02089564000

Had a call from Mary O'Connor said she was from the Confederation of British Industries and asked for my boss by name.  Lucky he called them and she wasn't there, he googled and found this.  She just called back again so now I've seen this next time I will tell her we googled the details and he's not interested!!

I got a call twice this morning with the above phone number - can you tell me what this company does and why they are ringing my work number?

I got a call this morning from the same number as yesterday, but now reading some of the messages, I can see they are cons. It is a good thing that my pc comes up with a telephone number if you do not answer the call so you may look into the number online.

Curator of a museum called by this number claiming to be for some parliamentary magazine. Very well spoken chap who left a message on my answerphone. When I called back originally they did not know who the person was I was asking for.

I rang them back as I had no idea who he was or what he was from and as I am trying to raise sponsors for the museum had to check.

Figured out I could not afford their amount of £2500 for an advert and said he would send me an e-mail of a website museums used. Never did.

They have tried to ring again, I presume to offer discount, but did not answer.

The chaps name was Dennis Jarrett

Came back in to the office yesterday to a garbled message to call back a Richard Lewis on 02089564110 regarding the regeneration of the Thames Gateway Areas in east london.

Ironically we are already involved in these projects anyway!

He clamied he was from the Parlimentary Information Office.

I tracked the call back to the time of the call received in the office and it originated from 0208 956 4000 funnily enough.

Suffice to say I havent called them back!

I have spoken to Mary O'Connor for the past two weeks - she calls every day asking to speak to my boss.  She finally left her number - 020 8956 4000 - yesterday asking for him to return the call.  He's obviously not interested, so when I called the number today I got a well spoken man and not an pushy Irish lady.  I hung up and googled Mary O'Connor and found this.  Very intersting.  Can't wait for her to call again - which she will.

Still out there - just had a call from Mary O'Connor from the CBI - "this is the Confederation of British Industries" I was educated -  she was just wanting to check she had the right name & number for our MD and could not get off the phone quick enough - clearly a few more calls to make today.

I've just had the same call. I get a lot of these calls purporting to be from some government or local authority agency. This gets them past the switchboard. It's always the same - "we'd really like to have a company such as yours onboard...." etc. etc. It amounts to the same thing, taking out an advert in some magazine, diary, wall-planner or other publication that nobody will read. When you tell them you'd like to consider their proposal they'll give you a lot of rubbish about dead-lines, discount for today only, etc. It's all rubbish. Don't let them get past first base as they'll continue to pester you.

There's now an entire range of advertising scam Blake (David Blake) publications to be wary of!

The Blake Organisation www.theblakeorganisation.com
Gadd House, Arcadia Avenue, London, N3 2JU
Tel: + 44 208 956 4000     Fax: + 44 208 956 4009

http://whois.domaintools.com/theblakeorganisation.com
Registrant:
Blake Publising
1214 high road
finchley
london,  n2 9pj
UK

The sales patter is always the same, "MUST speak to the MD" etc Purporting to be Government related is the standard MO. Getting your MD to sign up to EXPENSIVE advertising is ALWAYS the goal.

Architectural Association
www.aaschool.ac.uk
Annual Review
Quarterly Review
Yearplanner
Architectural Annual Review

British Incoming Tour Operators Association
www.ukinbound.org
Pocket Diary

British Medical Association
www.bma.org.uk
BMA Practice Guide

British Printing Industries Federation
www.britishprint.com
Yearbook

CBI
www.cbi.org.uk
Business Voice – Business2Business Guide
Annual Publications
Varied Media

Chartered Institute of Marketing
www.cim.co.uk
Yearbook
Yearplanner
Defence Communications & Security Review

Diplomatic & Consular
www.diplomaticandconsular.com
Diary
Yearbook
Yearplanner
Website

Engineering Employers Federation
www.eef.org.uk
Desk Diary
Pocket Diary

European Parliamentary
www.euparliament.eu
www.europarl.europa.eu
Yearbook
Yearplanner
Website

Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales
www.icaew.com
Desk Diary
Pocket Diary

Institute of Directors
www.iod.com
Business Organiser
Desk Diary
Pocket Diary
Yearplanner

Institute of Food Science Technology
www.ifst.org
Business organiser

Institute of the Motor Industry
www.motor.org.uk
Desk Diary
Yearbook

UK Parliamentary
www.parliamentaryyearbook.co.uk
www.parliamentarydiary.co.uk
www.parliament.uk
Desk Diary
Pocket Diary
Yearbook
Yearplanner
Website

RIBA
www.architecture.com
Varied Media

Slimming World
www.slimmingworld.com
Slimmer of the Year
Yearplanner

Weight Watchers
www.weightwatchers.co.uk
Yearplanner

I got a call today from a Joseph Turner who left a voice mail. They wanted to sell me some advertising space for my company. When I asked him how he got my number from and which organisation I worked for, he was unable to tell me and said, let me go away and check my files.

