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Did you get anywhere with your fight with Net Search Media.  I am currently in dispute also, I cancelled well in time but verbally. Stupid I know.  HELP.

They have done the exact same to me.  We all need to get on to Trading Standards.  It probably won't help us but it may help others.  

They are a bunch of cowboys and we are not moaning for the fun of it, I'm sure we all have better things to do than sit on these sites spilling our hearts out.

They have offered me a settlement fee, I'm probably going to have to take it.  Money for nothing. I don't know how these people sleep at night.

Hi Alison and all the others,
Here comes another story: I agreed to one trial month but luckily read their online agreement on their website so I knew I had to cancel ( via email) and I did so. Asked for a confirmation but never got one, so called them ( mistake!!!) and this bloody Darren tried to get me on a new trial month ( facebook UK-wide, went from 500£ down to 50£!) . He said he will email me the details and we will speak again which I agreed to. "Funnily he told me my first advert was only regional so he would upgrade the new advert now to UK-wide.Me being confused ( and at work) and him talking fast I only realised after hanging up that I was actually lied to before because an advert is ONLY interesting for my business UK-WIDE and that's how they got me in the first place! So I called straight back but Darren "just went to lunch" and if I wanted to cancel I would have to email the customer service.What happened is the first email from Darren said "thanks for taking this trial, money has gone through" ( +VAT which wasn't mentioned on the phone of course)..and so on. To spare you the rest- how did you get them to offer you a settlement fee? How did you get your bank ( mine is Lloyds, I used a debit card) to get your money back? PLEASE help me someone with advise. Anyone going to court? I am very interested to join, these criminals need to be stopped immediately!!!

I've been done too :(
I received a phone call from a girl from Net Search Media who was trying to get me sign up to having a Facebook ad for my photography business. She told me the first month was for free.
The only reason I agreed to go ahead with the free month trial was because she said no payment would be taken until after the first month of the advert being live & by then I would have decided whether I wanted to go ahead with it or not.

4 days later I saw that £240 had come out of my bank account, I immediately rung up the company and spoke to man that said he knew nothing about a free month and that he would look into it and get someone to ring me back. Heard nothing back, emailed 2x and then rung up and was told theres no such thing as a free month and no you can't have your money back. I'm fuming!!! I was just blantently lied to to get a sales commission.

Dear All,
         Really sorry to hear you have been done by these cowboys!!!! Please don't give up! It is a clear cut case of misrepresentation.......they tell you there is no contract and is only for a month if you decided not to carry on on into the next month.....concentrate on this when reporting them to trading standards....all calls are recorded. So even if you are given a confirmation call and that is recorded......you were still told in the first instant that there is NO CONTRACT!!!! Even better still when they call you put the phone down........don't even listen to their bull S##t! If you are scammed get in touch with Barlow House in Manchester where they are based!! Am sure they won't be happy they have a scam going on in their building.....that may involve a police raid with trading standards.....I HATE THEM!!!!!!  Oh and report them to facebook as well!!! I was done over by these low lifes and not even sure if they run my listing at all.........again misrepresentation!!!!!!!!

Hi there
Oh dear, I've having the same issues.  Having received an email yesterday telling me that

"We would also like to remind you that your FacebookTM advert will automatically renew in the next few days unless you advise us otherwise prior to this as per our simple terms and conditions".

I rang straight away to cancel and they told me it had to be in writing (via email).  This I did, giving many reasons why I thought they were unscrupulous. Lee Harrop Snr Account Manger then called me and advised me that a second payment had been taken.  When I questioned him on this saying that I had called less than 24 hours after receiving the email he said it was taken at the same time as the email went out.  Interesting.

It goes on....I informed him I would take this further if they would not refund it as it was an unauthorised payment. He then threatened me under the guise of "constructive advice" "that if I went down that path, they would win the dispute as they were a large company and always win. and then they will charge me £400 in administration fees"

I was walking out of the door to an appointment at this stage and was late already.  This morning I called the Fraud Department of my credit card company to explain the situation.  And guess what..... they took the payment 5 minutes AFTER I put the phone down to Mr Lee Harrop.

So my next phone call is to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice. 08454040506

I have been given advice of what to do next.  Check the Terms and Conditions and then print it so that they cannot change it.  

My advice note everything down, who you talk to etc and confirm this in writing.

A very agressive Company and it sounds like there are lots of very unhappy customers.  Trading Standards will only take action if there are enough complaints.

Firstly as far as I am aware trading standards deal with business to consumer and not business to business.
I have dealt with this company a couple of times over the years when my boarding kennels have been quiet and am always suprised at the un favourable comments.
Yes it is true that they operate on a months trial initially and yes if you DON'T cancel in the first month then it will roll over, lots of companies operate in this way whether it be this company or a magazine subscription..If you run a company then you are reponsible for reading terms and conditions attached to any transaction and know that when you give card details you are agreeing to something called continuous authority.
It wouldn't suprise me if a lot of people on here didn't cancel in the first month and are annoyed at themselves for this and secondly willingly gave card details but didn't deem it important to read terms and conditions.
My personal advice is that this company if used correctly provide cost effective advertising and bring in qulity leads.

what a load of bollocks........u clearly work for these cowboys.........

