London Marketing Services (another job scam)

It seems I've had an interview invite for another scam. I applied for them via totaljobs.com on the 2nd July. I don't think these are related to the original one I posted about before, but it is very similar.

London Marketing Services
Lower Ground Floor
Shand House
14 - 20 Shand Street
London SE1 2ES
Tel: 020 7234 3560
Fax: 020 7234 3569
http://www.londonmarketingservices.com

Edit: Their Nottingham 'branch': (Thanks Nicholas!)
Suite 17, Third Floor
Minerva House
Spaniel Row
Nottingham, NG1 6EP

They operate in a very similar way - you go in for a first interview, they act too busy to really talk to you about the role, then quickly invite you for a second interview - which is essentially being asked to go out and work for them unofficially for the day. The role will typically involve lots of door to door or street sales with no basic pay (commission only - not itself a scam), no official contract of employment (they ask you to sign a contract that states you are self-employed), and will struggle to get any of the commission owed. They don't make any of this clear to you when you are interviewed (and I'm not sure they even make the self-employment clear either).

In addition, from this link, it seems that they are not registered at this address (there is only Cameron Taylor Brady, Clarke Bond Group, and Komex Clarke Bond - who may or may not also be running a similar scam, as it's common for these companies to use many different names to avoid detection). "London Marketing Services" are also not registered with Companies House, which is the national registry of all registered companies in the UK.

They lure you in with promises of fast track management schemes and benefits, but the reality is that you are unlikely to get anywhere with this company. The only one who benefits is the owner of London Marketing Services.

More on the job scam

It seems that job scam is a lot more common than I first thought. I don't know whether they are the same company or different ones.

Just a few of their other names and addresses I've found!:

Fusion Marketing Solutions, TML Promotions, Arkville Sales & Marketing, Power Play Marketing Ltd
West Orchard House, 28 Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1GF

VI Marketing, Power House Direct Ltd, R&S Solutions, Red Square Direct Ltd, R.S. Marketing Ltd
30 Western Road, Brighton, BN3 1AF

Marketing Solutions
Belgrave House, 47 Bank Street, Sheffield S1 2DR
0114 276 7329
http://www.rsmsonline.co.uk

AMM Direct Ltd, Marchant Marketing, T.H. Worldwide
4th Floor, Premier House, Darlington Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 4ND
01902 716233 OR 01902 427353

SRM Marketing Limited (company no 06736679), Supreme Corporation UK Ltd, Orick Marketing Solutions Ltd, Forsters Marketing Solutions Ltd
Griffin House, Aurillac Way, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 7SS
http://www.supremecorp.co.uk
http://www.orrickmarketing.com/

RS Advertising Yorkshire Bank Chambers
Market Square, Retford, Nottinghamshire DN22 6DQ.

Supreme Corp Kent.
86a Bank Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1SD
01622 670478

Awka Limited
94 North Street, Leeds LS2 7PN
0113 2445330
http://www.akwa-limited.co.uk/

Other business names:
P & D Marketing
The Cobra Group
R3 Marketing
Clover Advertising
Endeva Advertising
Magnum Marketing Ltd
Mosco Marketing

Jess has also said they have a big prescence in Norwich. I guess student towns are easiest.

Blimey.

Moral of this story: ALWAYS DO YOUR PRE-INTERVIEW RESEARCH.

Job scam doing the rounds.

I got all excited about having an interview for tomorrow. The job description on totaljobs.com was a bit vague about what I'd actually be doing and the website from the job listing (http://aspireldn.co.uk) is empty, so I thought I'd Google for more info on the company and to prepare. I found this rather professional looking website instead - and also found a lot of websites saying that it's a bit of a scam. Reading a bit more into the company, it certainly doesn't sound like what I want to do. They ask you to come in for a preliminary interview, talk to you about the role and how easily you can progress up the ranks, and then ask you to come for a secondary interview the next day, where you will go out doing door to door sales with one of their 'top salesmen' so they can evaluate your skills, essentially working 9hrs for free. You then work on a commission only basis for a few months, before they promote you to team leader, again working on a commission only basis (something they don't tell you in interview), doing door to door sales, or possibly just harrassing people in the street to buy things. This could mean that if you don't sell much, you could end up working for free or for well below minimum wage - for someone like me who has bills to pay, and who needs a basic wage, that's not ideal. Only when you reach level 3 do you get a proper wage and are no longer involved in door to door selling.

