Taylor Christian – Telephone Sponsorship Scam
We received a phone call from a company called Taylor Christian that rang to politely thank us for supporting their Safety Awareness campaign in schools, and asked which school we would like to nominate to receive the books we had “sponsored”. To our knowledge we never sponsored any such campaign.
On further investigation we asked for their web address which they said they didn’t have one yet. We asked for their address which was fake and we also asked them for a contact number, which as you can probably guess did not exist either!!
The lady on the phone was very convincing and did not crumble when asked this information. You could also hear other calls being made in the background.
They claimed that we had ordered 20 books in January at £155, and the books were now printed with my business name and address on!!
The address they gave was 41 Castle Street, Liverpool, Tel: 0151 5818 645.
Have you had something similar?!! If so please feel free to add your comments as this will help bring this kind of telephone trick to a halt!!
i have sent a copy of my cv to this company after replying to an advert for vacancies in the local paper I am now concerned that they have some information about me that could be used in an unprofesional manner. Any advice would be great!!
Thanks
lesley said this on June 10, 2008 at 5:13 pm
This is an awful situation and I understand your concerns. My suggestion is to contact Data Protection Agency and see if this company is registered. Also, keep close watch of your bank transactions and any postal mail that you think is dodgy. I also suggest you register your details and the problem at Consumer Watch, details for this can be found at ‘How to Report’ on my site.
sharon said this on June 11, 2008 at 10:59 am
I have just taken exactly the same call as the one detailed above. I have had several calls in the last month all claiming that they had spoken to me some months earlier and that I had agreed to sponsor books for Schools. Now they were printed and ready and would I like to nominate the school. i politely told her that i had not agreed to anything, I would not be nominating and schools and she simply asked me where she should send the invoice. I told her, again politely, that she can do what she wants with it but i would not be paying anything. She tried to claim I had made a commitment and when I told her to prove it, she slammed the phone down.
This is the same scam as one run last year by a company called Safewise. Trading Standards were aware of this and set up an investigation but this is clearly the same scam but with another name.
Martin Harwood said this on July 17, 2008 at 11:42 am
we just had one of these – there used to be a couple of firms in Liverpool doing a similar one for school bullying. I am very aware of these scams and asked for the business name – Taylor Christian!
Chris Nicholson said this on July 28, 2008 at 10:23 am
Thank goodness there are others who have experienced this too, although the name on my forms is “Tailor-Christion”.
I have told them to send me one of the “books” that they have supposedly printed out for me. So, we shall see……
Thankful for others! said this on July 28, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Just taken a call asking me to nominate local school. I could immediately smell a rat as the supposed earlier call “on March 29th” simply did not take place. Worryingly the young lady sounded as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth – which could well be the case. I asked for & was given http://www.christion-tailor.co.uk as web site. Quick visit to Companies House http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/8ec810506f7c3847855a46812ac40d45/wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo shows this particular shell was establish May 2007 & are overdue in submitting accounts – further evidence of a rat away. I am a Post Office with my wife having a bookshop at front of shop. Tailor Christion are not listed as a publisher with the wholesaler ( 2nd largest in the country ) she is supplied by.
The young lady said she would ring this afternoon & I’ll politely suggest she leaves her current post asap
Bryan Hewson said this on August 19, 2008 at 8:30 am
What has been described bears all the hallmarks of what Trading Standards and the Met call a “Rogue Publishing House” (see http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/bglitem.cgi?file=badv641-1011.txt and http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/news/Rogue_Publishing_Houses.htm ), and Companies Investigation Branch call “Support Publishing”. The CIB have closed down 60 of these scams since 2000. To report use the form here: http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/complaintformcib.htm . Unfortunately this often takes many months or years, and they document in their press releases more than £17million has been paid by victims before they are closed down.
The best advice is to politely say no and put the phone down. You aren’t losing your memory! These companies will not take you to the county court even if they threaten that. Reporting to your local police and trading standards will help them collate evidence, but the CIB above seem to be the most active.
