Junk Mail from Satellite Direct UK
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen complete mindless determination in the face of utterly overwhelming odds, but Satellite Direct have shown a lack of comprehension that is quite staggering in their recent marketing campaign. Today, they have raised the bar of ineptitude.
The Odds against Satellite Direct
The odds stacked up against Satellite Direct are not just high, they’re positively gargantuanly mind-bogglingly insurmountable; but this plucky little company won’t give up.
Satellite Direct want to sell us a warranty for our Sky satellite television receiver and they don’t give a stuff that we don’t own one.
It matters not a jot to them that we’ve never had one – why let a trifling little detail like that get in the way of a good marketing opportunity?
Disregarding Things
If you’re disregarding important things like checking that your victims potential customers have a need for your warranty then a few other forgetful moments won’t go amiss either, like forgetting to check if your victims potential customers are registered with the TPS.
We for example are registered with the TPS, so it’s unlawful, for Satellite Direct to call us and even try to sell us anything, but that’s not stopped them calling us twice (1,2) already, and comments are starting to arrive from others who have also been tele-spammed.
Satellite Direct Junk Mail
So if your tele-marking operations were facing repeated TPS complaints, what do you do?
Well I was most impressed today to hear from John Campbell whose 96 year old mum-in-law received a letter from Satellite Direct informing her that she too had an expired warranty on a Sky satellite receiver which has (like ours) never, ever, existed.
So that’s what Satellite Direct do, they switch to junk mail. We’re also registered with the Mailing Preference Service, so it’s also unlawful for Satellite Direct to directly send us junk mail.
It will therefore come as no surprise that we too have received a letter from Satellite Direct UK which opens:
The initial manufacturer’s warranty on your digital satellite (Sky TV) system has now expired and this leaves you open to expensive call out charges and repair costs should anything go wrong!
Profiting from Dishonesty?
If Satellite Direct can repeatedly badger us with this specious nonsense about the expiry of a warranty on a device which has never existed, then we must question how many real Sky customers are buying unnecessary warranties on machines that are still covered perfectly well by the original warranty?
Add todays letter to the call I received earlier this year telling me I’d won a flight to Turkey thanks to Data Partnership Solutions and One4Travel – which work in partnership with Satellite Direct UK and that makes four occasions when they’ve ignored the TPS and MPS and contacted us, then attempted to mislead us.
Countrywide that could scale up to a lot of unsolicited and unlawful telephone calls and junk mails, and a lot of unhappy customers.
Update: Satellite Direct UK’s business practices have subsequently been successfully challenged in the High Court by BSkyB.
197 Comments
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I too have been stung by this Company by them taking 10 x my monthly payment of £12.99. My Bank has also refunded me, after me being stupid enough (and I work in the Finance Industry) to give them time to reimburse me,(I have also been advised by the Bank that if they cannot get their money back then they will also have to take it back)I made 3 phone calls in which on each occasion I was advised it would take 28days for me to be reimbursed. 2 e-mails have been returned advising they are having problems with their e-mails – yea right! After contacting Consumer Direct, part of Trading standards, I have now sent a letter, enclosing copies of my e-mails, recorded delivery to the Managing Direct at the address in Ford, West Sussex, BN18 0DF. I have also checked BBC Watchdog site and they were investigating this Company over a year ago so nothing changes! The phone no quoted on the “cannot accept” response was 08716641400. I have not phoned as I have no wish to deal with this Company again.
Astounded to read the above, cannot believe that no action has been taken about this company. I was called in January by someone saying they were from Sky and that my warranty had expired, very foolishly I gave my bank details and they set up a monthly direct debit without my signing anything. They do not answer any of the phone numbers given and in fact there is no number registered for the office in Bognor. I am reporting them to the local trading standards office. But simply cannot believe that nothing has been done about this blatant scam.
Has anyone got a telephone number other than the 0871 or 08702 prefixes that this firm use?
The firm has taken my annual direct debit amount four times in under a year. I am kicking myself for not checking my outgoings more closely, but curiously enough the emphasis is on credit card fraud. All these payments were taken via direct debit, which is supposed to be guaranteed, however my bank were less than impressive on my first visit. I’m returning tomorrow with a prepared letter of complaint based on the template provided on the BACS.co.uk website.
