Business Leads advertising?

[EamonKunze]

Hello Everyone,
We have a similar problem with a company called CONTACT INFORMATION SERVICES or CIS LEADS.
Here is the story in short:


On the 21/03/07 we had an appointment with Mr A. Jacobs a CIS agent. Mr Jacobs has explained us that CIS is mainly selling business leads and for a sum of £200 payable by cheque we will receive every month at least 100 new leads that would cover Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire area. Everything looked fine but how wrong we were...

As during the past year we did not received a single informational pack, papers, documentation or anything that would have helped us contact the potential customers we have decided to call it a loss at that time especially after contacting them several times and being told all sorts of excuses. Bad printers, sick workers, waiting for data to be processed, etc.

We have contacted them recently in order to get a refund and the received answer was extremely rude, something like "go and f...k...yourself! We found this totally unacceptable as we were expecting them to refund us the £200 we have paid last year in respect to the above matter as they have not respected their part of the engagement but their very rude answer made us understood that there's no chance in getting the money back. So it was called a loss...unfortunately the story doesn't end here.

Five months ago we have received a letter stating that our account with CIS is £250 outstanding as we have not paid for 2008 part of the contract, a letter signed by someone called MARIA COLLINS, apparently the Accounts Manager. Then the letter was followed by several threatening phone calls from all sort of dubious people and phone numbers for more than three weeks, everyday.

Martin, John, Mick etc
01217777699, 01217022162, 08701266067

At this point we decided that we had enough and we have taken them to the court. We won the case and the court has sent the bailiffs to their door a week ago. The problem is that the letter we have received from the court the other day mentioned that the given address to the bailiffs is was pointing them to the registered office of Contact Information Services only therefore the bailiffs could do nothing and in order to issue another warrant we will have to pay extra fees. The address where the bailiffs went it is the address from CIS invoice:
Litton House, Global Business Park, Saville Road, Westwood, Peterborough. PE3 7PR

I have decided to do a little research myself and this is what I have found so far:


CIS Web Site
salesleads*co*uk

Domain Name Registrar
esterling*co*uk

WEB SITE's Registrant Address
1206 Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, West Midlands, B28 8HN

ADDRESS on the WEBSITE: (wrong postcode)
Litton House, Global Business Park, Saville Road, Westwood, Peterborough. PE37 7PR

I have checked the above address and it looks like there are so many other businesses registered at the same address:

Residential Landlords Association - RLA Property Ltd - rla*org*uk - with the business address in Manchester.
Claim Time Solicitors - claimtime*co*uk - Without a business address on their Web Site.
Barron & Co Accountants - Without a Web Site.
R J Evans Bullock And Co - Without a Web Site.

It is a NON LIMITED company, the reg number is NL17859938 and the registered address is the one from the invoice.

VAT No - 887085376

Contact Numbers: 01217777699, 01217022162, 08701266067

ACCOUNTS DIRECTOR - Maria Collins



This is all we have so far about these fraudsters. Is there anyone that knows CSI Leads or at least can help us identify them and stop them from stealing money from more and more businesses, please do get in touch.

Thank you all for your time and support, it is much appreciated.

[purplecherry]

Yes Ive had the same problem, took on their marketing last year for £300.
From the 12 issues I should of recieved I only got 4. I basically wrote the £300 off and put it down to my inexperience in believing what the salesman told me! Now they are telling me I owe them another £300 because I didnt terminate the agreement in writing, and thretening court action, even though I have not recieved anything from them for at least 4 months.....I would of thought they'd have to inform me in writing that my agreement was to be renewed and given the option to cancel. Other than telling them to go f### themselves im not sure what to do

[EamonKunze]

take them to the court. small claim court, it can be done online and all expenses shall be paid by them. the only problem is that they don't exists. as you can see it is impossible to find them.
i have placed posts everywhere online, even on martin's saving money forum with no luck at all...ghosts...would love to catch that salesman one more time...
see more here:
www(dot)orums(dot)moneysavingexpert(dot)com/showthread(dot)html?t=413921

[EamonKunze]

or, here
www*ukbusinessforums*co*uk/forums/showthread*php?p=638350

[purplecherry]

i would love to, but as you said...ghosts, would be good money chasing bad. An idea though.....they are obviously after more money from me...might be an idea to request another meeting with this bloke to go over why their marketing it isnt working for my company as im keen to renew, if he thinks hes going to get money he'll probably show up.....you'll be welcome to wait for him here, and anyone else for that matter who wants to get hold of him?

