Anyone had any run in's with advertising at Homebase/sainsburys etc ??

[Mazza]

10 days ago i signed up for a advertising section at my local Homebase, the rep from a company called Balmoral Services came round and sold me this package that goes for 2 years. its a 1 of each trade sitting on a board section by the checkouts so that if anyone comes in to buy a fire or hob etc the staff point them towards the board and say use this local engineer we recommend him etc etc.

Now not expecting to become a millionaire from this I thought as its Homebase it must be legit, my missus picked up a leaflet from another homebase branch and brought home the plumbing and heating guys leaflet. I rang him and he said he wouldn't touch em with a barge pole. He signed up in January of this year and i'm the FIRST person to ring him from Homebase.

I have a natural distrust of all things sales/advertising as i generally think there all thieving bar stewards but coz it was Homebase i let my guard down. i signed up 10 days ago and i'm not even sure i get a cooling off period. Nothing's gone live yet but having spoken to this chap i think i've just signed over a grand away on nothing 🙁

has anyone else had any run ins with this lot if so did it work out for you guys or have you been done over too ?

Cheers
Maz

 

[Barry98]

whats your contract say about cooling off periods generally there 14 days

 

[Mazza]

there isn't anything saying i have a cooling off period it states they do as the company but nothing about the "advertiser" ie me having any rights what so ever. I'll be contacting them tomorrow via phone to cancel and see what they say.

 

[Barry98]

You have rights , they may try blagging you , tell them your off citizen advice

 

[anz]

Doorstep selling regulations only give a seven day cooling off period.

Obviously we should all already know this ,with us being classed as doorstep sellers in some circumstances.

 

[clarky101]

Guy phoned me about 2 months back about this, on the phone for about 20 mins or so saying he wanted local trades to advertise to fit bathrooms etc, now im 13 miles from the nearest Homebase & he only had 1 space left........told him i'll chat to my secartary about it & phone him back.....
Two can play that game....

 

[Mazza]

Noramlly i do the standard " does your phone do this ? " question and put the phone down on all this lot but i gave them a moment of my time as it was Homebase and now having spoken to that guy down the road from me i've got some friends down south going to their local Homebase to pull the advert for the plumber in that branch. i wonder if he'll say the same thing as the other guy. I'm really beating myself up over this now as i'm proper cynical of all these types...

 

[P J F PLUMBING]

i did this was sucked in and spent alot of £££ on the cards on the stand was in there for 3 mths not 1 call then i started to get letters 2 a week from the ad company saying i havent payed my installment and they were taking full payment for the 2 years i was like what called them a few times and they had no record of my calls so i went and cancelled the payments in the bank went to the homebase to see the ad wow i was one of 3 people on the stand the rest were empty i was right next to another plumber so i stood and watched the stand for about 20 mins not one person looked so i empty the stand of my very £££ cards then i called the ad company and told them they said i was in a contract but i said i was next to another plumber on an empty stand i said it was a scam and i was cancelling they told me they were going to get the payment i told them to do one and i was contacting trading standards took photos of the stand this was jan havent herd from them

 

[Mazza]

i did this was sucked in and spent alot of £££ on the cards on the stand was in there for 3 mths not 1 call then i started to get letters 2 a week from the ad company saying i havent payed my installment and they were taking full payment for the 2 years i was like what called them a few times and they had no record of my calls so i went and cancelled the payments in the bank went to the homebase to see the ad wow i was one of 3 people on the stand the rest were empty i was right next to another plumber so i stood and watched the stand for about 20 mins not one person looked so i empty the stand of my very £££ cards then i called the ad company and told them they said i was in a contract but i said i was next to another plumber on an empty stand i said it was a scam and i was cancelling they told me they were going to get the payment i told them to do one and i was contacting trading standards took photos of the stand this was jan havent herd from them

thank you very much for your reply P J - i signed 10 days ago so have no stand as yet i did my advert and sent it to them etc but i've gone over the paperwork and see nothing stating i have a cooling off period or any right to cancel i'll be ringing them tomorrow to cancel and see where that leads. Any info or help you could give me on how you got rid of them would be greatly appreciated.

 

[P J F PLUMBING]

well i told them to jump and havent heard from them since but its well dodgy they said we send you 250 cards every month but nothing i got told one space left on our stand but it was empty i was told i was the only plumber/ gas but i was right next to the other one and i was 1 of 3 adverts on an empty stand its a scam just cancel just tell them trading standards will be contacting them about the miss selling of advert space they soon hang up

 

[Mazza]

yeah i remember the rep stating that i would be the only plumber on the stand yet in small print on the back of the contract it says 1 of 3 on the stand. Thing you just gave me my grounds to get out there miss sold advertising. Thanks very much.

 

[P J F PLUMBING]

no problem

 

[phpaul]

yep had that call as going to have a meeting then after a bit of maths i thought na will give that a miss ...went into the store some weeks later 2 of each trade proper bad flyers felt so sorry for the poor guy who had bought in gs number started with a 5 so hes new to the game .

 

[JCplumb]

I would write them a letter stating that you want to cancel your agreement, make sure it is dated and recorded delivery and have a copy of your own.
Offer them £50 for the work they have already done and stick a cheque in for that amount. Write the following on the back of the cheque 'Full and final payment'. Take photocopies of the letter and the cheque.
If they cash that cheque they are legally bound by the statement you wrote on the back and cannot ask you for more money.

 

[southcoastboile]

They phoned me and I said unless they give me 2 months free to see if it works then I wasnt intrested, they said they would send a rep, I said well dont bother if you cant guarantee 2 months free. She said that she didnt get involved with that side of things but she would book an appointment in and someone could talk to me about it.

I don't know if they did come round or not because i wasn't in.

 

[REDSAW]

just tell them your going into liquidation!
sing for it.lol.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Total waste of money ! a lot of the DIY outlets used to have these stands, nothing to do with Outlet they just get a payment for haveing stand in store, Think Homebase have own suby's for installations,

 

[grahamgas]

My adverts went live in Homebase last week. Got two boiler changes and a full bathroom refurb out of it so far.
Got my money back already.
You pay your money, you take your chance, imho

 

[Plumbmate1]

With all respect mazza your putting balmoral services down before theyve even had a chance... Youve only spoken to one fella and your acting like a baby.. Ive been with balmoral services for 6 years now promoting in my leeds branch and ive had nothing but a good flow of work... I used to spend loads on papers and yell without a bean so all i do now is the homebase promotion.. See what responce you get before bad mouthing companies that can get us guy good work during bad times.
Rant over but i say give it a go.. I did and not looked back.
Ste

 

[TBServices]

With all respect mazza your putting balmoral services down before theyve even had a chance... Youve only spoken to one fella and your acting like a baby.. Ive been with balmoral services for 6 years now promoting in my leeds branch and ive had nothing but a good flow of work... I used to spend loads on papers and yell without a bean so all i do now is the homebase promotion.. See what responce you get before bad mouthing companies that can get us guy good work during bad times.
Rant over but i say give it a go.. I did and not looked back.
Ste

Joined today and 1 post, I don't suppose you work for balmoral services? Lol.


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