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View Full Version : Hmmm, interesting phone call... Have I just been had?



EmmaReed84
22-07-2013, 10:55 AM
So I just got a phone call from the "emergency services press office"

Apparently they are doing a section about Ofsted, child care and childminders and what to look out for in their quarterly magazine. They have asked me to "come on board" as a "local point of contact" for the emergency service workers who are looking for childcare.

As the call progressed I realised that were asking me to place an advert in their magazine £145 for a quarter page or £90 for a small add, for all four editions of their magazine. In the end they offered me the quarter page for £95, a professional graphic design team to produce the advert, and then give me the exclusive rights to use after the year.

He sold it on the basis that the emergency services have no on house childcare and by offering my services and possibly giving a tiny discount, word would spread and I would get work.

As I am desperate to get some work I have agreed to do it.

Do you think I have been had?

Becci26
22-07-2013, 10:58 AM
It's a scam!! I have had these people call me before many times and after I told them I knew it was a scam they haven't rung back since!
My mum got caught out by these people a little while ago when opening a new shop.
I hope u haven't parted with any money Hun xx

EmmaReed84
22-07-2013, 11:00 AM
It's a scam!! I have had these people call me before many times and after I told them I knew it was a scam they haven't rung back since!
My mum got caught out by these people a little while ago when opening a new shop.
I hope u haven't parted with any money Hun xx

No I haven't

I wouldn't have until I had fully researched it.

Mouse
22-07-2013, 11:17 AM
It's a scam.

What have they told you to do?

EmmaReed84
22-07-2013, 11:27 AM
It's a scam.

What have they told you to do?

Told me to do nothing. Just wait for the graphic design team to email me the copies of the advert and to call them to tweak it about if I wanted them to. If I was happy with it all then I would get an invoice to pay in the next two weeks.

Mouse
22-07-2013, 11:31 AM
Chances are you'll hear nothing, then in a few weeks time they'll contact you, demanding payment & saying they're going to sue you if you don't pay.

Did you get a phone number?

EmmaReed84
22-07-2013, 11:38 AM
Chances are you'll hear nothing, then in a few weeks time they'll contact you, demanding payment & saying they're going to sue you if you don't pay.

Did you get a phone number?

Well, it is a good job I did my contract law studies recently then LOL...

I just got off the phone to FIS, they said it sounds suspicious too, I gave them all the details, names, the mobile number that I got when I did 1471 and the number I was given. They are going to send out an email to all carers in the area to warn them about it.

After coming on here, I did 1471 straight away and it gave me a mobile number so I called it back 141-ing my number and a guy answered. I just said "Hello, I just had a missed call from this number can I ask who I am speaking with please?" and he said "You called me, who are you?" so I just said that I had been told it was scam and that this was the number that called me and basically to poke their offer where the sun don't shine.

Within about a minute I got a withheld number on my mobile from "Graham Edwards from the press office" all bubbly and asking if I had spoken with the design team, so just told him thanks but no thanks. He said it wasn't a scam and was going to send some literature to prove it.

Either way I wont lose out... it's either a scam and I didn't get caught, or it's not and I will think about going ahead LOL...

Gut feeling though... SCAM!

Mouse
22-07-2013, 11:43 AM
Good for you for getting your warning across to other childminders :thumbsup:

I have heard of so many of these calls over the years - I have never heard of a genuine one. If you google it, you'll probably find lots of very similar examples.

EmmaReed84
22-07-2013, 12:48 PM
:thumbsup: Just had an email come through from FIS warning all the child carers about "Graham" and his emergency service magazine... Hopefully no one fell for it and paid any money out.

...I am so pleased I did not part with any money!

The Juggler
22-07-2013, 12:49 PM
glad you haven't paid anything yet honey. lucky escape. :panic:

lisa1968
22-07-2013, 01:19 PM
It's a scam-my hubby is a self employed handyman and he had exactly the same thing a few months ago-supposedly from a company who wanted him to 'buy' advertising space in a magazine for the police force.They wanted over £200.
We googled it and it didn't exist....
.....stay away!

bunyip
22-07-2013, 01:21 PM
Link: Complementary Therapists Association - Forums (http://www.ctha.com/forums/?b=6769)

and link: Emergency Services Press [removed by mod]??? - UK Business Forums (http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=178652)

Always a bit scary when this happens. Hope you're OK Emma. :)

Roseolivia
22-07-2013, 01:46 PM
When I first started childminding I had this phone call, said no thanks can't afford it as just set up business. Few months later got a phone call saying as 'you agreed to advertise in our mag I owed whatever', at first I was a bit stumped to what he was on about but then remembered and promptly told him to basically stick it and hung up on him, never heard back since.