the social media people net66 review: scam 850

"When your salesperson is told quite clearly, when they are making the so called compliance call to take details and explain the deal, that the month trial is all that is wanted and you are certainly not interested in a rolling contract it is your salesperson, who misunderstands or chooses to misunderstand and then ignore what is said to them. The fact that this transaction is verbal actually means that you tend to ignore ANY disputed version of the sale that isn't in your favour."

If you are a customer please get in contact and we can sit down and listen to your call together. We also converse and establish why you are so unhappy and hopefully rectify the situation.

Indeed I am a customer. This proves such disrespect for your customers it makes one speechless to come out with an offer you have no intention of fulfilling. Indeed I, like others on here, have asked you for details of the call, a transcript (that's when it is in writing by the way) or recording, and other emails you say you have sent us because that is what your response is - you will just say that that is what we agreed to and 'and we have all the conversations recorded'. Yet you have never produced one in response to a request.

So your offer above is meaningless.

TSMP
You certainly didn't try to help me the two times I called to question why my card had been recharged. In fact I was made to feel very threatened and no one was willing to look into my situation. I also felt the same way about the emails that I received. Why should I bother to call again?
You are correct that I post in the hope that others won't deal with you. This is due to my experience of dealing with your company, something that I wouldn't wish on others.
Hope you all have a nice day, UTH.

TruthIsNowTold

I commend you on your current neutral stand.

I would agree with you entirely that if TSMP/Net 66/ and the rest of the McVey consortium were to be transparent and answer relevant and challenging questions about their business practices, then yes they would do themselves a credit. They have been asked on numerous occasions to explain themselves with regard to their questionable business practice and the result being either totally ignored or the particular enquirer then subject to verbal abuse with on occasion the threat of violence via telephone calls (which there are many recordings available). Also the continual use of smoking mirrors with regard to the companies trading location, which incidentally has always been in Manchester and not London, Paris etc. as claimed previously on their website. Likewise with the claims that they have an extraordinary number of clients (15, 000) in less than a years trading with only a dozen or so employees excluding the Directors Thomas and Neil (father) McVey plus the two other sons and daughter.

I genuinely hope that you get the reply from TSMP requested. Unfortunately, as has been seen on this site and others others, if you expectations are low then you will not be disappointed! Was it an ex-employee who placed the Adword campaign? Yes.

Was it me? No, but I give full praise for what he was trying to achieve.

Is there a conspiracy against TSMP? There has been no law breaking including perjury against TSMP, but quite the reverse! So No! (Tom McVey you might like to look up conspiracy in the Oxford English Dictionary before you accuse!)

P.S. The ASA!

The ASA ruling was based on no evidence being supplied at that time to confirm the allegation.

'..The ASA noted they had not seen enough evidence to suggest the Social Media People were a scam. It was also suggested that the ad had been created by a disgruntled ex-employee...'

What's the result of the ASA's adjudication? The ad may not run again in its current form.

In lay mans terms, the statements on the Adword campaign were not verifiable as NO evidence was submitted to back up the allegations. The ASA rightly upheld TSMP's case without any evidence being submitted against them!

Had the ASA been aware of all the issues and been presented with them, those raised on this and other sites, then the decision I feel would have not been in TSMP's favour.

The ASA jurisdiction is limited to legitimacy of an advert's claims with the evidence available. It is not the holy grail of morality, honesty or integrity!

Incidentally '...if the ad does run again in the current form the ASA does have Google's agreement to look into the case and potentially force it offline...'

The ASA can not enforce it's decisions! A real heavy player?

So for a company to refer all it's woes and criticisms that are made with regard to their integrity, honesty and morality etc to a ruling from the ASA which has no jurisdiction over such things as company legislation, inland revenue etc. It is an extremely weak argument to continually quote the ASA, who's jurisdiction is irrelevant in most of the criticism and questioning of TSMP/Net 66 / McVey empire's extremely questionable business practices.

Morning all,

We have repeatedly tried to rectify any and all issues. But guys, you have to be willing to at least give us a chance to give our account. We have recently made an open offer to which is met with "This proves such disrespect for your customers it makes one speechless to come out with an offer you have no intention of fulfilling."
If you are trying to insult us as a company you have to be willing to base it on fact and if we make an offer you can not rubbish it immediately. Most of our attempts to co-operate fall on deaf ears and this is our main frustration. We appreciate it is far less than 0.5% of our clients that have issues but we value every customer and whilst we appreciate we can not satisfy everybody all of the time our aim is to make the best effort humanly possible.

If you wish to lodge complaints or to ask for answers you have to be willing to listen to our side and an offer to actuallty ### the facts should be welcomed. Or at least tolerated.

Also Mr Faulkner. We did not name you and did not wish to. Inspite of you mocking a company director who was tragically injured and refering to him as "daddy no thumbs" and repeated and consitant personal insults about Tom McVey and other family mermeber we have still shown you a level of compassion you would expect from a human being. I may be speaking on behalf of a company and personaly knowing a few people you have insulted I find it degrading and even shameful. Yet I(on behalf of the company) shown you the compassion/respect all human beings deserve. It would be nice if you did the same. Insult the company, tho logo the practices whatever, but personaly insulting employees especially mocking people with physical disabilities needs to stop from you. We have tried on numerours occasions to hold out the olive branch and to try to communicate over your frustrations. Although bluntly speaking, to make over 500 comments after trying amonths advertising and getting proof we done the advertising for you AND you claim to have had a refund. The amount of frustration and levels of personal insults do not equate to this "issues" you say you have had. Again, we have tried, and are still willing to try, to leave you with a good impression of our business but you need to be willing to listen.
Also we are receiving calls daily from clients who are wishing to know why they are bombarded with conatct and info sent to them about us in the hope they cancel with us. Mr.Faulkner you have to admit what you have done is not cricket. Especially after what you know yourself is out there about you on the internet. We have never mentioned this as we do not wish to make any underhand attempts to sway neutral opinions. After all this we have made regular attempts for you to make contact to clarify any issues and the offer still stands.

