Keep up to date and avoid signing up to contracts with cold callers. Here’s how one business owner was asked to pay to remain listed on Google Maps…
John Dyer told us: I received a cold call from a business claiming to be part ofĀ Google Maps, telling me that my companyās listing was dueĀ for renewal.
The caller said it is now a chargeable serviceĀ for businesses and that they would delete my entry if I didnātĀ pay the fee.
I agreed and was passed over to their lineĀ manager, who took me through a recorded verbal 12-monthĀ rolling contract and said an invoice would be due in 14 days.
The next day I received an invoice that looked ratherĀ unprofessional. At this point, I started to smell a rat, so wentĀ online and saw many complaints of similar scams. From theĀ 14th day onwards, I have been receiving daily demandingĀ phone calls. Iāve reported the company to trading standards,Ā which seems to be well aware of these activities and toldĀ me not to pay anything.
Our say on cold calling scams
We say: A seller pretending to be another company andĀ carrying out practices such as these may be guilty of aĀ criminal offence. To be an offence, the sellerās commercialĀ practice must involve a misleading action or omission, or anĀ aggressive practice.
A misleading action could be the sellerĀ providing false information about which company they areĀ calling on behalf of. A misleading omission could be hidingĀ the fact that you can cancel the telephone contract (up untilĀ the 14th day after the day on which the contract is agreed).Ā An aggressive practice could be persistent phone callsĀ persuading you to pay up under the telephone contractĀ where you otherwise wouldnāt have done so. In thisĀ instance, you were right to contact trading standards.
Have you been a victim of this scam or a similar one? Do you have any tips for spotting one of these cold call scams?
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