02089564065

I got a voicemail from Anthony Towers, Project Director, calling from the Parliamentary Information Office. Sounded like a call centre. Found out about them by Googling the phone number and found this site.

I won't be calling them back!

Had an interesting chat with one of their guys, Chris Malcolm, claiming to be from the Parliamentary Information Office pushing to speak to our global CEO about a report on 'Olympic Preparation Excellence'....won't be getting any joy out of me!

Matthew Whittard (?) calling from Parliamentary Information Office.. I am honestly just so fed up now, they call constantly :-(

I am a Christian.. maybe I'll ask if I can tell him about Jesus.  Then he'll probably hang up!

Robert Clarke - Head of Sustainability - writing a report needs information will only speak to a Director -

Wanted to talk about Government initiative in housing. Different phone number from above 0208 9564041

Got a call this morning from Matthew Whitfield from the Parliamentary Information Office of London (because it being in London makes me quake in my boots)

Wanted to speak to the CEO - i flat called it and asked who he was and what he wanted and explained that it was highly unlikely he would ever get through to the CEO. He said it was about a report he was writing on the Governments commitment to housing (we are one of the largest housing provider in Europe), so it was semi-plausible but immediately googled name, number and office and found this.

the number he gave me was 02089564041

just had a call from Peter Black asked me to pass his details on the MD then hung up... Rude. What are his chances now?! Dont bother with these people...

Had a call yesterday from Matthew Whitfield giving the number 02089564041 trying to get through the GCEO, found him on this site and told my collegue about it.

He's just called back, she told him that we weren't interested and we could tell he was in a call centre - he then called back wanting to complain about how rude she was and asking to speak to her line manager!

I just spoke to him told him I'd found his name and the phone number on the internet and that it says they are scamming people - he then hung up on me!

Got one today, sounds like he was putting on a posh voice, you know, the plums in mouth one?

Name of John Davis from 'Blake Parliamentary' with regards to the 'Office Report on Regeneration'.

Kept insisting I give him the mobile number of my Director (yeah right).

Beware and avoid!!!!

Just received a call from a Jonathan Davies saying he was calling from the parliamentary information office regarding a parliamentary report on regeneration.  He said it was a very important 5 minute call for our MD.  He gave the same number that has been provided to some of the other people who have posted comments: 0208 956 4041.

Company received a call from Robert Clarke this morning - wanted to speak to the MD about a report on environmental sustainability. We vet all callers before passing on - he didn't like being questioned and was very rude, wanted us to call him back on 0208 956 4041 - needless to say we won't be calling him!!

Just had a call from Oliver Caplin also claiming to be from the Parliamentary information office.  It was his pushyness that made me google the name of the company and his telephone number before passing it onto my MD.  Low and behold, the company is a scam as it is the exact same details as everyone here!!!!!

Thank god for google!!

Just had the same type of call, reference Gordon Brown's initiaitive on Apprenticeship schemes. Also quoted other MPs (Phil Willis) and how we could be the 6th and final business in our region (SW England) to get into the prestigious publication.
When asked what we had to do, was told just cough up £4k or so, or £2,750. Said no thanks, and was asked why did we not want to appear alongside all these other businesses and public names. Apart from the fact that my politics is poles apart from the lot in power at the moment, I have no intention of paying money for apprentices apart from towards the apprentices themselves.
Yes, yet another scam and well worth checking the details on Google whilst on the phone.

Actually, your mythbusting is not as truthful as you seem to believe.
"Yes, they do high pressurised calls (they're on commission only)"
    It couldn't accurately be called high-pressure, but it is a bolier-room operation without doubt.
"And Yes, they do print 10,000 copies"
    I very much doubt it. They certainly used not to. They do not send out any copies beyond a few hundred to MP's and to the advertisers themsleves. The addtional circulation you are told about "We send them to all CEO's and board directors in the (name any industry) sector" - I can guarnatee you that this does not happen at all.
"They are a bunch misfits but they wouldn't hurt anybody."
     You've obviously never been anywhere near their credit controller. They are aggressively litigious and have very dubious financial practices. They default on their own suppliers bills.
The publication is more crap than a scam, but it is a scam nevertheless. The CEO has been 'sorting out" the company for the best part of a decade. This mainly consists of trying to place a veneer of respectability over the rather shabby reality. She has and will continue to fail in this regard, because the publisher, to whom she reports, earns more than sufficent from the opertation to make it worth the while to continue with the status quo. They have nothing remotely like the quality or standards that you will find with reputable companies like Centaur or Conde Nast.

Had a meesage to call  - message said wants to use our company as best practice - give him a call to discuss - called him and googled PIO at same time - selling advertising

I had yet another call from Robert Clark from the Parliamentary Information Office, demanding to be put through to my boss, the CEO. He was quite perturbed that he had been put through to a PA and not the CEO and was horrid and snotty.

When I asked what the call was regarding he said 'retrofit initiatives', something he was probably reading straight from our website.

Anyone who was genuine wouldn't be that awful else surely they would expect to be left on hold for a very long time......

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 used to work here and quit after a few weeks. Yes the employers are running the scam but the employees dont have a clue. So its the employees that I'm worried for.

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

The names are not true, there is 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...dont be rude, just hang up..........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.

Just got a call again from a Peter Black now using 02089564110 wanted to speak to MD, he has tried all week but the MD has no time for scams