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STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

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  • STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

    I was visiting at a client yesterday amd the young lad that works there was telling this story of what has happened to his dad this week.

    A few days ago he received delivered to his house a Net Book and the following day he received an invoice for some £400+.

    He never ordered this equipment and has phoned them - they say he must of applied to them and have set up an account - he says he did not. They are now arranging to collect the goods back.... well lets see if they do and will they keep on chasing for the money.

    Something is not sitting right with this company sending out expensive goods without having not received money first.....after all you buy from other companies online like Amazon and you pay immediately before they will deliver the goods.

    If anyone has heard good or bad news from this company please add to this thread. I have just found a negative comment on this company

    24studio.couk reviews


    3.101023
    Low 3.1 out of 10


    23 customer reviews
    Most recent review 4 days ago

    Review company
    • Reviews (23)

    24studio24studio

    151 4 days ago Would not recommend at all.

    I have had an account with this company for a very long time.

    I will not list all the problems, as it would take too much time to read.

    Two of the many problems with this company seem to be that

    A) The telephone number costs a lot of money to call, especially as due to the lack of knowledge of some staff, the calls are not simple and quick to make.

    B) When you email, if you have to email more than once (and this is usually the case, I have sent SIX emails and the matter is STILL not resolved), your email is processed by someone new.

    The new person has absolutely no knowledge of the problem to which you are referring and so have to start at the beginning.

    Do they read though ALL the emails copied at the end of a new message to get a good understanding of the situation? Or do they simply glance over the latest message and whizz off (usually a totally inappropriate) response? What do you think?

    Even if you ask your email to be referred to a SPECIFIC manager, in large, bold, bright red and underlined letters, this is ignored.

    I am suffering severe ill health at the moment the effects of which are magnified greatly by stress.

    After copious emails to the company I was becoming more ill and getting absolutely no-where.

    I decided, for the sake of my health, to cancel the item on back order and close my account. (I had paid ALL invoices at this stage, so as far as I was concerned, I owed no money to the company).

    I asked to cancel a basic item I had not yet received and had been told would not receive until the end of May, or even possibly two weeks after that. It was nothing special, not a personalised item etc and was told that "We cannot guarantee that the cancellation request will be successful".

    I pointed out that this was contravening my legal right as a consumer under the Distance Selling Regulations, and that if they did not cancel it I would be seeking legal redress.

    On checking my online account today, I THINK it has been cancelled, but as they have not bothered to tell me, despite my specifically requesting this information, I am not sure.

    They also have not yet closed my account. Again I have told them that I want to close the account.

    Do they REALLY think, after all the aggravation, that I will be doing any further business with them?

    Perhaps they will respond with some blasé comment, as they have done to other posters, but this does NOT excuse the stress I have been caused, or the fact that they have made continued errors, or that staff have contradicted each other, or that they have NOT contacted me as requested.

    You can tell how good a company is by the way they respond and react to a complaint. I have read the comments by other posters. Yes, there are a few ‘positives’, but only a few amoung many complaints. Based on my experience alone, I would give them MINUS 5 if I could.
    Tags: None

  • #2
    Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

    Sounds like a company that buys mailing lists and sends out unsolicited goods to unsuspecting peeps. Totally illegal and they know it. This lot need reporting to TS asap.
    Life is a journey on which we all travel, sometimes together, but never alone.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

      Does your friend realize that under distance selling regulations he is entitled to keep the goods without paying for them.

      Could be an early Christmas present.

      http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/...ance_sales.htm

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

        It is a catalogue so money would not have been sent upfront.

        http://www.24studio.co.uk/ss/index.jsp

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

          Originally posted by enaid View Post
          It is a catalogue so money would not have been sent upfront.

          http://www.24studio.co.uk/ss/index.jsp
          There would have to be an account in existence of course.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

            I believe the company are legitimate (in the legal sense of the word, if not in others) - I used to once, a long time ago, get lots of junk mail from them, although I have no idea why! I believe that they are a "catalogue" version of sub-prime lending (see - I have learned something from the site, I now know what it is!) - expensive goods, often shoddy, targeted at people who would not necessarily be able to obtain weekly/monthly credit. Checking up today, their rates are between 28% and 40% - that tells me everything I need to know.

