C.A.R Community Awards Register: Scam or not? You decide..
** Stop Press 10 Feb – Office of Fair Trading is seeking a court order against the company behind the Community Awards Register **
I guess that just about answers the question, don’t it? Read on for the back story:
Scenario: Letter comes through addressed to you at your home address. Oh, look, it seems you’ve won a ‘Community Award’ – one of a range of tasty prizes.
All you have to do to claim your prize is call an expensive premium-rate phone number which (according to the paperwork) will cost you £9.00 plus your network charge for calling or texting that number. Who knows how much that would be in addition?
I have a depressing feeling that this, like those moronic quizzes on daytime TV, is legal – so long as it delivers some prize to someone, somewhere. After all, by calling a premium line number of your own free will, you’re clearly entering into the contract, right? It’s just a form of ‘gaming’ isn’t it?
A quick bit of research leads me down a depressingly long rabbit hole.
Come with me on that jouney for a moment.
Click here to view map
The first thing we learn is that the company behind this is McIntyre & Dodd Marketing ltd whose postcode, incidentally, isn’t what they put on the mailout.
That postcode points to The Recycling People in Ross-on-Wye (right).
The correct postcode should of course be HR9 5PQ (according to an online business directory entry). Sorry, no, it’s actually this field here, (according to the company’s own website). Did I say there? I meant here (according to what looks like their own business entry in Google maps). That’s a bit more like it.
Next we find that the Advertising Standards Authority ruled against this company in 2007. What for? I hear you cry. Click the link and read for yourself. Suffice it to say, in the words of the ASA, “The mailing breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).”
Today, we discover that the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) is seeking a court order to stop McIntyre and Dodd Marketing Ltd stating:
‘Our case is that these promotions encourage people to believe they have won a valuable prize when, we argue, the plain fact of the matter is that people are being sold a low value product. We have been unable to reach agreement with the companies or secure voluntary agreement that distribution will cease. So we think the best thing now is for the High Court to decide the matter.’
McIntyre and Dodd Marketing Ltd are now part of a group of companies called DM Plc. Scratch the surface of any of these companies and before long you’re looking at a whole end-to-end database building, direct marketing operation designed (clearly very successfully) to collect names, addresses and postcodes from people entering ‘quiz’ sites and ‘prize draws’ online.
And.. yes, you’ve guessed it! This data then pumps out the other end in the form of direct mail ‘prize draws’ – just like the one you received today. The funny part is that you almost certainly gave them permission in the first place. The one thing these people aren’t is stupid enough to fall foul of the opt-in laws around direct marketing and database building, rest assured.
Here’s how DM Plc’s shares break down and here are most of the people who get the lion’s share of your money. And this gives you just a tiny idea of how much of your money is involved in just one of the companies in the group. Market capitalisation (value) of DM Plc is around £13.5 million – a substantial part of it, no doubt, gained from mailing ‘games of skill and chance’ to your door with premium rate phone numbers for you to call. Take a closer look at Reuters entry for the company and bios of the top 5 people here.
So is the Community Awards Register a scam? You, the Googling Great British Public – and now the High Court – will decide.
From an online reputation viewpoint, the fact that 500 people visited this post yesterday and today after being spontaneously and independently moved to type the words “community awards register scam” into Google is very revealing.
What would you have to do in your business to send people searching Google for your co. name plus the word ’scam’ at the end? And would you even know if they were?
And perhaps strangest of all is this full page ad from the online New York Times paid notices section in 2008. What in the world might be the link between that direct mail marketing company name and this one? Answers on a postcard… 
SCAM….. i recived letter saying i’d won, normally never sucked in by this type of rubbish, but i phoned anyway, my prize was the camera, which never turned up, only month later SUPRISE same letter posted again,,, TOTAL SCAM stay away
Thank you for your comment, N. So, first comment says ‘Scam – no prize for the £9 (or more) call. Any offers? Any happy customers?
IM A 75 YR OLD IVE HAD SO MANY LETTERS FROM THIS SCAM FIRM,,,I SENT TWICE AND TWICE GOT RETURNS ,, 1 A THOUSAND POUND VOUCHER TO SPEND IN SOME OBSCURE STORE, WHICH I COULDN’T FIND ,AND NEVER HEARD OF,, No 2 A FOUR DAY MED CRUISE WHICH WAS SO PUZZLEING I THREW IT IN THE BIN,,, THEY ARE STILL AT IT THIS WEEK,,
Its a defo scam!! there driving me mad!! Its all the time i’v ignored the letters time and time again!! when i reseaved my 1st letter, i was taking in for about 20 seconds, it would be so nice to get some cash!! i have three small children and ooooh what could we do with all that lovely cash!!! Nothing coz its rubbish, i thought to myself as i saw the price of the £9 phone call!! but it actuly feels like these people are storking me!!! So stay away! bin them all!! or use them to light the fire!so please Don’t get sucked in!!
