Next Generation Media Group Rolling Contract Con

joodlemcnoodle · Mar 26, 2012

If anyone is approached about setting up a 2 year plasma screen advert for their business by Next Generation Media Group, I would strongly advise you to steer clear of them.
I did this for my photography business and had a high pressure sales pitch....was told they would write to me at renewal time plus our ad would go not only on the screen but also in a leaflet to be handed out at the local registry office.....
No reminder letter just an invoice received.... I wrote to cancel it because we didn't have one single enquiry and was told I had to give 12 months notice to cancel so I had to pay the full £780.
I refuse to be bullied into paying for this - i wasn't told about the 12 mths notice and all they have to do is delete ONE slide from a rolling presentation!!! 12 months notice...really????
I have searched the internet and found loads of people with the same complaints about this company and also they have several companies operating under different names but all connected, doing the same thing - tricking people into renewing by hiding this 12mth notice period in the smallprint and using high pressure sales tactics.
I have now had a threatening letter from a debt collector, who is also based at the same address as Next Generation Media....according to one consumer website, it's the same people running the debit collector agency!
I have contacted trading standards and the OFT who have suggested that the T&Cs are unfair. I am prepared to take this to court if necessary but I will not be bullied into giving them £780 without a fight.
I hope no one else has been caught out with this and would urge anyone else to stand up to them as well because it's the only way people like this will be stopped.

Witch consumer · Mar 26, 2012

Thanks for this info, it's great that people use forums to warn others before they too get stung.

I'm sure that term can't be legal although I have to confess I don't know much about B2B contracts.

Please let us know how you get on with this.

joodlemcnoodle · Mar 28, 2012

Update on the Next Generation Media post...

Having contacted both OFT and Trading Standards, they took all the details and said this is a massive problem nationwide, with lots of media companies tricking clients into rolling contracts that rely on customer inertia or ridiculously long notice periods.

Anyway, given that I'd received a threatening letter from Media Credit Management yesterday, I figured they must be up for a fight, which I was more than prepared to stand up to. However, today, I received an email from them backing down. They have terminated the contract and written off the invoice.

I don't know if they've had a call from trading standards or if they've just decided it's not worth pursuing, but whatever the reason, I strongly urge anyone in a similar situation to stand up to them, or any other media company who tries these tactics. More often than not, the threats will just be empty words but there's no substance behind them.

Trading standards gave me a useful website as well - Trust Online (first result in google!).

On this site, you can search to see if the company has managed to get any CCJs against any clients. I searched for NGMG, the parent company and also the debt collector and there were no records at all, which suggests that they don't actually pursue anyone and probably hope that a threatening letter will be sufficient in scaring people into paying.

Witch consumer · Mar 30, 2012

Good result well done.

It is nearly always the case that companies won't be taken to court to resolve disputes, whether it's the cost, the loss of faith or the bad publicity and CCJ's I don't know but if I have a problem with any company, I dispute it and despite several filings at the small claims court, I have never been there once.

cathywivacee · Apr 12, 2012

Help! I am about to take this company on, I too entered into a 2 year contract but was not made aware it was a rolling one. Same format as everyones, an invoice turned up for the next 2 years, thing is my company is no longer in business which NGM know.
If you can give me any ammo to fight with I will be truly grateful.

Witch consumer · Apr 12, 2012

As Trading Standards already seem aware of this issue, it may be a good place to start. Personally I would just return their paperwork to them with a note saying the company is no longer trading and so will therefore not be continuing with any contract nor paying their invoice, what are they going to do becasue I guarantee, they won't be taking you to court for the money!!!

aardvark7 · Apr 12, 2012

I'm in the middle of another battle with this bunch!

They sold me the deal in November 2011 and took three payment before I even got a sniff of being able to arrange the advert.

There was so much hassle that the original 30 seconds was increased to 60 and the 24 months to 30.

The last contact I had was that their accounts department would be in touch to reorganise payments.

I didn't hear from them until February when Debt Management threatened legal action!!

It now turns out that the contract they have with Liverpool City Council is being terminated (as their service to Liverpool has been shambolic according to my understanding), so they wouldn't be able to complete the contract with me anyway, although they think that moving it to Birkenhead from Liverpool covers that!!!

They are inefficient, disorganised and have questionable ethics, based on this evidence. I would advise everyone to steer well clear.

aardvark7 · Apr 17, 2012

Thanks 'John',

Always good to have as much information as possible and that really helps.
I have so much other documented evidence of their mis-selling and incompetence that I would actually look forward to going to court.

Indeed, I would tell the judge about the threats made by a certain Dom D'Andrea of Media Credit Management that he would ruin my credit rating and it would take years to clear my name.

