Internet Media Experts - staffbenefits.co.uk - NHS Intranet Advertising

[penguinbars]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

Essentially these are the grounds I think that I have for not paying the invoice:

• I gave verbal notice upon signing - evidence is the crossing out of standing order mandate
• No contact has been made within the 24 months to remind me that there would be a renewal
• The company do not do what the salesman said they do (put my advert on the NHS intranet), they merely put a link to a site which contains my advert. It has generated no business.
• The company I signed the contract with have been liquidated
• I was not informed that the contract would be assigned to a different company
• The renewal terms of the contract are not fair - and do not adhere to the OFT guidelines
• It seems lots of others are in the same boat!

Which of these is my best angle, and what do you think my next move be?

My options are

1. Reply to the company (with the same things I have said already)
2. Reply to the solicitor
3. Ignore it all and hope it goes away
4. prepare for my day in court
5. get my solicitor involved to start studying the fine print?

The letter I got from their solicitor does not scare me that much, as I'm reasonably confident that it is just a standard debt collection letter which scares 99% of people into paying up - I intend to be the 1% that doesn't!

Thank you so much for all your help so far!

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

Okay so there's been 14 days notice pre solicitor anyway. Did you respond to the email on the 31st July?

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

Essentially these are the grounds I think that I have for not paying the invoice:

• I gave verbal notice upon signing - evidence is the crossing out of standing order mandate
• No contact has been made within the 24 months to remind me that there would be a renewal
• The company do not do what the salesman said they do (put my advert on the NHS intranet), they merely put a link to a site which contains my advert. It has generated no business.
• The company I signed the contract with have been liquidated
• I was not informed that the contract would be assigned to a different company
• The renewal terms of the contract are not fair - and do not adhere to the OFT guidelines
• It seems lots of others are in the same boat!

Which of these is my best angle, and what do you think my next move be?

My options are

1. Reply to the company (with the same things I have said already)
2. Reply to the solicitor
3. Ignore it all and hope it goes away
4. prepare for my day in court
5. get my solicitor involved to start studying the fine print?

The letter I got from their solicitor does not scare me that much, as I'm reasonably confident that it is just a standard debt collection letter which scares 99% of people into paying up - I intend to be the 1% that doesn't!

Thank you so much for all your help so far!

Yes most people will poop and pay and that is what these kind of companies rely on, sadly. Have you seen any mention of anyone else having been taken to court ?

I would reply to the solicitor.

Forget the OFT guidelines ( the OFT don't exist anymore - it has passed over to the FCA / CMA ) The UTCCR 1974 MIGHT apply, but as officially a B2B contract it would take an argument to get it applied. I think you stick with the basics; ie;

*]The company do not do what the salesman said they do (put my advert on the NHS intranet), they merely put a link to a site which contains my advert. It has generated no business.

[*]I gave verbal notice upon signing - evidence is the crossing out of standing order mandate

[penguinbars]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

NHS have a page listing the benefits for nhs workers - staffbenefits.co.uk doesn't feature on there
http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/about/working-...-benefits.aspx

[penguinbars]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

is all of the forums there doesn't seem to be any mention of people being taken to court. here are some choice comments from the forums:

"Vaping Davereported unknown with the number 02034220756 as Cost trap

added on Jul 3, 2015 12:27:50 PM

I'm having a lot of trouble with these clowns at the moment. Has anyone ever been taken to court for not paying them? They're threatening me, but I doubt they will.

reply to this comment

Cakeability replied 2015-07-14 22:00:52
I am currently being aggressively pursued for money from them - they are resorting to nasty underhand tactics and threats of making me loose my business and telling me I WILL loose in court which will cost me thousands - Bring it on!!!
Fred replied 2015-07-15 00:15:23
If it relates to IME, we used our business insurance as we had legal assistance in it. We have actually had the same experience and had a letter sent by a solicitor, who pointed out that IME did not get our permission to move the contract over to the new company and that as the company went into liquidation there was no contract to enforce, to date we have not heard anything from them, and if they do take us to court will have to prove all they are saying. Contact your insurance company if you have business insurance and get a solicitor to deal with them. They are nothing other than bullies
Evoque replied 2015-08-12 01:36:16
Hi Good NEWS on my complain to NHS Trust Manchester they sent me the following email:
In response to your emails to our Communications team I will confirm that as of today I have removed the company Internet Media Experts from our staff intranet site. If you have any other issues regarding this company you will need to take it up with them.