I spoke to Geoff Jones at Satellite Direct a few dyas ago, and he confirmed that the almost £300.00 they have helped themselves so is ‘excessive’. Perhaps they grade their levels of maladministration? The refund he offered to get off the same day has unsurprisingly not arrived. Given the apparent scope of the problem I think it’s highly likely the firm will vanish from sight in the near future, so I’m not prepared to await developments in 28-day increments. I would have been disciplined in my workplace for even a degree of this level of incompetence.
If possible, I would like to have a ‘real’ telephone number for the bank to contact the firm on. There are a couple of 01243 numbers quoted earlier in this thread. I tried one briefly and it is working, the other one said it does not receive incoming calls (one wonders why…) If anyone has one, ideally to Mr David Reynolds himself, I’d appreciate it if they could share.
Thanks,
Gary
you will be lucky to get hold of these..just a watse of your phone money and time..go to consumer direct with your complaint,they will help you sort it these satellite people will just string you along ..complain..
Further to my comments above, my Bank have advised me that the Indemnity claim was rejected as the company had reimbursed me – received to my account 13th May, 7 weeks and 5 days after incorrect amount was pointed out to them! They have now had the cheek to write to me asking for me to reimburse them what they had paid me claiming I have been over refunded due to the indemnity claim, which remember they had rejected! Needless to say my response has been been a bit acid. Shambolic is the polite way of describing their Account system – if they have one. It also took them nearly three weeks to respond to a letter sent recorded delivery and which they accepted had been received 30th April 2009 – their letter to me was dated 20th May but at least I got a response!
Good to read the above messages. I am part way through this long trail of trying to get my 10 times monthly fee back. (Stolen in January 09) Good to know my bank has some responsibility. It gets almost pleasant listening to the recorded messages from “Accounts” (On my free land line) Looks like I need to write. Reading the above it seems odd that these crooks have not been charged with any crimes they have certainly stolen my money.
I will also go to Consumer Direct as suggested above.
Thanks
Well, having visited the bank on Friday 22nd May on Tuesday 26th May I was reimbursed the amount ‘purloined’ from my account by Satellite Direct UK Ltd. The bank’s attitude changed markedly once I handed over my letter requiring them to honour the DD guarantee. The template is on the BACS.co.uk website, under the ‘consumer’ section, and I would recommend it to those who have been likewise ‘cybermugged’ as it would appear to have got results, for me at least. I am hoping this will be an end of the matter, but we shall see.
The cheque Satellite Direct UK Ltd promised has still not materialised, and if it ever does I’m tempted to send the shredded contents back to them in an unpaid envelope…the direct debit has been cancelled and I will be watching my statements rather more closely from now on.
All I’m waiting for now is the Skybox to go on the fritz…
Hopefully a postscript to the sorry saga. Had telephone call from Satellite Direct ‘customer services’ tonight. They told me my refund had been APPROVED! That’s two weeks and two days after they admitted the error and told me the ‘cheque would be out the following day’. So they can take unauthorised debits from my account, but have to have refunds of said sums APPROVED over what must be a long and arduous process.
I informed them that the bank had refunded me under the direct debit guarantee and they would need to make their APPROVED refund to them. Oh, good job I got hold of you, we nearly paid you twice, says she. Brass neck isn’t even close…
Just found out that this company has taken 2 direct debit payments of £75 & £49.99 out of my 83 years old mother in laws account, for which she knows nothing about. Having read on the net all the damming reports about this firm I will be contacting the bank, consumer direct & local trading standards. I have sent them emails and tried 4 differant phone numbers, including the one on their web page, but no answer.
have just had a letter to-day from this company saying that starting on 18th june they are taking money out of my account and they have all my bank details how does that happen? i shall be following your example to-day and getting in touch and warning others. luckily i do check statements etc all the time but i wonder what would happen if i didnt and if sat link services hadnt bothered to write. does anyone know if the address given is fictitous and if it isnt how come the place hasnt been raided by the fraud squad!
The fraud squad are only going to “raid them” if people such as yourself contact the police and report a crime. If you think you’re the victim of fraud, report it to the police!
