08443573311

I first heard from TAPA with their threatening calls exactly the same week as LizzieM. I didn't get any letters just court threats over the phone and they refused to listen to anything i said. they ignored my cancellation emails. Eventually though, after ringing 3-4 times in October/November, they gave up and moved on to find other victims.

I fell for the trap of TAPA, i'm very sure that even though i paid up front for the 1 year, i did write a letter to cancel registered delivery (but i've filed the paper work & trying to find it out)  the contract ended november, i had a call from daniel cullem to say contract had ended and was trying to persuade me to renew, which i didn't, then yesterday i get a call from dave which was very unprofessional saying i owe 3 months money because im still in a contract with them as i confirmed to him that my contract ended november or december hw then changed his mind and said i owe 4 months, he kept insisting im in a contract so i told him to write to me proving i'm in a contract with the amount that i supposedly owe. he told me he is not going to waste his money or resources writing a letter to me so i laughed and said good for you, you wont get any money then and after arguing i just hung up on him, he then sent me an email as if the call had never happend (he called me from the mobile number they use), saying that he had tried calling me several times leaving messages, that i owe them (still not saying how much) and that i can call to pay or i can go to the paypal link to pay. (like i'm going to pay some random amount) today he called from withheld number to my landline leaving message threatening me with court!!!  consumer direct dont do anything but make a note of the conversation. not sure what to do, maybe i will just ignore them

I fell for the Web site too.
My story so far:
30/08/2011 entered details online.
05/09/2011 info pack arrived.
05/09/2011 cancelled contract (with in the 7 days)
A couple of days later received a phone message. Called them back and was told that gentleman who I needed to speak to will call me in next hour.
Then hear nothing. Assume the matter was dealt with till yesterday when I recieved the Letter Before Action email threatening court action.
I immediately called them to say this must be a mistake. Was told I'll be called back. Something didnt sit right and found this forum early this morning.
Anyone else got to this stage? Ignored the court threats?

Hi,  I inadvertly joined at about the same time as you August 2011.  Paperwork arrived on the Saturday before Bank Holiday  Cancelled on Bank Holiday Monday by e-mail & "signed for" post. Contacted Consumer Direct & they advised a second letter, which I sent agian "signed for".  Had numerous phone calls with TAPA who said that I was outside the 7 days because the contract was taken out at 10am on the previous Monday & my e-mail arrived 11pm on the current Monday - ridiculous!  On last call in September told them that legally the  contract was cancelled & put the phone down.   Yesterday I received the pre Court Summons letter saying that court costs & interest would be added if I didn't pay. Just deciding on my next action.  I was going to give in & pay until I found this site.

Just received a call from this company claiming the work for the my local Trading standards, this company who is based in Chester is a SCAM!!!!!!!!!!! do not pay these horrible people, the owner of the company who also owners 4 advertising company's please report this company to you local trading standards department. report them  http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/report_fraud or call 0300 123 2040

ADVERTISING PROTECTION AGENCY – ITS ANOTHER SCAM! - MODERN DAY RACATERING.
TAPA IS A SCAM – READ THIS FIRST - DONT BE A FOOLED!
http://www.theadvertisingprotectionagency.co.uk/ - SCAM – EXPOSED.!
DONT BE FOOLED BY THERE CLEVER SMOKE SCREEN WEBSITE.

THEY HAVE CREATED A GAP IN THE MARKET FOR PROTECTION – THIS IS MODERN DAY RACATERING...... THINK ABOUT IT!

They claim to be linked to the Authorities, BUT THEY ARE NOT, there web site is a smoke screen which claims they are the official authority in regulating  advertising. FIRST LIE! THEY ARE NOT OFFICIAL, THEY ARE NOT AN .ORG Company who work for free, they make money. THEY ARE NOT ANY OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY – DONT BE FOOLED BY THEM! THIS IS AN EXTREMLY DEVIOUS AND CLEVER SCAM.