            Although I was slightely amused by the review you found. If I had any problems with a company I would not be a customer for very long, never mind for "a very long time"!!!!!

            As for your friend, in addition to dealing with this immediate issue, it may be worth checking his credit record. In my experience these sorts of companies are often the ones used by identity thieves to run up all sorts of bills. Their credit checks are often very inadequate. I was once "stolen" and these were exactly the sorts of companies that they used to run up £1,000's of debts in "my name". One trick of these people is to obtain an account at your address, then immediately register as having moved somewhere else. If someone has done something of this nature, the company may have delivered it to him because they hadn't changed the address on their records.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

              Originally posted by gravytrain View Post
              There would have to be an account in existence of course.

              Yes I know, but I think it was said that goods are not sent out without first paying for them

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

                Hi all,

                Many thanks for all your replies.

                The goods were sent out without the gentleman having any knowledge of this, the father has definately not set up an account with this company, no one has made an order to this company on his behalf with his consent, he did not want this item, he had never heard of this company before receiving this expensive item.

                The company have said they will collect the goods in 3-5 working days and that was a chore in itself before he got a comitment from them - well lets see if they do.....I am not so sure that they will as by judging from the review of just one customer they do not have a good track record.

                Distance selling without firstly having signed up for an account, even though they say he has an account which he did not set up how does that work for them to keep the goods?

                I personally believe that they have bought a list of people as someone here has also already suggested and that I believe is a very strong possibility and which they will send out goods then collecting on it afterwards, that is why I wanted to post this up to see if this has happened to anyone selse to see if a picture is emerging. I had not thought that someone could have stolen his identity so that is definately worth a try thanks Eoloise and to check his credit file I will get on to this next week and advise him to tell his father. It maybe that if someone has stolen his identity it maybe the oldest scam in the book where they watch the house to see a pattern of when people are at home or not and collect the goods outside - this happened to friends of ours once. Maybe this backfired and the people were in so that they did not have a chance to grab the item.
                Last edited by TUTTSI; 6th April 2013, 13:42:PM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

                  STUDIO 24 LIMITED 03971500
                  UK03624111
                  39 PARKSIDE 50 St Stephens Place
                  Cambridge
                  Cambridgeshire
                  CB3 0JE
                  CAMBRIDGE
                  CAMBRIDGESHIRE
                  CB1 1PN
                  www.studio24.net
                  08702416159
                  No No
                  13/04/2000 Active - Accounts Filed
                  Private limited with Share Capital
                  - 07/12/2012
                  £500
                  7260 GBP
                  OTHER COMPUTER RELATED ACTIVITIES
                  62090
                  OTHER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICE ACTIVITIES
                  Web site design and related services.



                  Credit Rating & Limit

                  81
                  81 22
                  £25,000 £0
                  £50,000

                  International Score

                  A
                  Very Low Risk The Creditsafe International Score represents a common risk scoring platform which enables companies to be compared on an international basis.


                  Commentary

                  No exact match CCJs are recorded against the company.
                  The company's credit rating has increased from 22 to 81 which indicates very good creditworthiness.
                  There is insufficient data to indicate a change in this companies percentage of sales.
                  Net Worth increased by 4.3% during the latest trading period.
                  A 2.5% growth in Total Assets occurred during the latest trading period.
                  There is insufficient data to indicate a change in this companies pre-tax profit.
                  The company saw an increase in their Cash Balance of 38.8% during the latest trading period.
                  The company is exempt from audit.
                  No recent changes in directorship are recorded.
                  The company is not part of a group.
                  The movement in accumulated earnings would indicate that the company made a profit after tax and other appropriations, including dividends.
                  The company was established over 12 years ago.

                  Last 3 Years Credit Rating/Limit

                  31/12/2012 81 £25,000
                  31/12/2011 81 £25,000
                  31/12/2010 81 £25,000


                  Does this company owe you money?