UTH - Again, I wish to invite you to make contact with us so as we can trace the contact mad eon our system and make sure that we delivered the level of service we pride ourselves on. There is a level of customer service defecit in every single company in the universe. Especially when you have a client base the size of ours, and if we feel we did not give the best impression of ourselves or we feel you walked away with out the level of service you shoul have received we are open minded in our efforts to come to a resolution.

Informer28 - You speach patterns and utilisation of the English language is very similar to a known scammer who origonaly graced this thread under the alias of "hobby horse" and proceeded to divert anybody poossible to his own site to get click on his googlke adsense campaign to line his pockets whilst all along pretending to care about the truth. If you are willing to contact us, do on a private message if needs be, then we are willing to investigate your case in maticulous detail and again, hopefully rectify any mis-understandings.

in summary we have repeatedly asked anybody who requires information or who may have an issue to make conatc with us and all we receive is daily threats, personal insuls and a tyrade of abuse. The abuse has got to an un-acceptable level and after all our attempts to offer evidence and to converse with regards to any issues we believe it is about time people start to give us a chance to give our side of the stary and help you to understand what we do and why it may work well for you with an open mind. With most complainants expecting an instant result through a 30day advertising campaign it is unfair to blame us for advertising that may not have been as succesful as hoped for you. It is still an effective and proven method and our client base speaks for itself.

The lionk to the ASA ruling is: http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/7/the_social_media_people_scam, -d-, co, -d-, uk/SHP_ADJ_154984.aspx

Also the ASA is an advertising watchdog. Mocking their powers and credibility will not do you any favours. We appreciate people may feel no matter what they are right and may not wish to listen to anybody who says anything different but if your a grown adult and not so much into "he said" "she said" Then a neutral Governing Body responsible for Monitoring and regulating Advertising in the UK is a voice worth listening to.

With regards to people who have said that they have proof of us being a scam then if you send it to the ASA (whioch undoubtedly you have) then they will publicly state we are a scam. But to rubbish their decisions based on your own opinions only makes you look mis-informed.

To say because they havent seen evidence about us being a "scam" is fair enough you are entitled to your opinion. But please do not confuse your opinion with FACT. The ASA in relation to claims we are a scam said "we had not seen evidence to support that claim"

We are aware, as it has been stated on here, that all claims and evidence on this forum has been submitted to the ASA and they stand by their judgement that we are NOT a scam and did not deserve to have our business denigrated when doing a google search of our company.

We urge all parties to ### the facts and neutraly draw conclusion.

As always we do are not just inviting, but urging people to makoe contact with us.

Regards
Katrina
Public Relations Team
@ The Social Media People

Katrina TSMP

Many thanks for your offer which I am considering.
Most posters main problem including myself seems to be that they weren't aware that they were being put onto a rolling contract. As a spokesperson for a company that you claim is ethical, what has been done/changed to stop future customers also feeling this way? Even if the customer had been told about the rolling contract during the compliance call, there seems to be too many with this opinion for an ethical company not to change the way they perform this part of their business.

Regards UTH

Katrina, Tom McVey, Steve Jackson etc

Your comments and treatment of Tom Faulkner are absolutely despicable when considering the bile that you have aimed at him, and again insinuated in this post. The fact that you have removed these posts speaks volumes about your company's deviousness and that being channeled through a number of fictitious posters like Steve Jackson and others.

I and a number of others HAVE been in touch with you but, as said previously, you do not offer anything to our one main grievance regarding the 'enforcement' of the contract and the taking of moneys that were NOT agreed to. You give instead a repeated re-iteration that you have done everything you said you would but offer no proof of this whatsoever.

Yesterday I spoke with Peter Duffin, Manchester's Trading Standards Officer, as I had made a complaint. Now he said he has paid you a visit and has asked you to come up with some evidence regarding compliance calls (so called) and emails of confirmation of Terms & Conditions which you say you send, but he has not received. I think you have to make some alterations and that is all. Now surprise surprise he is still waiting for this to be sent by you and I wonder if you will. Furthermore, rather like the fact that you won't send your customers information requested for, even when legally requested to do so, this make it very difficult to pin anything on you because denying everything and not providing evidence makes it very difficult in cases like this, without going to court, to bring you to the table. He seemed to be of the opinion that verbal contracts are almost impossible to prove one way or the other in court sometimes because this evidence is abused and that is the crux of this whole problem - yet you threaten us with these so called recordings to keep us quiet when we say we do not agree with what was supposed to be said. But you can't produce them on request, even when people offer to pay good money for you to do so. Why is that?

I believe, according to Mr. Duffin, that you now longer introduce your sales call with the one month's trial speech - is that true, and why?

'and all we receive is daily threats, personal insuls and a tyrade of abuse.'
Is this really true? There may have been some personally insulting remarks made but really, you have been rather vile in the various postings made by yourselves and two posters have merely posted in retaliation. I think the rest of the posters on here have merely tried to restate their grievances so I think you are being economical with the truth. I wouldn't to call you liars.

Lastly you post this

'We urge all parties to ### the facts and neutral(l)y draw conclusion.'

In all your posts on this board you have not come up with one fact relevant the questions asked of you - not one.