This is a major scam. The police should investigate and prosecute. I wrote to this scam asking to see proof of the prizes and never got a reply, as if I would. Also can’t find any trace of the “Roger Woods” mentioned.
McIntyre & Dodd Marketing ltd is the name of the company behind the scam.
Thanks for your comment, Scambuster.
I guess what the comments here are saying is that people haven’t seen any of the ‘prizes’ they’ve rung up to claim, right? If that were the case, then I presume it would make it a scam. If, on the other hand these people simply made money out of charging people £9 for a shit camera, then it wouldn’t be a scam; it would just be a rip-off (so long as the goods were ‘fit for purpose’).
McIntyre and Dodd Marketing Ltd are listed as based here: HR9 5DB. This postcode is home to a group of companies which all appear to be connected (at least in terms of the kinds of business they conduct). What’s for sure is that this group of companies is behind this, and earlier versions of this, ahem, ‘promotion’.
FYI the group, DM appears to be a PLC. So business must be good, eh?
I just got a final reminder through the post this morning and it was signed by Roger Davies, so Mr Moore has disappeared. Trouble is there is a Roger Davies associated with good causes so is this now another smoke screen this con artist is throwing up?
I don’t know about you folks, but I approach all on and offline ‘offers’ that I didn’t ask for with 100% cynicism.
There’s a simple step-by-step guide to not getting ripped off and it looks like this:
Step 1) Ignore ALL ‘offers’ that you didn’t ask for. That’s right: phone, mail, email – even face to face. No matter how much you’d secretly like it to be true
There is no Step 2, sorry. It’s as simple as that.
The only reason that these kinds of things exist is because there are so many people out there who want to believe that maybe, just maybe their turn has come to be lucky. Those people are so desperate to win, to receive something, to feel better that they’ll suspend any judgment. If I really wanted to gamble £9, I’d do it via a legally-controlled form of gambling like the lottery where there’s no grey area for people to hide in and the payouts are real, proven phenomena.
My cousin, in her 80’s received letters, including a final reminder. She has no computer, but, thankfully, I have.
Having find this site I have warned her about this scam.
Good thinking, Batman!
Got my final reminder this morning it went in the bin with the rest of their crap they should be prosecuted
i received my final reminder this morning asking me to send a form back allowing them to pass my orize to another person,my grandson said you would win a camera,probably a throw away one,chuck it in the bin,i have and am not so stupid that i would believe i could possibly win something that i didnt even know i had entered
My father died last year and I currently have all his post redirected here. In an effort to remove his name from companies mailing lists I’ve been calling them up which is how I found this website. This is complete and utter nonsense. Especially seen as how he has died when they allocated the first prize!
Received 5th letter from this company saying”final reminder” to claim a prize-how can you win a prize when you have never entered their competion! They make their money on the horrendous phone charges and you will receive nothing-too many of these scams-bin them!!
Bin all their letters-you cannot win anything you have not entered for-total scam-they make all their money on the horrendous phone charges
received final reminder today went in the bin
these con people should be convicted of robbery
and be stript of all assets
Thanks Everyone!
You,and the editorial, have just saved me £9. Isn’t it awful that we need to be reminded that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and that if it looks to good to be true – it probably is!
I was dithering after receiving the final reminder, was picturing a nice fat cheque arriving, but you’ve all saved me from myself!
Thanks for your comment, S. Glad it helped you to think twice about it.
Am so glad i looked this up on web site – it looks so official the letter,i have got my final reminder a few weeks ago,it says i have until the 28th feb 2 claim my prize. Like steph i was thinking about replying so thanks a lot 4 all the comments that have been left, is it it any wonder old people lose thousands or even their savings when company’s r around like these thieving people thanks again !!!
I have picked up this final reminder notice from these reprehensible people at my mum’s home. She is 94 and worries terribly about final reminders – thinking she has to respond. I agree with the responder who said that the police should be investigating this bunch of unscupulous thieves – the old and the vulnerable must be protected from this deceitful and misleading mail.
Thanks for your comment, Irene. I find it incredible that this company is part of a Plc worth £13.5 million – all engaged in the same kind of business and still doing it right up to the point that the Office of Fair Trading takes them to the High Court to try to stop them. Glad you found this and can reassure your mum that it’s probably not worth her making that call.
return all post to them without any postage paid!
Thanks for info. I too received letter 14/01/10 + final reminder to claim before 28/02/10. Hope OFT + Courts exterminate them like vermin!
[...] and Dodd have a track record of this kind of ‘offer’, most recently with their ‘Community Awards Register‘. Spot the similarities? Of course you [...]