The company that called me were Aspire Acquisitions Ltd, but they also apparently operate (from the same address and telephone number) as JCC Solutions, GM Global Marketing Solutions, Red Square Direct, Mosco Marketing, Fosters Marketing Solutions, and Supreme Corporation UK - among others! They are based at 1 Bath Street, London EC1V 9LB, phone number 020 725 19028, but also seem to have offices around the country (I saw stuff on Google for Manchester and Coventry as well).

I should have been suspicious that they don't seem to have 1 vacancy, or even a handful - they'll just recruit as many people as are interested (knowing that most will probably quit or cancel early on I suppose). Someone in one of the above links says that they worked for 3 weeks, and didn't receive any pay afterwards (or did with a struggle), so there doesn't seem to be a guarantee that you'll even get the commission you've earnt! They also don't give you a contract, just a disclaimer that you are "self-employed".

I just thought this info might be useful for other people here who get calls from them. They seem to be taking advantage of the recession and how many desperate unemployed people there are. Obviously if you want to do sales, and are happy with their conditions, that's fine, but they don't seem to make it very clear or obvious at all that that is what you'll be doing or how you'll be working, and I personally have cancelled my interview with them tomorrow.

Asus Eee 900 out soon :D

Yay!

For those of you that don't know, I have an Asus Eee, which is amazing and that I love very much. It is the size of an A5 notepad (or half A4 size), with a 7" monitor, 512mb RAM, 4gb harddrive, and has no CD drive (just 3 USB and 1 memory card port). It also has a VGA webcam and microphone. Not great specs, but it's merit is it's small size and light weight (900g), rather than being too groundbreaking, and it's cheap price - I bought it from Toys R Us (of all places!) for just £219. It is pretty groundbreaking in that the Eee 700 models come with Linux Xandros and runs free software, such as Pidgin instead of a version of MSN Messenger/Yahoo! Messenger/AIM/ICQ etc, Open Office, instead of the Microsoft Office package, and Firefox as its browser (which is obviously far better than IE anyway). While you can install Windows XP on it (it comes with instructions) why would you want to? XP is a resource hog and while the Eee runs fine on Linux with no real lag, I can't imagine it would run so well on XP, especially without upgrading the RAM a bit. (Asus have said that it will not void the warranty if you upgrade it to 1GB.)

I bought one because I wanted a laptop for uni, but most laptops are quie bulky and awkward to carry around - you need a laptop bag (which shouts 'steal me'), and they are pretty heavy too. They are also expensive, and considering I have a good desktop, so when all I'd want it for would be word processing and web browsing it seemed ridiculous spending so much on it (and, you know, poor student etc). The Eee seemed ideal.

However - to the point of this post. Asus are soon to be releasing the Eee 900, which will come with an 8.9" screen (and higher resolution, 1,024 x 600), 1gb RAM, better webcam (1.3 megapixels). It will also be available to buy with either XP (with 12gb harddrive) or Linux (with 20gb harddrive). This will mean a slightly higher cost (£319, I think) but I think it seems pretty worth it - they are still far cheaper than most laptops out there, and will keep the small a5 size (which is the whole point).

And, if this wasn't enough to convince you to get one, STEPHEN FRY HAS AN EEE TOO :D :D :D

(No, I am not being paid for this. But I should be.) I just think they are great little laptops that everyone should get! They are pretty in demand so seem to be quite hard to come by, but they are definitely worth it.

/geek

ani difranco 'you each time'

there you were day after day
six feet
twenty feet
two feet away
right in my pocket singin me a song
makin my heart race all day long

and we talked it out and we talked it down
but your eyes were not listening
and my ears were looking around
for another song to sing
but it was you each time
it was you

the answer to each moment must be yes
and the question: can you live with that?
becomes the test
so you weigh it against that aching in your chest
and that secretly relentless emptiness

and you talk it out and you talk it down
but your eyes are not listening
and my ears are running around
looking for another song to sing
but it is you each time
it is you

so my heart finally broke
it was so long bent
and it broke in three places
when it finally went
it wanted only to say what it meant
so it suffered every punishment

now it lives in a shack outside of town
and only the wolves are out there listening
and in her dreams they chase her down
their moonlit eyes are glistening
and it is you each time
it is you

Die so Fluid 'Not Everybody Gets a Happy Ending'

I bought Die So Fluid's new album, 'Not Everybody Gets A Happy Ending,' when it came out last week and I've basically not listened to anything else since (although you can't tell as although my PC is fixed, the internet won't work, and my laptop's last.fm won't update for some reason).

It is definitely their best album yet (and I loved their last). I feel that the lyrics are better than on their last, with some great one-liners, and the guitars also feel a lot more catchy and easy to sing along to, as well as having some great solos. It also is quite a diverse album, with a mix of styles; from more traditional rock ('Gang of One') to punk ('Something to Say'), as well as the very short and strange track 'Swam Beneath Me'.