A month ago I submitted an e-petition on the Number 10 website asking for strengthening of protection of businesses against such scams (reduced time to close them down, improved transparency of complaints process, and clear operational and ministerial delegation of responsibility). Support is appreciated at: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SME-Scam-Review/
Sharon: Great to see this blog spreading the word. Hope you don’t mind the essay. Good work!
Richard E said this on September 1, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Hi Richard!
I certainly do not mind the “essay”!! Thanks a lot for submitting this information. Very informative. I am glad to hear that something is trying to be done about such scams but we need more people to report them to make people stand up and take action against these companies. So come on people!!
Thanks once again!!
sharon said this on September 2, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Since we took an office just over a year ago we have received probably seven or eight of these calls. Depending on the caller they can be more or less persistent. In fact I’ve just had another one now. Drives me mad when there’s real charities out there, and actually genuine good marketing opportunities that cost less than this and these scammers cream off people’s hard-earned cash.
Tom said this on September 11, 2008 at 10:12 am
I have received a similar call today. When I said that i had made no previous commitment, I was contacted again by the ’supervisor.’ I again said that I did not intend to pay, so I was told that the Administration Department would ring me to confirm my address details before removing me from the address list. The ‘administrator’ told me that the call would be recorded for training purposes. After a few perfunctory questions she said, “You have agreed to sponsor these books for a local school.” When I said no, she put the ‘phone down. was she trying to establish a verbal contract?
Alan said this on September 11, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Sounds like bullying tactics to me! Some people will try anything to make you commit to something that you don’t want to do. Legitimate companies do not use such bullying methods! Thanks for your comment!!
sharon said this on September 12, 2008 at 8:17 am
Same has just happened to us – she was very convincing and even came up with dates of communication but would not give invoice details, names addresses or anything. When told we were not going to entertain the conversation further until documentation could be found she was very persistant.
Rachel said this on September 12, 2008 at 11:02 am
Taylor Christian just tried to get £200 from me on the same scam. Google is a godsend in these circumstances.
John Gilboy said this on September 12, 2008 at 11:30 am
i have been approached by tailor-christion today. i felt it must be a scam. Don’t give them any money. I rang the police and they’re looking into it for me.
jon byrne said this on September 12, 2008 at 5:21 pm
had the same call today, very same as all above. they say i agreed to sponsor books for schools and i had to choose a school. i knew i hadnt agreed to anything, she soon hung up on me the bi*&ch.
euan said this on September 15, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Received a phone call today from these people insisting that they had contacted me before about placing books somewhere. The lady was very surprised when I told her that she was part of a scam. She had my name and phone number right but my company details wrong. Incompetent.
Dr Michael Cross said this on September 19, 2008 at 11:23 am
received calls from taylor christian on and off for 8/9 months saying our company had agreed to sponsor books for childrens school in the beginning ex employee at our comp was dealing with them months before so when they spoke to me recently i just assummed everthing was ok because i did recall the ex employee mentioning we owed some money- anyway i did ask some questions and they replied very confidently even saying they had personel data base for all schools that we may choose to send our books to they also sent a form which we could return with our card details but i rang up and asked if i may send a cheque which they agreed – but a week later they rang back and said no cheque was received so thats when i gave card detils i have just realised we have been scammed for £1400
bakkar said this on September 24, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I am really sorry to hear about this and it goes to show that Taylor Christian are still having success in scamming innocent companies. My work of stopping this type of scam is far from over and I believe I haven’t scratched the surface. In the time of the credit crunch companies cannot afford to simply give money away and I think we need to be very cautious in any transactions with any other organisation. You can make a complaint about this by submitting details to Consumer Watch and I would also contact the police. Thanks for submitting your comment and I hope you have success in this matter. Please keep me informed of how you get on.
sharon said this on September 25, 2008 at 8:11 am
I just had the same call from tailor christian today 3rd October, one question, does a verbal contract in this situation give them any rights?
