CRS AJJB chasing money for Photo Studio Group run by Michael John Hannah

[BankFodder]

Thank you for your posting your new thread here. However you've posted a very long story in a pretty well completely solid block of text which is very difficult for people to read on screen. To get the help that you need, we need stories posted properly spaced and punctuated.

I'm going to restructure it – but please will you present it in a more manageable way in future

[BankFodder]

Ignore them. If you want to write something to them then tell them to bring it on and to start a court claim because you will be very happy to expose it all in court, to demand papers and evidence and also that the press and TV journalists are already interested.

Tell them that you simply can't wait and they should hurry up.

Other than that, do nothing. Stop worrying, and be a little bit more careful about checking things out before you start spending your money. Make sure that your daughter knows all about it so that she will grow up with a little bit of wisdom.

As you realise, you are being completely scammed and these debt collection companies – which share the same address – are simply just part of the operation. They may have other legitimate interests – I don't know – but in terms of this glamour photo shoot business, you should completely ignore them.

[BankFodder]

Do not pay any money to try and get them off your back. Keep on clawing your money back as well as you can. You seem to be doing pretty well so far.

You are lucky that you didn't pay by bank transfer – as most people do.

[BankFodder]

Michael John HANNAH

 

Quote

Total number of appointments 3

Date of birth May 1973

CARLTON NASH & CO LIMITED (12267941)

Company status Active

Correspondence address

45-47, Thomas Street, Manchester, England, M4 1NA

Role ACTIVE Director

Appointed on 17 October 2019

Nationality British

Country of residence United Kingdom

Occupation Company Director

MY WATER IS PURE LIMITED (09034157)

Company status Dissolved

Correspondence address Farrow Accounting And Tax Limited, 94-95, South Worple Way, London, United Kingdom, SW14 8ND

Role Director

Appointed on 12 May 2014

Nationality British

Country of residence United Kingdom

Occupation Director

THE PHOTO STUDIO GROUP LIMITED (08043958)

Company status Active

Correspondence address

Farrow Accounting & Tax Limited, 95 South Worple Way, London, England, SW14 8ND

Role ACTIVE Director

Appointed on 24 April 2012

Nationality British

Country of residence United Kingdom

Occupation Director

 

[BankFodder]

Unfortunately trading standards will take absolutely no notice whatsoever. It might be worth contacting action fraud and get a crime reference number – and also maybe it will help to build up a bit of intelligence against these people – although fundamentally action fraud is pretty well useless as well. But better make a report than no report

[BankFodder]

Even if the contract appears to be binding - that doesn't necessarily mean that it is all above board.

 

With all respect to the Which team, their advice is generally a bit luke-warm and sheltered.

 

Let us see the contract as well - if and when you get it.

 

Also even though there appears to be a contract, it doesn't mean that they will honour it and it certainly doesn't mean that they would be prepared to expose themselves in court in order to try to enforce it. 

 

"Binding contracts" may often be useful to frighten people into pay up

[BankFodder]

You haven't really given us a timeline, but I understand that in October 2019 – one year ago, you visited the studios for a photo shoot for your daughter.

• You told us that the deal was that they would take photographs and then if everything went well and the photographs are good, they would then try to find modelling opportunities for your daughter.
• Because you didn't want to upset your daughter, you agree to an instalment/loan contract.
• At the time of signing the agreement, the salesman told you to expect to be contacted by modelling agencies with offers of work for your daughter.
• You didn't hear from the company for a couple of months – so that would take us to, say, January 2020.
• You attempted several times to get hold of the company – and eventually did and they promised you a call back.
• You only Nobody called you back.
• He then decided to do some research and you discovered that you are probably being scammed.
• You then canceled your direct debit and also asked for some chargebacks which succeeded.
• Nothing more was heard until September of this year when you started being chased by a debt collector. 

 

Looking through the contract you posted up, they tend to make it very clear throughout the contract that the agreement is only for the photographs. Not for any references or for promises of modelling work or for any representations on your behalf.

They apparently took 20 photographs and charge you £2000 for them which is £100 per photo. A nice little earner!

Please can you confirm that my resumé of the situation is correct

[BankFodder]

Can you show us where those things have happened and your evidence for them having happened please.

Also, you say that they told you that your daughter had been selected out of thousands of applicants. Do you have evidence for them having said that? Please can you post it up here

[BankFodder]

I'm not sure that what you are pointing at amounts to unfair practices for the purposes of nullifying any agreement.

Maybe you would like to link is to the unfair practices provisions, I haven't looked at them for some time – however, it seems to me that suggesting that something is time-limited when it's not – doesn't refer to a one-to-one contract. He refers to a general offer of proposal which in fact continues to be open to everyone even after the alleged deadline has passed.

Here you have a one-to-one contract. It is specifically made between you and the supplier and it doesn't appear to be open to anyone else.

I'm doing this from memory – but I don't see that the circumstances apply to your particular situation.

Also, I'm not sure what is wrong with suggesting that you are not allowed to change and reduce an order once you have left the premises. In fact it seems to me that at the moment you have a contract in place, then you wouldn't be allowed to change or reduce the order anyway – and whether or not you have left the premises has nothing to do with it.

I think that the fact that they say that she has been selected from thousands of applicants is far more interesting. However, looking at the email which you have attached to your post, I'm struggling to see where it says that there are thousands of applicants

[BankFodder]

Frankly I don't think you should pay them – but on the other hand I think you should be as prepared as possible in case they decide to go ahead. This is extremely unlikely – but if they did, then it would be helpful if you had visited round the Internet and gotten as many other people as possible to show that they have had exactly the same sales technique and exactly the same lack of interest and lack of progress on any modelling career.