Well I had an account with Sat Cov about 8 years ago and cancelled it after a year. On June 17th 2009 they restarted my direct debit on a bank account that had been dormant for over a year and was supposed to have been closed but for some reason was left open. Just had to get my bank to refund the charges for an unpaid DD due to this fraud. The bank stated it was setup electronically.
I have reported this to consumer direct and they were interested in investigating this company further. I have said that I would be willing to press charges for fraud. I spoke to my bank about reporting this as fraud to the police and their comment was “the police will probably not be interested”. Well I may just report it as fraud to them anyhow.
just had 65 pounds taken out of my account how they have set up DD is a mystery i have never spoken to these people how do we stop this scum .this is just theft and fraud.
i had 49.99 taken out my account in feb i did get back it has since happened again and ive been waiting a month i have been to the bamk but they say if they the bank caa not get in touch with sat linc ltd i will have to pay the money back to halifax.. 0870224577 is no longer ringing i am livid …
I was told this was a bogus co..as i have had £60 going through on my credit card.I was lucky as i was able to get it stopped.i was furious.This company should be done for fraud.It should be stopped.
From a livid Senior citizen.
The same thing has happened to me, once in march for 49.99-which I received a refund for after hours or calling them. It then happened again at the end of June and now I can’t get in touch with the company. Currently lokoing in2 other optins……………….
SERIOUSLY ANNOYED
Don’t quite understand how they were so easily able to obtain extra funs when the dd was set up for a specific amount, nor how sky allowed therm to obtian my details……………..
PS- NONE OF THE NUMBERS, EVEN THE ONE THE SAT EMPLOYEE WHO WAS NO DOUBT PAID TO SAY SUCH NICE THINGS, IS FAKE. NOTHING WORKS.
THE COMPANY ARE STILL PHONING MY FRIENDS UNDER DIFFERENT NAMES, BEING VERY INSISTANT ON OBTAINING BANK DETAILS.
I’M GOING TO GET MY FRIEND TO GIVE THEM MY NUMBER SO THAT I CAN TALK TO THEM ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE UP TO, AS THIS SEEMS LIKE THE ONLY WAY I’LL BE ABLE TO MAKE CONTACT.
I am acctually a employe of the company , I agree with everything you are saying , and assure you I am looking for a new job , the company is now called SOMETHING SERIVCES david alan reynolds does not own the company though he has gone in to partnership with someone else called tristan,the company is going down hill , were not getting paid all of our cheques are bouncing and most of us are owed loads of bonuses , i can give you 3 numbers wich i no will work 01243200150 01243200151 01243200152 there is a 0845 number but i cant think of that from the top of my head but calling that number you just get told to call the o1243 number anyway , there offices are based in ,,ford , littlehampton and brighton , the £49.99 you want to watch out they dont sign you up for phone and broadband aswell thats were most of theese £49.99s will come out £30 instalation fee and £19.99 1st months dd , hey can set you up with that just if they have your sort code and account number and if they have your card details , all the details are kept on there databases , im only saying this because i dont agee with it hense why im out of there asap i thougt working for a posh looking building built brand new down ford lane with glass walls ect it would be pretty lidgit but i am not up for being a money theif ! he also owns anoter company called SOMETHING COMUNICATIONS wich is ph bb and tv !
all theese accidental payments of 10x the dd instalment wich was made aware to all customers was a fault of the systoms and now there changing there payment method is bollox , they had so many chargebacks on the account they had to steal the money from other customers to pay for it the company is in big troubbe if anyone nos of the company having any of there dd details make shure you keep a eye on the account remember how easy it is to set up a dd again , trust me i work in the office with the people who think its ok ! if need be the phone lines arnt recorded ! phone the ford office and ask for amanda i will be more than happy to tell you the up to date news ! thats if im still working there
The way things are looking for these companies there are a few linked to sat direct is their are going down.