A Dalton said this on October 3, 2008 at 8:47 am
I received a call 9 October following same pattern as above claiming i had made a verbal undertaking to take 20 books on child safety to be donated to my local school .The postal address I was given was in Wirral the charges would have been £164 with a discount of 15% for immediate payment .The lady on the phone was totally unfazed when I said I understood the company was running a scam
Adrian said this on October 9, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I just received exactly the same call, lady saying she spoke to me in March & we had agreed to sponsor some school for child & safety awareness, now there have been 20 publication printed and they wanted to know which school we wanted to sponsor – what a lot of rubbish!!! she said we had agreed and there was an invoice for £160, i said u can stick your invoice, i agreed to nothing, i have no confirmation of any sponsrship so therefore i would be paying nothing, she said she would get her manager to call regarding the issue!!! im still waitin, the manager does not exist by the looks of things, glad i checked the internet to find out about the company, this has been helpful.
Lynn Allan said this on October 22, 2008 at 11:11 am
We were contacted today by Taylor Christian and the same format was followed we were told that we had verbally agreed to have our name and address put on leaflets going into schools re: Child Safety Awareness and that an invoice for £220 would be sent to us. We informed them that we had not agreed to this and would not be paying the invoice. We have contacted Consumer Direct regarding this matter.
Whitmore Vale Housing Association said this on October 22, 2008 at 2:00 pm
All of the above about Taylor Christian happened to us. Yesterday and today. They are a very persistant bunch of low life. It is awful these people pray on our good will. Things are hard out there and we lose enough money from bad debtors. This blog is brillant and saved us. Keep up the good work.
G Delon said this on October 22, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Yes, I’ve had these pests too. When they asked where I’d like the books sent, I resisted the obvious (“Where the sun don’t shine, honey”) and said I’d phone some schools and get back to them. Darn me if i haven’t got round to it.
Tim said this on October 27, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I ust had the same call from T C. I just said I was aware of the scam and put the phone down. They try periodically but I am wise to all telephone scams now. Another one for info is Satellite Direct where they try and sell you a Sky warranty – another scam!
TB said this on October 29, 2008 at 10:55 am
Also just had the usual call from Taylor Christian, also known as Taylor Tanner. I asked them for a copy of the recording of my order, which they promised to send, but still nothing. Would be good to find out who they are so they can be stopped
Robert said this on November 4, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Exactly the same has happened to us, They told my wife somone had agreed a few months ago and she nearly paid them, she rang me in th emean time and I told her not to, they have since sent the recording , which i must add was not all of it. They are scammers which I have had dealings with before,, SCUM
mike said this on November 11, 2008 at 6:08 pm
had the same call today very rude when i refused her to speak to the MD she slammed the phone down stating she would send an invoice. We have sponsered schools before on these schemes but they fax thru confirmations, invoices with charity reg numbers etc and are not rude when you say No. Have reported them to Consumer Watch and also informed as many Companies as possible.
Emma said this on November 13, 2008 at 3:18 pm
hi all
i have had many dealings with this type of stagnant pond life and have been caught out a few time in the past. now i just put them on hold for a while and then cut them off. I have blown whistles down the phone. i have been threatened with court action (which never came), invoices which just end up in the shredder and used for my daughter’s hamster cage. I have been informed that one of these degenerates (usually in the form of a DCA) who will come and sort me out and remove items from my office, let them try (i spent 15 year in the Royal Marines for these muppets and don’t pay much attention when threatened like this, i ‘d love to meet them in my local one dark cold night.) I have reported many but now it seems more is acheived by winding them up and playing them at their own game. Businesses need to stand firm shoulder to shoulder and not give in to the scam artists in this world.
CLIFFORD said this on November 18, 2008 at 11:54 am
Had phone call as already described above.Said I knew nothing of this and I would not be available to speak to them ever.
W Kinder-Berry Northwich
Kinder-Berry said this on November 18, 2008 at 2:29 pm
In response to Clifford’s comment, which made me nearly fall off my chair from laughter, I totally agree with him and would certainly like to be in his local that night when one of these “degenerates” enters!! He has hit the nail on the head when he says that businesses should stand firm and shoulder to shoulder. I reported this scam back in June of this year, and I am amazed to find that it is still going on. This goes to show that many businesses must be still falling for it and therfore they are still earning money from this scam. If you or anyone you know has come across this please report it. How to do this is on my site click on ‘How to Report’ at the top of the blog on the right sidebar.
