Defamatory Letter

« **on:** March 04, 2006, 11:40:00 am »

I have a very small domestic cleaning round in West Sussex. This morning I received a letter addressed to my trading name posted in Lancashire (I am in West Sussex) containing a warning about a publishing company! I do not advertise, all my business is word of mouth or from flyers, why on earth would someone bother to write to me about this? Has anyone else received anything similar or are they just targeting newly registered sole traders?

Weird!

« **Reply #1 on:** March 04, 2006, 12:02:52 pm »

Quote from: bevldavies on March 04, 2006, 11:40:00 am

I have a very small domestic cleaning round in West Sussex. This morning I received a letter addressed to my trading name posted in Lancashire (I am in West Sussex) containing a warning about a publishing company! I do not advertise, all my business is word of mouth or from flyers, why on earth would someone bother to write to me about this? Has anyone else received anything similar or are they just targeting newly registered sole traders?

Weird!

Could you post a copy of that letter here?

« **Reply #2 on:** March 04, 2006, 12:05:09 pm »

I am not that technical, no scanner unfortunately.

It is about a company called Sapphire Media and Vardis and their owner Andrew Lownsborough. As far as I am aware I have had nothing to do with any of these companies or people.

« **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2006, 12:05:40 pm »

Could it not be just a joke?

« **Reply #4 on:** March 04, 2006, 12:10:03 pm »

It could be, although why someone in Lancashire would want to send it to someone like me as a joke is a bit bizarre! It looks more like the work of a disgruntled customer although how and why they got my details is a bit puzzling! I have sent an email to Sapphire Media to let themknow, after all I have no problem with them and if it was my company being slagged off I would want to know.

People are strange!

« **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2006, 12:12:51 pm »

Quote from: bevldavies on March 04, 2006, 11:40:00 am

...I received a letter ... containing a warning about a publishing company! ...Weird!

What kind of warning?

« **Reply #6 on:** March 04, 2006, 01:03:46 pm »

Hi
Yeap I have recieved four of those letter, it basically says that a bloke called Stephen ? (can't remember the surname) is trading under this name and has served a prison sentence for fraud, etc, etc.

Apparently it's an ex company employee who has been left with sour grapes after rather a nasty sacking!!

I spoke to the company vardis, they are a company that is charity based, or something like that.They produce piblishing stuff and the money is then donated to a kids charity.

They rang me the other day becasue they sent me some artwork which I needed to proof, however because of these letters I cancel, out of nervousness I think.

The bloke on the phone did say that I could check out if they are bonefide but you know the seed had been planted.
They said they know of around 12 letters that have been sent out but obviuosly they seem to be making it around much more than that.

I have shredded mine and just got rid of them.

Does this sound familar with anyone else!!

Denise x

« **Reply #7 on:** March 04, 2006, 02:42:42 pm »

Thats the one. If they are aware then I will shred it.

Thanks

« **Reply #8 on:** March 04, 2006, 03:05:52 pm »

Its obviously a scam and I can almost guarentee there is no Stephen, disgruntled employee or prison sentence. They are a publishing company which will send these letters out to hundreds of companies and just hope that a few will pay up.

Bin the letters and forget about them.

« **Reply #9 on:** March 04, 2006, 03:35:57 pm »

Except the letters are saying don't pay up if you get an invoice from the companies. But it is binned and forgotten about

« **Reply #10 on:** March 04, 2006, 04:25:58 pm »

I bet now you've contacted them and they know you're a 'live' company you'll hear from them soon. They will either contact you direct or sell your details to another publishing company, after all they would expect you to to ttrust them now as they have alreaady sent you the letter regarding there 'ex-emplyee'.

Just think how much it is costing them to send a letter to companies around Britain, ( Dusties has had FOUR!!). If one of your ex-staff was doing this would you take the time and effort to write to every cleaning company in the UK to tell them?? Of course not. It's very fishy.

« **Reply #11 on:** March 04, 2006, 05:45:46 pm »

Interesting, I sent an email to Sapphiremedia.co.uk who are listed first under this name on Google and this was their reply:

Thanks for letting me know you have received this letter, in fact you are probably the 20th person to receive such correspondence and I have no idea why it is happening.

In fact it has absolutely nothing to do with my company which trades as Sapphire Media Services (NOT Sapphire Media) although I can understand why you thought it was because I am the only company registered on search engines on the web with this trading name.

I have been in contact with the Trading Standards department in Manchester as it appears from letters sent to other people that this Sapphire Media is based in the city.
The advice I have received from the them is to advise anyone contacting me to contact and complain to their local Trading Standards office as they do not have enough information yet to track down this allegedly bogus company and do something about them and your new letter maywell help. All they know at the moment is that they are posing as a bogus charity trying to extort money from innocent businesses for jigsaws.

Fortunately this matter is not affecting my business in any way as Sapphire Media Services is a respected international Public Relations consultancy primarily serving the automotive industry in UK and Europe and all my clients are aware of this problem already plus I have no dealings with the general public

I am sorry I cannot be of more help to you but thanks once again for contacting me and i wish your new business every success in the future.

