Ref. 12363SMALL businesses in the county are being targeted by a host of illegal scams and some sharp practices just short of being illegal, warn Wiltshire trading standards officers.

One trader in Devizes said she was driven to distraction and lost a lot of sleep when a Merseyside-based publishing firm sent her threatening letters, although she had already paid her bill.

Dawn Phillips, who runs the cafeteria at Devizes Leisure Centre, is demanding an apology from McAllister Stone Ltd, publishers of On Call, described as The Emergency Handbook, featuring advice to businesses on fire, crime and accident prevention.

Mrs Phillips received a phone call from the firm in November 2003, inviting her to advertise in the handbook, which, she was told, supports the work of the three emergency services.

She said: "As I had just started up at the leisure centre, and Kennet District Council had promised me £300 for advertising to get me going, I agreed to take a half page. When the invoice for £180 arrived, I passed it to Kennet and thought no more about it."

But a few weeks later the first of a series of letters arrived, threatening that if the bill was not paid immediately, action would be taken against her in the county court and bailiffs would be sent round to claim her property.

She said: "I was beside myself. I've never owed a penny to anyone in my life. Thankfully, Kennet got onto the situation and threatened to get its legal team involved. If it hadn't been for them, I would have paid the bill a second time, just to get peace of mind."

Mrs Phillips is not the only trader in Devizes to have fallen foul of McAllister Stone's dubious practices.

Judy Coom, who runs Upstairs Downstairs antiques centre in the Market Place, received a call from a McAllister Stone sales rep about a year ago.

She said she might be interested in advertising but she would have to see some artwork first.

The next thing she knew, she received an invoice for £141. Mrs Coom said: "I contacted them and told them I would not be paying the bill as I had not given permission for the advert to go ahead. They kept sending bills, with amounts going up all the time first to £168, then over £200.

"They said they had a recording of me saying yes, but I have spoken to Wiltshire trading standards and they told me I would have to be informed if they were recording my voice."

Mrs Coom has received a letter from Merseyside trading standards department saying that McAllister Stone has a recording of her giving approval for the advert. They require her approval to listen to it and Mrs Coom has written back to give it. She awaits further developments.

Wiltshire senior trading standards officer Sue Wilkin confirmed her department was following up on a few inquiries about McAllister Stone and other publishers in Merseyside area.

Mrs Wilkin said: "The big problem is that some of these telephone calls are being recorded, which almost constitutes a binding contract. But there is some doubt as to whether these tape recordings are complete.

"I am not suggesting that McAllister Stone does this, but some tape recordings are doctored so the customer sounds as if they are giving consent.

"Our advice is to say you buy nothing without written correspondence. A legitimate business would always follow up a telephone booking with a letter. If you are being bullied, you must ask yourself, is this the kind of firm with which I should be doing business?"

The current issue of On Call features adverts for a number of Wiltshire businesses, many of them pubs and restaurants. The Gazette contacted them and, although they had not been harassed by McAllister Stone, they all agreed to advertise simply because they understood it was aiding the emergency services.

Tim Carr of Integrated Installations Ltd at Bumpers Farm, Chippenham, was one of them. He said: "We don't advertise as a rule and I was under the impression this was more of a donation to the emergency services. The telesales rep was reasonably high pressure and I am annoyed if we have been taken for a ride over this."

Mrs Wilkin and her colleagues are being inundated with complaints about a scams targeting small businesses.

The latest is a marketing company contacting traders by fax with details of how they can be removed from fax promotion lists by faxing a premium rate line at £1.50 a minute.

Wiltshire trading standards officers say it is an offence to send junk faxes to private individuals, sole traders and partnerships.

The registration being offered by the marketing company is not necessary as companies can register free of charge to block nuisance faxes by ringing the Fax Preference Service on 0845 07 07 02.

Mrs Wilkin said: "All local businesses should be careful. There are a number of scams on the loose at the moment, including some involving data protection, domain names registration and this junk fax scheme.

"We would strongly advise people to take advice before paying any money out. A free trading standards advice line is available to firms each weekday from 9am to 4.30pm on 08451 201 202."

George Walsh from McAllister Stone refused the Gazette's opportunity to comment before going to press, preferring to pass this article to its solicitors. He said he could not comment on individual cases without the permission of the customers in question.