These people are the lowest of the low, but they are mistaken if they think they can scare me! They picked on the wrong one and if your Liverpool CC contact provides me with sufficient evidence I'll be taking out a small claims court order to recoup my money. That should be fun!

cathywivacee · Apr 19, 2012

Hi everyone, here is an update on my situation. Had a call from Dan Tanner of Media credit and after a rather heated conversation (mostly from me!) I told them to take me to court for the money they say i owe due to the "rolling contract". After I put the phone down I rang Bristol Registry Office just to make sure the advert had been on the plasma screen, guess what? they had switched the screen off last May as they were getting nothing but trouble. The lady there said the screen kept playing up and also NGM was updating from all over the country when it should have only been Bristol advertising. I immediately contacted Mr.Tanner and he was going back to NGM to find out more. So in fact they owe me money! Watch this space!!

pjm · May 10, 2012

Hi - I have also got caught by the 'scam' next generation media have pulled on me. They've just slapped me with an invoice for 2 more years advertising with manc wedding brochure £645 without asking for proof approval, invoicing me or forewarning me at all. I'm not paying it! Haven't got one gig from it - not even an enquiry in 2 years.... they say I had to cancel the roll on contract or else it was automatic renewal..... they are now threatening debt collection because i've refused a 12 month payment of £52/month & a 30 sec screen advert as goodwill.
Please let me know your story & perhaps we can do something about it together. There are perhaps a lot more advertisers involved in this as there are a lot of repeats in the new brochure.
If you need to cancel the rolling 2 year contract you need to cancel before the first year is out apparently.
I don't intend to pay but can't afford representation either...

pjm · May 10, 2012

Just received this e mail from another advertiser in the same brochure as I am..."They are unbeleivable, I did not even receive a renewal note, or asked if my ad was to stay the same, had any details changed etc - just a invoice for around £650.00 demanding payment within 7 days. When I called to to say I did not want my ad renewing all the woman repeated over and over was "well its in the terms and conditions".

I have spoke to traing standards and 12 months prior notice of cancellation is classed as an unfair contract term and not legally binding. Their contract also does not mentioned a single thing that they have to do. I emailed them and relayed this information and advised I did not want my ad renewing and have not heard back from them as yet - this was 3 weeks ago.

I was reeling when I received thier invoice, they also told me that every couple who registered to be married would be posted a copy of the mag - I am sure this has not been happening & I will be checking with the registry office that there is a screen there and my ad has been showing over the past 2 years - If not I will be contacting them again and demanding a refund.

I have also searched online and it appears many companies have been scammed by next media. The salesman told me he would call near the end of the 2 year contract to see how the ad had been working for me - never did. He never mentioned it was a rolling contract either, he just wanted my money!.

I can guarantee I will not be paying any money to this company and their bullying, threatning tactics will not work on me either. I didnt even realise that a new brochure had been printed yet, Ive not received a copy.

I would be willing to take this the whole hog because they have no morals.

I would contact the trading standards like myself, reading complaints online they are already investigating this company so the more people that complain, the stronger the case.

Sorry for ranting :0) this company just really annoyed me - Im usually a very easy going girl lol!"

shopkeeperuk · May 15, 2012

I would be interested to hear from anyone in the Gateshead area if they are having problems with this company. Thank you.

aardvark7 · May 15, 2012

To all those threatened, do as I have done:

Document all transactions, including emails, and then write to Media Credit informing them that you have no intention to pay for an unfair or breached contract.
Also, that you understand Trading Standards are well aware of them and you will make your own report (I have), including your understanding that they are not averse to using false names.
Furthermore, that you will obtain evidence of their appalling service to the registry office in question (I have).
Finally, tell them if they are disgraceful enough to continue with their harrassment you will consider taking legal action yourself for recovery of the money you have paid, as the service they provided fell short of satisfying the agreement.

The likelihood of getting any reply is just about nil and, even if they are fool enough to proceed down the legal route, you could present the above to the judge. He will laugh them out of court. By the way, you don't need legal representation to appear in small claims, just have all the information to hand and be honest.

NGM/Management · May 21, 2012

This forum has recently been brought to my attention and as a result of the comments, I wish to respond accordingly.

Rolling agreements are not only industry standard in marketing and advertising but in many other business sectors including insurance and mobile phone contracts. Not only are these agreements perfectly legal and above board but we firmly believe that this is advantageous to our clients in that the original price paid is frozen at that price point and does not increase for them year on year. Our contracts state in bold type at the top of our contracts in a highlighted section that they are rolling agreements. In no way do we try to hide this, in fact it is something we are confident in promoting. Our clients have a full twelve months of advertising to ascertain whether or not they wish to continue beyond their initial advertising period.

As with any media, whether it’s television, radio, web or printed media, no-one can offer a guarantee as to the level of success to be expected from advertising. However, given that a vast numbers of our clients not only opt to roll into a 3rd and 4th year but a 5th and 6th year due to the favourable responses they have received we are very confident that our proposition to advertising clients is robust.

I also wish to confirm that the debt collection agency referred to is a completely separate company to our own. Their only involvement with ourselves is purely as a third party collection agency who act on our behalf.

Even though there are very few complaints on here and we have a database of over 15,000 clients we do not want any complaints or more specifically unhappy customers. Therefore I would ask you and encourage you to contact us directly if you have a complaint or query in order for us to resolve matters as swiftly as possible. We have transparent details of our head office contact address and telephone numbers on our website.