TAPA ARE LINKED WITH OTHER SCAM ADVERTISEING COMPANY’S WHO WILL CALL AND HASTLE YOU TO TAKE ADVERTISING SPACE, THEY WILL THEN THREATEN LEGAL ACTION. This is when you get a random call out of thin air from the advertising protection agency, claiming they can stop the calls and legal letters. Once you are reeled in by there scam, they simply tell there own Advertising company’s to stop calling you, AND YOU ARE STUCK PAYING A MONTHLY FEE TO THEM. - DONT BE FOOLED! THIS IS A VERY CLEVER SCAM!

JUST SAY NO TO SALES CALLS – ITS SIMPLE! IF YOU DID NOT ORDER ANYTHING THEN DONT PAY IT, PUT IT IN WRITING TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HASTLEING YOU AND COPY IT TO TRADING STANDARDS. ITS THAT SIMPLE AND ITS FREE.

TAPA will ask for you card details, and bank details, to pay for something you can do yourself for nothing. THEY HAVE CREATED A GAP IN THE MARKET FOR PROTECTION – THIS IS MODERN DAY RACATERING...... THINK ABOUT IT!

They dupe you to thinking they are data protected, But there not data protected. YOUR DETAILS ARE NOT SAFE WITH THEM.
DONT BELIEVE ME, CHECK IT YOURSELF,
THERE IS NO LISTED DATA CONTROLLER ANYWHERE ON THE SITE, ITS JUST A SMOKE SCREEN TO GIVE YOU A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY, BE WARNED!
http://www.advertisingprotectionagency.org/data-protection-act.php

They are not a registered company, they just hide behind name that you cannot trace on companies house, or HM revenue and customs. They do not exist , THIS IS A SCAM COMPANY, THEY ARE TRICKING PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING TARGET BY SALES COMPANIES SOME OF WHICH THEY HAVE LINKS TO.  THEY ARE PREYING ON VUNRABILITIES THAT THEY CREATE!

They call you from a withheld number, contradicting there OWN guidelines, to others advertising firms.
CHECK IT YOURSELF
http://theadvertisingprotectionagency.co.uk/for-advertising-firms-only.php

They office is a postal address in London, they are based in Manchester, where alot of scam publishing firms are born. DONT BE FOOLD BY THEM!
DONT BELIEVE ME, CHECK IT YOURSELF
http://theadvertisingprotectionagency.co.uk/contact-us.php

They have links with scam publishing companies and advise you to pay the companies they have financial links with. DONT BE FOOLED BY THEM.

Originally the web address is owned by a sham accountancy company with links to a huge number of scam advertising agency’s, whois domain lookup USED TO GIVE

PETER MARSDON
MARSDEN GIBSON & Co Accountants,
102 Stand Lane,
M26 1JU,

This address is based above Grums cafe, CHECK IT YOUR SELF, on google maps, call grums cafe (0161 724 9021) and CHECK IT YOURSELF.

TYPE: 102 STAND LN, M26 1JU INTO http://maps.google.co.uk/

Whois Domain tool that was used to uncover the above address has sinced been changed it has now been changed and it now claims that the web address is owned by Easyspace Ltd.

DONT BELIEVE ME, CHECK IT YOURSELF http://who.is/whois/advertisingprotectionagency.org/.

BUT EASYSPACE LTD COMPANY DOES NOT EXIST IN COMPANY’S HOUSE, (at the date of this post)

DONT BELIEVE ME CHECK IT YOURSELF ON COMPANIES HOUSE (11/01/2011, THEY DID NOT EXIST)
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk//index.shtml
UNDER WEB CHECK,

THEY DONT EXIST. ALTHOUGH THIS MIGHT CHANGE AFTER I EXPOSE THEM AS CONN MEN IN THIS POST, MMMM I WONDER WHY.