Staff are losing their jobs and wages are not being paid,
Rumour has it no-one will get their money back.
letters are ignore and throw in a heap some are not even read
My advice to all those scamed is to close down any account that they have taken or tried to take money from lest that way he cant do it again, because he will
As a former employee of satellite direct, (until a couple of weeks ago when I was made redundant) I can tell you now that having netted £millions by taking 10 times the correct amount from direct debit accounts and by setting up false accounts by mailmerging old cancelled policies into new agreements and resetting direct debits, satellite direct were due to be taken to court for fraud by HM inspector of Taxes on 25/6/09. however Satellite Direct was wound up the day before this happened. as a result many staff are now jobless. he is still trading under the names Satlink services, Something corporation(which although an outside company is selling broadband services in conjunction with DRs empire)and also Play TV. I advise anyone who reads this to have absolutely nothing to do with any of these companies, and NEVER give them your bank details. they have now lost their direct debit mandate and are having to re-apply for this service. their phones were cut off but now have a new system in place. the staff wages for those that are left are also in question as the managers of this empire struggle to find funds now that they cannot rip off their customers. I,m ashamed to admit that I worked for this company which is a great shame as the staff there are great people, just let down by mismanagement and dishonest business practices. I hope this clears a few things up.
I to am an ex-employer of Satellite Direct and can confirm what my ex coleague has said, Satellite Direct are just trying to con eveyone into giving up their earnings just to line the owners pockets now, all the staff are expected to work for nothing and may get paid if the are lucky, I think I was one of the lucky ones as I no longer work for them.
I would also like to warn you that there are also around 15 other companies selling agreements not connected to Satellite Direct, non of which i would trust, if you want an agreement go to Domestic and General, at least they won’t rip you off.
We have just been scammed by these scumbags – a D/D was set up witohut our knowledge and an amount taken out. Our bank was unconcerned. I emailed SatCov demanding refund and explanation but so far no reply and their phone numbers announce that the lines are busy!!!! I reported them to Trading Standards Ass who are calling me back in a day or two following their findings. Do any of those who have also had money stolen from them live in the area of Ford in W. Sussex – how about getting together and converging on the premises – with a police escort of course.
Satellite direct now satlink services,satcover,something corporation or whatever you want to call them are at
Imperium house
ford lane
ford
arundel
west sussex
BN18 0DF
I have one new phone number for them, it is 01243 200173
hope this is of help to you all, Best advice for refunds for the misselling and incorect payments would be to go to the small claims court.
this lot really are a bad bunch. they have lied and lied to people for 4 years and now rob them time for fraud to be called in
that is really strange I was charged by sky 65.00 just reasantly for an engineer visit I did not have why was that? Seems to me your all tarred with the same brush.
I’m not. I don’t have sky.
BTW If its true, your best action might be to use the small court (or make your intent to use the small claims clear, and see what happens)
One4all, that’s a really weird posting considering all your other posts on here and your obvious knowledge of SD and its business.
well said newsgeek. I’m wondering if one4all is trying to direct the heat away from the real culprit for some reason
I too have had extra charges taken from my account by this business – on both occasions (just 3 months apart) they took the normal monthly ammount and then tried to also take a 6 monthly debit. Luckily enough I noticed both incidences the day after the money left my account.
After the second occasion I cancelled my direct debit.
One month after cancelling my direct debit with this organisation I noticed a new direct debit on my account for the same ammount as the previous premium – only this time it was for PLAY08716641400.
When I queried this with the bank they said that I must have registered with a satellite TV company. After some “heavy” discussions with the bank I was transferred to their claims department who told me that they had received a lot of complaints about this issue.
Apparently when you cancel your direct debit with SatCov they then set up a replacement direct debit for PLAY… using the same details that were used for the original SatCov DD. The telephone number on the DD payment details is “temporarily out of service” and the telephone number provided by this company on the DD mandate does not even ring so there is no possibility of talking to them – you just have to be lucky enough, like I was (again!!) to spot the transaction within 24 hours of it going through and getting your bank to return the money to you there and then.
This is an blatant scam on a massive scale – how can we stop it?
My mother has also been conned out of money by this bunch of liars. maybe the ‘ex-staff’ can perhaps come up with a few names and numbers of these new companies? It would be greatly appreciated if they could.
Now, where did I put that baseball bat?
If you look further up you will see I have put all the address details and phone numbers that I currently have! I can also tell you that Dave Reynolds, the MD has just bought a house in [removed]! how much more info do you want, Yes you have been scammed by my former employers, yes you have been ripped off. so get off your backside and do something about it instead of writing your moans on here, As regards the Fraud office, they have ben done for this already and the case just bounced off due to the MDs being more slippery than a box of eels. Satellite direct no longer exists but the other companies do. I have nothing more to do with them so over to you chum !