Witch consumer · May 21, 2012

Thank you for responding I'm sure many of the people who have posted here will be grateful for a contact and promise of remedy for their problems.

There are a few points I would like to raise from your post:

1. It is true that some business sectors operate rolling contracts, both my home insurance and car insurance operate in this way, however, prior to each anniversary of the contract, I receive notification of the renewal date and costs for the coming year in ample time to cancel should I so wish, do you offer your customers this same option?

2. I understand that you offer no guarantee of success from your advertisements however, what action do you take when advertising is withdrawn from a venue as demonstrated below?

3. Would you be willing to provide these unsatisfied customers with contact names and addresses of businesses who have opted for 6 years advertising with yourselves, as they are already advertising in public places, there would be no privacy issue would there?

arthurjones56 · May 24, 2012

I notice we have no reply from Mr / Mrs / Ms Next Generation Media.

I wonder why not ?

Perhaps all the person can do is to issue a blanket statement riddled with half truths at best and ignore the questions put in true Sir Humphrey fashion.

He wants us to contact him directly - and seems unwilling to discuss anything here - well dont be she sir - who are you - name required and full contact details !

I look forward to your next statement.

Arthur Jones

Harpo · May 31, 2012

I'm shocked by the amount of people on here with the same problem as me. I have just received an invoive for £1200 from this company to re new with 7 days to pay. The advert took 10 months to go to press and this was after them taking 6 months to come up with the ad. This took several attempts as they had a student working on it and all i can say is that a child could've done a better job! I was under the impression it was a 2 year ad and was never told that it was a rolling contract. I have had no letter advising me it was due for renewal and according to their contract the advertisement time starts when it goes to screen/press which was 10 months late so they've got a cheek sending me the invoice now anyway.
As for 12 months notice...well that is shocking. I'm seeking legal advice tomorrow and will call trading standards. I've tried calling them and they won't return my calls. I sent them my cancellation letter today as well. Seems like they want to do bully tactics from reading all your post. I'm not even a big company and no way can i afford the cost of the ad again. If any of you have had the same problem re the huntleys
please let me know and maybe we can join forces.

kaz99 · Jul 6, 2012

Most of these advertising companies are sharks. Let be fair you can advertise on Google for a few pense for every visitor. It's not hard to see that these old publication advertisers cannot compete.

They are nasty because their business model is coming to an end

joodlemcnoodle · Jul 7, 2012

Having read through all these posts, I'm really glad I started this thread because it's clearly a common problem.

To the NGM post that states this is a perfectly legal and above board contract, you are living in cuckoo land. Just because you put something in your T&Cs does NOT mean it is legally binding. If you think it is, then you are very naive. I am from a family of solicitors in the top legal firms in London, so I have this on very good authority. That is why we have an OFT and that is why people take companies to court for UNFAIR T&CS. In addition to this, that is also probably why you have NEVER managed to take any of your dissatisfied customers to court and actually got the money back because you KNOW you are in the wrong and would never win the case!

As for actively promoting the rolling contract and the T&Cs, well I have never heard such make believe rubbish in all my life. The salesman never mentioned anything about it to me and it was incredibly high pressure sales tactics. Yes rolling contracts are common with a lot of businesses, but the fact remains that DECENT companies will remind their customers at renewal time because they have NOTHING TO HIDE. Companies like NGM do NOT remind people because they rely on people FORGETTING to give notice, meaning they are tied in for another 2 years for something they don't want.

To anyone else in the situation, please do not think you need legal representation of any sort. Getting rid of this bunch of cowboys will cost you no more than the price of a few stamps and a bit of your time to write your letters. You just need to be prepared to stand up to them and do NOT pay them a penny. If they write you a threatening letter, you write one even more threatening back - and by threatening, I mean you tell them you will go public with this and write to every single governing body (OFT, Trading standards etc) as well as posting on every single consumer forum (just google them, there are loads of them about!). Write to all the national newspapers and your local press. Basically, make as much noise as you can because the more time they have to spend justifying their unprofessional practices, the more it costs them and the less time they have to trick other people into these contracts.

joodlemcnoodle · Jul 7, 2012

In addition to my previous post, the simple fact that they require 12 MOnths notice is in itself considered to be UNFAIR T&Cs by the OFT - that is a FACT - I have that in an email from them!

For anyone in this situation, I can guarantee that in order to remove your advert from the display is as simple as opening a Powerpoint presentation and deleting one slide. The reason I know this is because a member of marketing team used to work for another agency who uses the same software as NGM and he told me exactly how it works. I also contacted the software company and their support team confirmed the same thing to me. There is absolutely NO VALID BUSINESS REASON for needing 12 months notice.

Oh and another thing......apparently NGM haven't been paying their bills to the software company so they're chasing them for payment as well!!!
Hmmmmm....I wonder if they are disputing a rolling contract with their software supplier..........

Next Generation Media Group Rolling Contract Con

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