written by on 13/01/2014
I would not recommend this company to anyone, they are dodgy and not trustworthy, they told me they could reduce my business rates then as soon as they got my e-mail bombarded me with e-mails then frightened me into paying them some money by saying I'd signed a contract with them and they would take me to court and put me on a bad debtors list if I didn't pay so much towards their costs. I did check with the council that they were having my rates reviewed to which they told me an application was waiting, so being naive I stupidly paid them some money. They then withdrew the application straight away and when I kept telephoning them they conveniently weren't answering the phone and when I left a message they didn't get back to me. My advice is to you don't trust or use these people.
written by portugeezer on 08/05/2013
Received a phone call from these guys claiming they could reduce my business rates. Very hard sell over the phone so I asked if a representative of the company could come to my pub to show me all the details. Was told "no, not possible, this is a one-off offer, blah blah blah" and REALLY wanted me to go for the contract. Once they had my email address, I was immediately presented with a cotract of agreement, "which must be signed and replied to ASAP"... I read the small print and once I saw the amount of money they wanted upfront (over £2500!!!) immediately declined the agreement and had to send 3 emails back to get cofirmation of cancellation. Also, just to be doubly sure, I sent a Registered Letter to their head office, within the required 7 day cancellation period, and made sure it was acknowledged. I never received a reply, telephone or otherwise, but they never got in touch again. My advice is, steer well clear of this company!
written by on 11/03/2013
Stay clear, took £400 of me, no response after writing and calling
written by on 31/01/2013
They started by repeated cold calling telesales, When you agree to see them full of very convincing claims. They claimed to be able to reduce our business rates significantly and as they had just about doubled then it was of interest. Once they got there money out of us, then absolutely nothing happened. At least I am glad to sea I was not the only sucker.
written by JohnCampbell on 02/01/2013
As with many reviews, contacted, assured, money taken with guarantee. Told no fee would be payable if the case was not water tight. Told we were due for a large rebate as defined by the valuation office. Asked for fee then deadly silence, contacted them to be told it could take up to 8 weeks for a reply, try to contact them again only to find out their website has been suspended and no way of contact. Like an idiot I paid the fee, the valuation office visited my premises and the rates actually went up! Feel very stupid but I guess I am not the only one that has been sucked in. The names I found from companies house are: Directors and Secretaries Chris Barlow 21 Apr 2009 ⇒ Present (3 Years) Company Secretary Timothy Robinson 1 Apr 2011 ⇒ Present (1 Year) Director If you see these guys involved then do not use, trading standards should take these guys to the cleaners
written by Padfrog on 13/11/2012
Gut insinct is a valuable asset, don't ignore it if these people contact you, my story is the same as the majority of peoples. Do not let these people get the better of you by going anywhere near them, they are a con. Although I feel for everyone taken in by these con men I'm glad I wasn't the only one and again I have cynicism on my side, should have listened to what my head was telling me, but 'NO' just didn't seem to cut it with these people, I was being phoned at least once a week if not more, until I gave it a go. Stupid me!!! At least we may be able to save some others from this fate.
written by Bobby1159 on 23/10/2012
We took over our pub 16 months ago. We were phoned by Laneset and me being me trying to save money was taken in by the women on the end of the phone. She was very helpfull and I even had a laugh with her. I sent them everything they asked for and stupid me sent them £475 before they had done anything for me. Agian the kept in touch for the first couple of months keeping me upto date on my case. Then nothing!! I tried phoning them to be either greeted by a constant engaged tone or going straight to a answer phone message. I even tried to email them again getting no reply. Finally got through to them this year with a reply of them being to busy because of the new valuation year. With the promise of somebody getting back to me I waited again. The only thing ive had through the post since regarding this "SCAM" company was a letter of the VOA telling me they had gone into liquidation. So you theiving scum bags where is my money?? Yes i was stupid sending it you in the first place before you actually did anything, which i now know you never had the intention to do. Where do find out who the liquidators are and how do we get our money back? I think they deserve to be named and shamed then jailed for fraud. Dirty flithy rotten theiving scum bags!!
