Has anybody advertised with the police federations publication?

[Lincs1]

Hi,

I had a call today from a representative of the police federation offering to sell me advertising space in their quarterly publication that I was told is sent to serving and ex police force members. The caller also told me that they have readers from the age of 15+ so I guess this publication is also available to the general public? Either way, has anybody advertised with them before? I googled them and found that they do have a magazine so I'm happy to that extent but I was offered the chance to speak to a member of the design team to discuss what styles of advert they could offer me from my chosen artwork, I agreed and was told I'd receive a call in a couple of days. Minutes after the call I was contacted by another staff member of the police federation saying I had been put down for a double advert at £XXX + VAT and asking for payment details.

Maybe that was just an internal paperwork mistake, but have you found them to be reliable and genuine?

 

[Dawg]

AAArgh! Big time scam. If they contact you again ask for a name and address to pass to trading standards/give to your lawyer/post on a freelance assassins website.
Honestly, say nothing except that you don't want anything, that nothing is in writing, and that you are not prepared to discuss it further.
Scamming swine.

 

[Lincs1]

Ah, many thanks Dawg for the confirmation. That will do for me.

I should have noticed earlier that on the police federations website the publication is monthly and not quarterly as stated during the phone call.

I requested the details to be emailed to me when I explained I had not agreed to purchase the advertisement. There was no objections to this and the caller then asked me to sell her a UPVC door. Which was unexpected.

No email as yet, of course very doubtful then that there ever will be.

Thank you again, very much appreciated.

 

[Mike George]

Yes it's definitely a scam, just like the firemen's wall planner and all the other charity/good cause publications.

 

[daveashe]

Yes it's definitely a scam, just like the firemen's wall planner and all the other charity/good cause publications.

I almost got burned by that one a few years back.

I don't buy any advertising over the phone unless i've done my research.

Also beware of scarcity (limited allocation!) and commitment (are you genuinely interested?)

Don't fall for these tactics, get yourself a copy of Influence by Robert Cialdini - once you read this you won't get caught out by crafty salesmen pushing your buttons to make the sale and instead can use it to push your own prospects buttons and make more sales.

 

[Cornish Steve]

Sounds like it costs too many coppers and has limited a-peel.

 

[truesilver]

I've heard of this kind of thing so many times... Can I suggest that when they phone you back (and I'm afraid they most likely will) demand to know what their purchase order number is. They will more than likely tell you that they have a recording of you agreeing to the ad etc etc.

Be warned everyone... This is an old scam and the best way to deal with these people if and when you get called is to ask for their manager's name and their address and contact details. More than often they will give you a false address which can be verified on google maps.

Shocking what some people will do to steal a buck.

Hope it works out ok.

Leigh

 

[oldeagleeye]

Inform the Police Federation of this scam. If you want to target police officers you shouls also be aware that any kit they wear on duty has to be approved and you have to be on the appoved police procuement list. If you want to target police officers for pesronal things like discounts on holidays etc.

Get in touch with the police federation at Scotland Yard. They have a huge number of clubs ranging from angling clubs to flying lessons. Incidentaly. The fire brigade - ambulance service and bus companies have the same. Avertising is allso cheap intheir monthly ragsheets and even free if you have a really special offer.

Rob

 

[gibby]

With a previous business I used to get alot of these, usually wall planners for firemen or charity. They did produce the planners but we never got any business from the 1 & only time we tried it.

We also found another for those in the wedding business. This large advertising firm would go to the hotels & say they would pay the hotels x amount per firms that signed up for ads in the wedding guide for the hotel.

The hotel were charged nothing & were then very insistent that firms like ours should take out the ad as they were giving us all this work.

The adverts were not cheap & luckily I found other firms who had fallen for this scam. It still goes on today.

G

 

[mono one]

This sounds a bit like one my daughter was approached about in the last couple of weeks.
Checked it out and there was a magazine available to view online, quite nicely designed too... but all the advertising pages were blank!
Not much of an incentive there....

 

[Lincs1]

Thank you for all of your replies. Without doubt a con and as you have all confirmed.

I never did receive my promised email containing details of offers available to me. I did however receive this morning an envelope containing 4 pages of complete rubbish.

The company has revealed itself as; <<<Edited to remove details>>>

They have invoiced me for £149.99 based on a charge for designing an advert.

The order confirmation type is 'Recorded confirmation' and payment due by credit card or BACS on the 2nd September 2010.

The question is, is recorded confirmation a legal basis to pursue an invoice?

Obviously I at no point said "yes, I would like you to design an advert for me at the cost of £149,99" but of course I agreed to speak to their design department and confirmed an advert "would be something I'd be interested in hearing more details about" as I live in the dark ages still and didn't realise what they were up to, I can not confirm what else I was mislead into saying.

So do you think I can put this in the bin, or have they indeed done their job well and I now need to begin practicing my legal letter writing skills to somehow get out of a situation that my naivety got me into?

 

[Mpg]

Tell them you want a copy of the whole recording so you can pass it on to your brother in law at new scotland yard.

 

[ThePublisher]

There are loads of these scams, and a huge amount of them originate out of the north west of England.

Refuse to pay it, its a scam. Be prepared for a load of abusive phone calls and threats of court action etc, but they won't follow through.

Incidentally if you are looking for genuine magazines to advertise in, have a look here www.findlocalmagazines.co.uk

 

[cozlw]

Definitely a scam... Have advertised with them previously and whilst the advert was genuine and I did receive a copy, I certainly wouldnt advertise with them again. Experienced issues with the invoice etc and they attempted to automatically re-enter the company in the next issue. Avoid avoid avoid!

 

[GTO NorthWest]

Hi Guys,
I have just fell for this scam, fortunately they only contacted me yesterday its from ModePR if anyone has heard of them, i had another the other day too from another company CD Studios both claiming pretty much the same thing. one is for the overdrive magazine FBPMC, and the other was The Outlook Magazine. are these both scams? if so i will email them telling them to stop everything. also i have not sent any payment or give them any card details.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

AAArgh! Big time scam. If they contact you again ask for a name and address to pass to trading standards/give to your lawyer/post on a freelance assassins website.
Honestly, say nothing except that you don't want anything, that nothing is in writing, and that you are not prepared to discuss it further.
Scamming swine.

Post on a freelance assassins website?

Never heard of that before. Do you have any links?