Peaky Parents / Kactus Kids - formerly known as Your Child Freedom Programme (YCFF) and other previous names - Child anxiety programme

[Daaxy]

My son was showing signs of anxiety and I was looking for help for him. I came across an ad on Facebook - Kids Anxiety Disorder Solutions. I watched an hour long webinar and then had a lengthy telephone appointment - this was the point that Peaky Parents was introduced.. The programme comes very close to guaranteeing that your child will be cured within around 8 weeks. it costs either £2500 or £5500 depending on the level of support your child needs. Some aspects of the engagement/sales process with Peaky Parents made me feel uncomfortable - I wanted to do some research on the company before signing up. I came across the link referred to at the start of the thread which has lots of views and information about YCFF, now Peaky Parents.

I would not have come across this information if at the time I had just been researching Peaky Parents. I do not know the reason for the name change.

Radio 4, File on 4, is broadcasting a programme on 21/9/21 at 8pm called Mental Health Profiteers - based on this organisation I believe.

If you are thinking of signing up with Peaky Parents I would suggest you look at the YCFF thread before making a decision.

Concerns expressed about Peaky Parents on the YCFF link include:-

high pressure selling to vulnerable people - specific aim to create a 'marketing machine' to sell this online programme

encouraging vulnerable parents to put themselves under financial pressure to raise funds for the programme

bold statements, approaching a guarantee, that the programme will work, with no evidence to back this up

blaming parents for the programme not succeeding for their child
lack of qualifications held within the organisation

young people giving personal video reviews

lack of professionalism - emotive language designed evoke guilt

criticism of other professional services

no regulation

@NettieRE please report them to the ICO; they must legally respond to all SAR Requests. They probably aren’t even registered with the ICO and this is an immediate problem for them as (I believe!) they legally have to be given the nature of what they do…

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/data-protection-complaints/data-protection-complaints/

@GoodButNaughty They did respond. Threating me and telling me they never record Sam and that it is just more lies from me and my daughter.

@NettieRE I don’t really understand what you mean on this. Recording (or not!) isn’t relevant to a SAR request. It’s nothing to do with it to be honest - if you make a request they must comply. They can’t threaten you on the back of a SAR request. It’s only a suggestion but if it was me I’d telephone the ICO; they are very helpful. Explain the situation and state that you want and need to receive all the details the company hold on you (that’s the purpose of a SAR!) and your daughter as you are concerned about what they are using your data for. If they can’t find them registered they will contact them for being in breach of not being registered.

@GoodButNaughty helpful!
I’ll read them the response I got from “William” the “operations manager” when I made the SAR request.

“I don’t really understand what you mean on this. Recording (or not!) isn’t relevant to a SAR request. It’s nothing to do with it to be honest - if you make a request they must comply.”

The reason it doesn’t make sense is because they don’t make sense. You ask a simple and professional question, or request and SAR and they get defensive and attack you. That’s how they operate. So I’ll call the ICO tomorrow and read the nasty email I received for simply making an SAR request.

@GoodButNaughty i was going to fill out the online form at the ICO ..but the holidays. Calling us easier. Thanks for the tip.

@3xteens Hiya. Using Themumsnet shows once again they have completely lost the plot. I also agree they are not equipped to help the people they are making big promises to in their marketing. It is concerning as we know families want help, not more problems. I’m glad they aren’t charging families loads up front and encouraging credit card debt anymore. We all know how that went. They promised your child would be cured of anxiety or the money back. You felt that you were safe dropping loads of money because you took them at their word and believed they would be honest and do what they said. This chat and others have shown that when families asked for a refund because they were not seeing the results , or they had concerns about the program, they were accused of not doing the work and denied a refund. I’m glad nobody will pay the ridiculous amount up front. Then, when they see the program is rubbish, they can stop paying the monthly fee. I don’t want other families paying the £6,000 or £5,000 they charged in the past.

I'm going to put a thread on Site Stuff asking for MN position on themumsnet.

Has anyone seen their claim on their website:

‘as featured by the BBC’

…this was only featured by BBC as they did an expose on their unscrupulous business practices!! Time to get my friend to go back to the ASA I think..!

https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/tomwill--holdings--ltd-g21-1116080-tomwill--holdings--ltd.html

@GoodButNaughty
Has anybody found a positive BBC story on them? I can’t. When I google BBC and Young Vibes it goes straight to the Profiteers story. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zt9y

So these loony people are trying to turn the BBC story, that absolutely exposed them as profiteers who take full advantage of the struggles of other human beings, into a marketing tool? You think it can’t get any more bonkers and then…they do it again. Disturbing. Is anybody else highly concerned with their mental health? Nobody of a sound mind would do most of what they do, but this BBC stunt? How do we report it to the ASA?
They hide behind fake reviews on Trustpilot and now are using a story that demolished their credibility to promote themselves again, hoping that busy parents don’t google the BBC report.

@PipMumsnet this company is using the credibility of Mumsnet to keep their madness alive. This is twisted. Somebody with these unscrupulous tactics around children petrifies me.

I cannot look at their website, their Facebook or any of their marketing because I feel enraged. But look at what I just saw on trust pilot. Not sure what it means but maybe trust pilot is finally catching on.

If trust pilot believes what it says, why don’t they take the garbage down? Didn’t Sam write fake reviews for her children’s book? I feel like I read that on one of these threads.

The young vibes trustpilot removal is sadly very old…it has been like this for some time.

Yes she did write a review for her own books. It might still be there.

Hi does anyone have a copy of a recent Facebook Add from this company or past ? I’m trying to get the ombudsman to investigate this & they are basically saying I am making it up & no proof your child would be healed in 8 weeks. Thanks in advance

@Ameliaclaire1978 - can you see if Wayback Machine (which trawls website and captures content) has done any prior screen grabs of them??

Their stance was that your.child would never struggle with anxiety again after doing their programme. I'll see what I can find.

@Ameliaclaire1978 I believe it said it usually takes 8 weeks.

I have gone back to Wayback machine but I couldn’t find a grab of the promise that it works or money back. But we know how that goes. When you ask for a return, they say it’s your fault and not theirs and deny the refund anyway.

On one hand I can’t believe they’re using the BBC story as positive advertising! And on the other I am not surprised. I thought I’d done something good, getting reporters to show them for who they are, I’d never considered they’d find a way to profit from it. I am going to let my contacts at the BBC know but I suspect there’s nothing they can do.

You did a good thing. The BBC report was excellent. Hopefully people google the BBC report and see that it is definitely not positive.

It really is wild that she set up a page called the mum’s net for children. How long has it all been going on for? I posted on the first ever thread and it seems ages ago. I wonder how the mum who posted the OP on that first thread feels about it all. If she’s still following any of it.

Good call on ICO.

@PipMumsnet
could you please update us to the fact that they are using ‘the mums net’ to feed off the good name of mums net? It will potentially end up damaging your reputation.
Even if it’s just to confirm you have acknowledged the subject and mums net are looking into it.
I have not seen any comment to see that you have even read the comment.
Thanks

@Comfysofa78 I raised a thread on Site Stuff and they have acknowledged there. (But no response yet as such as to what they think about it)
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/4986634-dubious-company-using-mums-net-name-mn-position?reply=132412263