Sunday night had a nice steady run down the M6, lovely evening, and ended up at Runcorn by 12 mn.
Monday a.m. nice and bright, and had my tea and toast from Chris at the Canteen while waiting for the Office to open, which was fortunately early which meant that I was back on the road North again by 8.30 a.m.
Couple of real nutcases on the road, a young lad in a go faster toy who was making use of every inch of the road, overtaking - undertaking, just madness, other man was in a Renault cargo van, who overtook as the M74 narrowed from three lanes to two, on a downhill stretch and was doing over 100 mph and had to brake savagely to get into line behind a slow moving lorry - another example of stupidity.
Made it to Glasgow and home with plenty time to go for a swim while the pool was quiet.
Tuesday a.m.
Sitting quietly working away at home when I had a call from the impressive sounding "National Crime Research Group", purporting to be carrying out a Crime Survey on behalf of the Home Office, and suggesting that four participants in this area would be eligible to receive a free security alarm system for a home. I did tell the caller that if she was selling anything I did not want to know, however she insisted that the survey was legitimate !! and I decided to play along. She asked a number of questions about alarm systems, security, etc, saying that it would make sense to have an alarm system monitored by a National monitoring system as the Police no longer responded to domestic alarm calls. Her next move was to suggest that a Security manager from S A S ( Safe and Secure Security Systems) should call me to explain further.
SO - a few minutes later a young lady from SAS in Glasgow called and attempted to persuade me to accept a "free" alarm system, however I had to pay a "one off" monitoring fee and also for the installation only - so the young lady was sent on her way rejoicing.
Between the two calls I had done a quick search on the Web and there are a number of derogatory comments regarding both the National Crime Research Council - which s just a marketing company with fancy name and the Safe and Secure alarm company- whose selling and marketing ploys leave a lot to be desired. There are a number of people around the UK who are regretting ever having contact with the Company.
The Police Community Safety Department ./ Crime Prevention Officers are interested in any company who bend the truth, etc., use out of date statistics, and in some cases even falsely quote Police Officers when selling.
In all cases people are advised to use recognised Alarm Companies who install to British Standards and EU standards - when in doubt, contact the Police and seek advice.
Monday a.m. nice and bright, and had my tea and toast from Chris at the Canteen while waiting for the Office to open, which was fortunately early which meant that I was back on the road North again by 8.30 a.m.
Couple of real nutcases on the road, a young lad in a go faster toy who was making use of every inch of the road, overtaking - undertaking, just madness, other man was in a Renault cargo van, who overtook as the M74 narrowed from three lanes to two, on a downhill stretch and was doing over 100 mph and had to brake savagely to get into line behind a slow moving lorry - another example of stupidity.
Made it to Glasgow and home with plenty time to go for a swim while the pool was quiet.
Tuesday a.m.
Sitting quietly working away at home when I had a call from the impressive sounding "National Crime Research Group", purporting to be carrying out a Crime Survey on behalf of the Home Office, and suggesting that four participants in this area would be eligible to receive a free security alarm system for a home. I did tell the caller that if she was selling anything I did not want to know, however she insisted that the survey was legitimate !! and I decided to play along. She asked a number of questions about alarm systems, security, etc, saying that it would make sense to have an alarm system monitored by a National monitoring system as the Police no longer responded to domestic alarm calls. Her next move was to suggest that a Security manager from S A S ( Safe and Secure Security Systems) should call me to explain further.
SO - a few minutes later a young lady from SAS in Glasgow called and attempted to persuade me to accept a "free" alarm system, however I had to pay a "one off" monitoring fee and also for the installation only - so the young lady was sent on her way rejoicing.
Between the two calls I had done a quick search on the Web and there are a number of derogatory comments regarding both the National Crime Research Council - which s just a marketing company with fancy name and the Safe and Secure alarm company- whose selling and marketing ploys leave a lot to be desired. There are a number of people around the UK who are regretting ever having contact with the Company.
The Police Community Safety Department ./ Crime Prevention Officers are interested in any company who bend the truth, etc., use out of date statistics, and in some cases even falsely quote Police Officers when selling.
In all cases people are advised to use recognised Alarm Companies who install to British Standards and EU standards - when in doubt, contact the Police and seek advice.
17 comments:
Thank you for your warning.
I also got the initial call and was able in the 3 minute interval before the salesman came on to read your blog, thus saving me the hassle of a frought conversation with him.
I just had the this lot on the phone and found this post during my searches as I queried the caller. I thought it funny that 'National Crime Research Group' gave me the SAS website as their website address when I asked the caller for a website. This blogs point is valid for any cold calls by anyone, ask for identifying information about them ( such as an address, website address and telephone number ), those who are less than completely legitimate will always fall over at some point.
Just had this 'National Crime Research Group' on the phone to me, so like the previous comments decided to check up on them on the internet.
They sound legitimate at first, asking if you own your own home, do you have an alarm system etc. When they started to ask me what type of alarm I had, I started to get suspicious and told them I didn't think I should be answering these sort of questions on the phone and the chap couldn't get off the phone quick enough! There was a lot of background voices making it sound as though they were speaking to other 'customers' - but then how easy would that be to rig up as a sound system! Now I have read other peoples comments I am glad they went away!