THEY CURRENT ADDRESS THEY USE IS ALSO A SHAM AS STATED THEY SAY THEY OPERATE IN LONDON BUT THEY DON’T ITS MANCHESTER , BUT GUESS WHAT THE ADDRESS THEY CLAIM TO WORK OUT OF IS A VIRTUAL OFFICE, AND AGAIN BASED ABOVE ANOTHER CAFE, HOW STRANGE, IS THIS A PATTERN.

DONT BELIEVE ME, CHECK IT YOURSELF

Type: 27 Old Gloucester Street,London,WC1N 3AX INTO http://maps.google.co.uk/,  this is a postal address, as the company is actually based Manchester. Then check the adress on google street view.

This is modern day racketeering, they do not exist, if you have paid them, get your money back, the only way to stop these idiots is to say no on the phone to advertising agencies, its easy, you don’t have to pay some con men who will only tell the companies they own to stop calling you.

If you have paid TAPA and are concerned, help my investigation further by posting your experiences.

Please feel free to check all the above information for yourself they are another scam, Trust me and don’t be fooled by there very elaborate scam.

REPORT REPORT

Deal with TAPA at your peril! They sent me out of the blue when I has sought their services to prevent high cost emails received to my phone. I cancelled this within the grace period allowed. Imagine how angry I am to receive a year later having cancelled about Court proceedings would be taken about be for £39.95. I am a pensioner. I have repeatedly phoned them, emailed them and today copied the ASA in emails/complaints. They never ever reply. They haven't invoiced me. Nor sent any previous messages, letters or anything. This is a scurrilous company that ASA and authorities must shut.

Annie: Your message has shocked me as I first contacted them in early October. I went through the same cancellation procedures and took advice from TS. I haven't heard anything since early november 2011. Is your letter from TAPA or actually a genuine court document?

Ok

1. If anything ever did get to court of law, which is highly unlikely, anyone who paid for the so called ‘stop nuisance calls service’ when they thought it was a free service (or refused to pay for it) have a water tight case because of the ASA ruling
http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudication ... ADJ_172523.aspx
They specifically upheld in issue 2 and I quote
“we considered that it might not be clear to some consumers there was a charge for TAPA's services. We therefore concluded that the website did not make sufficiently clear that TAPA charged for its services and was misleading on that basis.”
On that point, the claims breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 (Misleading advertising) 3.9 and 3.10 (Qualification).

In fact before October 2011 there was no mention anywhere when going through the sign up process of a fee this only appeared sometime during October and they also dropped the price.

2. When I had trouble with them Trading Standards and Consumer Direct both pointed towards the Distance selling regulations
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/2334/contents/made
Trading Standards told me that TAPA are not abiding by these in their actions and this is reason enough to cancel any contract. You can look back through older posts to get more on this

3. Action fraud told me when I registered my complaint that that the basis for fraud would be that with the ‘nuisance calls service’ they are just signing you up to TPS and another service which are both in fact free services.

I can’t really say anything about the ‘Stop Charity calls’ service as I wasn’t involved with TAPA on this.

Finally my Local trading standards officer told me not to enter in to any form of communication with them as this only leads them to think they have some power over you and can frighten you into paying

re. alleged bogus email referred to on TAPA site

Have any of you seen this? I found it by chance today. TAPA is disputing it and saying that it is not genuine!

https://www.theadvertisingprotectionagency.co.uk/notice-board.php?id=35

I have only received an e-mail so far - it is from TAPA, but it says it is coming by post too, again I assume form TAPA.  I will let you know when I receive it.  It too shocked me after 6 months - which is what it was intended to do.

This is exactly what tapa did to me they called me and told me I had been a victim of advertising fraud, and then they did ask me to pay them a fee!  This is exactly how they operate I even recorded the whole conversation.

Does anyone know how to use youtube or have an account, ill email the recording to you to upload, its on mp3 but i dont know how to convert it for youtube.

Its known as fraud recovery fraud,

htp://www.actionfraud.org.uk/node/88  (follow this link if you have been contacted by TAPA)

Targeting former fraud victims, the fraudster poses as a legitimate organisation, claiming they can apprehend the fraudster and recover any monies lost - for a fee.

