Contract Spy - Legit or not?

**NotAllThere** · 31 March 2016, 10:28

Your instinct is probably correct.

**LondonManc** · 31 March 2016, 10:42

Seems a decent idea in principle but how many clients do they have and how would I know how many of those clients are relevant to me?

**SlipTheJab** · 31 March 2016, 10:43

Been tried many times before, never worked, move on, nothing to see here...

**northernladuk** · 31 March 2016, 10:44

Sounds a little like Contractor Club which folded a bit back. It's quite possible not a scam but not something you need to bother with either....

You could be an arse and get them to explain where they got your email from and ask them to prove you consented to them contacting you quoting some data protection and other legislation if you want.

**stek** · 31 March 2016, 10:49

Do a 'whois' on the domain name, the owners name is there and from there google him and you'll see his LinkedIn etc....

You can spy on the contract spy lol!!

**Boo** · 31 March 2016, 12:43

Originally posted by DrWho View Post

I have received a very persuasive email from an outfit called Contract Spy.

They are offering a service to provide leads for direct contracts, ie cut out the agency.

There have been dozens of similar outfits that claim to replace the agency model with a free-to-the-contractor service over the years. None of them has ever done a single thing for me/MyCo and I would not expect this one to be any different. I would avoid it as a waste of money, personally.

Boo

**cojak** · 31 March 2016, 12:43

Originally posted by DrWho View Post

It appears to be a UK trading website, but there is no trading address or contact details or any way of contacting them. I believe there is a requirement for trading websites to provide contact details.

The domain is owned by an individual who has elected to withhold his trading address. Not good.

The First Company Law Amendment Directive came in on 1 January 2007, and companies are required to put the following information on both their website and business emails:

the company registration number
place of registration (such as England and Wales)
registered office address.

In addition, the website also needs to include:

The company name, postal address and company email address
The name of any trade bodies or professional associations that the business is part of, including membership or registration details.
The company VAT number, even if the website is not being used for e-commerce transactions.
Any prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous.

All of this information only needs to be on the website once and it doesn't need to be highly visible, so look in About us/Contact Us/Legal Information/T&C pages (or just google 'registered office site:companyname.com')

Why is this important? You need to find a person responsible if the company suddenly refuses to answer its phone.

Why would a reputable company NOT give you this information?

Having a Limited company name helps to locate them (and the Directors) in Companies House. Without a Ltd Company you can't do that. There are a few Compsource's in Companies House and who's to say which (if any) is the right one?

Admittedly, looking the website up on WHOIS.net may help but in compusource.co.uk's case that domain is available!

So, before you sign on the dotted line with ANY company, at least make sure that it's a real company with real people that you can point solicitors at if it all goes belly up...

Finally, my advice is to think LONG AND HARD about a company that doesn't have this information on it's website.

For further information on what should be on a company website, look here: The UK's E-Commerce Regulations

Note: Search Nominet for uk websites (I forgot to do that...)

**DrWho** · 31 March 2016, 14:24

Thanks for reply

That is pretty much what I expected.

The website in question has absolutely no contact or identity information and must be regarded as highly suspect.

Originally posted by cojak View Post

The First Company Law Amendment Directive came in on 1 January 2007, and companies are required to put the following information on both their website and business emails:

the company registration number
place of registration (such as England and Wales)
registered office address.

In addition, the website also needs to include:

The company name, postal address and company email address
The name of any trade bodies or professional associations that the business is part of, including membership or registration details.
The company VAT number, even if the website is not being used for e-commerce transactions.
Any prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous.

All of this information only needs to be on the website once and it doesn't need to be highly visible, so look in About us/Contact Us/Legal Information/T&C pages (or just google 'registered office site:companyname.com')

Why is this important? You need to find a person responsible if the company suddenly refuses to answer its phone.

Why would a reputable company NOT give you this information?

Having a Limited company name helps to locate them (and the Directors) in Companies House. Without a Ltd Company you can't do that. There are a few Compsource's in Companies House and who's to say which (if any) is the right one?

Admittedly, looking the website up on WHOIS.net may help but in compusource.co.uk's case that domain is available!

So, before you sign on the dotted line with ANY company, at least make sure that it's a real company with real people that you can point solicitors at if it all goes belly up...

Finally, my advice is to think LONG AND HARD about a company that doesn't have this information on it's website.

For further information on what should be on a company website, look here: The UK's E-Commerce Regulations

Note: Search Nominet for uk websites (I forgot to do that...)

**Eirikur** · 31 March 2016, 14:52

Contract Spy monitors over 1800 End User websites and over 70 Job Boards for Direct Contracting Opportunities.

I have agencies doing that for me for free

Contract Spy - Legit or not?