Letter is now out of the bin and on its way to trading standards!

« **Reply #12 on:** March 04, 2006, 05:54:36 pm »

Nice one, bet Iget another one, so off to T S Straight away!!
Cheers for that!!

Denise x

« **Reply #13 on:** March 04, 2006, 06:21:38 pm »

The last line states " I wish your new business every success in the future".

Did you tell them you are new?

« **Reply #14 on:** March 04, 2006, 06:30:27 pm »

Yes, I said I wondered if I had been sent it because I had recently registered as a sole trader.

« **Reply #15 on:** March 05, 2006, 09:29:48 am »

I have been contacted by Vardis recently asking if i want to advertise in their magazine which is quarterly and the proceeds go to charity, at 1st i said yes and they sent me an info pack, but no example of what the book is like

thta my ad would appear in,,,,after much thought i declined and sent the whole lot back with a letter saying i had insufficient funds for the payment of the ad (£215 !!),,,,after reading all this i am glad i did so.

Tracey.

« **Reply #16 on:** March 05, 2006, 08:22:53 pm »

I had 2 emails stating that I should cease and desist in using someones name in my web site or face the consequencies within 14 days, this was from a media group. They had a number to call but I presumed it was a con, I hit the delete button as I do not have a web site.

Derek

« **Reply #17 on:** March 08, 2006, 08:48:40 pm »

i am sat here reading through my mail and i recieved one of those letters today.

it says vardis & sapphire media are publishin companies owned by andrew lownsborough.
andrew lownsborough has served a prison sentence and liquidated at least 2 companies in recent years to avoid paying tax and debts on the money he has collected from charity publications.

if you recieve an invoice from vardis or sapphire media i urge you to check out these facts and then ask yourself a question.
are you happy lining the pockets of a convicted criminal?

these a the exact words on the flyer i recieved.

some sad person out there i think :

:

lynn

« **Reply #18 on:** March 09, 2006, 03:55:27 pm »

For goodness sake, do not give these people the time of day. They phone up or write asking you to take out advertising in local brochures about, say fire safety (only one of many) which is going to be sent out to all the schools in your area and so much of the proceeds are going to charity. DONT DO IT!!!

Its all a con, even if they did get sent out you would never get any work from them this kind of advertising is a waste of money.
I dont know why but they all seem to be based in either Manchester or Liverpool. They are con men avoid them like the plague. This goes for advertising on menus etc as well, its a total waste of money.

« **Reply #19 on:** March 09, 2006, 08:55:24 pm »

hi folks,
I recently recieved this letter which i binned but was able to hazard a guess that it must of come off an ex employee.
I had been contacted two months earlier to participate in a wall planner this was days after my first advert went in the local press. after i aggreed as was charity involvement i recieved within the post a copy which showed my advert, i was told it could be altered if required and a request for payment was included, this however had a discount of 10% (ish) for early payment, i couldent understand this and thought it strange.

A little digging on the internet revealed that the company was indeed a spin off of two others investigated by trading standards and i believe shut down or folded it was very uncomplimentary reading!

From reading between the lines it appears as though the charity and advertising company is set up by the same people, the money being raised seems to be a large sum but actually represents a tiny fraction of the revenue generated,
I believe the letter to have been generated from this story because i hadent given out any address details to anyone and my application for self employed had only been posted a matter of days earlier,

I think the reason that the name on the letter is confusing is that this company is using names which match or are very simmilar to bonifidi companies so that if you do check up they appear to be proffesional and of good reputation.

unfortunatley i am now very wary of these charity adverts, i am sure there are some genuine ones out there but i urge caution and get the company names and have a thorough search before sending any money,

regards, steve

« **Reply #20 on:** March 10, 2006, 12:10:12 am »

Same with me in 2002. A lady phones up saying about advertising on an office wall planner, with money going to kids charity. As i've got a load of kids, i think good.

I paid £167 and was sent two wall planners, one of which was requested i sent back. No work from it.

The next year they kept pestering me and said the advert was layed out and payment was required. I threatened them with trading standards then heard no more.

Forget these, business cards in shops, tv adverts in waiting rooms etc. All a con

Dave

« **Reply #21 on:** March 10, 2006, 09:41:12 pm »

same thing as me the wall planner said yes to begin with but changed our minds then 2 or 3 weeks later we got demand for the money we owed rang them told them to get lost not heard from them since

« **Reply #22 on:** March 11, 2006, 07:44:01 am »

That is so uncanny!, this past week i have had a phone call from 4 people on 4 separate days @ approx same time! and its just like what spot on cleaninf and spa cleaning have described!

They say they are from a certain charity, eg: stop bullying! , the emergency services and sick kids !! they offer the advertising via a wall planner or magazine and the prices are quite steep. In each case I heard them all out and then took their name and name of the company, it seems that the number they call from are "dead" when i ring back to verify?? Strange,,,,anyway i have declined every offer form the 4 individuals and will never be using them,,,i asked for proof of what i get for my money/adverts and 3 outof the 4 could not provide it.

I would suggest steer clear! I am sticking to my local newspaper ads, website, fliers and good old word of mouth!

Tracey.