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Red Ball Marketing aka Hi Marketing / Rockex HP / Bayer Global Group
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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #1
29-12-2010 08:00 PM

We had a visit today from a pleasant ( not) ginger haired gentleman from this company offering us a free house survey due to the age of our property etc. His home made business card which he showed stated' Red Bull Marketing'.

My partner said,' you are a salesman aren;t you' to which this person replied' you telling me what my job is?' becoming quite aggressive fairly quickly before having the door closed on him before he tried to start another argument with us. I think there have been reports before of callers like these but this guy in particular was pretty threatening even to someone bigger than him so who knows what would happen if someone elderly or more vulnerable opened the door to him.

Has anyone else had the pleasure of this caller?

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DerbyHillTop


Posts: 120
Joined: Aug 2008
Post: #2
29-12-2010 10:17 PM

I had someone at my door too, but after saying a couple of times that any paper he wanted to leave with me would end up in straight in the recycling box he got the message and left.

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Jane_D


Posts: 189
Joined: Jan 2010
Post: #3
30-12-2010 09:29 PM

I had a visit from him yesterday. He wanted to make an appointment to do a survey, and said that 'most of my neighbours' had already arranged one. I said I didn't have time to talk but accepted his piece of paper and he went away.

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Hawkesrah


Posts: 69
Joined: Aug 2009
Post: #4
01-01-2011 10:25 AM

That visit from the guy claiming to be from Red Bull Marketing sounds very suspicious to me. The real motive might be to case peoples houses and set them up to be burgled. Although he may have an what appears to be a valid business card an associate of him may carry out the burglary. A report on this site ago said that a con man was going around and one of his ploys was to say he had customers in the area which is what this guy claimed.

Finally if he offering a valuation he must know estate agents do it free of charge.

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #5
01-01-2011 10:31 AM

The thought had occurred to me. The guy certainly had no selling skills to put it mildy with his 'did you spill my pint' attitude.

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Jon Lloyd


Posts: 151
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #6
01-01-2011 10:53 AM

Surely the point is that a soft drinks company (Red Bull) has no need to survey people's houses. The fella's obviously a con man, and a hopeless one at that. Maybe a business card stating 'House surveyor, not burglar' would have been more effective? Sounds like the sort of thing a drunk would do.
Happy New Year all! I must have better things to do....

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eastofthetrack


Posts: 30
Joined: Jan 2008
Post: #7
12-01-2011 10:04 AM

We had a visit last night, but it's Red BALL Marketing Ltd from Reading, and not the energy drink company!

They're hawking for business by offering a "free condition assessment of the exterior wall surafces of your home". The suggestion was that they were seeing how buildings in the area had aged, and "all our neighbours" had also signed up for an appointment.

They call you before they are due to do the assessment, and then I guess you wait for a "your house is falling down! Use use to fix it!" letter

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scambuster


Posts: 1
Joined: Jan 2011
Post: #8
15-01-2011 03:28 PM

This has the look of a scam.

I was visited by a woman claiming that they had been asked to inspect the external walls of all the houses in my street. I did not give my name or telephone number and was left with a piece of yellow A5 card "Certificate of Entitlement". At the bottom it has "Red Ball Marketing Ltd. Red Top House, 106 London Street, Reading, RG1 4SJ Tel: 0845 643 574 This promotion is provided by Red Ball Marketing Ltd for the Bayer Global Group's Licensed Service Provider Programme. http://www.bayerglobal.com ".

1. No company called "Red Ball Marketing" is registered at Companies House (check http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk )

2. The only Google 'hit' for "Red Ball Marketing Ltd" brought up this site.

3. I cannot connect to http://www.bayerglobal.com ("Oops! Internet Explorer could not connect to http://www.bayerglobal.com").

4. Whois shows that http://www.bayerglobal.com is registered to an American address as follows:
Registrant:
Mark Bayer
27 Arcadia Road
Natick Ma 01760
Natick, Ma 01760
US

Registrar: NAMESDIRECT
Domain Name: BAYERGLOBAL.COM
Created on: 08-DEC-01
Expires on: 08-DEC-11
Last Updated on: 18-NOV-10

Administrative, Technical Contact:
Bayer, Mark
27 Arcadia Road
Natick Ma 01760
Natick, Ma 01760
US
508-655-2202

5. The genuine Bayer company (HQ in Leverkusen, Germany), who do use the name Bayer Global Group, have no connection with this marketing campaign. The genuine Bayer use http://www.bayer.co.uk and http://www.bayer.com .

6. Red Ball Marketing Ltd use a calling line ID of 020 8732 5100. A Google search reveals that this is the number for a company called "Mosaic ERP Systems Limited" (company number 00743006, refer to the Companies House website). The accounts are reported as "Next Accounts Due: 31/12/2010 OVERDUE".

7. A Google search for "Mosaic ERP ..." brings up a few pre-selected search options that include "mosaic erp systems complaints". This search option brings up 47,000 entries. In the top six are grumbletext.co.uk, complaintsboard.com, complaints.com and BBC - Watchdog: Rogue Traders.

Draw your own conclusions.

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eastofthetrack


Posts: 30
Joined: Jan 2008
Post: #9
17-01-2011 09:06 AM

Nice work Scambuster!

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tomm


Posts: 1
Joined: Feb 2011
Post: #10
09-02-2011 03:09 PM

Hello,

Sorry to gatecrash your community board but this is the only real reference to Red Ball Marketing on the net at the mo.

Just thought I'd log that this guy (ginger hair, aggressive disposition) is doing the rounds just off the Cowley Road in Oxford today.