Kind Regards

Deborah

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

''Health Service Discounts (previously NHS discounts) is an official employee benefit provider for NHS employees, and is also available to their families and friends. From holidays to car insurance, mobile phones to fashion we offer exclusive deals from top names like Superbreak, Very, Virgin and Apple. And it’s absolutely FREE to join! ''

Do staffbenefits make a similar claim ? Possibly contact the human resources gentleman listed on that page and ask him about staffbenefits.co.uk ?

The more evidence that the company have not provided the service you signed up for that you have the better.

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

So these are the companies

current: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09153590
previous: (insolvent) : https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08165625

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

Evoque replied 2015-08-12 01:36:16
Hi Good NEWS on my complain to NHS Trust Manchester they sent me the following email:
In response to your emails to our Communications team I will confirm that as of today I have removed the company Internet Media Experts from our staff intranet site. If you have any other issues regarding this company you will need to take it up with them.

Kind Regards

Deborah

is interesting and potentially useful if you can get similar or a copy of that letter.

[penguinbars]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

I have now been in touch with HR at the Oxford Uni Trust who replied:

Hi Peter,

We do list offers on our intranet, but they come to us directly from the businesses themselves (if they are genuine discounts for NHS / OUH staff) – they certainly don’t come to us from a third party, and no-one should have to pay.

However, we also link to www.staffbenefits.co.uk directly from our intranet, so that may explain why they have implied that your offer appears on our pages.

Unfortunately I am not signed up to this website myself, so can’t check – but if you want to email me through your offer I will make sure it goes onto our intranet for you.

We are very keen on health promotion at the moment where our staff are concerned, so you may also like to get in touch with our Here for Health team and Occupational Health team to see if there are any opportunities available for collaboration.

There are contact details on this page:

http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/...h/default.aspx

Do send details of your offer through to me: it might be more worth your while than dealing with www.staffbenefits.co.uk

Best wishes,
Frances Bonney

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

I have now been in touch with HR at the Oxford Uni Trust who replied:

Hi Peter,

We do list offers on our intranet, but they come to us directly from the businesses themselves (if they are genuine discounts for NHS / OUH staff) – they certainly don’t come to us from a third party, and no-one should have to pay.

However, we also link to www.staffbenefits.co.uk directly from our intranet, so that may explain why they have implied that your offer appears on our pages.

Unfortunately I am not signed up to this website myself, so can’t check – but if you want to email me through your offer I will make sure it goes onto our intranet for you.

We are very keen on health promotion at the moment where our staff are concerned, so you may also like to get in touch with our Here for Health team and Occupational Health team to see if there are any opportunities available for collaboration.

There are contact details on this page:

http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/...h/default.aspx

Do send details of your offer through to me: it might be more worth your while than dealing with www.staffbenefits.co.uk

Best wishes,
Frances Bonney

Well that shows just how meaningless the staffbenefits service is... you can just talk to them directly ! Maybe a new advertising opportunity for you there anyway. That email will be useful further down the line

[dan_1207]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

On the basis that it looks like a standard debt recovery letter, I'd suggest you leave it. *IF* it progresses, I think you could fight it with some prospect of success.

[Amethyst]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

This one dan http://postimg.org/image/swtouzpgh/ ? I thought it sounded more like a formal LBA and court action would occur in 7 days, but then they say that whether they were taking court action or not. They do say their client has instructed them to take court action already though.

[dan_1207]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

Yes - standard letter. It's always a balance of replying or not. If you don't, then judge may take view of being unreasonable, but they're inherently nice to LiPs.

Fundamentally, both sides are arguing a breach, so it's a question of whether they will consider it a commercially viable solution to sue you.

[penguinbars]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

Hi Beagles,

Thank you for all of your help, I mulled it over last night and thought over my response - I'm going to send the following to the company, clearly stating my position. See what you think?...




Dear Nikki,

After receiving the letter from your solicitor I have now taken legal advice.

In 2013 I paid your company a large amount of money and was told a lot of half-truths and very much misled as to what my company would be getting for that payment. However, to summarise the conversation I had with your salesman – advertising on the Oxford Uni Nhs intranet.

During this conversation, I also explicitly said that I would not enter into an automatically renewing agreement, at which point your salesman crossed out the standing order mandate so that no further payments would be taken

The company whom I made this agreement has since been liquidated with HMRC https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08165625 and no longer exists, I was not informed at any point that this happened, or that my contract would be assigned to any other company, including ‘Internet media experts (UK) limited’.

There have also been no reminders that a renewal was approaching, or that the 12-month renewal period had lapsed (despite me giving my notice verbally upon commencement of the contract

Your contract also breaches just about every guideline there is regarding ‘Fair Contracts’ – including the OFT guidelines, the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

There is plenty of record online of people who have had a similar experience to me with your company.