written by on 09/10/2012
The directors of this company should not be allowed to trade again. They phoned with promises that they new could not be delivered ,
written by on 02/10/2012
Isn't life hard enough for small businesses. More fool me!! I am usually a very astute business woman and fight a hard bargain BUT I am amazed I have been taken in by such plausible telephone sales people. I placed 2 business premises with them about 18 months ago. I made all the follow up telephone calls and was given "progress reports" regarding various stages at the Valuations Office and dates of "hearings" etc. The smaller premises - I did hear had been refused. Today on discussing another issue with my local business rates authority - I decided to phone Laneset to no avail. Went on website and found they are in liquidation. I wish now that I had visited this Review Centre much earlier. There seems to be no indication when they went into Liquidation. Information seems very hard to come by. We also have lost a lot of money we can ill afford to do in these difficult times. I have now gone direct to voa.gov.uk. and hopefully they will help us. I could have done this myself in the beginning. But companies like Laneset get all your company details and then hound you into letting them HELP you and save you valuable time you could spend elsewhere developing your business. Where does one go from here, I need to get my money back. They do not divulge the names of administrators or liquidators so that one claim off their assets, if they have any. Owners of companies like this should not be allowed to trade again. No doubt they will crop up somewhere else in some other guise and con unsuspecting businesses out of more money. If anyone else who has suffered badly with this now defunct company can give advise please do so. How many more companies are there? It seems they have been trading till very recently. But judging by the many reviews listed here difficulties seem to be within the last 9 months, although as one reviewer points out previuos reviews have been removed. Why is this? At least no unsuspecting business will deal with these people again. Be aware of any other like companies offering plausible services to help busy small businesses. They cannot sort things out and unfortunately we are left with the task of dealing with all government agencies ourselves, which takes a long time. Since writing this review I have now heard direct from voa that my case is still ongoing and I will hear from them in due course. Good luck to everyone else who has an appeal outstanding. But how do we get our hard earnt money back from this defunct company?
Written on: 10/10/2012
Unless you paid by credit card it may be difficult. Although in my case it was a business to business transaction, as a sole trader consumer law does cover the transaction.
Written on: 29/03/2014
Contact utility bills helpline they are in the process of dealing with laneset to get our monies back.they are a legitimate company
written by cazkav on 23/09/2012
Well what a surprise. 3weeks after sending me a letter threatening court action if i didnt pay them and succeding to get my payment by means of a collecting agency( now i wonder if they really were) , i see they have finished.I am so angry!! These people are cons , they dont care about small businesses who suffer from thier actions!!
written by Jimtheswordsman on 20/09/2012
Back in February I contracted Laneset to appeal on our business rates. Their represenatative assured me there were ample grounds for a successful appeal. In May we further advised Laneset that we had been obliged to fit a fire exit and this reduced our Zone area A by some 6 sq metres. We asked for a copy of the documenation that they submiited for our appeal. We receieved nothing. When we checked on progress of our appeal in July, we saw that it had been withdrawn. After a number of attempts, we managed to speak to Laneset and asked them why had it been withdrawn and their answer was that there were no grounds for an appeal. When I pointed out that reduction of Zone A was a very firm reason for an appeal, they said for some reason that had not been submitted and assured us they take up the matter. It is now mid September and nothing has happened. We have advised them that we believe they have completly failied to provide the service they were contracted to do and asked for a repayment. No response has been received. We shall now refer the matter to Bury Trading Standards. As we see it as they go through the motions of submitting an appeal but fail to state any grounds for a change. As a little extra, Laneset gave our details of our Utilities usage to a 3rd party (with our agreement). The 3rd party rang up and started asking questions about our usage. When I pointed out that they already had that info, they still went on asking questions and when I suggested that this seemed rather unnecessary, he told me 'oh, go and f..k yourself' and put the phone down! It gave me something to laugh about all day, but it did rather throw a bad image of Laneset and I subsequently advised their Chief Exec of the phone call - but again had no response from them. From my experience I consider them an absolutly useless company who are probably breaking crimanal law by obtaining money by false pretences.
written by gillianm1958 on 12/09/2012
There were no reveiws when Laneset targeted us. We were pressurised and threatened by them into paying 'up front' for their services, which we could have organised ourselves as we later found out. We have learned never to give cold callers the time of day no matter what they are selling. If you are reading this then its too late for you too !
written by on 28/08/2012
With all these negative comments and the number of complains on this web site and there must be many others who have fallen for this Con man who have not reported it on this site. Why are the Police not investigating. I contacted Burnley Trading Standareds, and was told that they do not have Company registered at the address given. They put me in touch witth the National Fraud Office, who I contacted, they did not seem the slightest bit suprised especially when i mentioned the address of thier registered office in London. This Company Trading under ther grand title of Laneset UK Limited they give the impession that they have offices in Coventry, Burnley and Nottinghame, all have the same contact number. When you call you will always get an answere phone sayng they are very busy and ask you to leave a message and they will call you back. If you are a new pottential to be conned, then you will get a call back. If you have already been conned then you will not get a reply. Why are we forced to give a star Rating, a 0 - 10 is still not low enough and It really gets to me that I have to make a star Choice. This Company is now in liquidation, probable owing Thousands of Pounds to creditors and clients. Would you believe that this Company is continueing to Trade under the Name of Lindset Limited, from a private address in Notingham witch with alittle reserch you can find on the net. All they have effectively done is drop the UK from thier title. at companies house it is clear on the register it is Clear that Laneset UK Limited is in Liquidation, yet directly underneath is LaneSet Limited still regitered. they are still taking phone calls on the old number and the Number for the new Laneset Limited remains the same. Again what are the Police doing about any of this, please report your experiances to them. Yes some busineses experiance finacial difficulties and indead do go into liquidation, but this would seems to be set up as a con and for this Company to be able to start up again under a different name and what a kick in the Teeth to us all that have been conned to see this company continue to trade at all.