                  Key Financials

                  30/04/2012 - - £460,366 -
                  30/04/2011 - - £441,556 -
                  30/04/2010 - - £389,456 -


                  Payment Information Summary

                  Days Beyond Terms Trend Indicator Average Payment Experience
                  N/A 10
                  Company DBT UK Average DBT
                  Steady
                  ImprovingWorsening

                  Be the first to leave a payment experience
                  for this company Click Here

                  Within Terms91+ Days


                  CCJ

                  1 £22,259
                  -
                  Exact CCJ Details

                  There are no exact CCJ details

                  Possible CCJ Details

                  18/01/2010 EDINBURGH £22,259 Judgement A2579/09 - T/A STUDIO 24, 24-26 CALTON PLACE, EDINBURGH, EH8 8DP, EH8 8DP, EH8 8DP

                  Last edited by Sapphire; 6th April 2013, 13:58:PM. Reason: Remove links

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

                    Originally posted by TUTTSI View Post
                    Hi all,


                    Distance selling without firstly having signed up for an account, even though they say he has an account which he did not set up how does that work for them to keep the goods?
                    .
                    The measures were introduced as part of an EU directive to reduce inertia selling. The rules are really quite comprehensive, there are criminal as well as civil sanctions against the creditor, and additional ones if the creditor tries to register a negative entry on the CRA or attempts to secure payment.

                    There is a template letter on the link I mentioned earlier in the thread, you should give them chance to collect the item of course, but you are under no obligation to go out of your way to make it easy for them.

                    24.—(1) Paragraphs (2) and (3) apply if—
                    (a)
                    unsolicited goods are sent to a person (“the recipient”) with a view to his acquiring them;

                    (b)
                    the recipient has no reasonable cause to believe that they were sent with a view to their being acquired for the purposes of a business; and

                    (c)
                    the recipient has neither agreed to acquire nor agreed to return them.

                    (2) The recipient may, as between himself and the sender, use, deal with or dispose of the goods as if they were an unconditional gift to him.(3) The rights of the sender to the goods are extinguished.

                    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2...lation/24/made
                    Last edited by gravytrain; 7th April 2013, 09:23:AM.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

                      What GT describes echoes provisions from the Unsolicited Goods & Services Acts which appear to have now been incorporated into more recent and up-to-date legislation. Equally, Eloise has a very valid point about ID fraud. Both avenues need to be explored. However, TS need to be informed of this as they may, in conjunction with other TS Departments, be conducting an investigation into Studio 24's activities. The OP needs to consider the possibility of ID fraud and, also, being on the receiving end of unacceptable business practices.
                      Life is a journey on which we all travel, sometimes together, but never alone.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

                        Originally posted by bluebottle View Post
                        What GT describes echoes provisions from the Unsolicited Goods & Services Acts which appear to have now been incorporated into more recent and up-to-date legislation. Equally, Eloise has a very valid point about ID fraud. Both avenues need to be explored. However, TS need to be informed of this as they may, in conjunction with other TS Departments, be conducting an investigation into Studio 24's activities. The OP needs to consider the possibility of ID fraud and, also, being on the receiving end of unacceptable business practices.
                        Actually the regulations repeal and replace the earlier section 1 of the USGAS act 1971, and were drafted under Europe Communities act 1972.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

                          The company is definitely a fraudelent company. I received a catalogue from them that I did not order in October 2016, thought nothing of it until the postman knocked on my door a couple of weeks later, I refused to accept and sign for the box from Studio.co.uk from the postman and sent him on his way. I then started getting invoices from Studio and everytime I tried to call them to let them know I haven't ordered anything from them, they just keep you on hold. I got a letter today March 15 2017 from a Debt Collection Agency saying I should ring them as a matter of urgency. I called them and told them the same thing, that I didn't order anything from the Studio and they should ask them for proof of me ordering anything by letter or by post before they go any further. I have also forwarded copies of letters from them to Trading Standards. This company needs to be exposed as a scam artists and should be suspended from trading in the U.K ever. But we all know whats going to happen, they will just dissolve the company and continue trading under a different name. Avoid at all cost.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: STUDIO 24 - IS THIS A SCAM or AN OK COMPANY

                            There are laws about unsolicited goods have a read of THIS

                            Request for payment
                            Should you receive a request for payment from a trader for unsolicited goods it has committed a criminal offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. You can report them to Trading Standards

                            Comment

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