Thanks again Clifford!!
sharon said this on November 18, 2008 at 5:34 pm
i used to work for taylor christian yes it is a big con they are based in birkenhead in merseyside there office is 38 hamilton square there telephone number is 01516474625
annon said this on December 3, 2008 at 10:21 am
Thanks annon for submitting this information, very informative. Please see my recent blog post on my comments on this.
sharon said this on December 3, 2008 at 10:46 am
Hello, I have receive and keep receiving ‘blocked’ calls from Taylor Christian this week which I just ignored. I came to your blog after googling the name. Thanks for setting up this blog to warm people of this and other scams. Incidentally the so called ‘Nigerian’ email or letter scams are prevalent also, and many people still fall for it. There is a website that scam the scammers (!) at http://www.ebolamonkeyman.com which is rather hilarious (and slightly rude)
steven said this on December 3, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Thanks Steven for sharing this scam with us. We all need to be on the look out for similar things and warn others about it! If anyone else is aware of any other scams please feel free to add them to the blog!
Thanks again!
sharon said this on December 3, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Thank to all for the above. Just had Taylor Christian telephone regarding the books we supposedly ordered. News to me. Checked the Internet for the company, whilst on the phone and found this site. Thank you again. The lady caller was very good, didn’t seem fazed at all when I mentioned there was a forum referring to the scam. She even had the audacity to say that the discussions were about a company called Taylor Christian, a company passing them off as their company. Their company is apparently called (I did ask her for the spelling) Tailor Christion!! Seems like they’ve been fine-tuning their pitch. We’re based in the South West, not sure if they work through companies in specific areas.
Shane said this on December 11, 2008 at 11:40 am
I worked for core-web-design which were a company selling bogus websites to businesses. We were based first in the Gostins building then at 38 Hamilton Square.
I had no idea of the scam all I did was the sales so I didn’t have a clue, I came into work one day and I was told that there was no company anymore and was given my final pay cheque. My final pay cheque had the company listed as “TAYLOR CHRISTION LTD”.
The company I believe is still at number 38, Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, The Wirral. If you walk into the building take the stairs to the very top floor. There will be a door on your right, this will be your entrance to the company – whatever name they are operating under now.
The procedure used to be for core-web-design: sales team takes order, passes details to manager who then rang the business back saying the call will now be recorded, once the order was accepted the website would never be made.
I met the company director once, he was a middle ages man, balding, quite tanned and aparently lived in spain but I can’t be certain of that. He spoke with a Wigan/warrington accent as did the managers.
I would love to be of any more help to you guys, just reply here and i will provide with any information you need to know.
Regards,
Truth.
Truth said this on January 18, 2009 at 1:03 am
This scam is still going, we were caught in Jan 2008, for £171.50. Contacted us again today 20 Jan 2009 now calling themselves HRM. BEWARE
Duncan said this on January 20, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Like i said, if you need to know any specific details please just post here, maybe a visit to their office to speak to them in person wouldnt be a bad idea??
Truth
Truth said this on January 23, 2009 at 12:11 pm
One answer to block these shysters is to go to a website called http://advertisingprotectionagency.org/Monitoring.htm and then go to their home page.
Doug
D. Spragg said this on February 4, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Thanks Doug for submitting the website URL! Greatly appreciated!
sharon said this on February 4, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Also thanks to Truth! Very informative and please I urge you all to take him/her on their offer!
sharon said this on February 4, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Taylor Christion also go under the name Russell & Moore as they sent me an invoice where you paid to Russell & Moore but the footer on the page was Taylor and Christion.
Doug said this on February 10, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I had this in October about four phone calls, she kept on & on,I have been in business 40 years & never thought i would fall for this, but i did. I sent a cheque for £171.50 ( with discount !) then a few days ago yet another phone call to say my 20 books are ready & wanted more money I said I had paid she said not to us, which school shall we send them to, she knew all the local ones, in the end she said that they would be sent to me, the amount due was £152.00 I won’t repeat what i said & put the phone down. Two days ago I get an invoice for the above amount from a STREETSAFE Publications Ltd In Rochdale. What now does anyone know anything about this firm. ? wish i had looked on the internet sooner. From one taken in Business man.