Nuke the b-stards till they glow!! and the slant eyed people who built the cameras!!
i to have had these ruddy mail, i read them then tear them up, i read them for one reason they say this is the final reminder and my prize will go to some one else,i have been having them for over 12 months,iwonder how many more they are going to send me, as you all rightly say BIN THEM but please remember to remove your address before the BIN. THANKS AGAIN HARRY.
I have also been ripped off by this scheme scam I sent off a chq to cover post and packing but as yet not receive my camera
I shredded the letter then posted it back in a tatty envelope to M & D Ltd, po box 107 ross on wye HR9 5PQ and I’ve just realised I forgot to put a stamp on it.
Doh! You numbnutz. Next time, you’ll put a brick in there and forget to put stamps on it (rollseyes)
First phone McIntyre & Dodd Marketing Ltd
Tel: (01989) 769797
and ask them to remove you from their list.
Next complain formally and send the letter from the “Prize Register” to the
Advertising Standards Authority
Mid City Place
71 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6QT
Tel: 020 7492 2222
E-mail: enquiries@asa.org.uk
The High Court should confiscate their money (all the millions they have scammed from a gulible public) and donated it to charity.
The directors should then be locked up for 5 years, where they won’t need it anyway. Personally I would just like to meet them face to face. They simply must be stopped.
John Barnes
I cant believe that my husband who is elderly and has learning difficulties has just now phoned these ‘people’ and has now spent £9.00 we can ill afford to get what? Reading all the comments from people, I
Following on from previous comment, I am sorry that I did not look for the right information beforehand and that my husband had not made the fatasl phonecall, I want these companies stopped and people like us need to inform the authorities every time a letter is received from them
… I know, Lesley. You’re speechless (lols). I don’t blame you. I’ll finish your sentence for you: “…I now believe that these greedy people should be ashamed of the way they exploit weak and vulnerable people.”
Something like that?
Too late I rang them this morning didnt read the small print just paid £9 for the call sort of knew it was a rip-off but as you say we all live in hope. Who would take these people on and who wants all the letters or should I just bin them? They need prosecuting and there names and companies they trade under published regularly in national newspapers warn everyone.
Stop living in ‘hope’ Marion – that’s what these businesses exploit. I’m sorry we live in a society where this is permitted. All you have to do is read some of these comments to see that vulnerable people are being exploited. That may be the world we live in, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s NOT OK.
just got my final reminder but i have sent it back by post damn forgot to put a stamp on it, i do hope i have not lost my chance of winning a camera worth less than the postage. when you win things on a site you have not entered they must think we were all born yesterday, any fool who phoned the line you might as well just put your money in the pathway and let everybody just pick it up, no sympathy
Yeoww – harsh but true. People need to be more critical in this day and age, for sure. It’s still a pity that there are people out there exploiting those who aren’t very wary or clued up.
i got ripped off 2 i got several letters so i finally rang up and i won the camera which i am still waiting for.
Can any one advise how i can get in touch with the company beacuse I WANT MY CAMERA!!!!!!
Danielle, read through all the posts here and follow the links – you’ll find addresses for McIntyre and Dodd marketing. Don’t hold your breath though.
Oh! I got ‘FINAL REMINDER’ too! They even spelt my surname wrong… XD Just though I would point out,on top of the £9 phone call, there is also a ‘required’ payment of £6.50 for the insurance and delivery of all electrical items… which includes the 10,000 Digital Cameras they have to ‘give away’! So, you’re likely to pay £15.50 for a camera probably worth only £2… happy to say I never rang up in a hope to win the £25,000 cash prize. We can still dream though, dreaming costs us nothing.
Learned today that it now costs £9.95 to cover the cost of insurance and delivery of electrical items, presumably including the MP3 player (which, of course, I have won); and as for the cost of sending and receiving text messages, via the 84228# provided, I have no idea how much that will be!
I have to say that these people are so persistent, by any standards with which I am familiar. I guess they must be anxious to avoid misunderstanding and the evntuality of allocating my prize to some lucky other person. Apparently, I have also won a 7-day vacation to the Red Sea shores of Egypt; so, I guess I’d better get myself affianced as soon as possible, to take advantage of this fabulous offer!!
Should I contact the High Court, or just resolve to ignore these notices until time itself expires…?
VL
Well, I received the final reminder letter this morning, there isn’t much more to be said about this disgraceful company (which should be locked up) which hasn’t already been said in any of the above comments.
So, my comment is here so it can be added to the statisic of how many people are receiving it and on what days they are received, if it helps in anyway…?
I have reevied so many letters alewady from this mcintyreanddodd Company and I checked if this are true or not’cause keep on sending me this scam letters that I have allocated price,but I just ignore it because it is a scam! Just throw in the bin thats it!
