I am really angry at this company sending me loads of faxes and after neraly 45 minutes I'm still printing them off!!!!

[lemonice]

I'm registered with the Fax Preference Servcice which means i shouldn't get faxes...but i cam edown at 8.20 this morning to find a fax through.


Because I only have a phone fax, I have to feed through one sheet at a time to print...there doesn't seem to be any way of not printing them once they are in the memory so I'm feeding sheet after sheet into the machine and it's repeatedly printing this TOTALLY UNWANTED FAX from these people

Utilize PLC
Scottish Mutual House
27-29 North Street
Hornchurch
Essex
RM11 1RS
www.utilize.co.uk
on the fax is an 0870 number to ring to cancel the faxes (doesn't say how much that costs to ring)

on their website there is a number which I've rung once and got voicemail so I left a message.

Saying I wanted them to stop sending faxes (I'm up to 20 of the same one from last night so far)and I will be invoicing them for the ink (which is very expensive you can only print about 75 sheets for 18.00)paper and my time.

I left my number for them to call me back.

I rang again when i discovered I still have more faxes to print before i can use the machine and they have turned off the voicemail and put it to answerephone and it invites you to leave a message but a recording cuts in advertising their services.

I am so angry, I've already wasted an hour on this company that i've never heard of and contacted me when they are not sup[posed to and on their fax they claim to be Investors in people.


Does anybody know how I can reprogramme my fax so i don't have to print off any more of this sheet

It is a Phillips magic Voice 2

If you've read this far thanks and well done...spitting feathers..

[Twiglett]

can you not try to turn your fax machine off .. it can't have a huge memory buffer can it?

[lemonice]

Twiglett that hasn't made any difference...I am at my wits end here I've been on it for nearly 2 hours,(in between emailing them and Philips to ask how to cancel the memory)

At this rate it will have used up all my ink which normally lasts me months!!!

I am ssssssssssssooooo angry...

Thanks though

[lemonice]

I can't believe this there is just nothing I can do to stop these faxes they must have been sending them all night

At this rate i will have to buy a new machine HELP

[MrsBubsDeVere]

I would DEFINATELY invoice them for the ink. Cheeky buggars. Is the fax any good, or is a load of bumf and advertising?

[lemonice]

It's the same page they've sent however many times..it's about network security for PCs the company does repairs and such like claim on this fax to be Investors in People but I notice there is nothing about that on their website...

I'm going to try switching it off for the rest of the day to see if that clears its memory, but of course it won't receive any legitimate calls then either...

Thanks for listening though, i can't believe i've wasted my morning on this.

[billiejo]

Hi lemonice, I've also heard that there is a law which states that that if you recieve junk of any description from any company which you have not asked for, you can can CHARGE THEM storage costs, PER DAY, until they come and collect!!! charge them for both the ink/paper/ leccy and also storage.

[MrsBubsDeVere]

I can imagine how annoying it is,especially if you are waiting for something, or wanting to send a fax yourself. Have you tried getting in touch with the fps, they could actually take this company to court etc, especially if you keep the amount of faxes that you have received etc.

[lemonice]

I'm complaining tomorrow to the Fax Preference Service, though it says something on their website about not being legally enforceable except by the Information Commissioner.

Of course the number they print on the fax is an 0870 number.

This is the email I've sent them (I doubt they'll reply..it probably means I'll get junk emails too)

I have so far spent an hour and a half trying to clear my Phillips Magic 2 fax phone of your unwanted faxes received overnight 6/7 August 2005.

I've no idea how many were sent (we are registered with the Fax Preference Service) tp prevent unsolicited faxes so we should not have received any.

As a small business we are very careful where we spend our money and we do not like wasting money, time or resources on disreputable companies such as your own.

I can't imagine how you think that sending identical faxes repeatedly over the course of the night would do anything other than ensure I publicise your poor business practices as far and wide as I can.

Perhaps you would like to send an engineer at your expense and with spare ink cartridges to clear my fax machine so that I can resume my normal business.

I cannot believe that you have been awarded Investors in People and shall be verifying this fact as it is printed on your unwanted faxes.

I shall be invoicing you for my time and the ink/paper used to resolve this problem and will take it to the Small Claims Court if necessary.


As I say they will probably laugh when they receive that...

[MrsBubsDeVere]

That's sounds really good. Is the machine still switched off?

[lemonice]

Yes I think I'll have to leave it off at least twelve hours because i can't find out how long the back up period is...it doesn't say on the Phillips website, other brands do and some retain the info for up to 72 hours but i can't do that because customers telephone me.

I emailed Philips but they sent an auto reply saying they would email within two days!

So much for a leisurely bit of work before breakfast and then a quiet read of the papers.

[binkie]

lemonice, your message of protest is very good. Hits all the right buttons.

