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Comments:
Unfortunately i used to work for these paople in their Birmingham office a few years ago before it was closed down.
For anybody considering helping these people dont bother!!!!
I might get into lots of trouble for this but what the hell!!!
The way they work is as follows: You will at some point helped a charity of some sort on a publication, what yellow partnership do is collect as many of these publications in as possible, the newer the better, they will then call you while it is fresh and confuse you into thinking that you are helping them instead, before you know it you have 2 bills in the post, In regards to them billing you i cant see how a recording would stand up in court, it never did before,
if you have any questions about this company ask away i wont hold back.....
Yellow Partnership what a company, now if your here reading this its probably because just like myself you have been contacted by Yellow Partnership and let me guess you were told all about the advertising you supposedly arranged with them in support of some charity, or maybe now your having the countless calls from them, demanding the payment for this (advertising???) you supposedly asked them for, or even worse you now have there apparent (bailiffs???) calling you with threats of legal action in court. Well your not alone, if you do a bit more searching on the net you will find literally hundreds of people in the same position as you. Now lets pretend for a moment that you are this apparently legit advertising company called yellow partnership and you appear to have hundreds?, maybe thousands of unrelated people all over the uk, all claiming that they were unjustly sold this (advertising???) you supplied and they were not willing to pay. Just imaging how that would really look to the court's, yes they may well have thier micky mouse recording's of certain parts (not the full conversation) of what was said, but why would all these unrelated people give the same statement against them. Lets face it, if you were yellow partnership would you risk taking all those people to court, risk getting caught out and then find you have the tables turned on you with possible counter claims from all those people, I don't think so. I will not give in to this company, we all need to stand our ground on this. This kind of sales tacktick has been tried by quite a few companys recently, they were caught out and are now shut down or being shut down, in my opinion its only a matter of time before Yellow Partnership follows them.
reg straberry ed ltd.
On the 22nd July I got contacted via the telephone with regards to me placing an add in their workbooks. The lady who called me spoke to me in such a way that I was left feeling very guilt ridden if I had said no. On the 23rd July 08, I sent them an email stating that I was not told of the vat and that I felt that I was given false information with regards to what they do. After listening to the recording it appears that I was told, I still have no memory of hearing this.
The lady on the phone stated saying "Hello is this Emma Dines" I replied "yes" then she continues "Thank you so very much for supporting us, the contribution you have given us is going to go towards us helping those children who are being abused and worse." etc, etc.
I felt so guilty that if I had said no that I would be this most horrid person and said yes. I did state to them that I cannot actually afford this as I am only a childminder and that I have only just started my business. After this discussion the verbal contract was started again as you can hear in the attached recording.
After I have time to think about what's actually happened and the amount (believing it was only £250.00) I immediately wrote and sent them an email stating that I didn't want to continue with this and that I felt that they also misled me as to what they actually did and a copy of this will be sent via means of recorded delivery.
I received a letter dating 22 July 2008 from them stating that I'm supporting the community safety project. This arrived on the 23rd as mentioned above this it not what they originally stated. Please find attached (letter from strawberry education ltd 1.jpg)
after this I receive another letter with regards to the artwork. As this crossed paths with my cancellation letter I didn't see a reason to respond to them as its all in the original cancellation letter. Please find attached strawberry education ltd cancellation letter.
After this I have a couple of phone calls from them to which I try to argue my case but to no avail. I recently had another phone call with regards to the account. the lady seemed to be trying very hard to get me to state that I cannot afford this, she was very persistent with this. since then I have been away on a family holiday so have been unable to see to this further.
before I even consider paying them I wish to know if I got my cancellation email and letter in time to cancel this. I cannot really afford this although I do have the money there. I do not wish to advertise with them and I didn't wish to do so in the 1st place. as you can see in the invoice the total sum is just under the £300 mark. please any advice would be great fully received.
My son has been bombarded with phone calls from this company. They have sent him a proforma invoice for £464 and some artwork for an advert on a charity wallplanner they said he had agreed to. My son is adamant he did not agree to anything with this company.
When this company was contacted to cancel this so called contract, they were very abusive. They said my son had entered into a 'verbal contract' and had a tape recording to prove it. They threatened to take him to court if he did not pay up.