The person who contacts you will not be who they claim to be, nor will they help you recover the money you’ve already lost.

If you respond to their offer of help, they will ask you for various fees, such as release and administration fees. If you pay these fees, they will keep coming back to you with another fee that has to be paid, before your money can be returned.

If you ask them to take the fees from the money they claim to have recovered, they will give reasons why this isn’t possible. For example, your money is under the control of a court and can only be paid back to you personally.

The fraudsters may also ask you to provide details of your bank account so they can pay your money into it. They will use this information to empty your account.

My situation/reason for first looking at the TAPA site was nothing to do with the advertising fraud. I was just trying to block nuisance calls. I have read about the advertising and discovered another thread about this on MSE this week. It starts with the contributor being plagued with charity scams in Liverpool/manchester and then turning to TAPA for help.

Best keep a check your bank balance!

It's only necessary if you have given them any details of your bank account, not if you have only had threatening phone calls

Skip to page content Skip to main menu
ASACAP AAA CCC

 
Home
About ASA
Complaints
Regulation explained
Advertising Codes
ASA action
Resource centre
Media centre
Events
Parents page
Adjudications
Non-compliant online advertisers
Sanctions
Monitoring compliance
ASA Adjudication on The Advertising Protection Agency
The Advertising Protection Agency
27 Old Gloucester Street
London
WC1N 3AX
Date: 25 January 2012
Media: Internet (on own site)
Sector: Business
Number of complaints: 4
Complaint Ref: A11-172523
Ad
Claims on the website, www.advertisingprotectionagency.org, visited in September 2011, featured the company logo, an encircled tick and the statement "Registered Data Controller No. Z1214518". Several tabs providing further information were included on the left side of the home page. Text on the home page stated "TAPA provides assistance with Nuisance Calls • Junk Faxes ... The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 is a UK law that states all organisations including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties do not make sales or marketing calls to telephone numbers unless they have the owner's consent to do so". Further information was provided about the regulation. Text continued "The Advertising Protection Agency (TAPA) stops unsolicited advertising and marketing sales approaches being made to consumers and businesses by way of telephone, fax and email that do not wish to receive these types of unsolicited marketing approaches. Whether individuals wish to prevent any single one or all of these types of unsolicited marketing approaches being made to them, TAPA works to permanently prevent any further unsolicited marketing approaches being made to them in the future ...". A click through link labelled "STOP NUISANCE CALLS" WAS PROVIDED. Text at the foot of the page stated "Please browse the links below for terms and conditions".

The logo of the Telephone Preference Service appeared alongside the text "TAPA is an Associate Licensee of the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and has demonstrated its commitment to raising and maintaining the standards and effectiveness of the direct marketing industry".

A click through link "Stop Nuisance Calls" led to a separate landing page, headed "Stop Nuisance Sales Calls, Market Research, Silent and Recorded Message Calls To Your Phone Number" and included information about that service. At the bottom of the page, at the end of the final paragraph, text stated "For further details, please see our Terms of Service regarding registration for only £2.25 per month for registering up to five numbers." Below that text, a click through link stated "Register Now".

On the Terms of Service webpage, under the heading "STOP NUISANCE CALLS", text stated "The Client shall pay an annual administration fee to the Service Provider of £26.95 inc VAT initially on the Agreement Date by way of credit / debit card payment to subsidise all associated time, stationary and utility costs, postage and packaging of documentation and any other costs that may be incurred by the Service Provider in processing a new Client instruction for the registration of up to five (5) telephone numbers. This fee is based on a monthly subsidy of £2.25 inc VAT per calendar month ... A further annual administration fee of £9.95 inc VAT (0.83p inc VAT per calendar month) will be due payable initially on the Agreement Date to register any additional telephone numbers above five numbers (6+)."

