colnecarcentre 2 Posted February 27, 2017 Not sure if it's a heads up, or a request for advice!!! Since Thursday I have had an influx of phone calls for cars I do not have in stock. Initially I assumed that it was just a wrong number, but, after the third call I started to question each caller until a pattern emerged. A large number of cars for sale at knock down prices, no phone number on the website concerned.... The company name on the website is used car sales (colne) ltd. My company is Colne Car Centre, google, used car sales Colne and we come up as the first garage on the list. This website asks you to register, pay for the car, which is then shipped to the buyer within 5 days, once you have it you have 3 days to inspect and if you don't like it, your money back.... All backed by their money back guarantee. I have contacted the Police and managed to get a log number, but, Fraud action wont log it as no fraud has occurred against me, Trading Standards and Consumer Direst are the same. I am now resorting to telling people who ring to please contact the Police or consumer direct to log it, just to create some form of log about it. After getting on to the website it shows an address in Burnley, which when you google is a 2 bed terraced house. I had a call earlier today from a guy who was at the address trying to find the forecourt to look at the 1281 cars they show as in stock. He confirmed the address is deserted. These cars that are on the website are being advertised somewhere.... AND they will have been lifted off other websites. I have to assume it is a scam... The website is colne-usedcars.com if you get five minutes search and see if any of your stock is on there, if so, please contact whoever you think fit, at least if someone approaches it from that angle it may be enough for someone to do something about it. At the moment I am only getting calls from people wanting to visit and see these silly cheap cars..... The next worry is when I start getting the calls from people who have paid the money and the car has not arrived... Even though I have absolutely no relation to this scam set up... Try telling that to a confused buyer who has been ripped off. Suggestions would be appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SC Derby 259 Posted February 27, 2017 I had someone do similar on eBay last week. Not on this scale though. A Mercedes ML that normally retails at £25k was on for £9k. Got 3-4 calls on it and eventually tracked the eBay ad down, contact them within minutes it was gone. As you say the scary bit was if someone had paid the deposit and then turned up to collect in a few days, could be an interesting conversation. They had my business address as the location etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justina3 518 Posted February 27, 2017 Still amazes me that people fall for these scams, the website in all fairness is not to bad a lot better than some real dealers. Crazy insane situation that the police or trading standards wont act when its clearly a scam so they will happily let people get ripped off then act. yet they climbed all over me last month for my business name act details being out of date, go figure Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mikey 19 Posted February 27, 2017 Have you seen this thread on PH? http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=255&t=1655089 Is this the same? https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07232527/filing-history Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grant8064 219 Posted February 27, 2017 2 hours ago, colnecarcentre said: A large number of cars for sale at knock down prices, no phone number on the website concerned.... The company name on the website is used car sales (colne) ltd. My company is Colne Car Centre, google, used car sales Colne and we come up as the first garage on the list. This website asks you to register, pay for the car, which is then shipped to the buyer within 5 days, once you have it you have 3 days to inspect and if you don't like it, your money back.... All backed by their money back guarantee. There is a guy doing this on FB at the moment. Cars are based in Nottingham (those magical invisible cars) but he advertises in East Sussex groups. The deal sounds the same; pay for the car in full and then it will be delivered, you get three days to inspect and if refused it it will be collected and refunded in full....hahahahaa yer course mate! People are such mugs falling for this I, almost, have no sympathy for them but not everyone is as pessimistic and sceptical of motors as me I guess. Anyway, he had a 2011 E Class Estate 75k in black on there the other day. Nice enough thing, quite fancy one myself which made me notice it. Glass saw it trading at 8k or something...had it up for £3100 with AA inspection, 12 months warranty and the aforementioned free delivery/collection...again, hahahahaha yer of course! I had a bit of fun and traced him down through a bit of stalking because I was bored. Companies house have him as director of seven car companies...six are in forced admin and proceedings are in place. I saved him as a FB seller and now copy and paste the Companies House stuff onto each of his posts via a fake profile I made. No point reporting him to TS, they only seem to want to hurt us good guys, much more productive to wind him up! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
colnecarcentre 2 Posted February 27, 2017 1 hour ago, Mikey said: Have you seen this thread on PH? http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=255&t=1655089 Is this the same? https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07232527/filing-history That's the company details, I managed to find that myself whilst just sat at home. But, thanks for the link and support. Now a matter of getting the pistonheads link to open!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cornish Guy 45 Posted February 28, 2017 Looks like the website has gone already Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
colnecarcentre 2 Posted February 28, 2017 Sometimes I do wonder if it is me. Following the information gleaned (and Thanks for all assistance on that) Consumer Direct have taken all the information. Their next suggestion made me chuckle though, they recommend I register for Telephone Preference Service to stop any future phone calls !!!! Why do I think they haven't just understood fully. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cornish Guy 45 Posted February 28, 2017 Why do we bother!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
colnecarcentre 2 Posted March 15, 2017 Just had a chuckle!!! Watching 'The Sheriffs are coming' on BBC1 this evening. The Court enforcement officer is trying to enforce a Court Judgement on a Used car Dealer. The stock is not in the name that the order is named in.... The stock is owned by Used Car Sales Colne Ltd.... The company that is named on the website I originally commented on. Be interesting if those that parted with money on the original website scam were watching.... as it seems the company has assets!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cornish Guy 45 Posted March 16, 2017 15 hours ago, colnecarcentre said: ... as it seems the company has assets!!! Not according the the last set of accounts filed! Now if you look at his other company it would seem that something strange is going on there aswell. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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