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

[penguinbars]

I originally posted this on reddit, but some kind person directed me here!

So...

2 years ago, I agreed to promote my business on a website for a period of 24 months. I saw that the contract had an 'automatically renewing' clause, so I would be due to pay again in 2 years for a further 24 months advertising. I very clearly explained to the salesperson that I did not want to automatically renew, I just wanted the two years and that was all (at that point I could decide if it was worth featuring again).
The rep said to me that if I paid up-front for the 24 months, then the contract would not renew and he crossed out the standing order mandate on the contract so the company would just take one payment and then would not be able to take any more.
Well surprise, surprise here we are 2 years later and the company have sent me an invoice for the same amount again. I replied to them and explained what the salesman had told me, said I did not want to be on the site any more, and that I would not be paying again (not the only thing the salesman lied about as featuring on the site brought me exactly zero new customers).
Basically, they have sent me a copy of the contract, saying that I should have given them 12 months notice to cancel, the part of the contract which was crossed out was not relevant to the auto-renew bit and that they would be taking legal action if I do not pay up.
As far as I'm concerned, I have been outright lied to, the company are not acting within the 'office of fair trading' guidelines for renewable contracts (apparently this does not apply to business to business contracts). I'm 99% certain that should it go to court, a judge would agree with me, however to the very letter of the contract I should be paying.
I'm not going to pay the invoice, absolutely no way. but should I be getting a solicitor involved, should I be threatening them with action due to what's happened, should I just ignore the invoice or am I making a very big mistake and should pay up?
Please help, it's stressing me out.
(please feel free to miss out any "you should have read the contract better" type comments - I'm very aware of this now, but at that point I was very new to contracts and business type stuff!

Since posting this there have been a few developments:

• I found out the company I signed the initial agreement with was voluntarily liquidated with HMRC - the contract was then assigned to another company (with an almost identical name). Upon questioning this, I was told that they informed me of this in February (they didn't) and that a deed of assignment does not need my authorization. I'm not sure if this second part is true, however they definitely did not inform me!
• Through online review sites etc it seems I am not the only person this has happened to! most of them seem to say to ignore letter.
• I have received a letter from a solicitor trying to collect the money - and they have added interest and £70 compensation.

What should I do next, I'm fairly sure that if I ignore, the letters will keep coming. I definitely won't be paying up until a man in a wig tells me that I absolutely have to. I'd rather not get my solicitor involved (as that costs me money) and I just don't really know the process.

Should I write back to the solicitor explaining why I won't be paying? Should I get in touch with trading standards? is this something I can tackle myself or should I accept that I need my solicitor to do it.

To be honest, I'm quite happy to tackle it all myself I just want to make sure that I'm taking the right steps and not making it worse for myself!

Thank you so much everyone, I'm happy to provide links to the contracts, reviews of the company etc if anyone want's to get their teeth into it!

Thank you again, and can't wait to hear from you all!

[Mandy M]

I have to been subject to this scam, I am going through the process of reporting them for fraudulent activity.

[JaneDoe489]

I recently came across this company too, they called me out of the blue to discuss advertising my business for an NHS trust. It sounded interesting so I went ahead and booked a call with the sales rep, the sales pitch lasted around 40 minutes or so and mainly involved him talking about staff wellbeing and all the rest of it

They use pressured sale tactics to get you to sign the agreement, not allowing enough time to review any of the documents before signing them as they book calls back to back supposedly to discuss the same opportunity with multiple businesses, so if you don't take it there and then it's off the table! (if they had back to back calls booked, perhaps sending the contract ahead of the call would be useful to allow time to read and digest and ask any questions, but of course they don't want that).
I look back at this now and think I'm a complete idiot for not spotting the big red flag staring me in the face, why on earth did he have back to back calls booked to discuss the same opportunity?! Literally allowing no time for anyone to review Ts&Cs at all.

Since reading reviews and the rest of this thread it has become clear that this company operates by scamming small business and misleading them into handing over thousands of pounds.

[StaffScam]

Regrettably, I too was misled by what I now understand to be deceptive tactics. Shortly after signing the contract, I conducted research and quickly realized the extent of the deceptive practices associated with this agreement. Within just 10 minutes of signing, I reached out to the company to cancel, only to be met with outright refusal. Instead of addressing my concerns, they shifted their approach, now demanding payment and even resorting to sending threatening letters. It's disheartening that individuals like Lee Martin continue these practices unchecked. I am fully prepared to defend my position in court if necessary. It's alarming that such obvious scams are still prevalent, leaving small businesses without adequate protection.

[StaffBenefitsLOL]

Good news - I haven't seen any other victims for a while but if you fancy posting the basis of your arguments it might help anyone else who is dealing with the company.

Any movement from TS that you know of ?

Unfortunately not aware of any movement on that side but I'm keeping my ear to the ground! Once I get a sec I'll put up some of the arguments I used.

[Amethyst]

Good news - I haven't seen any other victims for a while but if you fancy posting the basis of your arguments it might help anyone else who is dealing with the company.

Any movement from TS that you know of ?

[StaffBenefitsLOL]

And just when you thought it was safe to sleep, we've received a money claim in the post! Still at it, the filthy wastes of life.

Should have replied a lot sooner but unfortunately life just... got in the way!

Long-story short (and after a LOT of preparation, research and over 100 pages of documents from us)... their claim against us was dismissed and we were awarded our counter-claim.

[Amethyst]

Grrrr. Can you do a new thread pls with the particulars of claim on and will give you a hand dealing with it.

[StaffBenefitsLOL]

And just when you thought it was safe to sleep, we've received a money claim in the post! Still at it, the filthy wastes of life.

[StaffBenefitsLOL]

To be honest, completely ignoring the worthless SOBs is the best course of action. Compile your information, have a brief waiting in the wings, but the likelihood they take anyone to court for anything is so slim it's unreal. I wish I had the time to spend on it and pro-actively take them to court but unfortunately my business comes first and I've got a million and one things going on at the moment - I'll make quick work of them if they do press ahead with any legal action. Lord knows I have enough ammunition now.

Let me know if they do press ahead with anything, the amount of information we have between us would dispatch them quite quickly.

[Amethyst]

He's still at it ? Goodness.

You put in writing that you did not want to continue or renew a while back didn't you?

Fancy posting a copy of this 'renewal contract' ? ( I'd guess TS might be interested too )

[Mother]

Had a renewal 'contract' in the post yesterday (my initial two year contract is now finished)...any advice?

[Mother]

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



I've been receiving requests to pay an invoice from their accounts department. Nothing else as of yet. Past it's due date now so hopefully they'll do something - looking forward to biting back with my solicitor and a ridiculous amount of ammo against them.

I've received an invoice today (my two year 'contract' expired this week - ripped off by £2000)...did you just keep o getting invoices? what's the latest?

[Amethyst]

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

Such is life it appears... you'd think I'd be used to it by now !

[EXC]

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

Blimey - does that say that Barclays charged 30% backend for providing the PDQ merchant services ?? That's excessive, surely?

CMC rips off its customers and bank rips off theirs. So what's new?