I have just had a look at the TSMP website - first time in a long time. Some of us have complained about the content on this site and gradually this has been removed. I notice that now the Review section which they were crowing about is no longer their.

Information about their clients went long ago, including the use of company logos without permission. Somebody must have had a word. The ASA are stil investigating this site - but you don't hear the TSMP banging on about that when they talk about the ASA.

Now I notice they have a jobs section. Again this is password protected area. Strange that you need a password if you were a prospective employee, or perhaps not, but there is nowhere to set up up an account to get one. Strange that. Perhaps this cutting edge company will change this now that I have pointed this out to them.

Now all this subterfuge is because, as they say on their website, they have to fear the actions of - potential customers - due to
'an extremely high level of contact, and attempted poaching of business
we are no longer displaying our existing clients to new customers' effectively closing down this part of the website.

It is very strange that if this company IS as good as they say why 'attempted poaching of business' would be a threat. If you are the market leader, which is kind of what they are suggesting, would this really be a problem? Can you imagine all the blue chip companies they have said they have on their books changing their advertising policies for this reason. Ridiculous. Another red herring.

If TSMP are so good at what they do, how come only 200 or so Facebook fans? That would be the ONLY litmus test for me that proves they have happy customers. We are a small business and have over 500 fans. They are so called experts in the field of Facebook advertising. I would reckon most of that 200 are disgruntled customers (I am 1 of them). and they don't allow you to post on their wall. ANY reputable company allows Facebook wall posts, to engage with their customers. I have just sent my cancellation letter recorded delivery with Royal Mail online tracking bar code. I will know if they have my letter or if they have refused to accept it. Either way I am cancelling the credit card just in case.

Good afternoon all,

Our Stance has never changed on the situation and in the interest of professionalism we are not going to divulge some of the issues that have led to rightful venting of anger on certain individuals who have made threats and shown a complete disregard for human decency and are incredulously angry when treated in the same way them selves.

To put this into perspective: Image one of the most professional and well known business men in the country - Lord Alan Sugar. If you were to bombard his company with insults about his family that worked their, make threats and go out of your way to bend the truth online to make it look as if you were tricked into something. Do you think in the face of a tirade of abuse to the point where his receptionist received calls with threats of a sexual nature - Do you think it is easy to remain respectful in that situation.

We are not going to name specific offenders but we believe to demand respect you have to at least show an iota of respect. Not much were not asking for that just a little bit of decency.

UTH - Much appreciated for at least keeping an open mind, as we have repeatedly stated we wish to gain feedback on continuineally improve our service and are not afraid to ask for feedback and ascertain the image our customers have of us. From liaising with the bank to see what feedback they have received to employing a new Customer service manager and a new, more focused approach on achieving goals for any business who may use our service. Whilst we appreciate to an outsider it may appear that we have had this problem quite a lot in reality it is less than 0.5% that we have discovered this to be the case. Having said that, we will endeavour to continuineally improve our service to the best of our ability on a regular basis until we cease to trade.

resilwood - You have made your stance clear and we respect you standing up for what you believe in. However, you will not know the full story. Mr.Faulkner may well indeed of experienced confrontation. And rightly so. We believe the customer is always right but you have to draw the line when the type of threats we have received are being used. We are not going to publish all the details as Mr.Faulkner has as it is not only un-professional but also un-ethical. Also the fact you are naming A Public sector worker and disclosing information that is not only confidential but untrue. I would like to try to negotiate or at least converse with out getting insulted form you, do you think this is possible. Also with regards to clients, you will find it hard to find companies in such a competitive industry listing all their clients and after some of the lies circulating about us it would be naive for us to carry on listing them. not that you have any interest in the issues it seem that you have made these comments in an attempt to make us look like we are scared of having our clients taken and/or not capable enough to retain them. I challenge you to find us business' in our industry that list all their clients online.

Also what we offer is a trial service. Similar to your credit report. try it out, if you find it not successful then you can cancel immediately. If you do not - which is explained as clearly as possible it renews. One of the largest selling points is the industry and area exclusivity of our service this is why you can try and if it does go well we require notice so as we can re-fill the allocation.
Honestly you can sit and think we are unethical until the cows come home but in reality Think of what you get for you money and the effort that goes in to making and designing, and modifying and monitoring adverts. We than have an analytical report service and with all that we still allow you to cancel and make a loss in month 1. This IS made crystal clear to clients and yes there will be mis-understandings but we are willing to try to converse to sort the issues out. If you could look at this from a neutral point of view and take on board what we have said we can make some progress. We are clearly saying we value you feedback and even wish to learn from negative experiences. If you would stop insulting us and participate then maybe we can make some progress.

We respect peoples rights as human beings and as workers and even though it would back up a strong and verified standing point from our point of view we have chose not to list names and organisations that are involved.

Please if you wish to insult us please do so with substance. You can not have your cake and eat it.

We regret we have to be confrontational but please all we ask is a chance to listen to. Not insulted.

Regards
Katrina
Public Relations Team
@ The Social Media People

Also what we offer is a trial service. Similar to your credit report. try it out, if you find it not successful then you can cancel immediately. If you do not - which is explained as clearly as possible it renews. One of the largest selling points is the industry and area exclusivity of our service this is why you can try and if it does go well we require notice so as we can re-fill the allocation.
Honestly you can sit and think we are unethical until the cows come home but in reality . This IS made crystal clear to clients and yes there will be mis-understandings but we are willing to try to converse to sort the issues out.

