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Case Study 1

> The Advert <
4 packing studs £4.50 per card
handmade clockface £6.85 each
Achievement Awards £6 per 16 awards
Envelope Making £4.90 per 50 envelopes

> The Truth <
"They sent me the envelope making kit, even though I had asked for something else. When I returned the kit they returned it to me. I asked for my money back and they said they would have to keep £10 for administration fees. Still haven't seen any of my £30 (I think it was that much).The envelopes they ask you to make aren't normal envelopes, they are like bags and it would take at least 2 days to make 50 with all the cutting and folding and scoring you have to do!!!"

Case Study 2

> The Advert <
Variety of jobs available. All that is required from you is the ability to read and follow simple step by step instructions and basic practical ability. The majority of the work available is simply assembly and adding finishing touches to products e.g gluing, cutting, painting etc. If you have access to a typewriter, word processor or computer, there is also a choice of clerical work available, including addressing envelopes and inputting data. There is no set time in which the work has to be returned, simply complete the product and return to the sender. No minimum or maximum work hours required. Payment usually within 3 working days of receipt of satisfactory completed work. Payment rates of between £2 and £20 per hour, depending on ability and work chosen. A registration fee of £20 is required (£15 if prompt reply received) which is refunded if there are no current vacancies for the job of your choice, or if you are dissatisfied with the product of your choice.

Options include:

Assembly Sewing Basic sewing/cutting £10 per kit
Circuit Boards Basic cutting/fixing £6.35 each
Collage Basic cutting/sewing £20 per kit
Envelope making Basic cutting/gluing £7 per 50
Computer Covers Basic cutting/gluing £9 each
Dart Cases Basic cutting/gluing £5 each

Waist purses Basic sewing/gluing £7 each
Craft Decoupage Cutting/gluing/steady hand £12 per kit
Woodwork - Door Plaques steady hand £20 per kit
Finger puppets Basic sewing £5 per set
Addressing envelopes £5 per 100
Recruitment £30 per 100

> The Truth <
"What I actually received from them was yet another directory, with a select number of companies providing work and all wanting more registration fees. The clerical work doesn't exist - only as a business opportunity and most of the other work comes from a very few other companies."

Case Study 3

> The Advert <
A chance to earn up to £20 per hour working in the comfort of your own home. This company have been making and selling a variety of craftwork for over 12 years but now concentrate on miniature cottages and buildings. You need only a small table or workspace and do not require a kiln or specialised equipment. No fumes. All materials provided free of charge.

Other craft work may also be made available to you. Payment varies from 70p for very tiny cottages to £8 for the larger ones, whilst cottages made from their original designs can earn between £15 and £70 each, rising to £150 for your own designs. With practice you should be able to produce between 3 and 8 of the smallest models and 1 or 2 of the originals in an hour. No set number of hours required. Continuous year round work.

Option to run your own business selling these same products yourself. £35 starter kit includes training and information manuals, paintbrushes, paints, primer, stonepowder, varnish, reusable moulds, sandpaper, baize etc. £150 business kit also available if you wish to go into business yourself - includes sufficient materials for 200 items.

These fees are refundable (less small admin fee) if packs returned in pristine condition within 10 days of receipt.

> The Truth <
"For £35 the say they will send you several manuals to aid you plus enough materials to produce the cottages as they want them. What you get is an Foolscap envelope. In it is a small amount of stonepowder (used to make the cottages), two moulds (both defective), a childs waterpaint box with a brush in it that could paint the walls of your house, a small pill bottle of varnish (which is so watery it makes the paint run on the house when you try to cover it), another brush for "fine work" which is just an average brush that has been butchered with a knife or a pair of scissors, a small amount of felt (for covering the base of the cottage), a small pill bottle of primer (used on cottage before painting) and a couple of three inch square pieces of sand paper (for smoothing small faults).

The original offer states that you can earn 70p for smallest type up to £20 for largest and should be able to produce between 3 and 5 an hour. The manuals supplied are well out of date. One does tell how to produce the cottage but this only covers about 3 pages. The rest lists places to obtain moulds (of 6 addresses only 3 still in business) which you have to get the brochures and then tell the company which ones you want to make when they are happy with what your producing. A second manual tells how to make mould holders, but with no pictures it's impossible to understand. Then there is another with ideas and lists of homeworking firms. Again most are out of date. I finally found that they were produced in 1986!!. Total cost probably about £6 in total (including the postage).

I did send off a couple of cottages that I made (86p postage) and they sent me back a letter stating they enclosed a new mould (they didn't), what was wrong with my efforts - which believe me could not be done how they stated (especially with what they supplied - which was supposed to be enough to complete all work to their satisfaction) and then they had the nerve to tell me that I must ALWAYS enclose a self addressed envelope for them to use."

Case Study 4

> The Advert <
The company claim that by registering as a homeworker (£25 refunded upon completion of first batch of envelopes) you can select the type of work you wish to do from craftwork, assembly work, packing, envelope filling and typing. You will also receive a regular free homeworkers magazine, and have the option of having your name and address circulated to businesses requiring homeworkers, so that they can contact you directly.

