Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

[Cubsfan]

I have joined a long list of small businesses that appear to have been scammed by Patient Direct/ Multimedia International. The price was misquoted, I naively believed he was telling the truth! So it is about three times what I agreed with the Salesman, the adverts are smaller than agreed as much of the screen is taken up with banners and the promised 5 to 10 minute repeat cycle is not correct. They are insisting that their contract allows them to do all these things. They are threatening to sue me for Tort if I post factual warnings about their antics.

The NHS whose surgeries the ads are in are trying to distance themselves from any involvement claiming to receive anything from zero to £150pa to host the ads in a surgery.

I am not a llimited company.
Any advice or anyone like to contact me to compare experiences I would love to hear from you.

[ostell]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

Have a search in this forum for the many threads about this lot.

[Cubsfan]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

Thanks, I noticed some from 2014, I will look for some newer ones as well.

[ostell]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

Look at this current one

[Amethyst]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

Do you have pictures/ video of the screens displaying the adverts ?

[Cubsfan]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

I am going to the surgeries this week to find details of the other advertisers and will take some photos then.

[Amethyst]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

Good. You could make a factual post showing the actual advertising received under the terms of the contract.

The surgeries who have hire of the screens have no responsibility for the adverts shown, although they are able to select types of adverts that they do not wish to be shown ( e.g. Gambling etc) I believe they can select which health presentations are shown. I'm not sure if the PD screens integrate with the appointments calling system.

Also not sure if they pay for the screens or if they are simply provided on condition the advertising is displayed ( so screens are in essence sponsored by advertisers via PD)

If you find a forum for practice managers there's a few posts about these screens on there from the NHS perspective.

[Cubsfan]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

Good. You could make a factual post showing the actual advertising received under the terms of the contract.

The surgeries who have hire of the screens have no responsibility for the adverts shown, although they are able to select types of adverts that they do not wish to be shown ( e.g. Gambling etc) I believe they can select which health presentations are shown. I'm not sure if the PD screens integrate with the appointments calling system.

Also not sure if they pay for the screens or if they are simply provided on condition the advertising is displayed ( so screens are in essence sponsored by advertisers via PD)

If you find a forum for practice managers there's a few posts about these screens on there from the NHS perspective.

The screens run predominantly adverts, medical information was confined to clinic times of operation so Alpert from 5% fee they don't seem to get a great deal out of it although as they do receive an income from them I have suggested to them that they have some responsibility to ensure advertisers get what they pay for and that as health care providers they should not be associated with a company whose behaviour contributes to the ill health through stress of the advertisers.

[Lola49]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

I've just posted a new thread about my experience with this mob. Are you paying them? Have a look at my post on here. I also feel ripped off by them, but I think there is something in the law that is about 'fitness for purpose' this means (any other posters correct me if I'm wrong) that something sold has to fit the purpose its sold for. I have frankly had enough of them, I think they operate just within the law, not sure how they are anything to do with NHS but certainly won't help the NHS reputation!

[EXC]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

I've just posted a new thread about my experience with this mob. Are you paying them? Have a look at my post on here.

So that people can find it, it's here http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...459#post746459

[Cubsfan]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

Hi Lola, I had the same thing with the fee issue, they didn't mention VAT or the final cost. They have now admitted that I was told the wrong number of DDs claiming it was human error but it was because he was pretending it was a 12 month contract. It doesn't seem much I can do about the fees as I believed what I was told rather than what was written. However the ad size is not what I was told because the banners on the side and bottom of the screen where not on the example I was shown when I signed or when the artwork was sent for approval. I was told that the ad would be shown every 5-10 mins but is actually shown, when the TVs work, every 35 mins. I have told them I am not paying anymore because I did not get what I signed up for. They have offered to double the rate of display but that's still not as often as agreed. They have also offered to curtail the contract after a year but continue showing it for another year if I pay for one year. I have told them as I only got 2/3 of the screen size displayed at best 1/3 of the time I only got 2/9ths of what I paid for so have asked for a refund of the 7/9ths less 1 artwork.
I have reported them to Action Fraud. NHS England were useless so I have reported the
to NHS fraud protect. I have contacted other advertisers to remind them they need to cancel with 6 months to go. I have contacted the GP Practice mangers to tell them that this is not good for my health and I know one of them has contacted Patient Direct about this. A google search of them comes up with a practice manger review of them and both of those are scathing. If I don't get my refund I will be reporting this to the Office of Fair trading.

[Lola49]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

I expect there are loads of people they've scammed, they seem to target small businesses because we are busy and don't always have the infrastructure that big businesses have. It sounds like you've lost faith in them and frankly who wouldn't!
I haven't yet reported them but will do, am looking at the most relevant agencies so thanks for the suggestions, will follow them up.
I am not paying them either but they've now sent me a nasty letter threatening legal action, I'm furious and won't be giving them any more money! I have asked them for a refund too.
The ads in the surgery can't really be good for them either - to be affiliated with such an awful set of people! Keep posting & let me know what happens.

[Cubsfan]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

I have been posting warnings on social media to protect others and to find other victims and get them to contact watchdog if enough contact them they may do a feature I haven't heard back from Action Fraud and NHS Protect yet but the more who contact them and the actual practices the better

[des8]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

As you haven't received what you paid for, and consider the product was misrepresented have you considered using the Misrepresentation Act 1967 and rescinding the contract?

[Cubsfan]

Re: Patient Direct, misselling of advertising.

Thanks I will look into that