In my opinion leading magazines should not entertain the idea of having theses quizzes where the con artist’s can get your details.
This is where they got mine from, I will never enter a competition again as every body’s on the rip.
Let me guess… Another round of Prize Award letters has hit the doorsteps of the land, judging by the counts of views to this page.
It’s clearly a profitable business, and – until such times as the OFT decides that they’re breaking the law – they will carry on doing it. So in answer to Vincent – ignore these notices until such times as the High Court stops them or, more likely, the end of time itself.
At least some people here are learning about how cynical the world of ‘free draws’ etc is.
Mind you, until the average punter gets through his/her greed-befuddled brain that a Facebook ad saying ‘FREE LAPTOP – UK Companies need you to test their products” really means “UK Direct Mail companies want your data so they can bombard you with ‘unclaimed prize draw’ style cons”, then these people will stay very much in business.
Melissa, you’ve got to understand that so long as there’s money involved, everybody’s happy to be involved in this: McIntyre and Dodd; the printers they pay to print their stuff; the Royal Mail they pay to deliver it. Barclays Bank for funding the company. The magazines for inserting it. The suppliers of the junk electronics and shitty jewellery you *might* eventually get.
The world around us is stuffed with people making money from other peoples’ naiivety, ignorance, vulnerability, greed, foolishness – whatever you want to call it. It goes on everywhere. You only have to scratch the surface of the most ordinary of businesses to find it.
The only difference with McIntyre and Dodd is that they’re highly visible and (comparatively) easy to spot.
If you want to hear about the really big, nasty, breath-taking cynical rip-offs, read Private Eye and start learning about how many people in UK government and business are sucking ordinary, unsuspecting folks dry on a daily basis. Start with the banks… and keep going.
hi just received my letter saying i have won two awards with two codes letter is from UAACO UNCLAIMED AWARDS.
Like everyone else was tempted to ring or send a text to find out as it is very rear you have two prizes to collect.
Well i have’nt and thankyou as you saved me £9 or more
Glad you thought better of it.
Funny, isn’t it how many people go to Google after receiving these mail drops because they’re suspicious that it’s a con. A quick look at my stats show 150 people have read this post today (so far).
McIntyre and Dodd, if you’re reading this, what is it like to have so many people feel so BAD about your ‘products and services’? If you had any decency, that would matter to you. If you had any decency, you’d stop what you were doing and start offering something of value for peoples’ money.
i also was taken in by these people twice first was a cheap digital camera then a free austrian coach trip which was going to cost me 450 quid in administration fees i urge people to stay well clear by the way the phone call is now #10.50
3
I too was taken in at first, sending two 1st class stamps as i told them i didn’t own a phone or a computer, i also asked in the letter why do i need to spend £9. plus on a public phone just to find out a code for my prize, I completed their form & stated YOU TELL ME WHAT IVE WON, THEN I WILL TELL YOU IF I WANT IT OR NOT.. simple yes?…. no again, got another letter, this time with a website http://www.mcintyreanddodd.com & a phone number 01989760538.. oh & thers no local call number for this company either.. complete rubbish!!!!! i feel sorry for those desperate enought to be in need of money to do this.
I won £20.00 last year from Purely Creative for the price of a few stamps – not a bad return. But I was not gullible enough to ‘phone them for the prize code. Now I have won a digital camera from Mcthingies in Ross-on-Wye – I shall bin the prize letter & reward myself with a nice bottle of wine for the £6.50 I will save on postage.
Nice logic
Please read this!!!.
Just simple as that.
Warning from the authorities.
http://www.southendstandard.co.uk/news/southend/8179693.print/
Thank you and beware!
Today i recieved my final reminder that i had won 2 items from 2 different draws which i had not entered these people need hanging for taking the elderly and the vunerable people for a ride some people just read final reminder and ring to pay what they think they owe others phone because they are made to think they have won more than they could of dreamed off.
I say hang them
Whoopee!
I have today received my personal allocation code by post;- the number is 603498;-this was allocated to me on 27th May.
Why, therefore, are they recommending that I call the 0906 number as soon as possible to listen for my allocation code and receive my claim number?
The Prize & Award Controller says that he looks forward to sending my prize or award so why didn’t he send it with the letter to save time?
I don’t know…..
Some people just like to make things difficult for themselves, don’t they?
Letter after letter to my wife. I’ve never known such persistance in supposedly giving money and prizes away. Why my wife? Is she supposed to be the soft touch in our household????
wot a total SCAM. i just recieved ma final reminder letter through the post 2day. i texted them to hear my Allocation codes. i recieved couple of texts back from them, saying i’ve won a mp3 player and a 7 day hoilday to red sea Eqpyt. i thought it was too good to be true so i did research n found thz website. Thank god i didn’t post my claim form. thank u 4 sharing thz information. i’l ignore their letters next time.
glad i did a search before i replied to my unclaimed prize.
thanks.
