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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.
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.
'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 actully 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.
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.
If you have had any dealings with this company,
let me know. I can put you in touch with others in
the same position who are trying to take action
against them.
The directors ot 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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