118 Trades

by **Tattoo Guy** » 16 Dec 2005 17:50

Had a call from a company called 118 trades the other day saying they are bringing out a new directory of vetted trades people and it would be a great opportunity for me to advertise with them as they will only be listing about 4 of each trade in each area and all trades will be vetted by them and regular checks made with future customers.

A price of around Â£600 was mentioned but as it is that time of year there were a number of special offers to be taken advantage of if I was to sign up quickly :wink:

(me thinks not) :wink:

Was just wondering if anyone had had a similar call or had heard anything about them.

by **Omikron** » 16 Dec 2005 18:01

Sounds like a hell of a scam!

The concept sounds similar to the "Who's Who?" type stuff they sell around here to graduates and what not. Some company contacts you saying that they're going to put you in their book, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then they tell you that you can buy it for a special price so you can cherish it for years to come....

Scammers, gotta love'em.

by **hzatorsk** » 16 Dec 2005 18:10

Getting the most return on your investment from your advertising dollar is an art... Look to see how many others are renewing their ads each year. If you don't see the same lockie running the same ads (or bigger ads) for several successive years.... wonder why!

FWIW:

"limited time offer" means "we got to get your business or we go out of business... we might anyway!"

"limited acceptance" means "we don't want to risk you associating with others that have had a bad experience with us".

"act quickly"... means "don't think about what is best for you... just buy ours!"

"discount".... means "back down to unreasonably high from our otherwise astronomically higher prices"

Ask them for five references with three or more repeat years that can verify measured success in using their services. If they hesitate or don't present solid number on market penetration or offer ways you can verify customers are coming in via their ads... etc... pass on them.

I suspect they'll simply hang up on you at this point anyway!!

z

by **bowleya** » 16 Dec 2005 18:19

The Favourite one i seem to be getting just lately is the promise of a front page on google and i will be the only locksmith on there books in my area.

These people usually withhold their number, promise the earth and deliver nothing.

One i had today is a special emergency line setup for the festive period??
it is becoming non stop at the moment.

by **Omikron** » 16 Dec 2005 18:23

The sad part about all this monkey business is that if people weren't falling for these scams, then they wouldn't be doing them as much as they do!

by **Tattoo Guy** » 16 Dec 2005 19:08

I also have had the "We guarantee you front page on google" But the 118 trades has a web site you can visit http://www.118trades.com/ajax.asp and their number was not witheld.

So maybe genuine or maybe just more cheeky?

Scary thought, the plumb local advert on the site looks a bit like the reactfast logo.

or is it just me.....

by **SteveW** » 16 Dec 2005 20:46

WOW, thats the bigest set of pliers ive ever seen ! :lol:

by **Omikron** » 16 Dec 2005 23:01

SteveW wrote:WOW, thats the bigest set of pliers ive ever seen !

...and you can only find them at 118 Trades!!!

by **AUTOLOX** » 17 Dec 2005 8:33

they state no cowboys so how do they know if you are a cowboy or not?

by **toomush2drink** » 17 Dec 2005 14:35

Dont even bother going with them, i did, it is genuine but it has got me about 2 calls and about 3 others from other advertising salesman. The no cowboys bit is a joke, i just gave them 3 references one of whom was my fiancee and 2 other mates whom all said that my company was the best ever etc etc (surprise surprise !!) . They never checked me out about apart from a phonecall to my references so its open for abuse and wont make any difference to the cowboys. I battered them down on the price and got it down from over Â£1200 for all the areas to about Â£600 total but its been a complete waste of money, dont go near them and save your cash.

by **Omikron** » 17 Dec 2005 14:59

AUTOLOX wrote:they state no cowboys so how do they know if you are a cowboy or not?

Every year, they invite all of their tradesmen to a rodeo. Anyone who shows up is delisted. :-D

by **Tattoo Guy** » 17 Dec 2005 15:42

Cheers Toomush

will take that advice onboard and let them know Im not interested when they call me back.

Brett

by **Omikron** » 17 Dec 2005 15:54

toomush2drink wrote:Dont even bother going with them, i did, it is genuine but it has got me about 2 calls and about 3 others from other advertising salesman. The no cowboys bit is a joke, i just gave them 3 references one of whom was my fiancee and 2 other mates whom all said that my company was the best ever etc etc (surprise surprise !!) . They never checked me out about apart from a phonecall to my references so its open for abuse and wont make any difference to the cowboys. I battered them down on the price and got it down from over Â£1200 for all the areas to about Â£600 total but its been a complete waste of money, dont go near them and save your cash.

That's a shame about your experience. How long ago was that? I'm just a bit curious as to how long they've been able to keep this charade up.

by **toomush2drink** » 20 Dec 2005 19:29

Oh dear loads of calls from 118 trades leaving messages saying they need a 24hour lockie, told the last one if they ring me again wasting my time im going to assume they are harrasing me and start legal proceedings, " ok sir we shall make a note on the computer, sorry sir" :wink:

hopefully thats that sorted.

by **MStoddart** » 21 Dec 2005 11:34

I totally agree with toomush on this one. They have called me a few times saying they had a locky in this area who was on their site. I called him and he said he'd had nothing from it and had paid over Â£1k for the priviledge! The references are a joke as anyone could write them. Don't be fooled by their claim that the site works in Essex as that's where they're 'based' (a Chelmsford code 01245). Save your money for Yell.com or YP.

118 Trades

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