[Helen]

Ten Alps Publishing based in Cheshire. Saying they are working with YOUR local authority in order to produce a brochure which the LA sends out every year. They give the Managers name of the LA (not hard for them to find out).
Have phoned our LA and they have never heard of them and do not issue or intend to issue this sort of publication. Be warned 

[vacman]

Have to say that the Ten Alps website looks convinving if it really is a scam.......is there no chance of a breakdown in communication on this one?

[Window Washers]

Ten Alps Publishing based in Cheshire. Saying they are working with YOUR local authority in order to produce a brochure which the LA sends out every year. They give the Managers name of the LA (not hard for them to find out).
Have phoned our LA and they have never heard of them and do not issue or intend to issue this sort of publication. Be warned 

Please can you let me know more details on this as I have booked a space in something like this, and would rather not get stung for £500.

Ian

[rl]

Their website does seem genuine so this one might be ok? or it could be someone claiming to be from that company but they are a scammer that has nothing to do with the real company???

I came across a scam like this a couple of years back different company name, it was a wall calander back then, but I understand these type of people do various types 'publications', complete scam, nothing will ever appear,generally they are very pushy and won't take no for an answer. Don't get me wrong there will be genuine businesses out there making magazines but be careful. If the council/charity etc hasn't heard from them it don't sound good to me. We have a magazine delivered every month with loads of ad's in, completely genuine business and been going a few years now so not all a scam, but please be careful and easiest way to know if it's a scam is have you received a copy of the magazine etc through your door? If not wait and see if you do and then maybe put an ad in the next edition.

be carful!

[Ian Lancaster]

Ask to see a previous brochure - chances are they won't be able to show you one, or else expect you to pay for it.

In either case steer clear

[Helen]

Have to say that the Ten Alps website looks convinving if it really is a scam.......is there no chance of a breakdown in communication on this one?

Have phoned our LA and they have never heard of them and do not issue or intend to issue this sort of publication. Be warned   
I spoke to the building control manager, who supposedly is their contact.........

[Helen]

Ten Alps Publishing based in Cheshire. Saying they are working with YOUR local authority in order to produce a brochure which the LA sends out every year. They give the Managers name of the LA (not hard for them to find out).
Have phoned our LA and they have never heard of them and do not issue or intend to issue this sort of publication. Be warned 

Please can you let me know more details on this as I have booked a space in something like this, and would rather not get stung for £500.

Ian

Suggest you get Ten Alps contact at your Local Authority and ask them directly. The answer when I asked the bloke that Ten Alps said was their contact was" I'll just check it out. No I have not agreed to anything like this through this company or any other, I would think that this is a scam going on andI would steer clear.

[vacman]

But as has been said already, can you prove that this was a legitimate call from the company which you are saying are running a scam (thats a fairly hefty statement to make) or could it be someone taking this companies name in vain? I am not disputing what you are saying about your local authority having no knowledge of the alleged publication, what i am saying how can you prove that is was this exact company who called you? 

[Helen]

But as has been said already, can you prove that this was a legitimate call from the company which you are saying are running a scam (thats a fairly hefty statement to make) or could it be someone taking this companies name in vain? I am not disputing what you are saying about your local authority having no knowledge of the alleged publication, what i am saying how can you prove that is was this exact company who called you? 

Can't quite see the point you are trying to make.
If the LA have no knowledge and do not intend to make this publication, it really doesn't matter if the company are bona fide or someone is using their name, the publication is not there in the first place for you to advertise on. Yes I did take a phone number and yes I did phone it back. The person at the other end answered with her personal name and no company name, so no I cannot prove it was Ten Alps calling. Jees wish I hadn't bothered now.... 
Ian(windowwashers) just check it out before you spend the cash

[vacman]

But as has been said already, can you prove that this was a legitimate call from the company which you are saying are running a scam (thats a fairly hefty statement to make) or could it be someone taking this companies name in vain? I am not disputing what you are saying about your local authority having no knowledge of the alleged publication, what i am saying how can you prove that is was this exact company who called you? 

Can't quite see the point you are trying to make.
If the LA have no knowledge and do not intend to make this publication, it really doesn't matter if the company are bona fide or someone is using their name, the publication is not there in the first place for you to advertise on. Yes I did take a phone number and yes I did phone it back. The person at the other end answered with her personal name and no company name, so no I cannot prove it was Ten Alps calling. Jees wish I hadn't bothered now.... 
Ian(windowwashers) just check it out before you spend the cash

The point i am trying to make is this: If i was called by Someone who claimed to be from your company Helen, but who actually wasn’t representing you at all, would you be happy if I went onto an internet forum to warn people of your findings? I am not denying that your local authority is not using the service of the company who CLAIMED to have called you, what I am saying is that you’ve yet to prove to us that you were actually called by the company who they SAID they were. That is what the person who wrote the other message said too; are you sure that you were called by the company and not a hoax? That was my point.

I can see why you are saying that you should avoid this ‘offer’ regardless of whether or not the caller was in fact from this company, however, the way you have written the your messages makes it sound like the company should be given a wide berth at all times. 

On the other hand, you may think its ok to tell people not to use a business on the back of your own dubious experience. That’s your choice and I wasn’t commenting on that either way.

[matt]

its not hard to design a website from a template and make it look nice

[Tosh]

A year or so ago, I received a telephone message saying it was the local council and they wanted to know if I was interested in some work.

I phoned back only to find out that actually it was some organisation that told me the council had contacted to produce an advertising brochure thing that would have a massive distribution in my local area! 

I said no, but funnily enough, I've never seen this brochure through my letter box.  I'd beware!

[TonyD]

LOADS of these around.  A lot of them do actually produce the brochures, but don't bother distributing them at the numbers claimed.  They make lots of money from publishing lots of pamphlets/brochures/mags every year and fill them with ads and earn a nice crust from the people silly enough to pay for an ad in them.   

They usually claim to be from either

Emergency services
Police federation
Local authority
local hospital
Trade organisation
Charity
Advertising for local hotel (electronic info screen)
Local Doctors (same as above)
Local supermarket

Or they claim you've advertised with them before and just calling you to renew the ad.  A giveaway is usually a witheld number. 

After advertising my mobile number all over the internet for many years as a mobile valeter, I've had all of the above calls.   They usually target sole traders/small businesses because they have more chance of reaching the decision maker and not a receptionist.  JUST PUT THE PHONE DOWN ON THEM !

[chosker]

To add to your list Tony - schools
We nearly went ahead with one promoting anti drugs to schools - said we would be sponsoring the booklet, all the kids parents at the secondary school would get it. Before we committed we were asking for about 3 months for a copy, we eventually got one and it turned out that us "sponsoring them" meant that they put an easy peal sticker in the back page of the book which was tiny. The company name was completly different as well.
Needless to say, we didn't go ahead with the advertising.

We have also had another company, cant remember if it was for a school or hospital or what call us up and say we had agreed for us to run a load of these pamphlets and we owed them £150.00. we had not placed any ad and they were telling us they had already printed them and we had to pay. asked them for proof we had ordeed them and we never heard from them again.

Little so-and-so's (trying not to swear!)!