Just has one of these today - DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE! They are misrepresenting themselves and I will be informing the relevant authorities.

0208 956 4001
Just got told off for emailing a message through from the above number.  not really sure how i was supposed to know it was a scam.

I got a call today from a Richard Lewis asking for the name of the principle director of our business. Without thinking I gave the name and he thanked me. Before he rung off though I did ask the nature of his enquiry and he said he was calling from the Parliamentary Information Office. After putting down the phone I dialed 1471 and got the number 02089 564000 type it into Google and 'Shazam'. Gee what a tw*t hope he rings back so I can tell him where to go. HAHA

I too have been contacted by Samantha Segal. Very well spoken, lots of big names hitting the floor.
They had obviously done some homework to make the message personal, and I have indeed received the promised e-mail. It sounds very credible on the phone but then selling advertising space is always made to sound credible.

Thanks for the comments, especially from the ex salesman as this has really put me on my guard and I will keep the money for more worthy advertising.

Has any-one actually found out if any MP ever reads (or even sees) this publication. They clearly have testimonials on the website and I was wondering if these were true?

Number given was 020 8956 4110

I had yet another call from these jokers. The guy claims to have not spoken with me before but I have spoken with him on at least 2 other occasions. He is not going to get through to my manager. He got very aggressive and started shouting so I had to hang up which I don't like doing. He named dropped just about everyone in Parliment. I asked if it was with regards to publishing and he said it was not. It was an Australian with a very bad fake posh English accent.

I got a a call from a Robin Taylor with Blake, Gadd House bad fake a accent a very shirty said he only wanted to talk to the CEO event though I run the marketing side.  First he called before Christmas and said the publication was about to go out and was £2,700 for an advert then called repeatedly lowering the cost and extending publication.  Anyone in Marketing will realise this is a clear warning sign any reputable publication would not be so disorganised or aggressive.  They refused to send a pdf (other than a dreadful pic of a fake cover).  They said they had especially selected our business from hundreds, then I asked him what we did… he did not know.

Avoid at all costs!!!!!!

Lawrence Rowe contacted my organisation some time ago, it took just a couple of minutes to unpick the attempted fraud.  Just out of interest, I spent a little time digging and uncovered a little information about the ‘Parliamentary Information Office’

Firstly, the accusations made against the cold callers – misrepresentation, lying, fraud and, false names.  

Call centre staff are apparently recruited from adverts placed in the ‘Stage Magazine’ and are out of work actors using apparently false names.

Call centre staff are not paid.  They are on commission only.  Perhaps hunger accounts for the tactics used by the cold callers.  Staff turnover in the call centre is high.

Names given by cold callers (all found on the web) - check also Who Calls Me  www.whocallsme.com

the ecclesiastic – three Bishops, a Church, a Bell and a Parish
the colourful – Messrs Black, Brown and Green
the strong – Castle, Towers and Knight
A confusion over Owen Charles and Charles Owen.

And, absolutely no foreign names among any of the cold callers – are Blake’s not breaking some regulation re equality on top of everything else?

A few other websites of interest – Companies House – enter any of the company numbers below
Also, www.checksure.biz   gives numerous details re past companies used by Blake’s

Blake Contract Publishing Limited (Insolvency Proceedings)   03034602
Blake’s Contract Ltd   03086287
Parliamentary Information Services   3532831
The Blake Organisation Limited (Dissolved or Strike Off pending)   03821680
Blake’s (International Division) Limited (Dissolved or Strike Off pending   02532042
Blake’s Houses of Parliament Year Book International Limited   02587421
Blake Publications Limited (Dissolved or Strike Off pending)   02831278
    5 December 2001 Compulsory Winding Up Order, Petition by Inland Revenue. Hearing at     High Courts of Justice, The Strand. (Finance Magazine, 28 November 2001, page 17)
BCP Properties Ltd (shared an address with Blake’s in the past – Gable House)
    BCP may indicate Blake’s Contract Printing/Publishing   02027963

Check the variety of addresses used on Checksure’s website – especially at their previous address of 239 Regents Park Road.

