Don’t pay these car thugs at Upvehicle – and I’ll support you in court, says TONY HETHERINGTON
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.
Scam: The Upvehicle site is powered by Quotient Int whose fake address is above a shop in Dublin
SW writes: After reading your recent article about the Car Rate valuation scam, I am sending you a copy of an email I received from another scam seller’s website, upvehicle.co.uk.
I didn’t realize a payment was due, and now they are demanding money and adding a fine.
Tony Hetherington answers: It is no coincidence that Upvehicle and Car Rate are using the same scam. This is not a back room online rip off. It is an organized international fraud.
Car owners are invited to provide their license plate number and get an appraisal. What they don’t see, unless they scroll down the website, is fine print saying they’ll be charged £99 for this service, which many car websites offer for free.
In the email you received, Upvehicle threatens to impose fines and use collection agencies if you don’t pay.
My advice: don’t pay. Call their bluff. They will never take you to court because if they do, they will be exposed as scammers. And you can call me as a defense witness.
Behind both Car Rate and Upvehicle is only one company, Quotient Int Limited.
My inquiries show that it was registered in the Republic of Ireland in May last year by a woman who gave her name as Irma Rangkuti and an address in Polegate in East Sussex. The name may be fake or a case of imitation. The address belongs to a company formation agency called I-Support-Business. The company’s Nic Carnell told me he doesn’t know Ms. Rangkuti, adding, “All our customers must identify themselves before they can use our address.
“Our address is being used without our permission.”
Upvehicle’s website gives an address above a shop in Lucan, on the outskirts of Dublin, but there’s no trace of the company there. Much of the address is taken up by a tattoo parlor called Guns N’ Tattoos that has no connection with Upvehicle or its owner Quotient Int.
Quotient has also used two addresses in London, but is located on neither of them.
I have passed the evidence from The Mail on Sunday to the Corporate Enforcement Authority, the Irish government agency that investigates false details provided by anyone setting up or running a business in the Republic.
Meanwhile, car owners in Finland have also been scammed by yet another website. Consumer protection officials in Helsinki say: ‘This service, Autoarviointi.fi, is operated by a company called Quotient Int Ltd, which certifies that it is based in Ireland. The billing data, on the other hand, is in Belgium.’
More evidence of international organized crime. So what is Quotient really based on? Following the money gives clues pointing to Lithuania.
But no matter where the crooks are, no one should pay them a dime let alone £99.
Unisys’ pension is stalled
AP writes: I have a pension with Unisys of £119 per month.
This is a multi-million pound company that announced a 77 per cent profit increase last year, but it has denied me even an increase in the cost of living for the past decade. My wife also has a pension with Unisys, but she gets a raise.
They have not given any reason for not paying an increase.
Control: Unisys has denied AP even a cost-of-living increase for the past decade
Tony Hetherington answers: Unisys is a US-owned multinational technology giant, with approximately 16,000 employees and an annual turnover of nearly £2 billion. Your pension is managed by a British company, Mercer, which has issued a useless seven-page document aimed at professional financial advisers. This was still better than Unisys’ own response. It simply declined to comment. When your wife worked for Unisys, the rules were different.
According to Mercer, when you worked for Unisys, the rules of the pension plan were that increases were applied only at the discretion of the pension fund managers. And for the past decade, says Mercer, Unisys directors have decided each year not to exercise that discretion in favor of you or another retired employee whose pension falls under the same rules. Current employees may want to check the fine print on their own Unisys retirement coverage.
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.