Fuck you, The Retirement Shop - stop cold-calling me!
A company called The Retirement Shop keeps cold-calling me. I don't like being cold-called, so now I'm calling you, The Retirement Shop - I'm calling you out for your annoying phone calls.
The first conversation
My first conversation went like this:
(Imagine the voice of an Australian woman) "Hello there, is this Paul Jones?"
"Er, yeah... speaking."
"Hi Paul, I represent an organisation who help ex-pats with their pensions. I notice you're living in Dublin now. Paul, I would like to organise a phone call for you with one of our pensions advisors. What time of day is best for you? Morning, afternoon, or evening?"
"Er... afternoon, I guess," I said.
"Thank you. And can I ask you about the details of your pensions in the United Kingdom? Are you part of any pension schemes?"
The call was starting to scare me so I overcame my British politeness and hung up.
The next calls
Since then, The Retirement Shop have been calling me about twice a week. They seem to prefer mornings, which suits me fine because I'm asleep and have my phone on silent.
Here's the date, time and number of each call so far:
| Date | Time | Phone number |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Oct 2016 | 11:50 | 00 44 20 3318 3823 |
| 7 Oct 2016 | 16:15 | 44 20 3318 4664 |
| 13 Oct 2016 | 15:36 | 44 20 3318 4664 |
| 14 Oct 2016 | 10:55 | 00 44 20 3868 7111 |
| 21 Oct 2016 | 11:31 | 44 20 3318 4664 |
| 26 Oct 2016 | 10:27 | 00 44 20 3868 7111 |
| 27 Oct 2016 | 13:19 | 00 44 20 3868 7111 |
| 28 Oct 2016 | 12:48 | 00 44 20 3868 7111 |
That's eight calls so far. I'm starting to feel flattered.
The solution
The solution is to block all The Retirement Shop's numbers on your phone. Simple.
Let me know in the comments if The Retirement Shop has annoyed the fuck out of you too.
Comments
2017-01-23 Bruce
I have received these as well, same story, got my details from researchers who use LinkedIn and FaceBook, although of course, neither site has my number, is anyone that stupid they publicise this publicly? Anyway, I am not British, so I back them into a corner until they hang up, every minute they spend talking to me is a minute of their time wasted. Perhaps now they will add me to their do not call list... Perhaps I will drag it out further next time...
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2017-07-15 Expat Girl
The researchers are based in Kuala Lumpar and they trawl social media to get names that are then passed onto the office in Bournemouth where there is a large team of cold-callers. The callers are mostly teenagers, and anyone that bites is passed to the salesperson.
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2017-03-15 Anonymous
They get details from 'Researchers' posing as fake Recruitment Consultants from big names on LinkedIn with job vacancies for expats abroad in their host country- the type of people everyone shares their number with. The profiles are very, very realistic (prob copied from real profiles). One even set up a blog page. You go to the page and there's just 1 post of nonsense. But its makes the LinkedIn profile look even more legit. Then the 'Recruiter' goes silent and the call comes a couple of days later (subtle timing). The number they call from is a fake Manchester number - you can't call it back. Check out The Retirement Shop (aka TRS Online) . Website says based in Dorset, but company is registered in Sale, Cheshire on Companies House (ie - Manchester postcode). 2 Directors with very similar names (could be brothers...maybe...) 1 in the UK, 1 in the UAE. No previous Directorships. Registered in Sep 2016, no wont have had to file paperwork yet. No employees on LinkedIn. Directors are not on LinkedIn.
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2017-03-15 Paul Jones
I see from beta.companieshouse.gov.uk that the directors' names are John Cornelius Parker and James Patrick Parker. The former is aged 33 and the latter is aged 30. I googled their names and John Cornelius Parker appears in a newspaper article from 2002. According to the article, he's from "Beldan Hall, Hallstead in Kent" and he was involved in a riot after a football match. It seems his morality hasn't changed since then.
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2017-04-03 Bob
Had a quick chat with this lot earlier. Thought I'd find out what they were proposing at least. What they would have done for me if I'd let them would have resulted in a minimum 25% tax hit under the new QROPS rules - they denied flat out this was the case. Avoid at all cost.
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2017-05-17 Bridget
Hi , This exact same situation has happened to me. It started with a fake call from Manchester and now it's a constant barrage of cold calls despite me explaining I don't need their service. One question though has anyone successful stopped these guys? If so I would be keen to hear how? Thanks Bridget
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2017-05-18 Paul Jones
I blocked their numbers on my phone. I've had no calls since then.
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2017-07-05 Cathy
I am an ex-pat living in Canada and had a call in June 2017 from "James" from The Retirement Shop (TRS), as I was not at home when he called he spoke to my husband and you can imagine my surprise when I got home and my husband told me that this James had discussed my UK pension with him. Whatever happened to privacy? I was suspicious. Today (July 2017) I had a call from a Ian Leigh from "Holden Assets" (HA) to say that he had got my name from TRS and that James had made a note that I had requested a call back to discuss my UK pension.... duh! I don't think so, and I told him I would be checking out TRS and HA.... this Ian Leigh gave me two cell numbers one a Toronto number as he says he spends 3 weeks out of 4 in Canada 647 834 1790 and his UK mobile number +44 7492 772370
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2017-07-11 Irish
Sounds like Holborn Assets in Dubai. Interestingly, the company there is also run by someone called Parker. Coincidence?
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2017-07-18
Just had the same experience cold called today 18th July 2017, although they did say they got my details through linkedin. Since closed linkedin the account, it's goldmine for shysters like this. I'm not British but would be very wary of this crowd could possibly convince some poor mugwup into give enough information so they can clean them out.
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2017-07-24 Jack Salmon
TRS and Holborn Assets are all linked and if you check out the Financial Conduct Authority website in the UK you will find they have a cease and desist order against them. What more of a warning do you need!!!
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2018-04-23 Anonbritabroad
They are still doing this but with a new name!! It’s awful!
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2018-06-20 Barry
TRS is under the umbrella of Holborn Assets based in Dubai UAE. They have a research team based in Sri Lanka who generate leads for TRS. CAE (Client Acquisition Executive) call those leads asking if they've contributed on a UK Pension Scheme. John and James Parker are brothers the Director of TRS
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