Trading Standards advised us to write to the company and get a copy of the recording. They said if my son had agreed then he would have to pay up. After finding this site and reading the problems other people have had with this company I don't think I will bother.
I'd advise anyone who has problems with this company to report them to Trading Standards. I have also written to the Charities Commission.
Thank god i found this site!!
I’m going though hell with this company.
there pushy sales ladies called my office girl who just sits there and answers the phone has no power to order or buy anything and the hassled her and bombarded her with very fast talking conversations resulting in them telling me I owed 340 quid for a advert I never asked for...
they never sent proofs and now have the rudest debt recovery company chasing me called MKB they are total wa****s no help at all they sent me a recording of the office girl on the phone entering into this "verbal agreement" and it seems im now stuffed.
They will not even send me a magazine to prove the advert even exists, is this all just a blag or what?????
Im now letting them take me to court, has any one else been this far with them??
Will they really take me to court?
Is there a real advert somewhere?
i have recently had the same problem. i got a call sayin i had agreed to sponsor them a few months before, as i had sponsored another company it was a case of mistaken identity on my part that made me agree to the contract. as soon as i realised the mistake i cancled the contract. i then got a further 4 calls over the next few weeks eventually agreeing again because of the pushie salesman saying it was for "the poor children" and basically emotionally blackmailing me.
they have told me that the 14 day invoice i had would be turned into another 14 day invoice when it ran out. all i got was a call saying the invoice was overdue and needed paying imediatly. i then told them in no uncertain terms they are a bunch of cowboys and would not recieve a penny from me, i them got a threating voicemail saying if i did not pay in 2 days they would take me to court. i then sent them an email saying as far as i was concerned the contract was null and void as i had nothing but problems and that i was going to trading standards.i recieved a call at 9am the next morning amazingly from the accounts dept (which i did not answer) i have not heard anything else from them and this was 4 weeks ago.
trading standards say tell them they are a bunch of cowboys and if they want to take you to court go ahead, as they wont do this because they have to prove you entered into a legally binding contract and you have not. tell them to stuff it i did n iv had 4 weeks of blessed silence from them. they have 3 companies they are strawberry partnership, mph direct and yellow partnership dont go with any they will just rip you off.
Three companies, this one, Strawberry Education and MPH Direct have contacted us over the past year to sponsor them, all using the same tactics as has been listed on this page. We have had 4 invoice in total, paying two of them for a total some of around £600, before we realised something was not right.
I found this out after being bombarded with phone calls. For the 4 invoices we had been sent, we had only recieved one example publication: "Ginny's Adventure". I decided to call every other company who also appeared in the publication, and every one had the same story to tell, just a different way of trying to tackle these companies.
Some were paying the last invoices just to get rid of, some were trying to cancel credit cards after giving out details, which were then being re-used over and over. Some were just not paying.
Luckily for us, we do not have a company credit card, as such, these companies have to call us over and over asking for payment, which we are not going to pay, and i suggest the same of everyone else.
The verbal agreements mean nothing. Do not pay.
These companies are ruining things for the well meaning charities. We simply have no trust anymore and as such will be doing no more for charities until the appropriate authorities shut down these bad companies.
Where to start, I was first contacted by a charity called Strawberry Educational who asked me to advertise in there mag. They sounded legit so I agreed. I paid for the advertisment on my own credit card as i was a new company at the time. I then got a phone call from Yellow Partnership who said that i had agreed to advertise with them for £500. I disputed this as i had never heard from them before. They told me that they took verbal confirmation, and had recorded me saying that i had agreed to place the ad. After about 45min of disputing this I told them to send me the recording of me agreeing to this ad with an invoice. If the recording checked out i agreed to pay. I never received the recording, but i did receive a paid invoice with my credit card details on them saying thank you for the payment. I have never gave the Yellow Partnership my credit card details. Ever. I have now learned that Strawberry Educational and Yellow Partnership are interlinked some how and they have exchanged my credit card details between them. Also is still have not received the recording! STAY AWAY IF YELLOW PARTNERSHIP or STRAWBERRY EDUCATIONAL CONTACT YOU, DO YOUR SELF A FAVOUR AND HANG UP!!!