written by on 15/08/2012
Just had call from legal team . Said laneset had tried to put a charge on our company for not paying them even though the person who called at our premises is on CCTV agree ing to us not paying anything until they let us know the amount they could save us. Big major con . Do not use or even get into conversation with. Company is moving it's offices owing money to landlords staff and buisnesses please help set up a site to bring this company and it's constantly changing directors to be made liable for their un lawfull trading . Do. Not use this company . Please do not use. You have been warned
written by ali351380 on 10/08/2012
Just been conned by this company and will be in contact with Burney trading standards along with taking my own proceedings against them as they have lied to my face and over the phone and I have witnesses to prove it.Do not touch them they are absolute con merchants
written by leemercedes on 07/08/2012
i too have been conned by this company, the business rates reduction is a complete con do not use!! join me and contact burnley trading standards they will investigate if enough complaints are received
written by on 02/08/2012
Oh god I wish I had seen this before I handed over my money to these frauds...I have just contacted the Valuation Office myself to be told that Laneset have withdrawn my appeal as they accept that there is nothing to be changed. The times I have spoken to them they have told me that my appeal is progressing and I should expect a refund shortly. They really pressured me to pay the £475 saying that as they VO had accepted the appeal then we would definatly be getting a reduction. This I now no is all rubbish. I will now be shutting up my shop and going out of business as I had replied on this reduction and refund to get me through this very hard time. How can they get away with doing this to people its a disgrace and immoral. As a group can we not all do something to shut these people down contact me on [email protected] and we can see how many people have been conned. I am devastated at the moment.
written by restaurantowner on 01/08/2012
----Are quickly parted--- and I was that fool!----TWICE!!-- I have nothing to add to the previous reviews regarding the very plausible sales patter that I was taken in by-- except to say that during the first two or three phone calls I received from this company I explained my reluctance to be duped again by yet another company claiming to be able to reduce my non-dom rates by, at the very least 18% (''probably more''-- blah de blah----) because I had seemingly been duped 2 years ago by another company called Higgins Thomas.--But no, my experience and the alarm bells in my head didn't ring persistantly loud enough for me to put my own greed to one side and to take notice and be aware of being had over again. The relevance of my mentioning Higgin Thomas-- is that I have just been informed today by the Eastbourne District Valuation officer that Laneset Uk is a reincarnation of Higgins Thomas (now disolved) run by the same directors and people from the same ltd co address. Disreputable, selfish, spiteful, thieving people such as this should not be allowed to blatantly rip businesses off and still operate as company directors--- that is the bigger crime here...... I should know better than to pay upfront ( I've lost over £800.00 to these two companies through my stupidity)-- but until the law is changed (or these people are stopped-- hopefully in prison!) scum bags like this will always be able to open up new companies and continue to live the life of Riley off the back of others misguided trust and hard work. I've thought about getting a journo friend to do an expose on the directors and I've thought about contacting Watchdog and Trading Standards- but whats the point--- nothing will happen so I'm not wasting any more of my precious time thinking about these A***holes. Nope---- I'm just going to leave it all to Karma---- as in What goes around comes around. These people will have some serious S*** come down on them one day--- it catches up with them in the end you know ..... GOOD. :-) Lesson well and truly learned--- DON'T PAY UPFRONT FOR ANYTHING-----EVER!
written by DaveTheman2 on 24/07/2012
They will talk you into believing they will get you thousands back in from a rates review. Lies lies lies they will just take your ones wait a few months then write to you saying they are unsuccessful in there efforts. Ask yourself, why do they have no good reviews???? Please save your hard earned money and don't fall into the trap!!!!
written by Bridgetools on 17/07/2012
A Very Charming and honest sounding family business man managed to convince me that I was paying over the odds on my business rates. He said he was approached by Laneset when he had his business (That he lost) who reduced his business rates. Blady blady blah....They take £500 from you and you get nothing. I am not usually the gullable type so if you see this post before you sign DO NOT SIGN UP!
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Nen68's Comment
Written on: 16/10/2012
i actually threatened them with watchdog, maybe we should call them .