Dodgy telecoms company (Atlas Business Services)

Wobble007

Wobble007

Newbie
Hi Guys, like many before me just searched Google for Atlas Business Services complaints and up you popped!
I too got sucked in by these idiots, believe it or on on April 1st! Should have known better.
However, I kept a paper trail for everything from day one, and they stitched themselves up a treat.
Also spoke with Gteq who offered to take over my line and pay £300 compo to help refund some of my money! In case you don't know, Gteq buy the customers off Atlas 2-3 months after taking them on.
Anyway, after being fobbed off by Atlas in many ways as previous people, I contacted the ombudsman who put together a solution for me to leave Atlas without penalty and also to refund all the money they were charging over top of what was agreed. They add lots of extras on to the bill that you haven't asked for.
Bottom line is I have now left them yesterday to go with TalkTalk, our phone and broadband is up and running nicely. I cancelled the Direct Debit before the last bill was paid, also the Ombudsman has sent a demand to them to refund all that they owe plus compo.
Guess what? They ignored the letter from the Ombudsman first time, the second letter is due to expire any day now, and then it is off to court we go!
I suffered all of the things and more that have been mentioned above so I won't bore you with that lot, but they are a bunch of lying, cheating bastards that need to be stopped, so keep complaining everyone and let everyone know by any means possible. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn as many forums ass you can get on to.
But most of all don't pay them anything, if you are cancel your DD.
PS How did it end up with Watchdog? I am happy to join in with that.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Excellent, you going to court? Not that they'll show with their track record!

Watchdog never got back to us :(
 
biccies

biccies

Well-Known Forumite
If you win your claim you do indeed get costs back. I've recently gone through the process and it's relatively easy.
There's a few steps you need to follow first.
It's easiest if they owe you money, in which case there's some "pre-action protocol" to follow. Basically you need to send a letter clearly stating your complaint and your suggestion for it to be remedied. Clearly state the amount you believe you are owed and clearly state that if you do not receive a response within 14 days you will start court action without further notice. I can send you some letters I used if you like.
If they don't reply, or if their reply is unsatisfactory (i.e. they show no intent to resolve your complaint) you can start a claim. This can be done easily online via www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/
You will have to write out the 'Particulars' of the claim. They will then be served a form in which they can admit part or whole of the claim or defend it. If they defend it then the claim will be transferred to a court and they will send a date out for a hearing.

Through this process it's all too easy to take the high ground. I think it's important to remain reasonable. In my case I offered every possible way out of court action I could think of, I sent three pre-court letters and also included the offer of setting up independent mediation.

I have won the judgement but I am now having to enforce the judgement as the defendant has chosen to ignore the court. This is when things get interesting and there's a number of opportunities available including sending bailiffs, putting charging orders against any property they may own or asking their bank to freeze accounts until they pay you.

Each step does cost money, I believe it was £25 to start the claim and £25 to have the court hearing. However, these just get piled onto the defendants tab.
 
Admin

Admin

You there; behave!
Staff member
Wobble007 said:
Hi Guys, like many before me just searched Google for Atlas Business Services complaints and up you popped!
Click to expand...

With nearly 6000 views, this thread is in the top 100 most-read topics in the General Chat section of Stafford Forum, which is pretty impressive given that it was only started less than 3 months ago! This is clearly a massive help to people all over the country, not just from Staffordshire, so thanks to everyone for registering and providing your input.

It might be worth sending Watchdog a link to this thread and try to convey to them just how many people are being hoodwinked by this company. "Atlas Business Services" is now in the top 20 Google search terms that bring newcomers to this forum, so it is obviously a hot topic!
 
S

Speedstyledrift

Newbie
I am another to add to the list of people mr David Plum (atlas business services) has conned / scammed! My search of the company lead me here.

We never agreed to switching from BT to 'Atlas' and we're only made aware from BT after they had released it to Atlas.

