I have recently been the latest victim of a company called MLP media, aka Cast Media. Some of you may be aware of them. For those of you that aren't, they 'sell' advertising space on behalf of other organisations such as GP surgeries etc.

Unfortunately this advertising does not arise and gullible people like me lose our money. This company contacted me last week, they sounded very genuine and I signed up for 2 years. When I spoke to the GP practice manager she informed me that she had cancelled the contract last March, it is therefore due to end next March - not two years then! She also informed me that they had previously traded under a different name and that she had reported both names to the Trading Standards Authority.

I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to contact the company, the phone is either engaged or no-one answers.
With further research it appears that they have pulled this scam on a number of occasions using different names - see Healthy Pages forums.

If a company approaches you with this kind of offer, find out where they are and give me a call as they may change their name but the address remains the same.
My contact details are on my business site.

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Anne,

You have no idea how much I feel for you getting conned like this. I can only say I must have been so lucky to have escaped this myself so many times.

I have had several calls over the last couple of years, but I have always said no. Thanks for alerting us all!

Ann xx

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As a self employed therapist as many of you are, its wise t be cautious without getting carried away with the readership figures and special offers that they purport to have.

I actually got stung by this technique and agreed to have an advert. I didnt pay. When they were chasing me for payment, I simpley asked for a copy of the publication to prove that they existed.... needless to say they stopped calling me after that.

It is however easier to ask for a copy of the publication when they do call you, any advertising agency worth their salt will be able to send you one as part of a convincer, unless of course it doesnt exist.

Yes be wary and be VERY selective about where you advertise. Do your own research and pick publications that you know of.

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Thanx Asif, at least now I can warn others and have learnt (again) not to be so trusting. Have sent a friend request in the spirit of your posting, hope you like it!!
Anne
xx

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Thanks for the warning, sorry to hear that you lost money with them

best wishes


matthew

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Hi Matthew
Thanks for the support, please spread the word. My credit card company are fortunately being sympathetic so hopefully I haven't lost out financially. It is just so horrible to know that there are people out there like that.

Anne
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Hi Anne

Sorry to hear about your problem. Unfortunately there are a lot of people (b*sta*ds) out there that put a lot of effort into defrading well meaning, honest people like you and they are very convincing in the way they go about it; you're not the first and sadly you won't be the last.
On the plus side, if you paid by credit card and were the victim of fraud then, under their terms and conditions, they should be liable for covering the cost and providing you with a refund.

best of luck
Paul

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Thank you Paul, I do think that some people should be strung up and painful things done to certain parts of their anatomy!! However, I try not to think bad things because that will only make me bitter :-~
Have sent a friend request cos you seem like a nice kinda guy

Anne
x

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Sorry to hear of your problems with advertising. I have tried various advertising, and found most of it questionable, doing much research .... I wish people, businesses were honest and deliver what they promise for what you pay !

Still feel that most does not deliver the exposure locally that we need.

Good luck with all you do !

Linda

Anne wrote:

Thank you Paul, I do think that some people should be strung up and painful things done to certain parts of their anatomy!! However, I try not to think bad things because that will only make me bitter :-~
Have sent a friend request cos you seem like a nice kinda guy

Anne
x

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Thanks for the warning, sorry to hear the story, i was contacted by a false doctor on this site from the states, who apprently has an intrest with working with thepist, well my line of question, wasn't one of excitiment i wondered what a big old doctor want to do with little me, with a bussiness proposition, i question that thankfully he never persued the con, as i felt the dis honesty instantly in his email, but anyone can be fooled so please all be carefull, i have been had before, so more vigilante of sales pursuing relations.

We learn from everything.

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If anybody receives any communications, and particularly business propositions, through this site that they suspect might be a con then I would really appreciate it if you would report it to me.

Not everybody is as discerning as they could be, and some of the more ethical & honest people are sometimes a little too eager to trust people, so just because you feel the dishonesty it doesn't mean someone else will and I would hate for someone to get ripped off or lose money because of message they received from Holistic Local that they perceived to be genuine.

So please report anything that seems suspicious.

Thanks
Andy

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These companies have been operating for years but I've never used them. There are also the firms who pretend to be representing supermarkets too and people impersonating some strange BT sites.

Yasmin

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Anne, so sorry to hear you got ripped off. I haven't had anything, either from this place or anywhere else that resembles a con, except, of course the person from somewhere who wants my details so they can send me huge amounts of money (and I believe every word.....yeah, right.) Sometimes it is really great to live in New Zealand.

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Franklyn Birbal
www.stillnessspeaks.co.uk

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