[EamonKunze]

this sounds interesting. As we have won the court case and the bailifs couldn't find them to recover the loss I believe that we can ask the police to look into this problem too. what do you think?

[purplecherry]

sounds good to me, Id written my money off...if theres a chance of getting it back im in

[EamonKunze]

great. I'm off to sleep now as it's quite late and i have to go abroad tomorrow for a business meeting. Today!! :(
please try contacting them again and let us know in advance the results so we can get the police involved in time then arrest this fraudsters and get the money back.
i suspect that there are just 3 people involved in this scam.
2 guys and a woman. the guys act as agents and the woman acts as a secretary. i might be wrong.
how does your agent look like? are you oxfordshire based?
good night

[ASG Electrical]

Hi We have just had a visit from the salesman please call me on 07976 189860 to discuss as we have not given him a decision so stand a chance of getting him back. Have spoken to Trading Standards

Hello Everyone,
We have a similar problem with a company called CONTACT INFORMATION SERVICES or CIS LEADS.
Here is the story in short:


On the 21/03/07 we had an appointment with Mr A. Jacobs a CIS agent. Mr Jacobs has explained us that CIS is mainly selling business leads and for a sum of £200 payable by cheque we will receive every month at least 100 new leads that would cover Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire area. Everything looked fine but how wrong we were...

As during the past year we did not received a single informational pack, papers, documentation or anything that would have helped us contact the potential customers we have decided to call it a loss at that time especially after contacting them several times and being told all sorts of excuses. Bad printers, sick workers, waiting for data to be processed, etc.

We have contacted them recently in order to get a refund and the received answer was extremely rude, something like "go and f...k...yourself! We found this totally unacceptable as we were expecting them to refund us the £200 we have paid last year in respect to the above matter as they have not respected their part of the engagement but their very rude answer made us understood that there's no chance in getting the money back. So it was called a loss...unfortunately the story doesn't end here.

Five months ago we have received a letter stating that our account with CIS is £250 outstanding as we have not paid for 2008 part of the contract, a letter signed by someone called MARIA COLLINS, apparently the Accounts Manager. Then the letter was followed by several threatening phone calls from all sort of dubious people and phone numbers for more than three weeks, everyday.

Martin, John, Mick etc
01217777699, 01217022162, 08701266067

At this point we decided that we had enough and we have taken them to the court. We won the case and the court has sent the bailiffs to their door a week ago. The problem is that the letter we have received from the court the other day mentioned that the given address to the bailiffs is was pointing them to the registered office of Contact Information Services only therefore the bailiffs could do nothing and in order to issue another warrant we will have to pay extra fees. The address where the bailiffs went it is the address from CIS invoice:
Litton House, Global Business Park, Saville Road, Westwood, Peterborough. PE3 7PR

I have decided to do a little research myself and this is what I have found so far:


CIS Web Site
salesleads*co*uk

Domain Name Registrar
esterling*co*uk

WEB SITE's Registrant Address
1206 Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, West Midlands, B28 8HN

ADDRESS on the WEBSITE: (wrong postcode)
Litton House, Global Business Park, Saville Road, Westwood, Peterborough. PE37 7PR

I have checked the above address and it looks like there are so many other businesses registered at the same address:

Residential Landlords Association - RLA Property Ltd - rla*org*uk - with the business address in Manchester.
Claim Time Solicitors - claimtime*co*uk - Without a business address on their Web Site.
Barron & Co Accountants - Without a Web Site.
R J Evans Bullock And Co - Without a Web Site.

It is a NON LIMITED company, the reg number is NL17859938 and the registered address is the one from the invoice.