i agreed over the phone after some guilt filled high pressure tactics for some advertising with yellow partnership to the tune of £450 which would not be taken until id seen some proofs, i used a meastro card. the same day i saw this site and got straight on the phone to cancel my card and sent a letter canceling my contract with yellow partnership under my 7 day cooling off period which i was not told about by them. the next day i went to my bank to tell them and stop any transaction with this company, the bank then told me that since i gave them my details they could not stop the transaction. ive phoned the company and told them to cancel the deal as well. the next day i received a till receit and they took the £450 out about 15 minutes after they got my details, so much for waiting for me to see some proofs.
so now i just have to wait to see if they put the money back. if anyone has any ideas of how i can force them to give it back i would be very gratefull and i hope my story helps others see through this socalled charitable company
I have had exactly the same experience. Claim to have had a contract agreed by phone but we did not agree to anything. We too have been hit by 2 invoices one from Yellow and one from Strawberry Educational Ltd. I have written to them cancelling the contract so that should anything come of it legally I can prove I have cancelled but after reading these postings I will just ignore anything else that happens. We run a very smal business and how they think we will find £700 to advertise on something that we will get no return for I have no idea - and I know they wont have mentioned the cost anyway as we just dont have that sort of money. I have no idea why the charities noted use them they obviously dont research who they deal with.
Nev, I hope you've not paid the bill yet because let me tell you from someone who knows how these people work - you do not have to pay them. They have NEVER taken anyone to court for not paying the bill and you do not have a legal binding contract with them as you've signed nothing. Mark my word, they will send you all sorts of nasty letters but nothing will ever come of them (put them in the bin - they are worthless). I bet you've been miss-sold the product to; just to let you know that the charity/good cause get a very small percentage of the sale of the advert (sometimes as little as 1%) and the reps are on around 30% commision. Not many (if any) of the publications are distrubuted - if you've been told otherwise then you have every right to cancel. Trading standards will tell you the same, I would get in touch with your local office if want assurances. Anyway, just ignore the letters and calls, they will stop in the end. Dan, I think you should seek some legal advice about this company to try and get your money back.
hi, i unfortunately got hit in the worse possible way from this bunch of idiots. i was told they were dealing with 3 advertisments which i had taken out for so called charities and then billed me for £900 which they said would come out in two installments and thejust took it all without asking me. also i had a phone call after everything had been done saying i still owed the second part. never trust anyone that is my new philosophy! if anyone has any advice on how i can get any money back or anything please email me: danneal@weirdfatguypromotions.co.uk
I am currently going through the process of the telephone demands, trying to get almost £400 off me,
I remember the initial phones calls, and to which i also said at the time, i would not be commiting to buy until i had the paperwork through etc, so i could check them out and so on,
My conversation ( the contract so called ) was on the 3rd October, i got my letter sating all this information on the 13th, posted on the 11th October, even though one of the letters was dated the 4th October,,,another little trick i think to try and get out of the standard 7 day cool off period,
last message off them was this morning left on my answerphone demanding payment due today etc...
I had a 2nd letter which i believe is part of the same company from Strawberry Educational ltd, which is for around the same amount for a similar sort of advert, i think it is a double whammy.
I have contacted manchester trading standards explaining all the details, and i am awaiting a response from them.
i personnally find it pretty stressfull. not sure if any members here can email me any help / advice directly but it would be very much appreciated,
I wish I read this before dealing with Yellow Partnership, i agreed to one sponsorship which I paid then they kept phoning to go ahead with another, they told me I had agreed to it I told them I didn't want to go ahead but they told me I could not cancel it i then received a bill for £550 after many heated phone calls with them they are insistant they will pass the debt on to their debt collectors, which from reading previous posts I'm now expecting to start receiving calls, I have spoken to trading standards who have advised me to get a recording of the phone calls (which they are saying is not their company policy to send out!!)and they have advised me not to pay so they can take me court I am not paying them a penny....i can't beleive there is people out there abusing charity like this. Stay well clear of this company.