Henry said this on February 14, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Streetsafe Publications, eh? They got my number from somewhere and asked for our minister, then said my name had been mentioned in connection with sponsoring books for a very good cause. All I had to do was send them £202. Of course, I asked them to send the books to me, I would review them and arrange for payment once the minister had agreed. I am merely the property steward and have a key to the church. This was after one call per day had been left on my ansafone along with a number to ring, although the 1471 gives no number to ring back. “Dodgy”, I thought. Eventually, I receive, in a wrongly addressed ENVELOPE, a Parcelforce card stating that I was not in when they called – possible, but rare – and a parcel had been left at a local post office. We have a large distribution centre where undelivered post is normally left! Then the phone calls changed to “the books which you have received”. Since no-one has signed for them, how do they know they’ve been received? Under normal circumstances, undelivered parcels would be returned to sender pretty quickly. This was on 19th December, says the card. No company I know of would phone EVERY DAY to leave an ansafone message. I’m so glad I’m not the only one in this position, and very sorry for any who have ‘done the decent thing’ only to be fleeced. They seem to prey on religious institutions. They have the nerve to call me “Rev”!
Ian said this on February 27, 2009 at 3:49 pm
still up to same tricks under name russell and moore beware!!
nick said this on April 23, 2009 at 10:04 pm
jeff bush they called me on 21st may but i did not agree to anything , i was at work . i got caught last year in same way. they subsequently have ‘invoiced’ me for 257.50 today. i will imform police on tuesday because they have got my details without me disclosing them which alarms me
jeff bush said this on May 23, 2009 at 6:12 pm
All that I can add is to go to http://www.advertisingprotectionagency.org and they will steer you through the system. I am at the moment going through the getting my money back stage with them. Eight pounds a month and the telephone went quiet after two months with their help.
Doug said this on May 23, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Looks like there’s a new version of the same scam. This time they give their organisation as “Communitiy” or possibly “Communities”
Usual cheery Scouser. Don’t know if it’s the same bunch, but definitely similar.
tim said this on May 28, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Similar scan still going, £170 for books for schools. Company now called Russell & Moore 85-89 Market St. Hindley, Wigan. I suggested they should get a purchase order before going ahead and printing books – I had worked out it was a scam, but they said they took the order over the phone. When I suggested they take me to the small claims court the line went dead. Thanks for this site, it confirmed my suspicions.
Andy S said this on June 8, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Thanks everyone for commenting on my blog! Thanks to everyone who has made me aware that the company is operating under Russell & Moore. This kind of information is invaluable to everyone who has been a victim of this scam and hopefully it will prevent others falling victim. Thanks once again!!
Sharon (admin)
sharon said this on June 8, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Good morning,
The Director of the company where I work has just asked me to leave a message on his behalf. He also has been harassed for the same reasons stated above, by 4 different companies: Taylor Christian, Russel & Moore, Baker Bennett and Fairchild Publishers.
Esmé said this on June 9, 2009 at 9:11 am
Also Scott Jones the Safety Group, no other info and Kidz Awareness Publications Booth House Suthers Street Oldham 0161 620 7008 and 0161 652 3167.
Diana said this on June 14, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Well done for this. I have had calls from both Rairchild Publications and Baker Bennett. I reported one to trading standards and let them know when they next rang. The other I said it was a scam and tried to get the operator’s real name -’Molly’ on this occasion – before she put the phone down on me. I wish everyone could know about these people.
Susanna said this on June 19, 2009 at 8:29 am
I’ve just been called by a Mark Theobold from Baker Bennett, and have also been called by Fairchild Publications and Russel & Moore previously. Exactly the same scam as above. He gave his company telephone number as 0161-723-2197. When I called this back, the phone was answered by someone from Fairchild Publications.