At the address already given, you will find, Satcover, PlayTV uk, Playradio UK, ingrain design, hypnoimp, onefourtravel, satlink services, something corporation,and several others, Dave Reynolds has a controlling stake in all of these, the other MD is Colin Hague. All can be found at the address given, Imperium house, if youre thinking of going down there its a large converted barn like building along Ford lane in Ford village. they have a new phone system after BT cut the other one off and the number I have given is the one for the HR dept, I do not have the new call centre numbers.
If you are a creditor you need to contact MCR corporate restructuring, these are the insolvency agents dealing with the wreckage of satellite direct their number is 02074877240, ask for Paul Cooper or Charlotte Moore. Their address is 43-45 portman square, london W1H 6LY, you will need to obtain a proof of debt form to fill in and send back.
I hope this helps you guys, I’m in the same boat trying to get my redundancy payment!!
Good luck.
01243200150 – I got through in this number about 20 mins ago, got the excuse that they’re putting in new equipment and “was assured” everyone would get their refund in August.
Believe it if you will
THis is a number for which company? SatCover?
This has happened to me twice now , Once 2 years ago and once in june ( i was a customer 4 years ago), i am on the phone to them now! we will see what happens ……? have been on hold for 20 mins tho?
What number have you called? Which company do you think you are calling?
I have since found out that the staff that transferred from Satellite direct to Satlink services ,(same place, same staff ,just a different name with new contracts),are getting paid by cheque instead of Bacs, they are not getting the correct amounts owed and the issue of said cheques is as and when availiable !! personally theres no way I,d work for a place where I MAY get paid if funds are availiable!! theyre even stitching up the staff who are daft enough to stay loyal to them !! I,m so glad to get away from that place.
not daft scared! t
the last 2 wks wages paid by cheque have bounce, now beening told no money this week or for the next 4 wks might start being paid end of sept 09.
been looking for work elsewhere but no luck yet, need to stay, want to leave,hate whats happening,
please dont think that the staff that are left are loyal by a long shot. they just want to know what the hell is going on as much as everyelse and want what their owed too!
Just had a call from a woman who said that I had paid twice for my satellite cover (correct). She said that Satellite Direct UK had gone into liquidation and I should go to my bank and reclaim the money. She also said if any problem with Sky equipment, I should contact 01243 200150. I asked who this number was for, she said ‘Sat Cover’. It is the same number as Satellite Direct!!!!
Yep you got it, Shat-a-lie Direct and Shat-stink are both owned by David Reynolds, dont have anything to do with them, I feel sorry for the poor sods that are left.As it is a whole load of us are having to got through a tribunal to get our redundancy now, He’s even refusing to awnser letters from the insolvency service, I,m sure he thinks we’ll just give up and go away, Mr reynolds if your’e reading this , THINK AGAIN, you may have robbed your customers, you will NOT get away with robbing your staff, PAY up or you will regret it.
Sat direct uk are now trading under sat cover, number 01243 200150
David reynolds address is [REMOVED] in case you wondered.
Sleepy, what do you hope to gain by publishing a private address here or anywhere else? I ask in interest, not rhetoric.
Just angry for a lot of people I guess, this guy has has upset so many. Including a lot of those that were loyal staff, myself included.
Angry not the word, i am owed 4wks wages, every cheque i have had has bounced and has caused me no end of problems! hope to get my money im owed but im not holding my breath because there is no money in the company.
im lucky enough to be out of there now!
I am one of the joint liquidators of Satellite Direct UK Limited. I would be grateful if you would email me with details of calls that you have received from Satellite Direct UK Limited, and any correspondence from them. I understand that direct debits or credit card payments may have been taken by any number of different companies. However, I would be grateful for any copy documents that you have, particularly agreements, that refer to satellite direct. The dedicated email address is satellitedirect@cvdfk.com and the firm’s website is http://www.cvdfk.com.