Blake’s have a proud claim that their Parliamentary Year Book is held in high regard and even has a special place in the Speaker’s Chair – check their website’s home page and you will find the claim on the scrolling list of quotes (Bernard Weatherill, comes just after Tony Blair).  This caught my attention, so I enquired of the House of Commons Information Office (the real Information Office for Parliament) who enquired of the Speaker’s Office on my behalf.  I received a written reply to my enquiry which stated that ‘this book is not kept in the Speaker’s Chair’, the Speaker’s Office are aware of this on Blake’s website and have written to them to ask them to remove it from their website as it is untrue.’.  Blake’s now attribute the claim to Bernard Weatherill, a now deceased MP – so apparently the claim can remain on their website.

Beware, Blake’s has many guises, and now operates internationally in Europe and in North America, it is not just those in the UK that are affected by this company.

Other numbers used by Blake’s Parliamentary Information Office over the years include –
0208 356 4000   0208 356 4065
0208 956 4000   0208 956 4041   0208 956 4061   0208 956 4065    
0208 956 4070   0208 956 4087   0208 956 4100   0208 956 4110
I am sure that there are some numbers not listed here.

Addresses used by Blake’s over the years –
(details from Check Sure, Credit Gate and Companies House)
Second Floor, Gadd House, Arcadia Road, Finchley, London, N3 3JU (current)
Gable House, 239 Regents Park Road, Finchley, London, N3 3LF
12 – 14 High Road, East Finchley, London, N3 9JP (Trading address only)
ACI House, Torrington Park, London, N12 9SZ (Trading address only)
22 Parkway, Southgate, London, N14 6QU

Action has been taken against the company by – Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise and more than one Trading Standards organisation.

The Department of Education wrote to the Editor, Parliamentary Yearbook on 15 October 2007 after educational establishments received a flurry of calls from the PIO.

Yet to this day, with over 30 years trading history, the company appears fireproof and immune from meaningful action.  There are some interesting questions needing an answer.  Perhaps we should nominate the company for an award, The Queen’s Award to Industry, they are certainly successful.

They are still at it. I've just had a very posh sounding chap called Micheal Bourne name dropping all the way, had me check out their website which is full of big named corporations of which we would be rubbing shoulders. Yeah right, how many people are actually falling for this rubbish, they wanted me to make a sponsorship donation of £2750. It's about time the authorities grew some' and closed this sort of scam down, we are sick of it.

Call from "Robin Taylor" of the "Parliamentary Information Office".  Got past my PA with high-pressure tactics, proceeded to flatter me and my company for five solid minutes; strongly implied we were being invited to contribute to an official parliamentary publication alongside two other (named) big players in my sector for the low low price of just £3000-£5000 depending on word count.  Not only that, but this year apparently the Queen is going to be contributing!  All very prestigious, etc.

Luckily, I'm not a moron, and Robin (eventually) admitted this is a completely unofficial publication.  From doing a bit of Google homework, it doesn't seem to be a particularly well respected book.  Kudos to them for having the brass neck to get through to me in the first place, though.

After reading on their site that the speaker of the house of commons allegedly keeps a copy with him at all times (or something equally fanciful) - I contacted the House of Commons directly to inform them of this company. Below is their response, they are obviously aware of them... Note: "this organisation is completely unaffiliated with the Houses of Parliament... the term "Parliamentary Information Office/Service" cannot be trademarked, and therefore we cannot prevent Blakes from using it."

_____________________________________________________________________________________


Thank you for your e-mail concerning the "Parliamentary Information Office/Parliamentary Information Service".

As you are aware, this organisation is completely unaffiliated with the Houses of Parliament, but works for a publishing company called Blakes, which produces a Parliamentary Yearbook. I have attached a link to their website below:

- http://www.blakesparliamentaryyearbook.co.uk

This is a legitimate publication, although unofficial.  The term "Parliamentary Information Office/Service" cannot be trademarked, and therefore we cannot prevent Blakes from using it.

If you feel you have been mislead, you can contact the Trading Standards Institute. Their website address is as follows:

- http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/

House of Commons Information Office