I have had about 5 of these leters in as many months. they have con
written all over them, you just know its a group of wide boy chances, as soon as it says calls cost 1.50 a minute bla bla bla..
The trouble is, people do ring, or text, like the old saying says,
If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. I suggest everyone sends them to Downing street perhaps call me Dave can do something, he probably would if he ten thousand of these letters stuffed in his letter box. but then again?
Just recieved one of the letters mentioned. Thought i’d google them first as always a bit suspicious…and here are all the comments from others saying they are fraudsters.
More annoyed that the comp i entered was with a well known morning tv show and that they have allowed people like this to access my details.
i do think it is a scam i keep getting letters though the post i have never heard of this firm and at 1-50 ago ithink it is discusting it should be stop if you have won anything they should send it to you
Today my wife received her “final reminder” and like most other people on this page consigned it to the bin. I agree with the comments made this organisation ought to be investigated and closed down with the assets going to deserving home grown charities
The letter I received stated you could write to them to ensure other firms don’t contact you with further offers. Is this worth doing?
I have no intentions of replying to this letter to claim any prize though.
just recieved my final final reminder these poeple need to lined up and shot lol they pray on the poor because they think thier life going to change with the hope of thousands of pounds how can these poeple sleep on a night the need exterminating please dont call them its a scam
I,v been to my mums today and she showed me one of these award notices luckly i had already been on this web site before so knew it was a scam so i tore theirs to bits and binned it. But guess what was waiting for me when i got home, my final reminder from no other than Roger Davies, this must be the sixth reminder this year.
Do they think we are all that stupid,mind i would love to meet him and ram the dam things down his throat.
Thanks to your web site myself and my elderly parents haven,t been riped off.
Regards Lynn
Good to hear Lynn! By God, imagine if your customers were so angry they wanted you to be lined up and shot (like most of the people commenting here)!! That’s surely a damning sign that this is unacceptable, right, McIntyre & Dodd? So what makes you carry on doing it? Oh – yes, greed.
what you can do is send them some s__t back
get a jiffy bag hopefully you may have a dog or know some one who does let them do there daily do dos put it in the bag and post it back they send us shit we send them shit
I today have become the lucky recipient of my first unclaimed prize register letter. I presumed it was a scam as soon as I read it and immediately googled to confirm – glad I did.
Like Nigel (June 8, 2010 at 12:04pm) my personal code is also 603498, allocated on 27th May…
Can’t wait for the inevitable barrage of reminders I shall no doubt receive over the coming weeks/months – all of which will be returned to sender with my own personal message for these lowlife scum.
Hi
My aunt is 86 and has had several letters from this company. Fortunately she passed them on to me before she sent any money off.
THE TRAGEDY IS THAT THE AUTHORITIES LET THESE PARASITES OPERATE. IT IS THE AUTHORITIES WHO SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.
I have been in touch with trading standards to find out what they are doing to stop this practise. We can all rest easily in our beds. They are constantly updating their website with advice.
Great news for the vulnerable like my aunt who a) isn’t on the internet and b) wouldn’t know a premium rate number from a normal one.
WHY DO BT ALLOW PREMIUM RATE NUMBERS?????????
Good for you – keep making a noise with Trading Standards and anyone else that will listen!
And why do BT allow it? Because they make money from it, that’s why. It’s also why Barclays bank funds the PLC behind it. And why Barclays also seems to bank the cash from Expo Guide and various other scam business directories. Shocking but true, our country runs on such distasteful business.
As for Trading Standards updating their website, I assume that you’re being ironic. I’ve been to their website and there’s f**k all about Community Awards Register or McIntyre and Dodd – and if there were, there’s no way you’d find it. Fail.
After putting the first letter in the bin I recieved the second in April with my allocation code suprise, suprise it is the same one as Em and Nigel 603498. After returning from holiday last week I found the final reminder waiting for me. I was going to write to them to find out what my so-called prize but instead I decided to Google their website. Thank you all so much for your coments on these conmen I will now shred the 2 letters I have and put them in the ferret’s hutch for bedding!!!
my wife had many letters and claim numbers over the last six months or so and was stupid enough to send 14.95 to unclaimed prize on may 14 still no reply i have tryed E/mailing but no chance its high time they were done for robbing people
Hope she doesn’t read this, Thomas – she’ll kill you for calling her stupid
Seriously, though. Don’t keep your hopes up of getting anything for your £14.95!