> The Truth <
"I have received their pack and it is not as it claims. They are not offering work, but a list of companies offering work. Their only work is placing ads to get SAE's for which they pay £45 per 150. I received no response from circulating my name to companies wishing to employ homeworkers, nor have I ever received any homeworking magazines."

Case Study 5

> The Advert <
Address envelope labels £5 per 100
£30 one-off payment required, refunded after correct addressing of 500 labels.

> The Truth <
"First they say they have home jobs for you and to get their details to send £20. When you do so you get a short list of companies that provide jobs for a small fee. They themselves offer addressing envelopes (which sounds very easy, You address 100 labels and get paid £5.........Simple isn't it) well you have to pay £40 for this. What happens is they send you 100 labels and a list of companies. They ask you to address the labels in such a way that the size of each letter is 3 mm/something similar. I did it wrong once so they send the thing back saying that it was not 3mm. Fine agree my fault. Then I devised a means by which the letters I drew were 3 mm and send it to them (not once but twice) and they returned it saying that it was not 3 mm. This I know is false. I still have the labels and if you measure each letter it will be 3mm. Well that was it for me. Total Disillusionment."

Case Study 6

> The Advert <
The company offer work from home posting advertising on the net. You are asked to pay them £98.00 for info and part of the agreement is that you, in effect, have to buy a PC from them in order to work for them. Pay them another £895.00 for the PC, get receipts and a delivery date for the machine.

> The Truth <
"The PC didn't arrive, then it is to be re-scheduled. The long and short of it is that they will send you a standard letter to say that they are in financial trouble and at the moment cannot either refund you or supply the machine for which you have paid. They then offer envelope work (which they condemn in their literature), paying £100 (although at some point they said their rates of pay were £300 per batch) per 1000, but you have to buy the stamps (£200) and they say they will pay your stamp expenses with your £100 pay per batch. Needless to say I have my doubts about ever getting paid. They won't reply to your letters, faxes, e-mails and their phone is constantly engaged or off the hook."

Case Study 7

> The Advert <
Home based work doing watercolours painting, decoupage, finger puppets etc. Registration fee is refundable after first batch of paintings/craftwork completed. The rate for watercolours sized 9" x 7" is £10 per completed painting. We provide all materials.

> The Truth <
"The advertisement was in a local paper. I badly needed cash to pay my gas bill, so I phoned them up. They told me that it was £39 to register (refundable) after first batch of paintings/craftwork was completed. The rate for the watercolours (that I was interested in) was £10 per completed painting, size 9" x 7" and they provided 5 watercolour pencils, a board with a trace outline printed on, 1 small brush and a very small print of how the finished picture should look, not £39 `s worth!!! More like £3 - £7`s worth!!

I was only allowed to do one at first "so they could evaluate the standard". Anyway, I did it (very well if I say so myself), sent it off, and heard nothing for two weeks. When I did get through to them on the phone, they said it was being processed. Another week went by, then in the 3rd week, it was returned saying it needed "some attention". I myself nor anyone I knew could find fault in it. I went over the colours slightly more and sent it back again. They returned it again saying it required more "depth". So I went over the colours a bit more, sent it back, and guess what - it was returned, now saying "too much depth". This scenario went on twice more, and I was told that there was no work coming in at present, so not to rush to get it finished!!

I got my mother to phone them enquiring about some homework, and they told her that there was an overload of work available! This is when I knew they were rip-off merchants.

After nearly six weeks, they told me they were sending a payment. When I got the cheque, it was only for £5! They said that they could sell it as a "sub-standard" version, and they would give me £5!! They also told me that I had to complete eight paintings before I could get my deposit back, but £10 was for administration costs so I would not receive this part back!

After all this messing! I was so angry that I drove to the address advertised (about 30 miles away) to demand my money back. The place was like a large static caravan and had other "businesses" in the other rooms. There were two young girls in charge, the ones that had been answering my telephone calls. They said that the manageress wasn`t available and to come back another day. I was so mad I said I wasn`t leaving until I had my deposit back and sat down in the small reception part.

Whilst there I looked at the projects as advertised on the walls. To my disbelief in the watercolour section was the "ideal model painting" - what people should be aiming to produce, and it was MINE !! My painting was the example shown to others, and I was not even being paid for it !

After a lot of ranting and some dishonourable threats (I couldn't`t help these at the time), I managed to talk the two girls into letting me have some decoupage pictures so I would go away. These hardly amounted to the outlay and anxiety I suffered, but they came in handy for presents later on. I wonder how many people and good artists have been ripped off by this company?"

Case Study 8

> The Homeworkers Directory <
"I sent £4.95 for a 'Homeworkers Directory' which they promised to refund if I didn't get a job offer. There wasn't a lot in this so-called directory but I spotted what would be a great job for me - working for their 'Data Control division' using my computer to input names and addresses onto floppy disc. It cost £9.95 (refundable on completion of 5000 names and addresses) for a floppy disc and a trial list of names. But after sending the disc back I got a letter saying 'due to lack of contracts on our behalf we are unable to send any more work to you at present but your name and address will be kept on file' (yeh, sure!) I also sent S.A.E. and 6 stamps for a booklet 'Essential advice and Information for Homeworkers' but surprisingly got no reply. I shall know better next time. I thought I'd let you know so you can warn others about them on your website."

# posted by Medical Information : 1:04 AM