12/11/12: Cold Calling – Don’t Buy It!
In
National Consumer Week 2012, Warwickshire County Council’s Trading
Standards Service is urging people to stay safe in their own homes by
saying a firm “NO” to cold calling doorstep traders.
Today (12 November) marks the beginning of the Trading Standards Institute’s (TSI) annual National Consumer Week
BBC
presenter Gloria Hunniford and consumer minister Jo Swinson MP are
launching the national campaign with the message ‘cold calling – don’t
buy it!’
For more information visit: http://news.warwickshire.gov.uk/releases/2012/11/12/cold-calling-dont-buy-it/
12/11/12 Warwickshire mobile phone fraudsters jailed
Four
men who ran a mobile phone insurance fraud from premises in
Warwickshire (Rugby) and Solihull have been imprisoned, Warwickshire
County Council’s Trading Standards Service are pleased to announce.
The
sentencing followed a lengthy investigation by the Central England
Trading Standards Scambuster Team in relation to the sale of fraudulent
mobile phone insurance policies being sold by Midland Communication
Solutions Ltd trading under the name Mitele.
The
prosecution was supported by Warwickshire County Council’s Trading
Standards Service, a Central England Trading Standards Authority.
In
fact the prosecution proved that the 'mobile phone insurance policies'
were, in effect, worthless pieces of paper which gave the consumers who
purchased them no cover at all. The documents that were sent out
contained the name 'Equity Red Star', which is the name of a genuine
insurance company but whose name was being abused by the defendants and
their company as they had no connection with, or authority to use, the
Equity Red Star name.
The
court heard how the company set up two call centres in 2008, one in
Rugby and one in Tipton, as well as claiming to have a head office in
Birmingham city centre. In fact, the 'head office' was no more than a
serviced office instructed to forward post to the Rugby office. From
their Rugby and Tipton offices sales staff were provided with lists of
consumers to cold call on the phone and to sell the policies to. Sales
staff were paid bonuses for every policy sold.
Complaints
first started to come through because consumers noticed that the full
amounts were being deducted from their accounts instead of the monthly
payments as had been agreed. Other consumers complained after having
multiple payments deducted from their accounts, and some consumers even
reported having payments taken even though they had not taken out a
policy with, or even any knowledge of, Midland Communication Solutions
Ltd or its trading name, Mitele.
Please
feel free to cascade this information to whomever you feel appropriate
(including using the information in your newsletters/websites etc.). If you have any information you wish to provide to
Warwickshire Trading Standards Service, either for our information, or
to appear in future email alerts, please email me.
For more information on scams, visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scams
Follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/warkstss
Simon Cripwell
Trading Standards Officer
Warwickshire Trading Standards Service
Communities
Warwickshire County Council
Old Budbrooke Road Warwick CV35 7DP
tel. 01926 414039
mob. 07771 975570
My normal working days are Monday to Thursday
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