Hi – just googled McIntyre & Dodd Mktg and found this site via the various options on sites looking-into them.
My wife has had many letters from them. Pleased to say that she only responded to one, in which she declined to pay £6 for a camera! THEY responded, saying she had been allocated another prize! This letter is from THE AWARD WINNERS EXCHANGE dated 17 June 2010. They want a Postal order or cheque OR CREDIT/DEBIT card Number (I bet they do!) for £14.95!
She has “WON”(!) either: A £25000 cheque (1 of), a Sony Vaio Multimedia (even!) Laptop,(5 of them), £5000 in cash,(2) a Venice break for 2, (WOULD YOU BELIEVE TEN THOUSAND PLUS! of them) or £250 M&S vouchers (only 100 of them). Ten Thousand ‘Venice’ breaks for two!!!!!!!! Got to be Five Star, innit!!
I asked her what they wanted £14.95 for, when a letter costs 40p odd to send and the only thing likely to cost that much in postage is the Tele! She said to check. I’ve checked! It’s clearly a SCAM.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. There ain’t no free lunches! It seems that these days, almost everything in UK is a rip-off. Even my Bank are on a premium rate number!
I first had dealings with this shower years ago – and it cost me over £20 in phone to receive…NOTHING!
Recently, I had an email (generated, as you said, from something I clicked on online). Next, I had an incredible offer of winning untold riches and prizes. Asked to send the cost of delivery for my prize (in this case, after ages listening to a recorded voice, it was a fabulous camera), I did so. Instead of the camera for the cost of my two first class stamps, I got another invite to purchase the camera for £6-50. Reading further, it was explained that I had actually won the ‘opportunity’ to purchase the camera. The goal-posts had been moved.
Moreover, the ‘amazing’ camera was almost described as the best thing since the invention of photography (my impression of their description) – but, being a pro photographer, I can only describe the picture of it as being that of a relic from the dawn of digital photography – and even the PC system requirements for it are all but obsolete, even in third world countries…! In fact. it does not even include all the software required to make it fully functioning – it needs 3rd party software to allow it to operate as a low resolution web camera. Plus, it runs on ordinary batteries, whereas almost all cameras now have built in rechargeable batteries. I have NEVER come across a webcam that needs proprietary batteries to work – it just does not happen because it defeats the whole object of always being available. This contraption is truly archaic and is probably worth a lot more to a museum than a user…! You can probably buy this type of toy camera at tacky seaside souvenir stalls for a lot less.
This surely amounts to fraudulent activity.
Hi Peter – great summary, thank you for taking the time to comment.
Winning the ‘opportunity’ to purchase a camera! What a rip-off. What these people trade on is the fact that they tell you in advance what the charges are (even if they do it in a way that one could argue is misleading – as the Office of Fair Trading asserts). Ultimately, their defense effectively is “If you’re so desperate or gullible that you called the number that’s your choice”. Technically legal or not, it’s still sordid and exploitative – which is exactly what everyone commenting here thinks.
Interesting, isn’t it that they’ve not had a single person comment to say “Surely you’re all mistaken! They are a great bunch of people – and what a great prize I won”. Judging by all the happy ‘testimonials’ on MacIntyre and Dodd’s website you’d think at least some of those people would arrive here to counter the wave of negative press they’re getting. But no, just a growing list of angry people who think they’ve been well and truly ripped off.
And all the while, they can carry right on doing it while our dinosaur of a legal system gives them a free hand to do it.
cant believe ive just made the £9 phone call, just lost my job and was caught at a very vunerable time, thank god i decided to check the company out here before sending off my “PRIZE CODE” I would be the first to say bin it, wot an idiot.
Ah, Julie. Make this the last £9 you waste on these kind of things, ok? Trust your instincts: you already knew it was a rip off, I’ll bet. The problem is you wanted to feel good, and this offered just a glimmer of a chance…. next time you get that feeling, remember Community Awards Register and go donate £9 to a charity you really believe in. You’ll feel great!
Jim says:
They’ve got a new on out – trading as “NB – Notification Bureau” – which scam’s covering letter commences: “As the manager responsible for ensuring unclaimed awards are despatched to the right people, I have to write to you today regarding an award that was allocated to [name of elderly relative of mine] ….”; followed by a list of potential prizes, an instruction inter alia to call a premium phone line to obtain a claim number (without which the prospective dupe cannot submit a completed claim form by post).
Thanks to your website I have been able to clearly demonstrate to my dear elderly relative that this ‘new’ one is just like all the other ones, given that it comes from the same shady MacIntyre & Dodd “Marketing” company (per small print at the bottom of the overleaf page).
I shall now forward this “new” scheme to the OFT and Advertising Standards Authority for their information.
