My thoughts exactly! Thank you! I forgot to say, the advertising company was Interlink Design...

Has anyone heard of Central Debt Recovery? Got a call from them today saying I owed some money for an unpaid advert (it's knowledge to me). The man (Mr Hudson) got really arsy with me when I asked for his debt recovery licence number-told me not to get clever with him.... I asked a simple question! Anyway, the number is 01612231183.

A man called Paul Thompson from the Crime Prevention Campaign, but their names change all the time. He even made a call to his supervisor at the 'Board of Charities' but didn't put me on hold so I heard the whole conversation-which sounded very staged! I asked Paul for his mates number, he gave me a mobile number... I've had the numbers checked by the police and they couldn't trace them which possibly means they're pay and go mobiles. Another number the police checked by the police was:01612232266-They said straight away they were [problem] callers. That number has rung twice this week. Other companies to look out for: -Appleton Smith Media (my immediate thought was Granny Smith apples!) -Imperial Media [EDIT] -Business Connect -Streetbeat Associates (recieved an invoice off these yesterday, even though I've never spoken to them, and associates was spelt assosciates!) [EDIT] -Britannia Media Ltd -Business and Community Support Multimedia -Community Safety Plus -Turner Wilson Associates -Excel Media Ltd -Blueline Publications -Knightsbridge Media Company I've passed all these names on to Trading Standards who are currently carrying out various investigations. I hope I've helped people by naming them-hopefully it won't be long before they're shamed too!

Where do these people get off? I set up business last December and got a call around March from a company called Blueline Publications, I fell for the whole thing and paid up because the man I spoke to seemed so genuine!!! How wrong I was! Since then I've had various calls from several different advertising companies preaching the same thing. The last straw came a week ago when I received a phone call from a man called 'Paul Thompson'. He said he was from the Crime Prevention Campaign and that I didn't owe him any money but I owed various other companies nearly £3000 in unpaid advertising fees dating back to June. I told him I didn't know what he was talking about and asked him for the details of the companies, of which he said he couldn't disclose the information...... He then went on to say that if I paid £700 (cash) by 3pm the next day I could completely right-off the debt and have my name removed from all these pain in the arse companies. Thought it sounded very suspicious and said I wasn't willing to pay the £700, he said it would then be passed on to their legal team and that the bailiffs would be in touch. I thought that was the end of it from him...... How wrong could I be?!! The following day he called to see at what point I was paying the £700??? Told him he could take a run and jump, at which point he got very aggressive. I also told him that I'd informed Trading Standards and the Police and that if you googled [problem] advertising, his company was at the top of the list. At this he went on to call me a liar...... Pot, kettle, black spring to mind!!! The calls have continued and have been more and more threatening. Words of advice: -Report to the Police and Trading Standards -Say you're not interested in anything they have to say, or even put the phone down-they will get bored! -Ignore any invoices you recieve-99.9% of them are not legit, if you're not 100% sure look them up on Google, Google maps-I even rang yellow pages!(don't fall for the websites they have posted)- -Do not pay a penny to anyone; even if they claim you owe them and threaten you with legal action hang up on them. -If you do stay on the line, try and get as much info as possible to pass on to the police and Trading Standards. -If a bailiff turns up on your door ask them for ID and a debt collection licence number but more importantly ring the police and Trading Standards. They cannot take anything if you have not been issued with a court summons. Bailiffs tend to be the last option in regard to unpaid fees. (I know all this as a friend of mine is a ex bailiff) -Lastly and most importantly, stay calm and have a laugh at how sad and lowly their lives really must be!!! Entertain them it's their phone bill after all!