc and each time they go in the bin, how much stuff do they expect a householder to have? They waste money on paying people to post the things in the first place, once every six months would be fine but every week?? Pointless exercise........:mad2:

 

[b30 villain]

I dont bother with any of these charitys. i have always wondered how much they actually recieve from it. I donate cash and goods to Acorns( its like a restbite centre for kids who are terminally ill) as i know every single penny of it goes to the charity and not some middle man so to speak. Pay em sod all theres too many of these unscrupulous charity bandits about