They have now abandoned the ridiculous idea that they are Satlink Services. That company had already applied to be struck off the companies house register, which means that it could not have been a trading company for at least three months before all the employees were switched over from Satellite Direct. It was just a way of trying to avoid employment responsibilities. They are now fully Something Services, which is part of the Something Corporation which is part of the Something Group. Reynolds is no longer a director of any of them, he has a lackey called Colin Hague for that, but he is the de facto owner and controller of the whole operation. They are now using another Direct Debit company called Eazipay. Their telephone number is 01353 669932. It might be worth a call if anybody is owed money from any of Reynolds companies like Satellite Direct, Satcover, Satlink or Something Services/Corp/Group. They’ll deny responsibility but press on, they might be liable under a transfer of undertaking.
To whome it may concern:- Eazipay, a Direct Debit Bureau who offer 3rd party services to many companies in the country, do not and will not be offering a collection service for Something Group or Something Corporation. Our ties with these companies have been severed before any collections were entered into.
If you require any information regarding Eazipay please contact us via our web site.
Kind regards
Luisa Grey, Director
Hi Luisa, That’s good to hear. Is that the same for their partners in crime ‘Satellite Aftercare’ too?
I have since learnt that a lot more staff have left this company having not been paid for some time. Reynolds is still there. the company is also calling itself Satcover although no-one actually knows who satcover actually refers to, even the people that are unfortunate enough to still work there. I understand also that Colin Hague has asked Dave reynolds for his investment money back, though how far that has gone I dont know, Colin used to run the Cyprus office of the Holiday company they owned but that has long been shut down although oddly enough a lot of the illegal payments were handled and processed through the same office.
there is also a guy called Tristram running the show, He was at one time the manager of Satlink which was based in Bognor and SD tried to say was nothing to do with them.A fact which we all knew was a complete lie. He is now at the Ford Lane office as all the Bognor Regis offices are now empty and derelict. This mess just gets worse and worse.
Have now learnt that their phones are cut off again. the staff (whats left of them) have not been paid for over 7 weeks and are leaving in droves. they believe the company may not exist in any form for much longer. many staff are now in danger of losing homes and have screwed up credit ratings because of this. Reynolds has screwed up so many lives now, he needs a damned good hiding. GRRRRRR
Youll be pleased to to know that as from today the company has been shut down and gone into liquidation, all the staff have made redundant and the unemployment total for west sussex has gone up by a large number. dave reynolds is due a large smack in the mouth methinks, what a stupid twat for ruining so many lives. anyone owed money must apply to the courts now.
Is the liquidation official?
(If so, my resignation pre-empted it by just 2 days.)
7 weeks payment arrears seems correct for the majority of staff at Ford Lane.
17 cars in the Ford car park on my final day (used to be overflowing, perhaps 100+).
The management team were comical, but their impact on people’s lives is awful.
Some further details in the LA Gazette (online, or page 3 of the printed for the last 3 weeks).
Worthing Herald reports that “Engineers lose jobs after court steps in at Ford company“.
Hi sleepy, I worked for sat direct,sat cover ltd and something as a field based engineer in newcastle. i only found out the company had closed on monday 26/10/09 through another engineer. was just wondering if you knew who to contact regarding un paid wages?ive called that sorry excuse of a man dave reynolds none stop but surprise surprise he wont answer.
the liquidation IS official. go on facebook, its all on there, a lot of very angry staff now jobless. [EDIT: where on facebook?]
The companies may have all gone into liquidation and Dave Reynolds may be a liar, a cheat, a thief or whatever you want to call him but a lot of people made a lot of money out of mis-selling and lying to customers. They were happy to do so as they got lots of money for doing it. Now that they’ve lost their cash cow they’re all complaining about what a scum bag he is. There were some great staff who worked for him for a number of years who have lost everything. The company closed because it lost its ability to take money by direct debit/credit card systems. Why was this? because rogue staff mis-sold and set up policies in dead peoples names. How low can you stoop? So before everyone starts lining up to smack him in the mouth, look at the agents and people who took payments. they knew what they were doing and were happy to do so as long as they got their cut. Doesn’t this make them just as bad as him? The bastard child turned on its Mother and destroyed it. A very sad end for everyone, especially the loyal customers
Lets face it the reason we lost the direct debit system was based on one of the 7 deadly sins GREED by one particular person.
Care to enlighten the rest of us?
Just type in satellite direct in the search and lots of comments come up.you may need to be in the loop of employess to find the information, any staff reading this will know what I mean.