OK. A bit of flesh. What mechanism do you have for someone to cancel their transaction with you, either during the 'trial period' if it doesn't seem to be working or at the end of it. At what point can a customer cancel during the 30 days period without triggering the rolling contract. What if someone says to your salesperson that they do not want more than the month trial, initially, clearly. When it is not a misunderstanding. You must conceive of this situation so how do you instruct your salespeople to deal with this?
We recall that you do not permit email cancellations and postal cancellations appear to take around ten days, from posting to reach your office. As was pointed out by the Manchester TSO the date of posting is the one important factor as proof of cancellation. Much as you like to portray everything as an attack or an insult these aren't insults, these are just questions and facts.

'Think of what you get for you money and the effort that goes in to making and designing, and modifying and monitoring adverts. We than have an analytical report service and with all that we still allow you to cancel and make a loss in month.'
Well this takes the biscuit - usually taken as grab from you own website the advert is a tiny thumbnail overlying a link to one's website. This link and its clicking would show up on any analysis software you can use. Google Analytics, for example. However poor your response was to the Facebook Ad you would think that 10, 000 impressions would result in a couple of clicks but that doesn't appear to have happened.
Perhaps you might tell us what sort of modification you usually do perform in such cases - we would all be interested to hear. Please note these are not insults these are quite reasonable questions put to your company.
As for the analysis - well a sentence on impressions is hardly an analysis. It is not verified and you could make it up if you wished, not that I am saying you do. However it is a very UN professional piece of reporting to say the least.

Katrina TSMP

Many thanks for your reply.
I fully understand your point about the trail period turning into a rolling contract like so many others do. Why didn't I and many others understand this when taking out the advert? Is this the customers mistake or poor business practices from your company? I imagine every ethical company wants to be transparent in their dealings and wishes for repeat business and recommendations.
As so many customers seem to have had the same experience as me, what have TSMP done to avoid this confusion happening again?

Regards UTH

Just to confirm I am neither 'hobbyhorse' or 'badbiz (of which I have been accused of by TSMP)!

'resilwood' states it very clearly '...Please note these are not insults these are quite reasonable questions put to your company...'

Unfortunately TSMP/Katrina/Tom McVey and his various aliases have never answered theses simple questions. Instead, as of late, they have continually misquoted the ASA to any challenge that has been given.

When clients/ex clients make formal complaints they have been treated with contempt with such phrases as '...you knew what you were getting as it was made clear to you at the point of sale and the compliance call...' If the complainant pushes further, with applying to their bank/credit card company to get their monies back then some have been subject to verbal abuse and physical threats via telephone, of which there are many recordings available of Tom McVey and his various aliases committing the abuse. Can you deny that Katrina?

Are people bitter on this site? Quite a lot to put it mildly, as they feel scammed. It is hardly surprising then that TSMP/Net 66 is considered to be an unethical company with an apparently dishonest group of Directors who appear to take no responsibility for their actions.

TSMP still gets facts wrong. One was pointed out in my previous post _- so its repetition now constitutes a lie - I have not made over 500 comments on this website.
I am willing to stand corected - but I don't believ I ever coined the phrase 'daddy no thumbs'. So that would be another 'error' or 'lie' on TSMP's part.
Recently 'Kat' from TSMP did send me a message asking me to reply, so TSMP could discuss my issues. I replied promptly, in exactly the format she requested, with an 'open-handed' response. That was over a week ago now - and guess what? TSMP has ignored the open-handed gesture. Instead it invents a story that I rejected its overture. - So that would be yet another error or lie from TSMP. (I'll publish that corresponence in the near future.)
Perhaps in its guise of being open and honest TSMP could tell us all who was the person who pretended to be a solicitor, and a Director, and a legal agent, and an anonymous caller when phoning on behalf of TSMP to make threats? And readers have heard those recordings which support the FACTS on which that question is based.

Way back on 5 January I was content, no excited and willing to agree to advertise using the services of TSMP. Following discussions we agreed on an advert to go to:
All 16 to 20 year olds
within 5 miles of
BN41 1TE.
TSMP can confirm, or dispute those simple points, but that is my understanding. It was also kind enough to research and advise me that this gave a target group of a little over 3, 000.

At the core of my complaints, and the foundation of TSMP's claims to be an ethical company is a key question. TSMP would help its credibility with readers if it clarified the answer.
I contend, and will provide the evidence, that TSMP did not provide the agreed service.
Does TSMP state that it did, or did not, supply the agreed service, and what evidence does it provide?

Good Morning All,

Firstly a massive thanks to UTH for the feedback, and in answer to your question: We have evaluated our process and purposely engage every customer more in their compliance procedure. Sales calls are monitored, audited and governed by the compliance team and every single client has the process explained in detail on a minimum of 3 occasions. Our cancellation rate has also dropped to less then 5% and with a new customer care initiative and a lot more contact in month we are not seeing and problems.

Resilwood, In answer to your questions - in the first month you can cancel at any time. With no notice at all. This is why it is a trial, there are no long term commitments. The sales people are subject to continual training with honesty and transparency making up a significant part of the focus. A salesperson can only agree to lock down the allocation/secure client exclusivity. If anybody clearly tells a salesperson they do not wish to go past the first month then the compliance office will be informed, and whilst running through the compliance procedure if the client is made aware of the terms we are proposing and they are not the same as agreed with the salesperson then we will not proceed. The sales person is there to establish the benefits and secure your exclusivity. It is the compliance department that will establish the terms and offer multiple opportunity for feedback and to ensure the client is sure they understand prior to making and payment and/or commitment.
With regards to the add design team they have achieved fantastic results in the past and still do now. If you do not approve of the advert designed for you, or it doesn't provide the desired result, we will mutually evaluate and make the necessary changes. Every client is also sent a proof of the add and has the opportunity to request making a change if they wish. If you feel our reports are unprofessional then that is fair enough. We focus most of our attention on the ergonomics of achieving success in a campaign and research into what has worked well in the past, not the aesthetics of our own image as we would rather show you good service as opposed to good leaflets.

