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About this siteThis is Money is proud to be approved by the Plain English Campaign
EACH WEEK, Tony Hetherington prints a selection of readers' letters, adding his own comments and advice plus the results of his enquiries.
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Write to: Tony Hetherington, Financial Mail on Sunday, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS. He cannot give personal replies but answers as many letters as possible in his column. Please send only copies of original documents.
N.J.M. writes: I have received an invitation from Mr Chris Douglas to attend a Touchstone seminar. He says his company is called the Xotic Group and he boasts about his helicopter and Porsche. Something rings a bell. Have you featured this man before? You may just have saved a lot of people a lot of money. Yes, I have featured Chris Douglas before, and you should avoid him like the plague.
His Touchstone brochure takes six pages to say how successful he is, without once explaining what he is offering. To find out, you have to attend one of the seminars he is hosting around the country.
However, don't waste your time. I can tell you that if you do attend, Douglas and his associate Peter Carbert will try to persuade you to pay £2,600 to join Herbalife, a health supple-ments organisation.
But the real aim is not to persuade you to sell Herbalife products. Rather, you are then supposed to recruit more agents who recruit more agents - and so on. The real money lies in the recruiting fees, not selling the goods. And if this sounds familiar, that's because both Douglas and Carbert have done it before.
Just two months ago, Financial Mail warned against their company eforyou.com, which charged people almost £2,000 to become agents and sell internet websites to businesses. Applicants were told they could earn £25,000 a year for working two hours a week.
But the websites were rubbish, and people who signed up now say it is clear the real aim was to collect training fees from more than 1,000 people. Chris Douglas and his wife Karen have now abandoned eforyou.com, and the company is being investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry.
Some victims have also complained to the police, and one, Chris Smith from Cheshire, has asked me to print his e-mail address as a point of contact. It is Smithwebhouse@aol.com.
Even before eforyou.com, both Car-bert and Douglas were known for promoting rip-offs. Carbert was a director of Century Mortgages, which was closed after a DTI investigation found it used false claims to get people to pay £3,000 to become agents.
Douglas ran his own company, Blue Cap, which fronted for Century. Anyone still tempted to hook up with the Xotic Group should be warned that its links to Herbalife are unlikely to last.
The company told Financial Mail: 'Herbalife takes these allegations very seriously and a full investigation is currently under way.'
Mrs S.F.H. writes: Please advise on the letters I have received concerning my late brother-in-law's shares in Marina Developments. The company was taken over in 1992, but I do not believe the registrars took all steps to notify me. I have since been offered the same £900 that the shares were worth in 1992. I have difficulty believing that £900 has earned no interest. The documents show that you were the executor of your brother-in-law's estate. He held 500 shares in Marina Developments, which was taken over by Yattendon Investment Trust and is now run by a Yattendon offshoot at Hamble, Hampshire.
The registrars say they notified you of the takeover and sent a form to claim the proceeds of £900. You say you did not receive any form, but the registrars are under no obligation to pursue you. It could be argued that, as executor, you should have made enquiries.
When shareholders do not respond to a successful takeover, their money is placed in a frozen bank account until they claim it.
Nobody has authority to invest the money. Even placing it on deposit could lead to disputes over interest rates or withdrawal terms. I understand your annoyance that £900 has been lying fallow, but the registrars have acted correctly.
P.C. writes: My wife and I ordered two mobile phones from Club Mobile. Reception was very poor, so both were returned within 14 days. Soon after, we received a bill from Singlepoint4U, for which Club Mobile was an agent. We called Single-point4U, explained that the phones were returned and were told to disregard the invoice. On October 20, Singlepoint4U demanded payment within seven days. I rang and was assured the problem would be sorted out. However, we have since had a succession of demands and threatening letters from debt collector Edward James International and its solicitor Mallams. I have telephoned them and sent copies of correspondence, but the letters and threats keep coming. Singepoint4U and Mallams seem as inefficient as each other.
Singlepoint4U tells me: 'Following an administration error when these accounts were closed, the credits due to clear the outstanding balances were not raised.'
Singlepoint4U had you and your wife down as debtors and passed the matter to Edward James International, at the same address as Mallams in Woking, Surrey.
Edward James International has failed to explain its disgraceful behaviour. Mallams says: 'At all times we were acting within our client's instructions.'
Singlepoint4U tells me that even after it asked the debt collector to stop harassing you, it still carried on regardless. Mallams says: 'It is regrettable that Mr and Mrs C were caused anxiety. This was not intentional.'
I would report Edward James International to the Office of Fair Trading, which licenses debt collectors. And I would report Mallams to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors.
I know you have billed Singlepoint4U for the time and money you have wasted in defending yourself. I think you should include Edward James and Mallams in the billing, in case they fall out over the division of responsibility.
Mrs A.E. writes: I am still awaiting my windfall from the Bradford & Bingley conversion. The account was in my husband's name and I notified the society when he passed away. In 1999, I was asked for his death certificate, which I sent. Later I was asked whether I wanted shares or cash, and I chose cash. This was promised before Christmas, but nothing arrived. I went to my branch and they took my account book. I overspent because I was relying on the cash and now I cannot even withdraw money because I have no passbook. I am 77. Something has clearly gone wrong with Bradford & Bingley's record-keeping. Though you notified them of your husband's death in 1999, the account was still in his name, which explains why the branch kept the passbook in January.
Officials tell me they have now closed your husband's account and sent a cheque to the solicitors handling his estate. But you are still entitled to conversion benefits.
Arrangements are in hand to issue your windfall shares. A spokeswoman told me: 'Mrs E will receive a welcome pack, which will enable her to sell these shares, buy further shares, or have a certificate if she wishes.'
I know you wanted cash, so I imagine you will sell the shares. The launch share-dealing service arranged by Bradford & Bingley has ended, but I have every confidence that arrangements will now be made for you to sell your shares.
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