I could see a satellite direct group, but that had only two wall comments and no discussions, so as yo imply, this will probably be useful to former staff.
Wide Awake, Let me assure you that not all staff swallowed the party line. I was one of several who regularly got hauled over the coals for refusing to lie to customers and set up illegal payments. I could see straight away what was going on and tried to do something about it.I was often told well if you dont like it ,you know where the door is.Those staff that stayed till the end only did so as they were owed money by the company and several were to old to really get another job. Sure a few of those there would do anything to make money and didnt care who got hurt. But most of us were just trying to earn an honest living. In our own ways we slowly turned the screws to alleviate the problem but doing so in such a way we didnt get sacked for it.The problem with call centres is there is always a large turn over of staff so many of those that came and went had no real idea what was happening, A lot were straight out of school so were completely naieve as to the facts. only those of us that were there for some time could see the bigger picture and we were the ones that upset the applecart by complaining publicly about the companies ethics. A few of us have put comments on this very forum about this, myself included. So dont judge us all by the same standard. Unless you actually worked there you have no real idea as to the situation we found ourselves in, A difficult balance of trying to provide for our families and at the same time persuade the company to cease its unethical practises without losing our jobs in the process. There are a lot of great people on the shop floor that have been affected by the stupid and illegal business practices of a small group of Managers. Just how corrupt the whole thing was really only came home to us when we recieved letters and reports from the insolvency people after the first set of redundancies, it was established then that Reynolds and co owe £27.5 MILLION to variuos people not including staff wages. £108,000 of that to a childrens charity called Lifes4living which we were being asked to collect funds for withthe charities backing, the charity is genuine but Reynolds it seemed never passed them a penny so you can imagine how that makes us staff feel. this saga is going to run for some time but as I said, don’t tar all of us with the same dirty brush. Most of us were good people. All I can tell as I said in my earlier post that the company has now ceased trading, they have No phone numbers,no computers and no way of contact. the building is empty and only caretakers are there until the liquidators move in.
Hi sleepy
I did work there and so speak from knowledge, not speculation. I notice your comments about the charity being genuine. It may be a registered charity but if you research it thoroughly you will see that this was also a scam. The scammer was scammed!! Look at holfordwatch as a starting point and you’ll see that Lifes4living changed their name and location several times over the years. Unfortunately Satellite Direct got caught up in all this but please don’t think that they were/are anything other than a money making scam. The workshops didn’t exist. If you ever come across one of their (Illegal) street collectors, ask them about Warrick Powell. Take some time to research their backgrounds and you’ll be shocked. They make Dave Reynolds look a paragon of virtue. I hope all the customers and employees get back all the monies that they’re owed although I may be being optimistic. I think the new company is called Satellite Digital Aerials or something similar. Jo Geall is the sales manager if you remember her and could probably tell you more about the operation
good what goes around comes around he has propertys so he be all right when he comes out of jail when the court case i like to be there to wave him off
latest update on court case, now in Maidstone, on 1st Feb 2010
There was a report today of the place being on fire but when we checked it turned out to be the rubbish skip outside, shame really, still we can live in hope. Perhaps someone was destroying incremenating evidence!! who knows, all trace of it should be wiped off the map.
any news on something services sleepy1 or any details of the new company hes trying to set up we could try and put a spanner in the works
the new company is being fronted by Terry Walls of Wheelie Bin and Window cleaning fame. A lot of the staff who exploit the ‘grey’ areas have gone there together with a lot of the engineers. It’s based in a private address in Bognor Regis
here’s the new company name. BEWARE of any calls from this company
DIGITAL TV UK LIMITED
IMPERIUM HOUSE
FORD LANE
FORD
BN18 0DF
Company No. 06415966
They’ll have to change the address though. The administrators MCR have just moved in and changed the locks.
thats correct, imperium house is no longer open to anyone. in fact some of the furniture and fittings are being sold off to Boss Domestic Solutions in Durban Road Bognor regis. theyre a similar sort of company to sat d. Wheelie bin and window was one of Dave Reynolds’s other companies.