We are now fighting to get our line brought back to BT but this could take a further 20 days. 'Atlas' have now declined once to giving the line back and have now agreed to do so on the 16th December (fingers crossed the actually do)

First communication we received via post was a £1200 invoice for a termination. Which may I add looks as though a 12 year old school student has copy and pasted onto a word document.


We ignored this and today have had our line blocked meaning our card machine and phone line are not useable!


These people really need to be dealt with urgently before they con or scam anyone else! We are loosing customers and earnings left right and centre down to not having a phone line! We have also contacted watchdog and have been in dealings with offcom and BT who are fully aware of this company and there many sister/fake companies.
 
My Name is URL

My Name is URL

Well-Known Forumite
Speedstyledrift said:
I am another to add to the list of people mr David Plum (atlas business services) has conned / scammed! My search of the company lead me here.

We never agreed to switching from BT to 'Atlas' and we're only made aware from BT after they had released it to Atlas.

We are now fighting to get our line brought back to BT but this could take a further 20 days. 'Atlas' have now declined once to giving the line back and have now agreed to do so on the 16th December (fingers crossed the actually do)

First communication we received via post was a £1200 invoice for a termination. Which may I add looks as though a 12 year old school student has copy and pasted onto a word document.


We ignored this and today have had our line blocked meaning our card machine and phone line are not useable!


These people really need to be dealt with urgently before they con or scam anyone else! We are loosing customers and earnings left right and centre down to not having a phone line! We have also contacted watchdog and have been in dealings with offcom and BT who are fully aware of this company and there many sister/fake companies.
Click to expand...

Go to CISAS and you should be able to claim for loss of business on top of all other costs.

Ofcom won't do jack about it.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Speedstyledrift said:
I am another to add to the list of people mr David Plum (atlas business services) has conned / scammed! My search of the company lead me here.

We never agreed to switching from BT to 'Atlas' and we're only made aware from BT after they had released it to Atlas.

We are now fighting to get our line brought back to BT but this could take a further 20 days. 'Atlas' have now declined once to giving the line back and have now agreed to do so on the 16th December (fingers crossed the actually do)

First communication we received via post was a £1200 invoice for a termination. Which may I add looks as though a 12 year old school student has copy and pasted onto a word document.


We ignored this and today have had our line blocked meaning our card machine and phone line are not useable!


These people really need to be dealt with urgently before they con or scam anyone else! We are loosing customers and earnings left right and centre down to not having a phone line! We have also contacted watchdog and have been in dealings with offcom and BT who are fully aware of this company and there many sister/fake companies.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear of your problems, it is frankly shocking that criminals like this are allowed to trade. It also shows massive weaknesses in BT openreach's policies on validating transfers, allowing anything like this with no customer involvement and no recourse after the fact is scandalous. As with everyone else keep pushing, document everything (record calls if possible) and if you are suffering losses see a solicitor. Good luck with it, keep us updated.

I suspect all these companies are just trading names of Reseller UK Ltd, designed to ensure any negative press is attached to the names not the main company. I'm not a business man, I don't understand the laws about closing your business and fleecing all your suppliers before starting up again the following day in your dogs name, but I'm pretty sure how this will all go. The fact that he always uses the same company number must have implications, are they hard to get or something? Beats me, makes him nice and easy to trace though.
 
biccies

biccies

Well-Known Forumite
Unfortunately, if they're trading as a limited company it's going to be very difficult to get money out of them. The limited is 'limited by guarantee' so the owners of the business can not be held liable for debts that the business has. So they could close a Ltd business and say it has no assets which would mean there's no money to pay any debts.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Does closing a ltd company count against you in any way? How can you be made to prove you have no assets? I assume you'd need to account for all the money conned out of people and say you'd spent it on things like staff?
 
I

idle_thinker

Newbie
Signed up to this forum just so that I can add to this topic.

Atlas Business Services almost succeeded in taking money from my business account. Thanks to this forum showing up in search results and a a decent bank manager I was able to stop them from taking nearly £180 from my account this morning!