You, and your readers, may be interested in the following link to an article in the St Petersberg Times headed “Sweepstakes claw in through mailbox, rob elderly St. Petersburg man” http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1066059.ece – I perceive that this “Marketing” company (M&D) may well be involved in selling on its “databse of the susceptible / gullible” (it would be an additional income stream to over all their mailing costs) no doubt sometimes (knowingly or otherwise) to even more unscrupulous operators such as those described in the St Petersberg Times article. That is a potentially much bigger risk to those being targeted by M&D, and that is why I personally commend the OFT for taking action against this lower level fish – as a less than scrupulous company – together with its Directors who seek to profit from duping members of the pulic.
Many thanks for providing your informative site for the benefit of the public interest.
Yours faithfully,
Jim
location = Edinburgh
yes I had one…now calling themselves “the UK’s Central REgistry of awards ….POBox 111 Ross-on Wye….signed by some called Carol Brown……I have got onto MPS…..free service to stop junk mail and hope they can stop these…maybe we should all send them back to Ross on Wye —–no Stamp—- with a comment – get lost we are not idiots!!!!……
i have just had about my 5th letter saying they are desperate for me to claim my prize i was nearly sucked in and decided to investigate them glad i did now in the bin it goes
Thanks for warning us, I got my letter today (8 July 2010) from NB (Notification Bureau) in Ross-on-Wye HR9 9ZU, and Roger Davies is still happily signing them for all of us to be scammed without any protection. I am shocked that they are able to continue without the law stopping them. Surely someone, somewhere can trace them or stop their post from being sent (place a ban on all letters from them). Can’t OFSTED or someone else who is always looking over our shoulders nail these awful people instead of worrying about unimportant “standards”? I find it unbelievable that they continue to get away with it year after year!
Yes we had one, sent it back no stamp telling them to put it where the sun dose not shine, and to remove our name from mailing list.
yes They’ve got a new on out – trading as “NB – Notification Bureau” – which last month I became idiot and I sent 2 stamp and made phone call cost me over £10 for nothing, which the pervious name and address was [ MacIntyre & Dodd Marketing Ltd ,Green Heys
Walford Road, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, HR9 5DB and othe letter post code was HR9 9YP, when I sent the letter back with 2 stamp I sent recorded deliver in case, here is the person signature
[file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Unclaimed%20Prize/Royal%20mail%20Recorded.JPG]
on the phone and on the letter they mention that i won digital camera, which the phone call and postage and stamp cost me over £10 and now the camera not worth £6 and then they asking me for the £6.50 for the postage cost, in fact the postage cost £2.46 for the recoded delivery, Here is the Digital Camera which they promise please copy and past
[file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Unclaimed%20Prize/Picture.jpg] and file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Unclaimed%20Prize/Picture%20028.jpg
Then I email them and after week I received respond come from Dawn Williams (dawn@strikelucky.com) here is the part of their respond “It is with regret that we are unable to offer an alternative for this award. This leaves me only to suggest passing the award CERTIFICATE TO A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER for them to take advantage of the offer”
oh what is the mess in United Kingdom this called company doing this king things ripping off people any authority not do any think to stop them for how many years now they steal money from people, we losing our trust and faith to honest and good genuine people, even if now we received the real award no one claims even if without payment or phone call, so justice need to do something before too late.
yes They’ve got a new on out – trading as “NB – Notification Bureau” – which last month I became idiot and I sent 2 stamp and made phone call cost me over £10 for nothing, which the pervious name and address was [ MacIntyre & Dodd Marketing Ltd ,Green Heys
Walford Road, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, HR9 5DB and othe letter post code was HR9 9YP, when I sent the letter back with 2 stamp I sent recorded deliver in case, here is the person signature please copy and past the link below
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Unclaimed%20Prize/Royal%20mail%20Recorded.JPG
on the phone and on the letter they mention that i won digital camera, which the phone call and postage and stamp cost me over £10 and now the camera not worth £6 and then they asking me for the £6.50 for the postage cost, in fact the postage cost £2.46 for the recoded delivery, Here is the Digital Camera which they promise please copy and past the link below
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Unclaimed%20Prize/Picture.jpg
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/My%20Documents/Unclaimed%20Prize/Picture%20028.jpg
Then I email them and after week I received respond come from Dawn Williams (dawn@strikelucky.com) here is the part of their respond “It is with regret that we are unable to offer an alternative for this award. This leaves me only to suggest passing the award CERTIFICATE TO A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER for them to take advantage of the offer”
oh what is the mess in United Kingdom this called company doing this king things ripping off people any authority not do any think to stop them for how many years now they steal money from people, we losing our trust and faith to honest and good genuine people, even if now we received the real award no one claims even if without payment or phone call, so justice need to do something before too late.