Despicable spam-scam, isn't it. "Oh such a pity you were inconvenienced by us, madam, now of course if you had our proprietary unwanted-fax-protection security system installed this would never have happened ..."

Perhaps there's an industry body you can lodge a complaint with too?

[GeorginaA]

lemonice, what was the 0870 number? You can use this search site (Say No To 0870 ) to see if there's an alternative geographic number to ring.

[lemonice]

I found the companies geographic number on their website and rang and left a message expressing my anger.

When I couldn't stop the excessive number of faxes they put through last night still printing I rang them again to make sure my message was heard and they switched the phone over to a recorded message from the voicemail which i'd been connected to earlier...my guess is there was someone there, but he didn't want to answer me.

The 0870 number is to ring to say you don't want faxes sent , but they should know that anyway as i'm registered with fax Preference and they are supposed to check.

The annoying thing is I don't know how many faxes my machine stores and so I've had to switch it off for 24 hours.

[GeorginaA]

Hmm, I was guessing maybe the 0870 number was a different office though (they might use a different company for their spam faxes?). Worth a try to look it up to see if it's a different number given?

[GeorginaA]

The other thing to try is BT - see if they'll block the number for you - they do that with nuisance calls don't they? Would nuisance faxes be dealt with in the same way?

[lemonice]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

I switched the fax phone back on this morning and these faxes are still in the memory.

I rang the company and had a rant, but no she couldn't possibly disturb anyone in their business meeting and to top it all i have had a reply to my email

Thank you for taking the time to email us.



We only send faxes to clients which have either used our services or enquired about them in the past. If you no longer wish to receive these faxes can you please give us your fax number so we can amend our records?



We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

I have never heard of this company and I still can't use my fax machine unless i go out and buy another one....


I am so angry, does anyone know how I can clear the memory...it was switched off for about 22 hours and that didn't do it. I can't switch it off now because i use it for incoming phone calls.

[binkie]

I am SO cross for you!

Now that it's office hours again, does the Fax Preference Service have a helpline?

Does your fax machine have a divert feature - can you divert their *&!"$(! faxes back to them?

Can you call Phillips now?

I realise it's cost & time, but I would call again in response to their e-mail and refuse to get off the phone until they can quote you your "enquiry" which led to these faxes. As I am now wondering whether you have been the victim of something malicious.

[lemonice]

Finally cleared the fax, at 15p a minute helpline rates.

Also finally got the man who sent the email reply on the phone and he made me even more angry, claiming that i must have been a customer or made an enquiry (which i haven't)and that he couldn't care less about being reported to the Fax Preference Service and that his fax couldn't have been sent more than once..an impossibility so therefore my fax must be broken

I suggested he look at his files to see why he had sent anything to me and also look at the way the machine was set up to send faxes on saturday. He drove me mad. Obviously.

And all this in between listening to a terrible recoreded message about the disaster which may befall you if your office equipment isn't working or some one gets in to your secure system...

If anyone has a philips magic 2 voice and needs to clear the memory

OK45
OK7227
OKright arrow
OK

It won't clear it unplugging it as it has an infinite period of recall!!!

Thanks for sympathising I know this must be the most boring thread ever

[MrsBubsDeVere]

Are you still going to report them and send them an invoice for your ink etc?

I certainly would, he sounds like a right a**e hole, hope you gave him what for.

[lemonice]

I have reported them

It seems pretty much like a waste of time though as he cockily said do it we'll just get a letter saying you made the report.

He also said it was impossible to send more than one fax to one person

My response was well someone has made an error setting up the faxes

his reply that's not possible

No apology

He is supposedly going to see if i'm on their database and whether any other clients either received faxes on saturday and had too many or didn't receive any

I suggested i probably got them all

Will I hear back from him? Do you think so?

[lemonice]

He rang back and said i had made an enquiry for a qoute for thermal fax paper (a product I have never used)and that the account mangager no lnoger works for them

I said he must have taken this lead from a publicly available source and he said that couldn't possibly have happened.

He is sending me a cheque for 15.00

Although he values his own time at "a considerable amount"

[MrsBubsDeVere]

Are you happy with getting a cheque for that amount?

[Twiglett]

don't hold your breath lemonice .. that's one cheque I think you'll never see

[lemonice]

I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't come, but I have now got his direct number.

I don't think it is enough but I shall be lucky to get that. It is amazes me that companies who operate like this have any business.

Despite the fact that I have had loads of work on today I am such a stubborn nerd when it comes to things like this that I did find a reference to them on the web...near the end of this page dating from 2003 and quite clearly their get out clause is to say you have contacted them 9in my case rubbish) And he had a guess at a product I might have been wanting thermal fax paper.

Spamming Companies

which makes quite interesting reading (if you are really bothered by these things)

Twiglett how is your sink/hood/kitchen ?

[SoupDragon]

Post him the printed faxes with insufficient postage on them.