Informer28, simply saying "I'm not him or him" is not the information we requested. We are keen to assist you but if you are only interested in insulting us there is nothing we can do to help you. For your own records I am certainly neither Mr. McVey Nor Steven Jackson. You can copy what you and/or others have written on other sites as much as you wish. But if you wish to prove yourself as a rational, ethical and intelligent human being you need to behave like one.

Mr. Faulkner, I did indeed send you a personal message to which I have received no response. Please double check your outbox as there may have been an oversight. I am keen to speak with you as the impression you have received of us is distorted on a colossal scale. We are willing to listen to you and put aside the tirade of insults you have fired at individuals who work for the company. Even though people are employed by the company doesn't mean you can insult them if you are unhappy with the service. We are willing to co-operate and try to come to an amicable resolution. we will deal with you issue when you have rectified the issue of this lost message you may have sent.
Also Mr. Faulkner, with regards to your second comment (for future reference you have to understand we are assisting more than just yourself and would request that wait for a response before sending more requests)
To answer your question, if you refer to the demographics were agreed to target it was actually:

All 16 to 20 year olds
within 10 miles of
BN41 1TE/Portslade Centre

The exact & specifics statistics according to Facebook.com is:

Estimated reach
117, 520 people
who live in the United Kingdom
who live within 16 kilometres of Portslade
between the ages of 16 and 20 inclusive

We have also proven (on the letters you displayed on here, that went to the bank) that your add went live to this target market, there is the facts on how many people fit the demographics.

Again, all questions comments and queries are welcome.

Regards
Katrina
Public Relations Team
@ The Social Media People

Katrina Public Relations Team@ The Social Media People

'...But if you wish to prove yourself as a rational, ethical and intelligent human being you need to behave like one...'

Now is this the response from a 'mature' individual, a professional PR executive? I think not!

Katrina, or what ever your name is, your 'caring' nature is false!

I believe that TSMP are introducing new claims here. I was sent a copy of my advert THIS WEEK, I said straight away that the picture was not suitable and the text was not suitable. I was told by them that they DO NOT do proofs, it was simply to show me a copy of the advert. They now claim that they do send proofs? have their rules changed in the past 72 hours?

Chefsrus,
I believe someone coined the phrase 'like pinning jelly to the ceiling' and this seems to apply to the SMP. everything that requires an answer will morph into a deflection and further denial although I must say that the latest incarnation called Katrina is doing this with a bit more grace than some of their previous posters but, again, even when an example is cited from a customers point of view, TSMP will say it didn't happen. In my case we specifically stated that we only did this for a month so where was the mechanism to stop this rolling on?
Katrina says there is fantastic service while your advert is running 'we will mutually evaluate and make the necessary changes.' Yet when I asked whether the advert was monitored they said no and we would hear how it was doing before the month was up but I heard nothing. This was mid month and by the month end I still had heard nothing, nothing at all. Despite trying to cancel on the last day of the month I was then told email cancellations were not acceptable (why on earth not - at least it can be traced unlike the original verbal contract). Money was taken from my account on that day also and I knew then that this was no ordinary company.
So what Katrina says above is just not true. They did not provide any sort of backup, and actually admitted it. They did not allow me to cancel - and if what they said above was true about respecting a wish to have one month only this would not have have gone onto a rolling contract because they should have recorded my wish so cancelling doesn't actually come into the equation. Or am I wrong?

So what do we make of this statement 'If anybody clearly tells a salesperson they do not wish to go past the first month then the compliance office will be informed, and whilst running through the compliance procedure if the client is made aware of the terms we are proposing and they are not the same as agreed with the salesperson then we will not proceed.' In my case this is clearly not true, but how do I prove this? Although TSMP say they monitor and record calls have they produced one yet for anybody that has asked for one? I suspect that others who have suffered this problem will say the same. I won't go into the the accusations of lying, defamation and libel that have been levelled against complainants but the new face presented by the latest representative is merely operating a different tactic, one clearly in contrast to some of the foul mouthed diatribes that have gone before.

Lastly, to Katrina, when you make up these posts either use a dictionary to check the meaning of words or use simpler words. An example
'We focus most of our attention on the ergonomics of achieving success in a campaign and research into what has worked well in the past, not the aesthetics of our own image as we would rather show you good service as opposed to good leaflets.

Ergonomics has nothing to do with your operation and what on earth does the 'aesthetics of our own image as we would rather show you good service as opposed to good leaflets' Mind you, I had to laugh as leaflets suggests something on paper - well that is something you have been requested to do on numerous occasions but failed to do so - so far.

One of a few things seem to be happening here. Either

1) TSMP have turned over a new leaf, have listened to our comments and improved their service.

2) Their public relations team are trying very hard to make it appear that the company are doing the above although nothing has actually changed.

3) They have a new employee called Katrina who currently believes what TSMP have told her.

My dealings with TSMP thankfully ended quite a while ago so I don't have a clue as to which one it is. Does anyone posting on here still deal with them and if so maybe they could give us an insight into how TSMP currently do business.

