Avertising scam warning: Telegraph Marketing

[dick dastardly]

I received a call yesterday morning from a company called Telegraph Marketing saying that their magazine which I had agreed to advertise in, TM Community Guide, was slightly delayed and wouldn’t be ready until the end of June rather than the end of May. To compensate they were giving me something like a £25 reduction in the rate.

I couldn’t remember agreeing to the advert and had never heard of the publication before so started quizzing them. They said that I agreed back in January and that the guide goes out to all the business people of South Wales, including the Chamber of Commerce members. It sounded like the kind of thing we would advertise in so I agreed for them to send over the proof, hoping that it would jog my memory or I could show it to my colleagues to see if it is something they agreed to run with.

When the proof came through it didn’t take long to spot the scam. The advert was a very poorly put together combination of images from our website and text taken from our advert in the last issue of The Insider. Their story didn’t add up as this advert was only written and released in April, not January as they had stated, so I Googled their name and came up with these results:

www.blagger.com/db4/company_id/5471/companyname/Telegraph-Marketing.html
www.standbrook-guides.com/warning.php
www.freelancers.net/show_forum/20060311/

From what I can see online about them they are basically selling adverts for a magazine which doesn’t exist and once they send over a proof they invoice you, threatening legal action to anyone who doesn’t pay up.

This is something that everyone who advertises in business magazines should be aware as they must be trawling them for victims. If they call you let them know that you are aware of what they are doing and will inform trading standards if they call you again.

The company & contact details taken from the email they sent me are:

Steve Walsh
Telegraph Marketing
13 Serpentine Road,Wallasey,CheshireCH44 0AT
Tel. [phone]Fax. [phone]
Email. [e-mail]

[mc_blue]

We get so many calls of this nature but most of the time it is people sending us 'invoices' for adverts. Everyone be careful and don't let these scammers have the time of day.

Regards

[shadowninja]

the dirty liars. they'll fool some people.

[dick dastardly]

And in todays post I just got an invoice through for £225 from them!

[david_s]

dick dastardly said:

And in todays post I just got an invoice through for £225 from them!

Ask them for a copy of your purchase order, then tell them that no orders are raised by your company without an official purchase order being sent. (Or just tell them to f*$& off and stop wasting your time).

[TDIPLC]

Yes, that one has been around for a while.

Another old one is selling advertising space in diaries for the Emergency Services or on calendars for charities. None of them like being being questioned

Edited by TDIPLC on Tuesday 15th May 12:14

[glassman]

I, as a rule, do not agree to anything over the phone. If they ask loaded questions about whether or not what they're offering is of any interest to us, I request an authenticated information pack / letter.

Some still try and 'follow up' after a few weeks at which point I explicitly remind them that I have not agreed to anything.

Suggesting a meeting usually gets them jittering and stuttering.

[detchibe]

I've had *LOADS* of these too. I ended up having an argument with one woman who kept telling me that I had agreed to advertise in this charity brochure, despite like glassman, never agreeing to anything over the phone as a rule.

All these calls came through my new BT business line which I had installed. Since registering with the TPS, I only have the very very very occasional one, all of which hang up when you query them on where they got your number....

[Davel]

I suspect the same company is offering to put road safety booklets into schools of your choice.

They phone up saying that you order is ready and which school are they to be delivered to.

Of course you haven't ordered anything but they want to invoice you and can get quite unpleasant.

I ask them for a phone number so that I can pass it on to trading standards and they usually slam the phone down.

[dick dastardly]

I just received a call to my direct line where upon answering it some 'lady' screamed "c0cksucker" at me and slammed down the phone. Might be unrelated but seeing as it's the first time that's ever happened I've got my suspect.

[scotal]

dick dastardly said:

I just received a call to my direct line where upon answering it some 'lady' screamed "c0cksucker" at me and slammed down the phone. Might be unrelated but seeing as it's the first time that's ever happened I've got my suspect.

Not your O/h then?

[dick dastardly]

scotal said:

dick dastardly said:

I just received a call to my direct line where upon answering it some 'lady' screamed "c0cksucker" at me and slammed down the phone. Might be unrelated but seeing as it's the first time that's ever happened I've got my suspect.

Not your O/h then?

Nope. Accent wasn't common enough