Business Watchdog

Ever had a call from these people pointing out that you could be getting cheaper calls by taking advantage of their bulk buying. They say they can do it because of their purchasing power -and it seems like it could actually be a BT subsidiary calling. Nothing to do with BT. They are brokers trying to get you to switch telecoms suppliers. You may get a price reduction but if you are still in a contract with BT watch out for early termination clauses which could cost you hundreds. Only consider if you are nearing the end of a contract period or it will cost you dearly.

Watch out for companies offering free trial listings in directories. If you fail to cancel before the end of the trial, you can be charged £695.00 or whatever fee was quoted.  It appears they need your credit card details to get the trial. Fail to cancel and you’ll get charged without further notice. One such company appearing in various forums is QSL Tenders.
Our advice: There’s nearly always a catch to free services – and never give card details to cold-callers.
For more info – http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/rip-off-c353046.html

But also see this – http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.qsl-tenders.co.uk. Make up your own mind.

See the full QSL T&Cs here – http://www.qsl-tenders.co.uk/tandc.php. There seems nothing onerous here as long as you had read these first and know what you are agreeing. So often we fail to read the small print!

For some time we have been considering the future for this web site.  We are as incensed as you when we get sold a service that doesn’t deliver or comes close to being an outright scam. There are genuine providers and there are scammers – pure and simple. However having identified that a company is not delivering what it promised, can the problems be resolved by resorting to a web site such as this? Some companies have responded well to some critical comments on here. To that degree this site has been useful and we are grateful for those who have sought to raise their game and deal with the issues raised.

While we typically get genuine comments we run the risk of publishing comments that are simply out to create mischief – perhaps from an ex-employee with a grudge. The other issue is that people only come here after they have had a problem. By then it’s far too late. So we need to find a way of raising awareness of some services before they are purchased. So we will be modifying the way we operate.

In general terms you need to be aware of some general types of services being offered by reputable companies but are often sold by rogues who do little more than take your money and tie you into to expensive binding contracts with no real service delivery.

1) Google Search Engine specialists. If you really can’t do this kind of work for yourself – and you can – then be 100% satisfied that you’ll get what you paid for. Bear in mind that you can’t all be top of Google.
2) Yellow Pages look-a-likes. A number of companies play on the Yellow Pages brand – and quite a few are based overseas. They generally tie you into long and expensive contracts and actually offer you nothing.
3) World Business Directories. Once again these are characterised by long and expensive contracts that are rarely of any value to small businesses. Watch out for those who offer “free updates”. Signing up is not free or cheap!
4) Wedding Brochures, Wall planners, diaries. While some offerings may be of value make absolutely sure you read the small print. Never rely on the words of a salesman either over the phone or in person.

We strongly recommend that you never use a credit card for any of these types of services, especially over the phone. If you do have a problem, trying to get it cancelled is a nightmare.

Many sales pitches rely on making you feel you’ll be left out and your business will suffer. Why let someone else tell you what your business needs? Make your own assessments and make your own decisions and only spend on marketing according to your own business plan and not as a result of someone else’s bright idea. It could be more costly than you think. It’s your business. Don’t let someone else get into the driving seat.

Look out for emails supposedly from Amazon.com about your recent order. It’s a very  Amazon like email but disguises itself with this email address – australia@lmhint.net – renowned for sending spam. If you click the links to Visit Your Account or Check Your Order you will be directed to a Russian web site. You’ll probably be taken to a cloned Amazon log-in page where you’ll enter your password, etc. Be warned!!

Facebook offers access to a huge market place. It may be just what you need. Within 5 days we know one advert had 200,000 impressions so it may help to raise brand awareness. Click throughs about 20; business – none so far.
Be aware that some companies are now phoning round offering to manage your Facebook advertising. Even with the above information they still tried to push their service – £69.00 a month. It’s easy to do yourself  in a matter of minutes so why pay someone else? This could end up causing the same grief as those selling Google Adwords.

You may have noticed that I have changed the images at the top of this page.  These were declared to be licenced for use by me, as the purchaser, on any web site I build. However, there is a storm raging on the FSB Forum as many web designers have used photos they thought were free to use. They have been sent invoices for Thousands of Pounds by Photo Libraries such as Getty Imaging and Corbis. The photos were not copyright free. Nothing on the web is free to use and someone somewhere owns the copyright.
Read the rest of this entry »

Watch out for emails like this: “I took the liberty to do some research on your website, and uncovered some interesting points. This may interest you, since it appears that you are trying to gain new business through your website. From my initial observations, your site is probably underperforming in the major search engines – Google, Yahoo, and MSN LiveSearch. When searching on a topic, most people don’t look past the first page of search results. I struggled to find you in the first couple of pages, meaning that you could be losing a significant amount of business”

There is enough truth in all of this to cause you concern that you may be losing out on valuable business. They might have struggled to find my web site – but what obscure keywords did they try? The site they refer to is actually listed second on Google for my chosen keywords. So do your research and be aware that there is nothing you can’t do that these people offer to do for £40.00 a month!

A friendly person phones from the Crime Prevention Team and thanks you for agreeing in a phone call last February to participate in the scheme. I simply said someone had given him false information. But as usual they have published something and want to send it to schools – and want to collect money from you. A charity might get 5% but the chances are the Crime Prevention Team – whoever they are – pocket the lot!

If you receive an email from “eNomCentral Support <”tech @ enom.com”>”, with subject of “Maintenance at eNom.com – attention!” – do NOT click on the link, bin the lot.
The link address is “www.enom.com.com94.net” which is nothing to do with the registrar “enom.com” – it is a subdomain of “com94.net” which was only registered on 25-10-08 with a Russian address. There is no “com94.net” website. It will either be a phishing page or will try to install a trojan downloader.

If you receive an email with the subject line of “Registration of EU Companies 2008/2009″, and an attachment “euform.pdf” just make sure you read the small print or you may be in for a shock. “THE VALIDATION TIME OF THE CONTRACT IS THREE YEARS”, “THE PRICE PER YEAR IS EURO 995″ and “THE SUBSCRIPTION WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY EXTENDED EVERY YEAR FOR ANOTHER YEAR, UNLESS SPECIFIC WRITTEN NOTICE IS RECEIVED BY THE SERVICE PROVIDER OR THE SUBSCRIBER TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE EXPIRATION OF THE SUBSCRIPTION.”