Regards UTH

10-09-2011.
Yesterday TSMP 'corrected' the demographics of my advert and confirmed its version of what the advert consisted of.
It did NOT confirm that it had given me the numberr of a little over 3, 000 as the number in the target group, but seems to be saying that it was over 117, 000. Please Note The description given by TSMP, and that given by me.
Next week I will publish the documents COMPOSED and WRITTEN by TSMP, and also allegedly by FACEBOOK, which in plain, clear terms disprove what TSMP has now committed to.
Additionally if TSMP will give permission for me to publish the telephone conversation dealing with the 3, 000 you will be able to hear its Supervisor, Cristina, confirming the 3, 000. (Otherwise a transcrip will have to suffice, its up to TSMP)
Well Katrina, do you want readers to hear the recording?

'Scolding' challengers is the polite part of TSMP/SMP/Tom McVey and as of late the mysterious Kartina! There are, as has been published before, numerous recordings of TSMP's customer service quality, threats and all!

Tom Faulkner

Just place the relevant information on this board for all to see / hear, then any individual will be able to see / hear the FACTS for themselves. Something which will be undeniable by the newbie PR personage Katrina, who I suspect is having an extremely hard job trying to defend what has been described as a scamming company by many.

Incidently if TSMP/SMP have such a good track record(!) The Scamming Industry they are in has an average retention rate of just 1% per month on a facebook impression campaign which they run(Adwords had a 40% retention rate) It was previously stated that they do not make any money in the first month, although it cost them approx 0.04p per thousand impressions. They do not lose money in the first month for sure even after they have paid out £50 per deal to each sales agent, cost of phone bill, admin wages, Directors Divs etc. They genuinely do not make a fortune in month one however, the reason for the 'rolling' contract which is extremely hard to get out and purposely designed so; Is to 'cream' as much out of each individual who has given out their card details to them! So it is no wonder their cancellation policy is as it is.

Slight exaggeration of a 95% retention rate though!

12 Sept:
I have sent Kat her further email so she can make contact with me. I also personal messaged her via this site.
I await her response.

TruthisNowTold:
Are there particular points I can address? Or another way of putting it - you await to see my side of what?
I sent Katrina an email but apparently it didn't arrive, although all 3 people I 'blind copied' received theirs. (Did anyone notice that the non-arrival of the email from me to TSMP was automatically deemed to be a problem with ME andor MY email system? TSMP will recall a VERY different spin when I said emails from TSMP to me didn't arrive back in Jan. and Feb. When that opposiite situation occurred TSMP told me it was a not a problem with TSMP's system. So that means (in the TSMP World) that whatever the problem - it's never their fault, always the customer's. Does that sound familiar?)

I have now sent a further email, once again with copies to people. Some of thse I know have already arrived.
In any case TSMP has had my phone number (since January), so she could easily have phoned at any time. Why was it necessary to send me a Personal Message through this forum, and for me to email her to TSMP's email? Does that sound like a sensible, efficient way of communicating with a customer? Seems odd to me.

If you refer to the telephone conversation relating to the 3, 000 in the Target Group (Estimated Reach), I have not yet had Kat's authority to publish it; but I am sure she will give that authority, in order to help us all hear the actual facts spoken by her colleague back in February. (Katrina : Please confirm.)

If you mean the documents to show the other aspects of the original agreement, and what TSMP agreed to and reported on, it will be a couple of days before they can be published as I don't have access to my files a present.

I trust that helps.

Isn't there a site somewhere that has all the old TSMP posts on it?
Strange how they have vanished that coincides with the new charm offensive!

Morning All,

We are inviting customers to get in contact to rectify issues. We are receiving many messages, some are conected to gaining constructive and progressive actions and some are not.
Speaking on this forum is not a large part of our job and as we have to prioritise customer satisfaction. Apologies if you are not recieving an immediate response.

TomFaulkner: If you wish us to answer any of your questions you must put it in an email. Details may be found at the bottom of the page. As you were a client 8 months ago and have been involved in a series of campaigns since, including teaming up with a well know uk we will treat all requests made by you with caution.

TruthIsNowTold: Whilst you have displayed a degree of intelligence and knowledge, we are disclosing facts to everybody to prove we are not guilty of the alleged claims "scammers" and even "criminals" even though we can varify these through the governing bodies respectively: namely The Adevertising Standards Authority and also the Police, we have took time to request feedback from our most unhappy customers, of which there is not many. We feel we are entitled to give our side of things as we are severely mis-represented on a few forums online. Even though we appreciate that when you provide a service and have more than 25, 000 customers, it is inevitable that a few people will be unhappy with the servie all you have to do to see that is google some of the most trusted service providers in the world and the world complaint. However, we do care about our customers and we are interested in their feedback not your judgement.

Everybody is entitled to their opinions and we respect this, we welcome it and have made changes in accordance with feedback, moving forward this is a neccesity for any business. Can any genuine customers please enquire with us direct for answers as we will endeavour to assist.

We are making every effort converse and gain feedback from ex/dis-satisfied customers. We are hoping to learn, listen and improve on allaspects of our service moving forward. Any further comments and feedback are appreciated.
We would request that if you wish to forward us any constrictive critisism that you do by email.

Regards
Katrina
Public Relations Team
@ The Social Media People
publicrelations@thesocialmediapeople.co.uk

Good Afternoon All,

Glad to see personal insults seem to have been eradicated for now and there is constructive comments and opinions from people. After a days absence I can honestly say I was expecting a few challenging comments. In our constant efforts to maintain a good level of service and promote a salubrious attitude towards I am inviting all clients and(or) any potential clients to contact us via our email:

publicrelations@thesocialmediapeople.co.uk

We now seem to have almost no fake customers making outrageous and false claims which we are happy about. Whilst we appreciate customer frustrations and are going to great lengths to eradicate any genuine unhappy customers we are still the victim of false comments and non-clients posing as though they are.