Net search media have offices on minshull street central manchester just off portland street, the building is called barlow house i think. anyway i called there today as I had been fobbed off on the phone 4 times every hour on the hour so i payed them a visit. They are a legit call centre operating sharp practice in posh offices with a pool table but with no security guard. Ha.
Go to the lift. press floor 4. Go and visit.  I did. They [***] themselves. No refund just a meeting and terms and conditions with worried staff oh they are on the website somewhere called marketing agreement. I was never told about re-occurring payments, or told about the terms and conditions or sent a link to them or anything.

I recently took out a facebook advert with this company, I did read the terms and conditions.
On the 28th feb I recieved my stat report ( terms & cons state u cant cancel until you recieve this) on the 29th I called to cancel was advised to put it in writting via email ( T&C's state within 1st month can cancel via email or PHONE) I did both.
I had a call a few days later from them trying to get me to stay with them, they then offered a free month no email to confirm this free month, no more charges on my account either. In May they decided to debit my account £120, then June another £120 which is when I noticed the payment had been taken out I wrote a letter to complain and explain I had cancelled this advert and they had no permission from me either in writting or verbally by phone that I wanted this advert to continue. I had no reply to my complaint email only a we have recieved your email and we will be in contact with you in 48 hours... well a week later I had no conatct so I called to then be informed I had to send my complaint in via email I expalined I already had they check and of course had recieved this, I was then advised it had been sorted to not worry about it.
By this time im pissed as they had taken out another £120 when I advised this they expalined this was a cancellation fee, I advised I cancelled back in Feb!!!
Was told a manager would call me back, still no phone call another week gone by, go to my account which should have £500 + in what do I find they had taken out £414 and cleaned out my account.

I have been advised by trading standards to write them as they are in breach of contract, this company is getting away with too much and should be forced to stop trading, I am a small business with family to support I dont have money to waste.
Everything I have done is via there T&C's and still they have robbed me blind.
PLEASE BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy am I glad I found this site! Whilst talking to the lovely lady from Net Search Media i thought hmmm, i've been stung like this before, i wonder what comes up if i type Net Search Media into the search engine! Found this page and didn't have to read much before I stopped the lady in her tracks and said I WOULD NOT BE DOING ANY BUISNESS WITH THEM IN VIEW OF THE COMPLAINTS I AM CURRENTY READING! She then got rather shirty and persisted in trying to convince me that you are all wrong! However I replied that NO i was not doing any business with her so she HUNG UP! Hmmm speaks for itself really don't you think!

Just had a call from them offering 1st page placement on google for one month for about £130
Had all the usual pressure selling, must decide now, only one place available, passing me onto a second advisor as the first wasnt getting the sale...
Glad I refused, and from a quick google of 'netsearchmedia' & reviews, the story seems very familiar.

They also claimed to be from google, but when i asked them to send an email it was from NSM.

I have had all manner of traumas with these guys, culminating in them threatening to take everything I had out of my account, and guess what...they did!!!!! I'm over £600 down and have had no option but to cancel my business account to prevent them taking more funds. Check out their Facebook profiles of them posing with guns...says it all really.

I have learned a very hard expensive lesson in the world of business this year.

I have used this company successfully last January 2012. After a shakey start I came up first on the first page for 7 counties.  Got lots of work and was very pleased.  Did not take it for the next month as I had more work than i could cope with.  This month on checking, I found I was coming again without ordering it and am now wondering if they are taking money from my account without my permission!

Tweeky, don't waste your time and report them to  Facebook. Also try contacting your bank's card dispute department and you should be able to get your money back (visa chargeback scheme). My bank refunded me one payment straightaway and opened a dispute with them, but I supported my claim with copies of all the emails, call history, posts from this website etc. I obviously received letters and calls threatening with legal action and demanding ridiculous admin fees as soon as their account was debited due to the dispute.In the meantime I also reported them to Google (very good response) and got the other payment back as a result.

hi i worked for them and it is a scam and coz i didnt want to go along with it the ripped into me and other staff that didnt want to go along with it and some got sacked for it and others walked out the boss is danny he is the main one and is on newton street manchester !!!!

i worked for these guys a while back..top guys, top manager. knew it was a scam when i startyed. but as with anything in life, if you know its wrong and you keep getting away with it, just adds to the excitement

That's the problem with [***] like you. You're a slag with no morals like your mother must have been to have produced YOU. I hope you lose everything you've stolen off other people and get back to the gutter where you belong with the rest of your low-life family

Looks like Lee Harrop will be doing some MORE time in jail before long!

Like so many others, I too have been had by Netsearch Media. This time saying that they are calling from Facebook. Fleeced me for £125 for some advert which cost £7.50 going direct to Facebook.

Keep well clear of these cowboys.

I have just had a call from them in response to my complaint. A possibility of a refund - maybe?