He came to my door and started talking - i've heard it all before so i started saying 'Not interested mate' but he kept talking louder and louder so i repeated myself louder and louder until we were shouting at each other!

Eventually he shut up, I looked him straight in the eye and i could quite easily see he wanted to have a massive argument or even get a bit physical.

Luckily i'm a big bloke and i hadn't had a shower yet so my hair looked pretty crazy! He wandered off in a huff - i'm half expecting a brick through the window later.

I think his name's Steve (source: http://twitter.com/kimptoc/status/25971645881520128)

Just thought this might be of use to someone in the future.

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appetite4


Posts: 27
Joined: Feb 2008
Post: #11
09-02-2011 06:43 PM

Bit late to this thread as I wrongly assumed it was actually about marketing dreadful caffeine drinks but an obvious question occurs.... Did anyone contact either police SNT or trading standards? Everyone on this thread may be ok but the odd poor soul who succumbed to this charmer might need warning and protection.

And for those whose reaction is to this' Why don't you report it?' I didn't have the pleasure of a visit so I am not a first hand witness.

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Jane_D


Posts: 189
Joined: Jan 2010
Post: #12
09-02-2011 10:48 PM

Maybe Trading Standards would be interested in Scambuster's findings. I wouldn't have anything to report really as he just handed me a card and went away when asked. Trading Standards might be more interested in his Oxford behaviour!

I think that it isn't a police matter until you've actually been defrauded of something. I contacted the police when a guy used my address to set up a mobile phone contract for which he had not intention of paying, and they said that as I hadn't actually lost anything, I couldn't make a complaint; it was a matter for the mobile phone company to pursue.

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apaladin


Posts: 1
Joined: Jan 2011
Post: #13
24-02-2011 03:30 PM

This is indeed more Trading Standards than the Police. I'll brief them and seek a view.

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sh1


Posts: 1
Joined: Mar 2011
Post: #14
01-03-2011 06:49 PM

Currently doing the rounds in SW16. Sounds very much like the same guy, reeking of dodginess and unpleasantness.

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landor


Posts: 1
Joined: Mar 2011
Post: #15
02-03-2011 04:12 PM

same guy in SW9 this afternoon. very shouty. had his "trainee" with him.

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sydenhamcentral


Posts: 269
Joined: Mar 2008
Post: #16
03-03-2011 12:05 AM

I think the name 'Bull' is apt.

we have had similar people assessing the condition of the walls of our house. They gave us a quote in the thousands. I laughed at him. I could have done it myself with a latter, a few hours and about £50 for what they were offering.

Most, if not all door to door salesmen are like this. Most, if not all double glazing sales teams, people who sell kitchens, anyone selling stuff who says 'we don't advertise and therefore they pass the savings onto their customers' are all "Bull' marketers. I have a particular hatred for double glazing salespeople (they, incredibly, call them 'designers' these days which is a joke). Some are incredibly agressive and offer the old 'we will only give this discount now, tonight' or 'if we can put a sign up to advertise because you are near a phonebox, we will give you another discount, but only if you take this expensive, complicated finance scheme'. It's all nonsense, it's all a con, don't fall for it.

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paulhorth


Posts: 1
Joined: Mar 2011
Post: #17
12-03-2011 12:34 PM

I just found this thread from Google.This thread came up as the first reference in Google to Red Ball and Bayer group

The Red Ball man just called on me here in Wimbledon SW19. The description fits - ginger hair, about my height (5 ft 9). Mentioned the Bayer group only after I asked him who he was and who he worked for. I interrupted his patter and took a stroppy tone because I don't like people who ring my bell and don't properly tell me their business. I told him firmly that I wasn't interested in having an exterior survey and sent him on his way by closing the door in his face. I could see he had a couple of others with him as he went down the street. I don't think my neighbours answered , but the lady next door is 87 and rather vulnerable to this sort of thing, I will call on her later.

Thanks to people on this thread and Scambuster, for putting me in the picture, it seems this lot have been active for a few months now.
Paul Horth

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tommy tucker


Posts: 1
Joined: Mar 2011
Post: #18
12-03-2011 08:55 PM

i too had red ball marketing i let them make an appointment then emailed community police and completed a form to c onsumer direct when the time came guess what no one showed this is in blackfen sidcup so they are all over:tommy tucker

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #19
13-03-2011 01:23 PM

Wonder how successful this red headed guy is at his job!

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Perry_W


Posts: 1
Joined: Mar 2011
Post: #20
14-03-2011 10:25 AM

Sorry for also gatecrashing your community board. I'm also not a Forest Hill resident myself. I'm posting from Wimbledon, SW19.

I must say I was very disappointed to read the posts here. I was visited by this ginger haired young man several days ago. He explained that the team of assessors were currently in my area of SW and were carrying out these free house surveys. Polite and helpful throughout the process I really can't fault him, as usually most cold callers / canvassers are not the most courteous of people as well all know!

To cut a long story short, I booked this appointment for Saturday and, to put some other's minds at rest, the exterior check wasn't in fact dodgy or a "scam". The assessor came round, left me with some information about the company then visually checked my walls, (mid way through pouring half a cup of water on them). I was left with a written report explaining what he'd looked for and the results afterwards.

With regards to the website address of the company, it's now changed on their information leaflet from http://www.bayerglobal.com to www.bayerglobalgroup.com, which to me looks legit. Maybe a typing error previously? Not entirely sure about the other things scambuster pointed out.

Oh well, sorry to spoil everyone's theories of burglars, robbers and cowboys but I had a very good experience with Red Ball Marketing Ltd and the Bayer Group, and would happily use them in the future.

Perry Willoughby

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