TONY HETHERINGTON: Dealer’s claims are as surreal as art I bought

Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s chief investigator. He battles the reader’s corner, reveals the truth that lies behind closed doors, and wins victories for those left out of pocket. Below you can read how to contact him.

NS writes: I invested £9,000 with art firm Smith & Partner Ltd after calling me cold and being very persistent.

Two sellers said the demand for the artist Miss Aniela’s prints was so great that it wouldn’t be a problem to leave within a week, and that I would very likely see a strong return within a year.

However, since asking for a sale, I’ve received a number of excuses.

Tony Hetherington replies: Since I first raised the alarm about Smith & Partner a few months ago, the complaints poured in. The company’s long track record of false claims and broken promises makes it remarkable that it has not been investigated by Trading Standards, if not by the police.

You told me that recently Smith & Partner even tried to sell you more of Miss Aniela’s work, claiming that it would be easier to sell a larger portfolio of her prints, and that the values ​​would increase because she is having a baby . all the more so because there would be a lack of new work from her.

Both claims are not true. Many Smith & Partner clients have told me that they have sold more prints for thousands of pounds as a condition of selling their entire collection at auction. Once they left, they were told that the auction had failed.

As for Miss Aniela, who produces some very attractive surreal pieces, her real name is Natalie and her partner Matt Lennard says she’s not expecting a baby.

Lennard, who is also her producer, told me: ‘We hope that every investor does research before buying.

“We would like to think that the value of our work will increase, but nothing in life is guaranteed. Every investment is a risk.’

Wise advice. Armed with your signed permission, I have asked the owner of Smith & Partner, Luke Sparkes, to provide you with all recordings of his company’s sales calls.

He had told me that every customer was recorded as agreeing to the terms of his purchase. This turned out to be yet another false claim, with Sparkes eventually admitting, ‘Smith & Partner don’t record our calls’.

Previous falsehoods include the claim that Smith & Partner is a member of the respected Fine Art Trade Guild.

The truth? It was thrown out centuries ago. Another false claim was that investors never promised profits. The truth? According to its own advertisements, the profit was assured.

However, there is good news for you. Luke Sparkes says he sold Smith & Partner and stepped down as director.

The new boss is Michael Conway. He told me, “As you know, I wasn’t in charge when this deal happened. However, after consultation with the customer, I have come to the decision to ensure that the stock is sold by the end of next week.’

If this doesn’t work, tell me.

Debt collection agencies called in after a meter blunder

Mrs AB writes:- In 2019 it became clear that I was being overcharged by Scottish Power. I stopped paying. In 2020 it sent a technician, who discovered I was billed for the wrong meter.

It then took Scottish Power another year to reach an agreement with its own engineer.

Meanwhile, it refused to recalculate my bills and hounded me for the balance indicated by the wrong meter.

Confusion: A technician discovered that AB was billed for the wrong meter

Tony Hetherington replies: You told me that when Scottish Power demanded that you pay for someone else’s consumption, you turned to Ombudsman Services, the private company that handles complaints. It ruled that Scottish Power would issue new bills, but only from June 2020.

This was not ideal, but you agreed to leave the matter behind. You set up a payment plan to clear arrears and pay for normal monthly usage. But Scottish Power recently called in collection agencies, denied there was a payment plan and then admitted the plan existed – but refused to recall the collection agencies.

Scottish Power told me it was using collection agencies because you failed to pay the first payment due under the payment plan. When I contested this, Scottish Power admitted that it had failed to collect the payment ‘due to a system error’.

By then, you were forced to hand over 36 monthly payments in just three months. Scottish Power told me: ‘We are sorry for the distress and inconvenience Mrs B has experienced.’

It earned a goodwill payment of £400 for the first meter problem and a further £100 for wrongfully entrusting you to collection agencies.

If you believe you have been the victim of financial misconduct, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large number of questions, no personal answers can be given. Only send copies of original documents, which unfortunately cannot be returned.