i wished i read this site before,my partner and i are having exactly the same problems as the previous post,mcewan kingston and baily are horrendous!!we are certainly not paying,i have just come off the phone and request that they take us to court.what a bunch of unprofessional idiots,who really have no idea on telecommunications act1984 regarding harassment or consumer rights,good luck anyone that is unfortunate enough to be dealing with these people
this company has persued me, pressured me into having advertising space which I refused twice and then gave in,thinking, wrongly that it was for a good cause! I received no artwork example, nothing, but a bill for £550.!. When I rang them to question this bill, I was treated to a torrent of abuse! I had agreed to nothing recieved nothing signed nothing! Now I am being persued by aggressive debt collectors on a weekly basis ( Mcewan Kingston and Baily) these people harrass me and shout at me down the phone. They are making my life miserable. Please.. stay well away from Yellow Partnership they are far from charitable!! I hope they take me to court they will get no more money from me!!
Hard sell? I'll say. Rang me up in November to ask if I'd support a campaign. I said no. Rang me up today (March) making out I'd agereed to take part and wanting my go-ahead. Saleperson kept ducking direct questions, such as "am I under any obligation if I say agree to your sending me an ad proof at this stage?" by speaking incredibly fast and changing the subject several times before I could get another word in edgeways.
Also tried to get all sorts of personal information from me - home address, number of children & their ages, etc. All very unpleasant. They have rung me three times today and have said they'll ring again later just to check I'm still happy to go ahead. I've told them I'm not! Three times!
What a bunch of blaggers! Hard sell, nasty tactics followed up by heavy debt collection. They are supposed to be raising money for charities. More like the MD's pocket.
Add a comment about this blagger
Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
For anybody considering helping these people dont bother!!!!
I might get into lots of trouble for this but what the hell!!!
The way they work is as follows: You will at some point helped a charity of some sort on a publication, what yellow partnership do is collect as many of these publications in as possible, the newer the better, they will then call you while it is fresh and confuse you into thinking that you are helping them instead, before you know it you have 2 bills in the post, In regards to them billing you i cant see how a recording would stand up in court, it never did before,
if you have any questions about this company ask away i wont hold back.....
On the 22nd July I got contacted via the telephone with regards to me placing an add in their workbooks. The lady who called me spoke to me in such a way that I was left feeling very guilt ridden if I had said no. On the 23rd July 08, I sent them an email stating that I was not told of the vat and that I felt that I was given false information with regards to what they do. After listening to the recording it appears that I was told, I still have no memory of hearing this.
The lady on the phone stated saying "Hello is this Emma Dines" I replied "yes" then she continues "Thank you so very much for supporting us, the contribution you have given us is going to go towards us helping those children who are being abused and worse." etc, etc.
I felt so guilty that if I had said no that I would be this most horrid person and said yes. I did state to them that I cannot actually afford this as I am only a childminder and that I have only just started my business. After this discussion the verbal contract was started again as you can hear in the attached recording.
After I have time to think about what's actually happened and the amount (believing it was only £250.00) I immediately wrote and sent them an email stating that I didn't want to continue with this and that I felt that they also misled me as to what they actually did and a copy of this will be sent via means of recorded delivery.
I received a letter dating 22 July 2008 from them stating that I'm supporting the community safety project. This arrived on the 23rd as mentioned above this it not what they originally stated. Please find attached (letter from strawberry education ltd 1.jpg)
after this I receive another letter with regards to the artwork. As this crossed paths with my cancellation letter I didn't see a reason to respond to them as its all in the original cancellation letter. Please find attached strawberry education ltd cancellation letter.
After this I have a couple of phone calls from them to which I try to argue my case but to no avail. I recently had another phone call with regards to the account. the lady seemed to be trying very hard to get me to state that I cannot afford this, she was very persistent with this. since then I have been away on a family holiday so have been unable to see to this further.
before I even consider paying them I wish to know if I got my cancellation email and letter in time to cancel this. I cannot really afford this although I do have the money there. I do not wish to advertise with them and I didn't wish to do so in the 1st place. as you can see in the invoice the total sum is just under the £300 mark. please any advice would be great fully received.
When this company was contacted to cancel this so called contract, they were very abusive. They said my son had entered into a 'verbal contract' and had a tape recording to prove it. They threatened to take him to court if he did not pay up.