Carol,
I think i will do what you have surgested and send it back to them.
i have been sending their scam post back to them… just write “return to sender” on the envelope… if enough people did it maybe the post office would become involved!
This ia a scam as people have said, but everybody seems to be throwing the letters in the bin. We should all put bthem back in the post ‘Return to Sender’, and let them dispose of the letters themselves. As they are a business they will have to pay for the disposal of the letters. At least then they will have to pay out something instead of the poor unsuspecting public.
My wife had another letter from these folk.
Roger Davies is the “manager responsible for ensuring unclaimed awards are despatched to the right people.”
We have definitely WON a Holiday In Tunisia!!!
And all for a 9 GBP phone call.
The last time we were there was 1976, so I’m looking forward to seeing what changes have been made.
Thanks to this Website for assuring us what a genuine company this is.
Now! How much are the (non included) flight to Tunisia?
Oh yes! I need to start saving the 75 GBP per person deposit as well.
Many thanks for putting my mind at ease.
Regards James
[...] will cost you about £15 to claim your prize, which, if you believe many of the people commenting here, is likely to be nothing. Those who did receive ‘prizes’ received things worth [...]
I sent a cheque for £9. 95 post etc for an M3 playet on the 25th June and have heard nothing and I was looking them up on the Web to make an enquiry. The were 3 methods of alleged contact 1) by telephone (which looks suspiciously like a premium number) 2) an e-mail which simply refused to send my enquiry and 3) ordinary post which was the method I used in the first instance to obtain my claim number and which neccesitated 2 letters to get a response.
If I cancel the cheque it will cost me so I might as well sit back to see what transpires and listen to my wife in future who warned me not to get involved.
They are also behind sending out letters seeking donations on behalf of numerous charities. I wonder how much of the money goes to the charities involved.
Interesting, D, Have you got any examples / links to point me at please? Thanks for your comment!
Did not phone, wrote back offered a holiday in Tunisia and a claim code, replied. I have paid postage 2nd class for 2 letters and sent 3 first class stamps! I was just curious about their (NB) validity.
Having read this website I do not expect anything from them and will certainly not send any deposit and also will bin any further letters from these sharks
got my 6th final reminder today so decided to google the site, so glad i did.would have just binned anyway. these people really need stopping what they are doing is nothing short of harassment tks for making this site accessable.
everyone who receives a letter from this set of con artists should post it back and they will then have the return postage to pay. lets see how they like it someone taking there money for nothing. please do not get drawn into this crap.there will be no prizes and they will be sunning themselves on the med with our hard earned money. if you have’nt entered you have’nt won. everyone likes to think they’ve got something for nothing but that does’nt happen in this life. face up its a con
Had my final reminder today,Thought i would look it up & found this site ,very helpful,although i wouldnt have phoned or sent money ,you dont get money for nothing. What makes me so angry is my grandson has respite at a hospice they struggle each year like so many charities to raise funds to keep things going.Yet these people get rich by cheating vunerable ones out of their money.It makes me angry that they get away with it.
I’ve been receiving letters from these people of a while. I decided to write a letter asking for the claim code (Which the letter said you could do). Two weeks later I got another letter – I final reminder, telling me to phone, text or write to obtain my claim code. It went straight in the bin. I think I’ll be following Tina’s lead in future and post any further letters back to these idiots.
So pleased I found you and haven’t fallen foul of the scam. I was sent a letter to my old address and in my ex-marital name so being a bit dubious I decided not to ring them up for a code but wrote a letter instead. After a month, I received the claim code telling me that I’d won a digital camera – this wasn’t even on the list of the “awards” up for grabs!! They then had the audacity to ask for £6.50 payment for damned insurance and postage. So again, am really glad I googled McIntyre & Dodd and read all the previous comments and didn’t become another “poor sucker”. Its immoral what these people are being allowed to get away with and heartbreaking for some people who have been seriously “duped”. Have complained to Trading Standards etc. and am in the middle of writing to McIntyre & Dodd to complain but certainly won’t be paying the postage!!
i have just recieved my 6th final notice,again i have not replied,and i have just read this website for the 1st time and am fed up with recieving unwanted mail from them.
my saying is you get nothing free for nothing so does these people think you are going to win a price and you did not even enter a competition come on I think the police should be called in to these people and dealt with right away
I first received a “final reminder” letter a few months ago from a company I did not recognise, and ignored it as I had not entered a competition. It said I had to take action immediately as it was about to expire. A month later another letter turned up slightly different wording, ignored and then 3rd letter arrived, at which point I put them in the recycling.
Today I received basically the same letter but this time from The British Awards Council and guess what, it is signed by Roger Davies – Awards Manager.
This is definitely a SCAM. Do NOT respond.
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