On the "Cancellation of Service" webpage, under the heading "Nuisance Calls & Junk Faxes", text stated "If you have instructed TAPA to stop miscellaneous sales telephone calls or junk faxes being made to your telephone number(s), you can cancel these services within 7 days of the date you instructed TAPA ..."

Issue
The ASA received four complaints:

1. three complainants challenged whether the website implied that The Advertising Protection Agency (TAPA) had official status; and

2. three complainants, who had registered with TAPA through their website to prevent nuisance calls, challenged whether it was sufficiently clear that TAPA charged for its services.

CAP Code (Edition 12)
3.13.103.33.413.9
Response
1. The Advertising Protection Agency (TAPA) said that they had previously taken advice from the ASA on the content of their website and understood that it was in line with the advertising Code.

They said they had been trading with businesses since 2007 and had begun trading with consumers in May 2011. They said they were a service provider and did not retail physical goods and therefore felt the style and feel of the website needed to be one that would reflect their market and required a corporate feel that demonstrated professionalism, good academic standard and a less exciting layout than an online retail website. They questioned whether the complainant had confused 'corporate' with official.

They said they used a tick in their logo, because they viewed it as a positive symbol denoting confidence, good service, help and assistance as a service provider and a consumer champion that helped businesses that were being targeted by unlawful telemarketing firms. They said they had liaised closely with a large number of Trading Standards offices since 2007 as well as two major newspapers, the Police and Companies Investigation Branch, and the issue had not been not been previously raised by those governing authorities.

They said that the TPS logo appeared because TPS offered a service to businesses, screening all of their tele-data through their official checking service. They said they joined the scheme to show that they traded lawfully and screened all of their data through the TPS and would only ever contact a business that was not registered on to the TPS central opt out register. They said the scheme also encouraged accredited members to display the logo.

They commented on the display of their registered data controller number and said businesses that held individual personal data were legally obliged to register their business with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and received a 'Registered Data Controller Number' under the Data Protection Act 1998. They explained that they had to display that number on their website so that the general public could verify with the ICO that TAPA were lawfully controlling personal data properly in accordance with legislation. They believed consumers would understand the relevance of the number.

They said they had a '100% Satisfaction Guaranteed' logo on every webpage and therefore felt the website would not be seen on an official or government website and that showed consumers that they were a business.

They suggested that the 'Cancellation of Service' link published on each webpage and their testimonial links also suggested they were a business. They said they also had a dedicated page of links which steered visitors to the TAPA website to government regulators where they could make complaints and get advice and that that was another indicator that they were a business. They said their FAQ link also explained their legal status.

They said their website also included the relevant law relating to unsolicited sales calls which made consumers aware of their legal entitlements.

2. They believed that the complainants had not carried out the necessary checks regarding their fees, for example, by not sufficiently studying the website or by contacting TAPA by one of the many means available on their website, and that the "Stop Nuisance Calls" webpage included a specific price, setting out the cost of the service. They said they had added their VAT Registration Number to every webpage, which they felt, in addition, showed that they were not a free service. They said the PayPal logo appeared on every webpage, which they felt was a clear indicator that they charged for their services, because a PayPal logo would be understood by consumers to mean that a website charged for its services or goods and did not offer free services. They said they also had a 'Terms of Service' link on every webpage, duplicated in two places, which featured a breakdown of all of the fees they charged. They said the website also contained a 'Cancellation of Service' link and a 'Disclaimer' link on each page and the content stated that they were a profit-making business. They also said the website did not state that they were a free service and they did not see why consumers should therefore assume that they were free. They said they also provided a helpline number on each webpage that could be contacted for clarification of their services and a thorough FAQ that answered questions about the charges for their service.

They said the cost of the service was also made very clear in the early stages of the contract and that after an order was placed online they posted an introduction pack to the customer that included a bill, a copy of their terms and conditions and a copy of the contract into which they had entered. They said they also provided their clients with a seven-day cooling off period as a gesture of goodwill, which they would not do if they were a company that intended to deceive consumers.