Finally, and most importantly, your company does not do what it claims – this has led to no business for me. www.staffbenefits.co.uk does not appear on the Oxford Uni Trust’s Intranet site.

I was explicitly told by your sales rep that on the Oxford Uni Trust Intranet, there would be a link to my advert. This is incorrect. There may at one time, have been a link to your website, which NHS staff must then register on, they must then enter your website and do a search within Oxfordshire before they come anywhere near ‘my advert’. This is very different to there being ‘a link to my advert’.

Having been in touch directly with the Oxford Uni Trust Human Resources Team who runs their Intranet, it was also explained that I was able to place an advert directly on their intranet for free.

[I'll then include screen grabs of my e-mail conversation with Oxford Uni Trust]

I’d like to now draw your attention to one part of that e-mail from the trust which says “I have discussed it with one of our senior managers and I have taken off the link to staffbenefits.com”

Therefore the invoice you have sent me for the following 24 months can now be disregarded as this is not a service which you offer (despite the fact that you never offered this in the first place).

The way I see it, there are now two options available to us:

Option 1
You confirm to me that any charges or invoices between your company and mine are cancelled, after which point there will be no more communication between us, and I live with the fact that I wasted money on your company.
Option 2

You continue to send me invoices and threatening letters and e-mails, I ignore all of them. I then contact every single company who has no-doubt had the same experience that I have and inform them that there is now no link to staffbenefits.com on the Oxford Uni Trust intranet. – Fortunately, I know where to find them, even if NHS staff does not. I then seek to claim back the £1000+ I have already spent due to all of the evidence above.

I will leave it up to you which of these options is more favourable to you.

Regards

[TTTTT]

Re: Help Please! B2B very questionable company are claiming money from me!

Hi Beagles,

Thank you for all of your help, I mulled it over last night and thought over my response - I'm going to send the following to the company, clearly stating my position. See what you think?...




Dear Nikki,

After receiving the letter from your solicitor I have now taken legal advice.

In 2013 I paid your company a large amount of money and was told a lot of half-truths and very much misled as to what my company would be getting for that payment. However, to summarise the conversation I had with your salesman – advertising on the Oxford Uni Nhs intranet.

During this conversation, I also explicitly said that I would not enter into an automatically renewing agreement, at which point your salesman crossed out the standing order mandate so that no further payments would be taken

The company whom I made this agreement has since been liquidated with HMRC https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08165625 and no longer exists, I was not informed at any point that this happened, or that my contract would be assigned to any other company, including ‘Internet media experts (UK) limited’.

There have also been no reminders that a renewal was approaching, or that the 12-month renewal period had lapsed (despite me giving my notice verbally upon commencement of the contract

Your contract also breaches just about every guideline there is regarding ‘Fair Contracts’ – including the OFT guidelines, the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

There is plenty of record online of people who have had a similar experience to me with your company.

Finally, and most importantly, your company does not do what it claims – this has led to no business for me. www.staffbenefits.co.uk does not appear on the Oxford Uni Trust’s Intranet site.

I was explicitly told by your sales rep that on the Oxford Uni Trust Intranet, there would be a link to my advert. This is incorrect. There may at one time, have been a link to your website, which NHS staff must then register on, they must then enter your website and do a search within Oxfordshire before they come anywhere near ‘my advert’. This is very different to there being ‘a link to my advert’.

Having been in touch directly with the Oxford Uni Trust Human Resources Team who runs their Intranet, it was also explained that I was able to place an advert directly on their intranet for free.

[I'll then include screen grabs of my e-mail conversation with Oxford Uni Trust]

I’d like to now draw your attention to one part of that e-mail from the trust which says “I have discussed it with one of our senior managers and I have taken off the link to staffbenefits.com”

Therefore the invoice you have sent me for the following 24 months can now be disregarded as this is not a service which you offer (despite the fact that you never offered this in the first place).

The way I see it, there are now two options available to us:

Option 1
You confirm to me that any charges or invoices between your company and mine are cancelled, after which point there will be no more communication between us, and I live with the fact that I wasted money on your company.
Option 2

You continue to send me invoices and threatening letters and e-mails, I ignore all of them. I then contact every single company who has no-doubt had the same experience that I have and inform them that there is now no link to staffbenefits.com on the Oxford Uni Trust intranet. – Fortunately, I know where to find them, even if NHS staff does not. I then seek to claim back the £1000+ I have already spent due to all of the evidence above.

I will leave it up to you which of these options is more favourable to you.

Regards

How did this conclude? I have had experience of this outfit.