I received a letter this morning hand written on a plain piece of A5 paper.

This is what it says in it's entirety:

17-7-06

78 York Street

London

W1H 1DP

Dear (my name)

I understand you hold the franchise for HELPSELLUK.CO.UK for the postcode FY1 should you be wishing to sell, Im a willing buyer at £1000 plus I will pay all legal and transfer fees and expenses.

T R Payne

This is hand written on plain paper, remember, no letterhead, nothing.

Type that web address in and you get this single screen:

Important Notice

Anyone wishing to convert their conditional certificates into registration certificates should do do as soon as possible. The fee now stands at £500 please make cheque out to: Helps and send to:

PO Box 100

Swanley

BR8 9AJ

Thank you

No company name, nothing.

type the London address on the letter into Google though and you get this:

C & S Business Bureau

78 York Street, London.

About C&S Business Bureau - Central London Address and Telephone Answering Services

This is a company that amongst other things offer a mail forwarding service. The web address means nothing to me. Absolutely no question at all in my mind that this is a tactic by a DCA trying to find out if I'm still at the same address (since I NEVER reply to letters from DCA's)

How low down can you get? Nothing new of course, a Manchester company used to send out postcards stating asking you to phone back because they had a parcel waiting to be delivered to you and needed you to confirm your address.

If you're reading this, T R Payne, or whoever you are, nice try but even if you see this and it confirms to you that I got your letter, it's not going to get you anywhere so don't waste your time and more importantly, don't waste mine. Meatime I will forward this to the relevant authorities and see if they can trace YOU.

if it is a limited liability company or a PLC they they cant do anything, if you have a YOURNAME t/a COMPANYNAME then they can take their dibbs. they CANNOT take the company name from you at all!

If they attempt to take the company name, charge the the following:

Company Logo Design Cost: £1200

Company Website design Costs: £4000

Company Advertising (even if ti was free, you still used company time to do this): £60 / hour of this time

Company Clients: Sellt them at £200 per client, as clients are seen as company asssets.

Send them this quotation and see how they react

Never forget, if they ever contact you in any respect of your company, they contact you on business terms!

Also, if they continue to contact you about your company, write to them, tell them that you hire yourself out at £10 legal administration charges (max stat charge), then tally up the hours they cost you. Dont forget that every hour you spend on them in company time, is an hour of profit lost in your company...

:o The sneaky b*****s. Good job you're on you toes

if it is a limited liability company or a PLC they they cant do anything, if you have a YOURNAME t/a COMPANYNAME then they can take their dibbs. they CANNOT take the company name from you at all!

 

If they attempt to take the company name, charge the the following:

 

Company Logo Design Cost: £1200

Company Website design Costs: £4000

Company Advertising (even if ti was free, you still used company time to do this): £60 / hour of this time

Company Clients: Sellt them at £200 per client, as clients are seen as company asssets.

 

Send them this quotation and see how they react

 

Never forget, if they ever contact you in any respect of your company, they contact you on business terms!

 

Also, if they continue to contact you about your company, write to them, tell them that you hire yourself out at £10 legal administration charges (max stat charge), then tally up the hours they cost you. Dont forget that every hour you spend on them in company time, is an hour of profit lost in your company...

You're missing the point completely. What I'm getting at is this is nothing to do with websites or companies, it's almost certainly a DCA (Debt Collection Agency) using a spoof offer to provoke a reaction.

The WORST thing I could possibly do is answer at all, thus proving to them that I am still at this address. That's precisely what they want me to do.

I had a postcard once saying to phone the number to claim a worthwhile top prize

It seemed very unlikley that I had won anything as I had never entered a competition.

Just the sort of sneaky tricks they try.

Well spotted Seylectric

Yes, that's an old trick. Might even be worth replying then suing them for the value of the prize they won't send you!

I've had a few of these postcards. I then had a handwritten note asking me to contact simon on 0000 00000. A couple of days later a neighbour came down and said he had posted the note as this person had called him to see if I lived there.

So they can be even sneakier, having spoken to more neighbours it seems a few of them have had calls.

I had a postcard once saying to phone the number to claim a worthwhile top prize

 

 

It seemed very unlikley that I had won anything as I had never entered a competition.

 

Just the sort of sneaky tricks they try.

 

 

Well spotted Seylectric

I'm a postie and see quite a few of these, however they aren't usually from DCA's - in the small print it tells you the other 'prizes' - commemorative stamps, toaster, kettle - Things that be be bought for a few pounds wholesale. Then when you ring up to claim the prize it's a premium number and the call costs £15+. They send these out in the thousands, so they don't need that many people to reply to make a nice profit.

They also send cards that look very like the cards us posties leave when you have a parcel waiting - so you ring up thinking you have a parcel, an automated service then strings you along and bye bye £15-£20 for the call and you get a parcel worth next to nothing.

I'm aware of those dodgy schemes but it's also a trick that is very definately used by DCA's.

Maybe the postie Norvernrob can trace it for you?

I couldn't care less to be honest. I have no intention of contacting whoever the sender was, as stated that was their intention from the start; I won't be obliging them.

Don't miss the point here peeps, these tricks are intended to provoke a response. Don't respond and they have failed.