This is definitely one album this year that you can't afford to miss out on.

Czech Police wonder where bridge has gone

Police in the Czech republic are trying to find out who stole a 4 tonne railway bridge from the border town of Cheb.

The company which was responsible for looking after the bridge raised the alarm when, ever alert, they noticed that the bridge wasn't there any more.

The bridge was on a disused stretch of line just outside Cheb.

Martina Hruskova, a spokeswoman for the Czech police, commented to AFP: 'We are not sure if it was taken for personal use or for its scrap value.' Exactly what that 'personal use' might be was left unsaid.

'It is the first time we have dealt with this type of theft,' she added.

Of course, it's not the first time some light-fingered bridge enthusiast has made off with a bridge. At least two bridges have been nicked in Russia in the past six months, and a pair of bridge thieves appropriated two Macedonian bridges last February.

From http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=100140&in_page_id=2

Plastic Toys, Die so Fluid & My Ruin, 02/02

Saturday night was the My Ruin gig with Steve :D When I finally got up and got ready (my Dad and I played Solitaire together for ages) we headed into London, with the thought that we could wander around Camden for a few hours and make a day of it. Naturally by the time we arrived it was about 4, we drove to Tottenham Hale & then got the train in as it was cheaper (but also full of mild peril as I had no idea how to get there and my satnav enjoys lying to me), and to make sure we didn't get stuck. The roadtrip down was exciting, and although Camden was packed we wandered around for a bit before going to McDonalds. In McDonalds there were a few 14-15yr old kids asking everyone for change (they asked me four times!) and they got quite aggressive, eventually shouting at a group of girls about how "you don't know what I've been through! You don't know how hard my life has been!" Yeah, it must be so hard, sitting in McDonalds all day with your friends eating crap food (because they were with a group of friends who had a table and were sat eating, they were definitely not just randoms off the street). And the girls said that they didn't need to get rude/aggressive, and bought them food (wtf?!). We left to go to Angel and the Carling Academy Islington not long after.

It was only when we came out of the Angel station that I realised I'd been there before to see Static X, so that was a nice surprise as I knew the way (it's randomly in the middle of a shopping centre, if you didn't know roughly where it was you'd struggle to find it as it's a bit randomly placed). We got there at 6.30, and despite arriving so early it took forever to get in (doors opened at 7), put our coats away, and then I bought merchandise - a signed My Ruin poster (with a free smaller tour poster), a My Ruin Momento Mori t-shirt, and a Die so Fluid shirt (plus free badge). I'm going to put the posters up in my room tomorrow :D (the first ones in my uni room here!). In the queue we randomly started talking to a guy next to us in the queue who had come on his own, he had come to see Plastic Toys (all the way from Milton Keynes! Dedication!). Also, Steve had me in hysterics by saying "last laff" in a very northern accent randomly (without meaning to) instead of "larst larf" in a southern accent (which is um, how he should have said it). It was so un-Stevelike and just generally WEIRD that it was somehow hilarious and kept me amused for ages XD Even now it makes me giggle. lolol. We can't even blame his time at Oxford, since um, Oxford is south too! And he doesn't have any northern friends. How random. I have no idea what happened to his accent XD

Steve and I got right to the front, second row of people on the right hand side (facing the stage), and had a great view. Unfortunately we were stood next to a group of girls who insisted on dancing wildly and getting in everyone's space (no one dances like that at a rock/metal gig!), forcing lots of people to move out the way, yet they'd continue to dance towards either side. It was actually really annoying, especially as they kept giving me dirty looks when they kept shoving into me, like I was randomly shoving into them, and when they weren't dancing they were texting and faffing with their phones, or going to/from the bar! The venue also unfortunately opened at 7 and closed at 10, due to an indie night on afterwards, which was a real shame. We only saw 3 of the songs of the first supporting band (Plastic Toys), though they sounded good from what we heard. Die so Fluid were on next, about 8, and had quite a short set, only about half an hour. I've been a fan of theirs for a while so it was great to finally see them live - we had a great place to stand, right infront of Grog (the singer/bassist) so that was great, and they played lots of new material - apparently they have an album out mid February, which I didn't know about. Finally My Ruin were up at 8.45 - again, their set was sadly quite short. Tairrie B (singer) kept apologising as she was quite hoarse after the night before in Bristol (I knew I should've gone!!) and felt like she was letting us down as she always likes to put 100% into her shows, especially here as they don't come to the UK much. But it was still great - it was just good to know that she cared so much about giving the fans a good show. She talked to the audience lots, and as always interacted with the audience too - often letting people sing lines she couldn't manage, holding hands with fans, or leaning into the crowd. They always put on an amazing live show, and it was definitely no exception.