I can't believe that they are actually able to get away with this. :o
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Thats great news! I was a little unsure when I first posted, I wasn't exactly sure a local forum was the right medium but then facebook is just a black hole. Part of my initial post was a need to vent my spleen, but I also knew the forum got good search results and I wondered if they were targeting our area. Its really nice to see results though, I have no idea if we are just the tip of the iceberg but if you found us then others can too. Its nice to know we've made a difference however small.
 
Ferryman

Ferryman

A few posts under my belt
As I've previously posted, I experienced a lot of problems with Atlas Business Services. I sent complaint emails and letters, which they ignored, I sent a solicitor's letter, which they ignored. I telephoned them, only to be told there is no dispute, I owed them money so pay up. However, it was only when my bank claimed back the direct debit payments (the bank agreed to do this because non of the payments Atlas Business Services had managed to take from my account were for the agreed amount - always much more), that Atlas Business Services finally barred and then cut off my line. I have had to get a new number with BT. Yet each month since, I get an invoice from Atlas Business Services and each month Gteq attempt to take a direct debit payment from my account. In the 7 months I have been in dispute with Atlas Business Services, no-one from that company has ever called to discuss the complaint - only aggressive and threatening calls demanding payment or else!! Ofcom are a waste of time - I've never been able to speak to anyone personally. BT Sales had a lot of unpleasant anecdotes about customers who have had dealings with Atlas Business Services. My advise - do not take cold calls, do not sign up to Direct Debits, DO NOT deal with Atlas Business Services / Atlas Telecom.
 
J

Jane C

Newbie
Had a phone call from Atlas this am saying we were maybe eligible for a communications grant and offered me a great deal. £29.99 a month for phone and free broad band and all free for 6 months. Also new router which they would send us and upgrade line to high speed for £99.00 rather than the normal £600 and they would go in and upgrade line at local telephone exchange. All sounded too good to be true and my husband was out so said I couldn't make decision without him. Put phone down went on google and ended up here. They were meant to phone between 12 & 1 and not a squeak so far but presumably they know if they don't get an instant sale they will be found out. As always if something sounds too good to be true it usually is.
 
Admin

Admin

You there; behave!
Staff member
Jane C said:
Had a phone call from Atlas this am saying we were maybe eligible for a communications grant and offered me a great deal. £29.99 a month for phone and free broad band and all free for 6 months. Also new router which they would send us and upgrade line to high speed for £99.00 rather than the normal £600 and they would go in and upgrade line at local telephone exchange. All sounded too good to be true...
Click to expand...

One has to wonder if Atlas Business Services will notice a decline in sales or a reluctance from the people they cold call, google themselves, and stumble upon this thread. It wouldn't surprise me if that has already happened, in fact, which makes me worry that they might change their modus operandi in order to avoid people discovering this mine of money-saving information!

If anyone feels they may know someone targeted by this company, or there are places where you can post this information where it would be deemed useful, please simply copy and paste this link:

http://www.staffordforum.com/xf/ind...lecoms-company-atlas-business-services.14545/

Or, if it's easier, the same link as plaintext is:

Code: 
http://www.staffordforum.com/xf/index.php?threads/dodgy-telecoms-company-atlas-business-services.14545/

:stafford:
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Tbh I'd expected them to have contacted you by now and threaten you to get this page taken down, it seems to be how they work!
 
Ljk2014

Ljk2014

Newbie
Hi new member alert!! Help please re. Atlas Business Services..........
They cold called my partner at his garage last week, sent an email "Welcome Pack", he never agreed to anything and we've been told by BT that transfer will be on 26th Jan - I started to write them a strong email and then thought I'd google them and found myself here :strange: reading this is scary.... I've not managed to read all the thread and just wondered if, in a nutshell, anyone could advise on the next steps we should do? My chap has a PDQ machine linked to his business phone line and although no bank details were given, are we basically scr**ed now? HELP please
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top