VAT No - 887085376

Contact Numbers: 01217777699, 01217022162, 08701266067

ACCOUNTS DIRECTOR - Maria Collins



This is all we have so far about these fraudsters. Is there anyone that knows CSI Leads or at least can help us identify them and stop them from stealing money from more and more businesses, please do get in touch.

Thank you all for your time and support, it is much appreciated.

[purplecherry]

phoned them this morning, they seem to think they are perfectly in their rights to take me to court as i didnt cancell the contract in writing, also she told me they only send the leads via post for the first few months then you have to use the online system......not what the salesman told me...he said its another £300 to be able to access the online leads.

In the heat of argument I told her i would be small claiming them for my money back for the first year and they could go jump for the money they're taking me to court for. I also told her this would be a waist of time as...just like the other companies that have taken them to court and won, i wouldnt get a penny because their registered address is a virtual office. she adamently denied that any company had taken them to court....more lies, i also told her i would be contacting trading standards about their company. so it seems nothing has been solved, and they are persuing the legal route to rip me off.

[EamonKunze]

Purplecherry, there's nothing you should be worry about. I am telling you what they've done with us step by step:

1. Letters asking for more money(next year contract which we have not signed it or knew about it)

2. Fake court papers a few times (but we called the court and they've never heard about that case)

3. Threatening phone calls from all sort of dubious individuals for more than a week.

(make sure you keep all these notes and letters you receive and record any conversations you might have with them as you'll (we) will need them later for the police and the court)

I repeat, do not be afraid, they are not right and the fact that we won the court case has proven that.

I have spoken to the gentleman that has left his mobile number above (ASG Electrical) a few minutes ago and we are planning to get them to visit him once again so he can obtain more data about these fraudsters then we shall all together write complaints to police, the competent authorities, bailiffs and give them what they really deserve.

[purplecherry]

I wouldnt bother having them back....save your money and time..their a bunch of cowboys. I have also discovered that the 0870 and all their contact numbers are used for support on a meet and make out adult site.

fortunatly ive been through my files and found I did send them a cancellation letter in june this year. so other than the ccj threat from them ive not recieved any corespodance stating they recieved my cancellation, but also no corespondance stating my contract was due for renewal. I seem to believe that any renewable contract has a forteen day cancellation period, and they should of contacted me in writing to give me the option to continue or cancell????

[EamonKunze]

they won't leave you alone just like that. you have to fight back that's the only way to stop them. you might have sent them a cancellation letter but did the letter reach them? and if the letter would have reach them, knowing how and who they are now, do you thing that they would say yes, we have received your letter?
stand up, refuse to be a victim. there are so many like you out there not knowing what to do. have your saying, lead by example.

[purplecherry]

cheers for you support, much apreciated. Im an microsoft IT engineer whos not so recently started up on his own, give me servers, pcs, routers and ill fix them no probs....but this (being ripped off, legal issues) is all alien to me and part of the business learning curve i cant learn quick enough!

yes will keep whatever rubbish and threats they send, I think the only way is to involve the police to trace the vat number to an address.
Thought about trying to reverse the 0870 number to a host number, but this 0870 prob points to handset or pabx in their virtual office that forwards somewhere else.

[esis ltd]

Alarm bells should have rang with this company from the start, the salesman who came to our office was incredibly rude, The manager was running a little late and this guy was stamping round the office saying he had better not be long as he had come a long way and didnt like to be kept waiting! We are now having the same trouble with this 'company' as you guys except now we are being contacted by David wilson associates demanding payment. We are not prepared to pay as we cancelled in June 08( they did not receive this letter apparently!). We have now received a fax offering a discount of 50% if we pay by card. The fax number on the letter is the Litton House address number yet it has come from 01273 390562, a brighton number. Im not paying anything, let them take us to court.....

[purplecherry]

ah well that makes it 4 happy customers now, think trading standards or police should be our next call, but we need a fixed address so eamonkunze can send in the bayliffs, and the rest of us can then process claims against them for our money back.