Songs they played (in no particular order)
Silverlake 6571
The Devil Walks
Spilling Open
Religiosity (new song)
Momento Mori (new song)
Through the Wound (another new song - for this one she exposed her arm which is quite horrifically scarred after she had a car accident)
Cold Hands Warm Heart
Hypocrite (a Manhole/Tura Santana song, as her new drummer is technically their old drummer, he was in Manhole/Tura Santana)
Burn the Witch
Ready for Blood (new song)
Blasphemous Girl
Made to Measure/Beauty Fiend

I'm sure there were others, but I forget.

We arrived on Angel's platform at 10.01 according to the Underground's clock, and were in Harlow by 11 - amazingly early! It's usually gone midnight before I get home after gigs. On the way we stopped at McDonalds and Steve paid with a £10 note.. and got £13 change XD I was going to say something, but Steve said not to, and we sped away as I was worried they'd come after us. Steve kept saying the whole night that he was sort of looking forward to the car ride home (lolol) as he had a sense of mild peril. Apparently not!

BSOD!

I keep getting blue screens whenever my PC is left unsupervised (even if it's just for half an hour, I'll come back to find a BSOD)

KERNAL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

Any ideas?

New Years resolutions.

My 2007 resolution was to read 50 books in one year - unfortunately, as those keeping up with my book reviews blog may have noticed, I did not succeed. I only reached 40.5. These were:

(A quick key, before I do, as to how I rate books:
1/5 - awful; avoidavoidavoid! If the choice is between this and
2/5 - poor; only read if you have nothing better to do.
3/5 - average; not bad, but not memorable either. A good holiday read.
4/5 - great; enjoyable and definitely worth a read.
5/5 - brilliant; one of my favourites and a must-read!)

1. Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian. 3/5.
2. Anne Rice, Merrick. 3/5.
3. Terry Pratchett, Mort. 4/5.
4. Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha. 4/5.
5. Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man. 4/5.
6. Dick King Smith, The Sheep Pig. 4/5.
7. Tom Holt, Alexander at the World’s End. 4/5.
8. Terry Pratchett, Hogfather (5/5)
9. Terry Pratchett, Soul Music (5/5)
10. Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl (5/5)
11. Stephen Fry, The Stars’ Tennis Balls (4.5/5)
12. Jane Moore, Dot.Homme (3/5)
13. Jed Rubenfield, The Interpretation of Murder (4/5)
14. Eva Rice, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (4/5)
15. Philippa Gregory, The Queen’s Fool (3/5)
16. Philippa Gregory, The Virgin’s Lover (3/5)
17. Philippa Gregory, The Constant Princess (4/5)
18. Philippa Gregory, The Boleyn Inheritance (4/5)
19. Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor (4/5)
20. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (4/5)
21. Susanna Dunn, The Queen of Subtleties (3/5)
22. Alison Weir, Isabella, She-Wolf of France, Queen of England (4/5)
23. Garth Nix, Sabriel (3/5)
24. Lauren Weisberger, The Devil Wears Prada (2/5)
25. Bram Stoker, Dracula (5/5)
26. Douglas Kennedy, The Pursuit of Happiness (5/5)
27. Agatha Christie, Mrs McGinty’s Dead (4/5)
28. Lana Thompson, The Wandering Womb: A Cultural History of Outrageous Beliefs about Women (3/5)
29. Agatha Christie, Cards on the Table (4/5)
30. Jasper Fforde, First Among Sequels (3/5)
31. Agatha Christie, Dumb Witness (4/5)
32. Gregory Maguire, Wicked (2/5)
33. Gregory Maguire, Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister (5/5)
34. Paullina Simons, Red Leaves (5/5)
35. Karen Harper, The Queene's Cure (3/5)
36. Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men (4/5)
37. Alison Weir, Elizabeth the Queen (5/5)
38. Alison Plowden, Tudor Women: Queens and Commoners (3/5)
39. Peter Benchley, Jaws (5/5)
40. Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain (5/5)
Currently reading: Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd.

So, naturally, this year I plan to try to beat this; it should be easier as I finish university in May and so will have a lot more spare time on my hands. At the moment I'm struggling to read two or three pages a day for fun, let alone a few chapters! I will be pleased if I manage to beat 40, though reaching the target of fifty would be even better.