I've had the call from these people today. They imply they are representing the National Crime Prevention Service. I played along as I wanted to get the details in order to report them to the telephone preference service - and sure enough someone from Safe and Secure rang a few minutes later. He admitted the link between the two companies, so I was able to report both to TPS.
Just had a call myself. Alarm bells rang (gedit?). Thanks to this blog I will telling them what they can do when they call back.
Thankyou for your posts, just ignoring their return call!
Just had this lot on the phone. A lady speaking from an evidently busy call centre. Questions: "Am I a member of a neighbourhood watch?", "Am I a home owner?" - so far so good. Then the offer of a home security system for £1.
I started to get suspicious, "Hang on, can you tell me a bit more about this offer?", to which she said these exact words: "Blib blib blib blib." and hung up! Takes all sorts I suppose.
i work for this group im 18 years old and have rent to pay etc you understand. I have 2 jobs this being one of them. its not as bad as some people may think even if it is a little harrasing. what i mean by this is that wer not trying to flog anyone a £5067406 kitchen theyre burgular alarms and you can go out and buy one monitering fee included for around £2000 (if your property risk assesment is minimal) when the customer receives a call back from an advisoer they are told about the one off monitering fee and it is at this point the customer can say with all due respect F*ck off. however if they are happy to go ahead then fine ..... im just saying i wouldnt call it a scam but i really do appreciate where you people are coming from and if i were in your shoes then it wouldnt be for me either.
I was contacted today by the "National Crime Research". I thanked him for the call, then asked the caller from the N.C.R for his name. Then there was a silent pause and then he decided to disconnect the call.
Just had a call as well. As it was from a withheld number I was immediately suspicious. As usual with callers who ask me to confirm who I am, I asked where they got my details from and I was told 'The National Database'. I then got into a discussion about what national database and the woman didn't understand this concept and just repeated herself. I pointed out there was no such thing and we then got into a brief argument before I hung up.
Scary that commercial organisations have access to such information.
I have cats that wander around the streets during the day! When I am in I leave the front door open for them to come in/out. I don't think the Nat. Crime Research Council will look too happily on that (nor would my insurance company if they knew !!). However ours is a quiet road with a locked gate at one end, so we don't get any through traffic.
I have just had a call from these guys, but thanks to this blog I will be aware when the follow-up call comes.
(Needless to say I won't refer to my open door policy !).
Just had the follow up phone call. I explained to 'Catherine' that I had read up on the organisation on the web and they don't come out favourably.
She said "ok" and we terminated the conversation !
Peter says.....They are down in S. Bucks now with the same routine! So glad I saw your comments..."Only £1 to pay, as it's a charity (they said they can't give it free, by law!!) So "Mr Lewis" rang back as predicted, though they did leave a phone number....SAS Security..I told him that "there was no such thing as a free lunch", at which he got very defensive...and I terminated the call. ...One must really be cautious of cold calls!
Just had a call from the National Crime Research Group saying I'd been selected to have a free wireless monitored home alarm system fitted. One-off monitoring fee was all I would have to pay. Then had a call from Safe and Secure (SAS) in Dundee saying they could get someone round to do the home survey in less than 50 minutes (!!!). I explained I was not interested but she was insistent. Already suspicions were raised but the clincher came when she insisted that both me and my wife had to be there. I said that was impossible and I goy a sob story about "company policy" and there it ended. The phone call was ended - by SAS!!! BEWARE of this - be very aware!
Just had the call - my beef was actually the scare mongering nature - the caller was VERY "casual" and ill informed, just talking in generalities about how crime by young poeple has risen since new govt etc. But she also kept telling me she had only been in the job 2 days..... I knew it was rubbish (and is it true that you get no response now to wall mounted burglar alarms??) and basically told her that I thought she was just scaremongering and so she could go off and scare someone else....
I have also just received a call from this outfit. By way of explanation for what happened, I have cancer (I'm not looking for the sympathy vote here) and they caught me with my usual, cynical guard down. Normally I'm just rude to these callers who I have not invited to disturb my day.
I answered the standard questions re. Neighbourhood Watch and if I had an existing alarm system and 'fell' for the 'free' offer and another call. By now, not really paying attention properly, almost before I realised it I had given them my surname and postcode. All that was missing was when would be a suitable time for them to 'visit' me when the house was vacant. Standard cynisism back up and running!
At the second call I was much more wary and challenged them on their background etc. I asked for their website address, with no real intention of pursuing matters and was asked when would be a suitable time for them to call back. When I told them a couple of weeks, the young lady immediately lost inerest and said all the 'free' systems would be gone by then and hung up.
Moral of the story from my point of view is to continue to be rude (not swear) at these callers who seem to ignore the TPS with impunity even if it means getting on the wrong side of my wife!
It's not a scam really...they make everything clear to you and you don't have to do anything and when they give you a price for the monitering, you can decline the offer and still be left with a risk assessment and security tips. You're under no obligation throughout, so anything that happens is entirely up to you! How can they take money from you unless you give it to them? The system plus the monitering would run up 2 or 3 grand, but this is a good offer because you just need to pay for the monitering plus £1. The reason they call people is because nobody thinks "I need to buy a security system" unless they are burgled, by then it would obviously be too late. If you don't want it say no, but don't scare other people from taking up the offer by scaring them into thinking that if they get called by these people, they are somehow going to be scammed and lose money for no return. Nothing can happen unless you let it!
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