We are asking clients to contact us direct rather than on these boards as there is many unverified statements and there is also distinct elements of extortion online connected to these types of forums, including this one.
We are now receiving a record number of suspicious emails and are encouraging all customers to contact us direct.

TruthIsNowTold,
Whilst we appreciate an impartial view and enthusiasm we are here to assist customers as much as possible. Apologies if you feel you have not been a priority, however as our priority as an organisation is customer service we have to live by this. Your opinion is welcomed none the less.

To summarise, we do not wish to consistency reply to accusations on the internet, if you have any issues as a customer please get in contact. We are fair and honest.

Mr. Faulkner, we will reply to your request via email, please feel free to raise any issues with us via email.

Katrina
Public Relations Team
@ The Social Media People
publicrelations@thesocialmediapeople.co.uk

Katrina,

You will forgive us those that have been dealing with your company a long time, who have actually tried the direct correspondence with you that you have suggested and have still been frustrated, ultimately, with the response of your company.

It seems now that you are moving this debate into the land of Walter Mitty where nothing has happened to upset your customers and it is all the work of 'fake customers making outrageous and false claims'. I am sorry to raise this again but this is nothing but a complete lie, one concocted again and again, to deflect the criticism you have had.
All that criticism is, when you actually boil it down, is a complaint about the initial manipulating of the verbal contract and the taking of payments from people who never sanctioned this rolling contract. That is all. It may have escalated into doubting whether you did what you said you did but that again is your own fault. Not much really and a small problem that your company could have dealt with quite easily if you had any nous for avoiding trouble - which you obviously haven't. Or you have something to hide.

Whilst I can understand why you don't want to deal with this on this forum, but not for the reasons you state, those of us that have done this know it leads nowhere - which is why we are still at it no doubt. And where, honestly, are there examples of extortion? Over dramatizing what goes on here has been a hall mark of the SMP from the start. There are a large number who have regained their money from you by going through their bank to reclaim it. That would be it for most and once they have got their money back, at least some of it they would want nothing more to do with this sordid affair.

You are probably aware that to the credulous, PR has a very positive ring to it, especially if you don't think about it too much. But spin and economy with the truth are also part of PR and to the cynical an exercise in PR can mean nothing more that the substitution of fact with fiction.

We can confirm for the 2 time in as many months we have been hacked on our complaints account.

Mr. Faulkner I can confirm I personaly sent you the email prior to 6pm.
We are having issues as our system is under attack and our complaints board account has been attacked yet again.
We have suspicions but not much co-operation from service providers and a lack of proof is holding us back from gaining immediate answers. For the second time: a warning, please be aware this forum can be subject to hacks as has proven, we have overwhelming suspicion on who it may be but it is very hard to prove.

Our last post which has been stolen reads as follows:

Good Afternoon All,

Much appreciated for all the feedback so far posters.

Mr. Faulkner you can expect a reply to your email by 6pm today. We have had a meeting about your case and have reached a decision. Hopefully you will concede that even though there is discrepancies in agreements they are not necessarily malicious. We have, as you would have to agree, shown a level of patience and professionalism whilst you have personally insulted employees of our company and even directly implied employee's could have had lost limbs as a sign of dis-honour. If I remember rightly you refered to triads. However, in your infinite wisdom you have made one or two rational points which have been met with an open mind and a view to learning.

I must mention, and not to digress, that badbiz.co.uk is not a credible source of information. I would also take no notice of edited documents and/or recordings. We are not an investigator of any practices but our own and would not wish to divulge any correspondence we, and others, may have had with regards to this statement. Merely a point for people to bare in mind.

TruthIsNowTold,
Common courtesy has suffered a blow I would have to concur. However as this is a conversation on a public forum it is not necessary however SIR, if you insist on commanding courtesy, hopefully it can be mutual in the hope we can increase the level of courtesy all round(as there seems to be a distinct lack of courtesy and even decency from some posters on this and the aforementioned forums). Also we have a vested interest in satisfaction, and will persevere untill this is acheived. All comments and feedback welcome.

Resilwood, you are entitled to an opinion. I think we have made it clear we care about our level of service and the defence of company ethics otherwise there would have been no comments on this forum. Whilst we appreciate your frustration you are way off the mark. If you wish to contact us and we can ### your case then that is fine. But I can catagorically say that compliance officers explain terms to every single potential client prior to making any agreement. This is something we take seriously as it is only fair to make sure people are aware of what they are agreeing to. A simple bit of interent research can establish the murky "reputation management" world and its connections to various forums.

We have publicly invited, if not urged genuine customers to get intouch with us over a sustained period of time. It would be counter productive for us to plan to not provide any assistance. Our main greivance is false unverified claims from "clients" weather you agree/beleive this has happened is entirely down to you. But I can confirm it has happened on several occasions.

Again all feedback is welcome please send us an email

To Katrina
Public Relations Team
@ The Social Media People
publicrelations@thesocialmediapeople.co.uk

Also, we are aware of an "investigator" we have actually conversed with in the past who claimed they are called Rob & Simon have gained information from us and spoke to us about dealings with a forum. They seem to have recently turned sour after a dispute over human righs and recordings.

Whilst we agree with the fundemantal and long term goal of exposing an amoral individual we have issues with underhand tactics, hacking and the use of money to gain information.