Andrew said this on July 2, 2009 at 8:45 am
Ashamed to admit it, but we got conned by Fairchild Publications when I was under the weather back in February. Since then I have been phoned twice with a similar scam by Molly at Baker Bennett claiming we ordered books in January – when our phone number was on permanent divert to voicemail! She gave me a contact number of 01204 521152, which appears to be a hairdressers in Bolton. Incidentally, Baker Bennett’s domain name is registered to one Carl Fairchild, who claims to be a non-trading individual (so he can withhold his address).
Nix said this on July 7, 2009 at 10:42 am
Sad to say I have been conned by Fairchild publishing, feel such a fool but they called when I was extremely busy and stressed and I really thought I must have forgotton the original call. Have since been called by Baker Bennett and another company whose name I could not catch. Realised too late that this stinks and have phoned trading standards and the police. Will try to get my money back but don’t hold out much hope. All I care about now is stopping these low-lifes from conning anyone else. Will call DS Gogarty and check out advertising protection. Thanks to all on this forum, very enlightening!
Joy said this on July 7, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Thank you for this web site. Baker Bennett are now trying it with us. Send us the order! But you agreed to this. Like Hell
Chrisp said this on July 14, 2009 at 11:01 am
NEW Smithson called this morning to thank me for the support so I guess that this is yet another name change.
Doug said this on August 5, 2009 at 10:10 am
I also have been harrassed by Fairchild, then Baker Bennett, and now today Smithson… I’m a franchisee and have my head office on the case!
Pam said this on August 13, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Just had a call from Smithsons, we were scammed, as we used to sponsor a childs safety book through the local polica force and thought it was linked with them, unfortunately not!!
C said this on August 24, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Everyday this week, have had calls from Smithsons saying that they are deleted our records!! When we said we were scammed by streetsafe and then they changed names, the boy didn’t even respond HELLO how else did you get our details!?!
C said this on August 26, 2009 at 11:57 am
I had a call earlier today from “Smithson Publications Ltd” in Bolton trying to convince me that my business had sponsored one of their books earlier this year and asking me where they should be distributed.
Since I’d have made any such decision (and I hadn’t) I knew it was BS and when I started pushing they guy for their address details he said “hang on a minute” and hung up.
They have a website at http://www.sm!thsonpublicationsltd.co.uk/ (I’ve munged it slightly) saying their address as 20 MANOR STREET, Bolton, BL1 1TU
I contacted Trading Standards, but they said get in touch with Consumer Direct who are going to call me back.
Graham said this on September 7, 2009 at 9:29 pm
We were almost had by Fairchild Publications, I suddenly realised it was a scam after they had cashed our cheque, I harassed them and got the books to the school which I was amazed at so at least we got something for the money.
Since then we have been contacted by several companies as mentioned above in other peoples posts, first Baker Bennet and then Smithson. I told Baker Bennet I knew it was a scam and they stopped calling, then Smithson started, I looked them up on comapnies house, they were incorporated on 2nd July 2009 so next time they called and tried to say we ordered these books before the incorporation date I was ready for them and told them again I knew it was a scam. They did call back again trying their luck under the name Smithson but when I kept saying my boss wasn’t in they said they would send the details in the post. Today I have another invoice from A.C.S Publications whom I can’t find on companies house and I think this must be their new name as I haven’t has anything from Smithson!!
Do they not realise the fact the details are the same and all these comapnies are in Bolton has us wise to their little game, I just hope this gets more pubically made aware as many will fall for this scam as we did first time round.
Diane said this on September 17, 2009 at 11:12 am
Sorry I fogot to add the details of ACS Publications, Unit 2a Spring Gardens Of Curties Street, Horwich, Lancs, BL6 7NP, telephone 0845 3644219 and 01204 840565 their email was given as acspublications@hotmail.co.uk. I did not manage to find a website.
Diane said this on September 17, 2009 at 11:17 am
just had call from Smithson Publications – I have also had about 7 of these calls over the year
Chirs said this on October 19, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Yes am being pursued by ACS Publications, found your forum whilst trying to find out if this is a scam. My doubts confirmed by the above comments, luckily haven’t paid out any money, but was a bit disconcerted by the threat of a third party debt collector. Don’t feel so worried no thank you all.
julie said this on December 16, 2009 at 9:38 pm