Why call blocking firms have a lot to answer for
Mrs I.D. writes: Some time ago I agreed to try the phone call blocking system offered by HomeservicesUK Limited. But I quickly found my phone company provides blocking at no extra charge, so I cancelled Homeservices within the first two weeks. I returned the call blocking box, but it said I was too late to cancel. Next, Secure Telephone Service Limited took over and demanded a further payment. In March this year Call Protect UK demanded money and said it would use bailiffs if I did not pay up. This was £149.99, which I paid. I want this stopped. YOU have been caught in a web spun by a network of companies and individuals, all in or near Bournemouth and all claiming to offer plug-in gadgets that are supposed to block unwanted telephone sales calls. Ironically, the same companies use cold-calls to get many of their sales.
HomeservicesUK Limited no longer exists. Companies House started proceedings last March to have it compulsorily struck off, but boss Kevin Doherty decided to have it dissolved voluntarily. It ceased to exist in July.
Secure Telephone Service Limited is also defunct. It was compulsorily struck off by Companies House last April. It had filed no accounts since 2016.
Call Protect UK is still in business though. According to its website, ‘Call Protect UK Limited is a nationally recognised data controller and independent service dedicated to empowering and protecting the privacy of UK consumers.’
It claims: ‘We are registered by the Information Commissioner’s Office and committed to ensure your personal data is processed fairly and lawfully.’ Really? In fact, there is no such company as Call Protect UK Limited. Its real name is KOT Marketing Limited and it is based at Burlington Arcade in Bournemouth. As for being registered as a legitimate data controller, the Information Commissioner’s Office told me: ‘KOT Marketing Limited did have a registration, which lapsed on July 31 of this year.’
So, if the company is still handling the personal data of customers, it is doing so unlawfully by failing to be registered with the ICO. Its website claim to be registered is just plain false.
Company records show that KOT Marketing was set up in July last year. It has just one director, 40year-old Kourosh Tamjidi. He has been a director of three previous companies that are no longer in business. One of these is Signed Sealed Delivered Marketing Limited, which went bust in 2017 with debts of £11,000.
Tamjidi was one-third owner of the company, with the other two thirds owned by his business partner Luke Ashbee. And Ashbee is already known to me. Three years ago, I warned against Do Not Call (UK) Limited, a Bournemouth business that was using high pressure sales calls to market a plug-in device that was supposed to stop unwanted sales calls.
The snag was that it would only stop calls after customers programmed in the numbers they wanted blocked, which meant answering the phone and then realising it was an unwanted call. If the same caller rang from a different number, they would still get through. Do Not Call (UK) Limited was run by Ashbee. It failed to file accounts that were legally due and Companies House began proceedings to have it struck off. Ashbee put the company into liquidation, with debts estimated at £125,000.
You have given me bank evidence showing that Tamjidi and KOT Marketing took £149.99 from your account in March. I asked Tamjidi to show me anything that would prove he had a contract with you. I also asked him about the false claim that his company was a registered data controller. Apart from an acknowledgement saying I would get a reply, there has been no response or comment. Meanwhile, KOT Marketing continues with its false claims.
The signs are that your details have simply been passed from one company to another and you have paid up out of fear.
Do not pay another penny. If KOT Marketing or any other company demands money from you, pay nothing and let me know. I shall be only too glad to give them some unwanted advertising.