Assessment
1. Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that the website did not expressly claim to be an official government authority, agency, channel or other official body and also noted TAPA's view that the website contained information that would not typically be included in an official or governmental website, such as their VAT Registration Number, the PayPal logo, the claims "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Cancellation of Service" and that they also charged for the service.

However, we noted that the website offered to stop unsolicited calls and communications and considered that that was a service which consumers might expect to be offered by an official source, such as a government agency or department. We noted that the website contained a great deal of practical consumer information, which consumers might not typically expect to be included in a website for a commercial business. We also noted that the information was provided by an organisation called The Advertising Protection Agency, which we considered some consumers would infer was an official body.

Although we noted that some aspects of the website indicated that TAPA were not an official body, we considered that, in light of the name, service and content, the overall appearance of the site could lead users to infer it was an official government service and therefore concluded the ad was misleading.

On that point, the claims breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.41 (Imitation and denigration).

2. Upheld

We noted that some consumers had not realised from the website that there was a charge for TAPA's service and had signed up for the service on the understanding that it was free. We noted that TAPA had included the pricing information on the website, although it was not included on the main home page, but was found on a separate page, accessed via the link "Stop Nuisance Calls". We noted that the relevant pricing information appeared at the bottom of that second page above the link "Register Now" and stated "£2.25 per month for registering up to five numbers". We understood that consumers wishing to use the "Stop Nuisance Calls" service would have to click on the "Stop Nuisance Calls" and "Register Now" links, and would therefore go via the page which included the charging information and click the link just below the relevant text. We also acknowledged that the Terms of Service page included additional information about the cost of each available service to the user and that the website also included a tab with details of TAPA's cancellation policy, which the advertisers' felt further indicated that there was a charge.

However, we also noted that the charging information appeared at the bottom of a large block of text and that the website in general contained a great deal of information and several pages of lengthy and detailed text. We considered that, in light of that format, some consumers might miss information because details might be lost in the lengthy content included in the website's several pages.

Because the website contained a great deal of text over several web pages and because the significant pricing information was included in a large block of text, we considered that it might not be clear to some consumers there was a charge for TAPA's services. We therefore concluded that the website did not make sufficiently clear that TAPA charged for its services and was misleading on that basis.

On that point, the claims breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 (Misleading advertising) 3.9 and 3.10 (Qualification).

Action
The claims must not appear again in their current form.

delicious digg reddit facebook stumbleupon
PreviousNext
Making a complaint

Find out what types of ads we deal with and how to make a complaint.
How to complain
Adjudications

View our latest weekly ASA adjudications or search for rulings from the last five years.
Adjudications
Non-compliant online advertisers

Check the list of non-compliant online advertisers.
Non-compliant online advertisers
Sign up
Sign up for adjudications alerts and newsletters.
Sign up
Already registered? Login
ASA job vacancies
The ASA is currently recruiting for Complaints Executives
Current vacancies
Advice and guidance for Advertisers
For advice and training on the Advertising Codes please visit the CAP website. To get bespoke advice on your ad before it is published, you can visit the
Copy Advice website
Contact us | Accessibility | Sitemap | Privacy policy | Cymru | Advertising Standards Authority Limited, Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn, London WC1V 6QT
Copyright © 2009 ASA

I too just got a threat of court procedings letter from TAPA - same issue, same defence : Distance selling Regs 2000

Been watching this thread for a while now, feeling better and better about just ignoring this issue altogether.

Waiting for my summons...keep you posted.

That is exactly what happened to me, I had the phone that told me I owed them money and I told him I wasn't going to be scammed.  My paperwork took the same amount of time to arrive, about 10 days. Now 6 months later I've received a 'letter before action', threatening to take me to court unless I pay up.  Guess what? It arrived 6 days after it was dated and according to the letter on day 7 they start court proceedings.  Thank God I am not alone, in my fight against this crooked lot

You may be interested to know that we have previously investigated this company’s website and the complaints were upheld.  The full adjudication is available should you wish to read it.