You say that you don't know how anybody running a scam like this should be allowed to take legal action. The whole point is that although you know it's a scam and we know it's a scam, you would have to prove to a judge that it is a scam. A judge would probably believe that it is a scam as well – but the judge will want to see evidence rather than simply go on a hunch.

You might want to ask how these people get away with it. Well I'm afraid that I think you need to look at your own situation and you will start to understand. I think that you were carried away by it – and of course you came under pressure from your daughter and for some reason rather, felt unable to stand up to her about it – even though, it would probably have been a better lesson for her to understand what was going on and to be told to be patient and to give it a day or two before making a decision. Now you have to deal with it – and I suppose that your daughter doesn't really show a huge amount of interest because of course is not her who has to pay and also it's not her who has the humiliation of having fallen into this trap.

I'm sorry to say but even on this thread you started off by telling us that they had said that there were thousands of others – and it's only now that I've pressed you on the point that you've agreed that this was only said verbally and furthermore, it is only now that you have admitted that they said this to your daughter and not to you.

Unfortunately the contract is with you and not with your daughter so as far as anyone is concerned, they're dealing with an adult who presumably has learnt a thing or two in life and is a bit canny.

We feel that these people never start court actions – and they probably make more than enough money without having to deal with the very few troublesome individuals who decide to push into court and to defend.

We would suggest that you don't take any action and that you tell them to go ahead and do their worst and that you will force them to produce evidence in court of the things which they have said. However at the end of the day, it is your decision as to what to do.

Although your 14 year old daughters innocence turns against her, on the other hand a statement from her in which she confirms the conversation and that they spoke to her and that they told her about these thousands of other applicants, might go in her favour because she is only a child.

I would also spend time going around the Internet and contacting people who have also fallen for it and see if you can get them to help you with as many statements and evidence of emails et cetera as you possibly can. I think it would only take four or five people with a similar story to put before a judge to persuade the judge that there was some skulduggery going on.

 

To help you with your decision as to whether or not to bluff them out, here are some of your risk factors. First of all, there is a possibility that they are bluffing. We think they are – but of course there is a risk. So your first risk is that you would receive a claim.

Your second risk is that you could lose in court and that means that in addition to the money they were claiming, you would also have to pay their claim fee in the hearing fee. This could add another £250 onto the final bill. Of course you would ask the court for instalments and I can imagine the court would be extremely sympathetic to this request.

As it is, they may will start trying to charge all the late payment fees et cetera which are included in the contract. These late payment fees are only enforceable if they truly represent their administrative losses caused by any breach of contract by you. You can force them to produce evidence of these administrative losses before paying.

I can imagine that any judge in the County Court would probably take a very dim view of their late payment charges and failed payment charges et cetera.

 

If it did go to court, then a hearing will probably be online. They all seem to be that way these days. However, if it was an in-person hearing, then it would probably be a good idea if your daughter turned up as a witness and you should make sure that she is presented as a child and not as a glamour model.

[BankFodder]

Yes I'm sure that that media coverage will certainly help. You should print it out – but also it would be a good idea to try and contact other victims and see if you can get there first hand accounts. You will find that some people have actually paid up everything and they will probably be sufficiently angry that they will want to help you very actively.

It was you who use the word "thousands" first of all and so that's why it became significant. However if those are the words that were used, then that is obviously very helpful if your daughter is prepared to give a statement to that effect.

I think you need to go through it all with your daughter – gently over a period of time – compiling an account and then updating it and then bring in anything else that she remembers. A good statement can often take many days as recollections improve. Once you have put an account together then turn into a statement and that will probably be helpful.

 

If you go to this site https://www.trustonline.org.uk/ you should be able to find judgements and also discover if they are satisfied or outstanding. Unfortunately when find the names and addresses of people involved – but let us know what you find. Unfortunately there is a fee.

 

If you right back to the debt collectors then maybe you should fire a shot across their bows. Tell them that you are looking forward to court and you will be bringing in evidence from other victims and also producing the media coverage so far in court and specifically tell them that you will be referring to Michael Hannah and that you may even require him to go to court.

Tell them also that if this does go to a court action then you will certainly be contacting interested members of the press because you are aware that this is an ongoing national scam.

Please keep us updated.

Also if you find any other victims who are prepared to help you then please point them to this forum and maybe they will give information as well which can be useful for others. If they are prepared to give statements then if they are happy to have those statements included here in a file of evidence for others then that would be useful too.

If they do decide to issue a claim against you then of course let us know immediately and we will do everything we can to put together a defence and to support you all the way through

[BankFodder]

Good point. I'm afraid I haven't visited the site for some time so I can't quite remember exactly what you can search on. Visit it and try. There is no fee for searching – but to see the results then you will have to pay a fee.

I've attached a file so you can see the way that the reports look – but in this case I was searching on a defendant company.

However it may allow you to to search on the claimant instead.

 

I'm afraid that now you phrased it, I'm not sure anymore!

Report-201907389426.pdf

[BankFodder]

In fact  the more I think about it, I expect that it is only used for finding defendants - not claimants - so sorry for misleading you

[BankFodder]

Yes, that would be fun – but of course you won't get the claimant's details. If you're prepared to put up the fee then try it. However, maybe it's not worth spending any money on it unless it escalates in some way

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that I think that it is tenuous at best