Just keep an eye out for Digital UK TV. They opened briefly in Portsmouth and now Terry is the ‘front’ for the new company. It wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t try to contact ex-Sat D customers and try to get them to change over. Everyone must be vigilant to make sure they can’t con anyone else
Interesting – could that be why two servers went ‘missing’ from the ‘secure’ server room; one of them holding the financial/customer records.
Surely the police must get involved if customer details are no longer secure. What about all the staff details – they must also have been on one of the servers? Everyone should be aware in case they have random direct debits set up. If they have your bank account details they could do anything. I don’t understand how the servers went missing – not exactly pocket sized are they?
That’s interesting. Boss Domestic in Durban Road. Just like Satellite Direct in Durban Road. Hmmm.
Boss domestic are right next door to Sat Ds old office, some of Boss ds furniture came from there after it closed down. SDs place is now derilict.
Boss Domestic Solutions Ltd is in no way shape or form anything to do with Sat Direct. We are a bona fide registered company. Yes we are next door to where Sat D was, in our very nice 2500sq ft offices, and yes, we do have some of their furnature purchased for the liquidator.
Everyone beware, Have just found out that, that scumbag Dave Reynolds has started another satellite repair company in Burgess Hill , West Sussex, Possibly from the old SD office but I dont have and further details at this moment.
yes it’s in the old wheelie bin and window cleaning offices in Albert Drive? Burgess Hill. Tim Harris is running the sales team apparently so bound to be more missells and people having direct debits without knowing it. be very very careful, they WILL rip you off.
My Hd Box is in for repair 12 weeks now,how do I get it back and who can I claim from .They gave me a new Sky plus box while mine was in for repair,at least I can still watch TV but not in HD.
Sorry, A Bussey, but my guess is you,ve lost it. the HD boxes were usually sent away for repair, I have no idea where they were sent, those of you that live in the north of leicester whos boxes were faulty, the boxes were sent to a company in Ireland for repair, those south were sent to the office in Ford. as niether of those depots is in business now your box could be anywhere in the UK. I,m sorry I cannot be of more help, there are many hundreds of you in the same situation. its just one of the many consequencies of Reynolds stupidity.you have my sympathy.
Try contacting MCR 43-45 Portman Square London W1H 6LY
t: +44 (0)20 7487 7240 they are the insolvency practioners dealing with all the companies now, they may be able to help.
If you ring West Wallasey van hire on 01516391795, they might have your HD boxes, either that or they have been disposed of. They might be being held at various repair companies, who like everyone else, were not paid.
or you could try contacting Pete Campbell at the wheelie bin offices in Albert drive, Burgess Hill as he was seen removing dozens of boxes from Imperium House warehouse on the last day
Seen by whom? I’d prefer to avoid hearsay.
David Reynolds has recently spent £1m+ on a house in [edit: removed]
When you say ‘recently’, you do of course mean long before the closure of any of the companies, don’t you? ‘cos that’s when it was – whether you mean either of the South coast ones, the one outside Brighton or the one in London.
I worked for this company not long ago and well if you think they treat their customers unfair,Staff arnt treated any better..
Employees of sat d were called to the shop floor and told they were being made redundant the following day. They had to come in and work the last day, or else they would not get paid redundancy, being deemed to have left of their own accord. They then were offered their jobs back under the new name Satlink, subject to a new application form and contract of employment.Therefore the old C of E would become void, and staff would be treated as new starters, losing accrued extra holiday days and other long term benefits.
All very well, but those that decided they had had a gutfull and chose NOT to go back and work for the Crooks got no money in lieu of notice,no wages, no holiday pay and no redundancy money,only finally getting paid after a long battle by the Citizens Advice Bureau…..big it up for Stuart from CAB for all of his hard work!!
you may be interested to know that following SDs demise Dave Reynolds has been found guilty on 2 counts of fraud and 2 counts of money laundering. he is due to be sentenced on 29th march, the Judge at maidstone crowncourt advised him to prepare for a jail term. The staff are planning a celebration !!
Can confirm Boss domestic solutions is no different, not paying their staff, lie to customers no engineers, only pay cash to staff and not the right amut and late.
Defo a sca, so do not deal with them
Dave Reynolds was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in jail. hope the bastard rots and comes out sore! [edited
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BTW I did eventually get money in lieu of notice, it took them 9 months to sort it out!