02089564041

Got a call from 02089564041 and it's the well known David Castle from Blakes Parliamentary office!

Just been called by Nicola Harrington from the Parliamentary Information Office regarding the Governments healthy eating campaign.
Been here before... yawn.

Received a call today from Robert Clark for the ‘Parliament Information Office’ phoned regarding government’s new environment guidelines. His contact number is 02089564041.

Never rang back and thanks to this website never will.

Chap called "[Someone] Conway" called asking to speak to the Managing Director regarding a major security report.  Claimed to be an outsourced arm of the UK Government.  They are Liars!  They just want you to advertise with them.  Give them a wide berth.

Had a call from a Nicola Harrington - she said she was calling from the Parliamentary Office. When she heard that I'm the marketing coordinator she was very rude to me and when I asked what it was regarding she said she couldn't disclose information to me and asked to speak to the MD. I asked whether she was selling something and she said no!!

One Anthony Towers lied by introducing himself as working for the Paliamentary Information Office. He works for Blake Media and is a time waster.

How the Fxxx are they still around. Thats the biggest crime !

Getting harrased by this person regarding marketing

"Longthrow the name is Longthrow from the parliamentary information office, please call us back on 02089564041 regarding (blah blah) education .." Really great voice, completely fooled me but when I tried finding out what the parliamentary information office does it turns out they don't exist, except here.  I'd like to hire this guy for my next phone questionnaire. His bosses should be put in shackles and sank to the bottom of a lake.

I used to work here and quit after a few weeks.

I would say that most of the employees dont realise this, so give them a break. When the employees do realise this then they quit, but they get the new patch of sheep to make these calls.

The names are not true, there no David Castles or linda Holmes etc ...everthing is fake and I feel bad about getting money from people who are doing great things i.e school health meals.........please stay away...xx

I am another one who used work for these guys years ago.  I was there six months.  I didn't have the heart for the conning people the way these guys did and was asked to leave.  The sales staff are casually recruited, consisting mainly of out-of-work actors but also other random unfortunates who drift into the company.  

The sales floor is literally like a boiler room operation, where idle banter is combined with high pressure sales calls.  The staff are leaned on to make as many calls as possible and to accumulate a lot of 'call-time' - in an average eight-hour working day, a salesman is expected to spend at least 2-3 hours on the phone.  There is no organisation in the way the leads are handed out - they are culled from either business directories, the phone book or the internet, hence why increasingly irate companies keep receiving repeated phone calls and why small or one-person companies or even international organisations are targeted.

The sales staff are handed a script, which is a standard sales pitch 3-4 pages long that is worded to sell advertising space in connection with whatever is topical that day, Olympics, healthy eating, waste disposal, etc.  The culmination of this is the selling of an advert in the yearbook for either 4,950 pounds or 2,750 pounds.  Yet even this is modest as some more experienced salesmen can sell the adverts for as much 7,000 pounds.  As well as this, the staff are handed a purple book filled with replies for any potential rebuttals they might have to overcome.

The staff are instructed to target the 'decision-maker', that is the head of the company, whoever that might be.  They are ordered not to speak in detail of the pitch to receptionists, secretaries, PA's or 'oilies' (derogatory slang meaning non-decision maker).  Predictably, the sales staff take a lot of abuse from the people they call who can quite clearly see that it's a con.  Many sales people on a lot of calls don't even get past the receptionists, hence the abuse that's been reported by others here.

However, it is not a legitimate sales organisation.  The yearbook does exist, but it is not connected with Parliament in any way and is a largely worthless document containing speeches supposedly written by members of Parliament and adverts from the people they've pitched into giving away their cash.  See the website blagger.com and the entry by Bunty on Blake's payment methods which are quite scary and very hefty.

Only someone with considerable legal expertise and enough financial muscle at their backs might be able to bring Blake and his company to task, but we'll see.  In the meantime, if you are called, steer clear.

I've just taken a call from Charles Montgomery of Blakes Parliamentary Office.  He didn't want to disclose any info to me (Receptionist) - he only wanted to speak to my Director regarding "regeneration".  I think I'll just allow them to call us, I'll continue to take messages and not pass them on! Annoying little s**ts.

I was contacted by David Castle in regards a report on excellence in Environmental Sustainability, he wanted to use our company as a case study that would be publisied internationally, he wanted to talk to some senior who could authorise the sending of a template to us. I realise after seeing this that it was scam. He called from 02089564110.

Shaun Carter called today with same trick. Editorial available for money but dismally packaged up.

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.