We are urging people to yet again, be careful what you divulge and who to on here, and other online forums

Katrina
Public Relations Team
@ The Social Media People
publicrelations@thesocialmediapeople.co.uk

Katrina,

We have to keep saying this. Your outfit has not provided one shred of evidence in answer to the questions put to you and in fact, far from the ethical and rational response you say you give, you have on occasions, under different guises posted some very vile stuff. Any company, claiming Blue Chip customers, that accuses someone of being a pedophile, without any real proof, real proof, is quite the most despicable and nasty thing one could imagine - and you have done that. Removing those doesn't mean we don't have copies of these. Any such company that calls complainants liars, fraudsters, defamers, libelers and cheats as your company has done must really be viewed by ordinary people as rather bizarre but that is exactly what you have done, rather than deal with complaints in a just and proper way.

That is why, when I did contact you, the 'help' you offered was not to settle this matter amicably, but was met with a demand for us to admit we had made been mistaken regarding the contract and everything else and you wished us to retract anything we said in criticism. To me that is blackmail.

To be honest I don't believe there have been any false accusation or claims made about you. From mine and a few others I have spoken to about the experience they all sound the same grievance.

I would hazard a guess that Katrina is part of the reputation management effort that they have kept on about in recent months but has not been mentioned once by your critics. Just another invention perhaps?

Tom Faulkner your patience and logic deserve applauding, TSMP may be having a new tact in their customer services offensive albeit late in the day with possibly the benefit of professional Internet Reputation Management?

Unfortunately for TSMP/Net 66/ Tom McVey emporium, their customer service performance is like their own documentation, website and interpersonal skills - Lacking!

The phrase 'once bitten, twice shy' is more than appropriate with regard to trying to resolve any issues with TSMP with their 'Do As We Say, Not As We Do' cavalier approach to business. If anybody were in doubt, read Tom Faulkner's posts, including documentation, then you would be under no illusion as to whom has been lied to and who has committed everything from copyright breeches to basic company legislation failure but to name two areas of contention.

It is hardly surprising that individuals who have had an appalling experience with TSMP and gained no satisfaction from taking the 'normal' routes when there is an issue, then start 'probing' and scrutinising TSMP. Their T&C are a point in case, for example:

“8.1 The Company is under no obligation whatsoever to accept the cancellation of the services...”

Is TSMP a Scam? Unethical? Dishonest? Fraudulent? Well TSMP really has done very little to alleviate anybody's concerns with their broken promises, abusive phone calls, threats, appalling administration and happy go lucky approach to customer service, and that is not including the non existent Customer Services Director and other aliases that Tom McVey has used such as being a Solicitor and also legal agent for the company when phoning disgruntled clients to threaten them!

Have TSMP been subject of investigations from Trading Standards? Yes. Have TSMP been subject to advisory notices from the ASA? Yes. Are TSMP being investigated by their own bank? Yes. Why, you may ask, would such a reputable company be subject to a 'home visit' by Trading Standards? Umh! Likewise why would TSMPs own bank be investigating them? Damage limitation possibly? The ASAs involvement in this case was all down to copyright infringement and misrepresentation on their website!

Honesty? Integrity? Professionalism? These are all words which TSMP aspire to, or so they claim. I think it is fair to say that they are lacking in all areas todate.

And one more thing Katrina,

Perhaps an apology on your part for those vile posts made by Steve Jackson (Customer Service Director), McVey and the others that your outfit has posted might go some way towards justifying the stance you are now trying to project. Removing those posts, as you have done, while continuing to demonize posts about the McVeys is pretty hypocritical, don't you think. It certainly gives a very distorted picture of what has gone on on this board - especially for some latecomers to the board.

Good Morning All,

We are happy to report after a system lock down there was absolutely no hacking on our own servers last night. That said, and very suspiciously our complaints board account has came under attack and also a directory listing has been edited. The relevant investigations are being held.

Just to clarify it was mentioned by a regular poster about: "protection of their personal data". Rest assured our secure servers host information securely as you will know as another internet forum who you have regular contact and converse with has posted information on his attempt to access the system, so you, as well as I know that this has not happened.

We are trying to rectify any and all customer service issues at present. We are only asking people to raise any issues with the company. Not insult individuals who work for it, post pictures and mock staff members. This shows a lack of decency and something we would not expect from human beings with morals.

Mr. Faulkner, all of your questions and points will be dealt with on email as there is many issues that need to be looked at.

I would also like to take the opportunity for anybody to contact us and get any issues rectified if they have any.

With no effort for any type of versification from this forum, several allegations of extortion and numerous hacks on our own account we believe the safest and most productive thing for anybody who has issues and would like to gain answers or even ask for an explanation is to get in contact with us direct. There are many unverified allegations on this forum.

Katrina
Public Relations Team
@ The Social Media People
publicrelations@thesocialmediapeople.co.uk

'With no effort for any type of versification from this forum, several allegations of extortion and numerous hacks on our own account we believe the safest and most productive thing for anybody who has issues and would like to gain answers or even ask for an explanation is to get in contact with us direct. There are many unverified allegations on this forum. '

No matter how many times you repeat this, it will not make it true. You are merely hiding behind a smoke screen

I haven't been on here for awhile but wondered where all the Social Media People posts, the rants and raves had gone - been made to remove them no doubt at long last. I see though that they are still inviting genuine guests to get in touch. Well from my experience they shouldn't bother because its an empty gesture.

Amanda Jacobson aka Grace McVey, shows her 'maturity' with the above Notice of Legal Action letter; no doubt with her brother Thomas over her shoulder dictating!

This is a prime example of TSMP/Net 66's lack of professionalism, something which they continually tell us that they are a professional group of companies!

'iockus' is correct in his assumption, from experience as of others, that the offer of 'help' to resolve any issues with TSMP are empty gestures with a sprinkling of deceit!