Trading Standards advised us to write to the company and get a copy of the recording. They said if my son had agreed then he would have to pay up. After finding this site and reading the problems other people have had with this company I don't think I will bother.
I'd advise anyone who has problems with this company to report them to Trading Standards. I have also written to the Charities Commission.
I’m going though hell with this company.
there pushy sales ladies called my office girl who just sits there and answers the phone has no power to order or buy anything and the hassled her and bombarded her with very fast talking conversations resulting in them telling me I owed 340 quid for a advert I never asked for...
they never sent proofs and now have the rudest debt recovery company chasing me called MKB they are total wa****s no help at all they sent me a recording of the office girl on the phone entering into this "verbal agreement" and it seems im now stuffed.
They will not even send me a magazine to prove the advert even exists, is this all just a blag or what?????
Im now letting them take me to court, has any one else been this far with them??
Will they really take me to court?
Is there a real advert somewhere?
they have told me that the 14 day invoice i had would be turned into another 14 day invoice when it ran out. all i got was a call saying the invoice was overdue and needed paying imediatly. i then told them in no uncertain terms they are a bunch of cowboys and would not recieve a penny from me, i them got a threating voicemail saying if i did not pay in 2 days they would take me to court. i then sent them an email saying as far as i was concerned the contract was null and void as i had nothing but problems and that i was going to trading standards.i recieved a call at 9am the next morning amazingly from the accounts dept (which i did not answer) i have not heard anything else from them and this was 4 weeks ago.
trading standards say tell them they are a bunch of cowboys and if they want to take you to court go ahead, as they wont do this because they have to prove you entered into a legally binding contract and you have not. tell them to stuff it i did n iv had 4 weeks of blessed silence from them. they have 3 companies they are strawberry partnership, mph direct and yellow partnership dont go with any they will just rip you off.
I found this out after being bombarded with phone calls. For the 4 invoices we had been sent, we had only recieved one example publication: "Ginny's Adventure". I decided to call every other company who also appeared in the publication, and every one had the same story to tell, just a different way of trying to tackle these companies.
Some were paying the last invoices just to get rid of, some were trying to cancel credit cards after giving out details, which were then being re-used over and over. Some were just not paying.
Luckily for us, we do not have a company credit card, as such, these companies have to call us over and over asking for payment, which we are not going to pay, and i suggest the same of everyone else.
The verbal agreements mean nothing. Do not pay.
These companies are ruining things for the well meaning charities. We simply have no trust anymore and as such will be doing no more for charities until the appropriate authorities shut down these bad companies.
so now i just have to wait to see if they put the money back. if anyone has any ideas of how i can force them to give it back i would be very gratefull and i hope my story helps others see through this socalled charitable company
thanks
I remember the initial phones calls, and to which i also said at the time, i would not be commiting to buy until i had the paperwork through etc, so i could check them out and so on,
My conversation ( the contract so called ) was on the 3rd October, i got my letter sating all this information on the 13th, posted on the 11th October, even though one of the letters was dated the 4th October,,,another little trick i think to try and get out of the standard 7 day cool off period,
last message off them was this morning left on my answerphone demanding payment due today etc...
I had a 2nd letter which i believe is part of the same company from Strawberry Educational ltd, which is for around the same amount for a similar sort of advert, i think it is a double whammy.
I have contacted manchester trading standards explaining all the details, and i am awaiting a response from them.
i personnally find it pretty stressfull. not sure if any members here can email me any help / advice directly but it would be very much appreciated,
just wish i had seen this site earlier
many thanks
No Need to worry about these, I have checked with trading standards.
They do not allow a seven day cooling off period, they claim this is not required as they have a business to business contarct.
However as the cold call (unsolicited call) was initated by their sales rep they are required under UK law to allow the seven day cooling off period.
I beleive they would also be required under the distance selling regulation to confirm the order in writing and advise of the cancelation period.
Best of luck
Also tried to get all sorts of personal information from me - home address, number of children & their ages, etc. All very unpleasant. They have rung me three times today and have said they'll ring again later just to check I'm still happy to go ahead. I've told them I'm not! Three times!
Avoid this bunch I reckon.
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