Licensees conned by Inn-Direct continue to contact The Publican
Scores of publicans say that they have been ripped off by rogue recruitment company Inn-Direct, which was wound-up by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last week. Many claim they paid the company thousands of pounds for the promise of training and placement in a pub but are now left penniless.
Inn-Direct, a Bradford-based company, was wound up by the government department on July 26 following a submission by The Publican in response to complaints from several readers.
Discussions between senior officials of the Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) of the DTI, The Publican and Tony Payne, chief executive of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers' Associations (FLVA), were held in Leeds in September last year. Then an evidence-gathering exercise was conducted by the DTI with the help of The Publican.
Unemployed Lawrence Anthony from Selby, Yorkshire, contacted thepublican.com after he and his partner lost their redundancy money to the company.
He said: "We're another couple who are sorry we ever heard the name Inn-Direct. They were still ripping people off as late as last month.
"We have both just been made redundant and we used our redundancy money to change our lives. Now we are selling our house because of what these people have done. It's all been a rip-off."
Leah Spencer and her partner Wayne Goodall, from Walthamstow, East London, both have experience in the pub trade and saw an advert for the company in the national press.
They paid £3,500 at the beginning of May for training and a placement.
Leah said: "We got left in the pub and told to get on with it. My partner is now talking about not staying in the trade."
Phyllis Oglesby said she has never been placed in a pub despite paying £5,000 to Inn-Direct in January.
She said: "I did go on a course which I passed and went ahead and got my personal licence. On April 3 I was sent to a pub for two weeks' training, this is where I felt something was not right, the pub itself left a lot to be desired."
The CIB found that Inn-Direct Ltd had misled its clients. It claimed that it had access to a selection of 1,000 pubs, yet in reality it only had access at the most to around 100.
The company's promises of customer choice and a placement were not guaranteed, because it could only find placements in a limited number of pubs, the CIB concluded. Many were operated by companies already under the control of an associated company from which Inn-Direct Ltd had previously taken over the recruitment business.
The CIB also found that the company failed to keep adequate accounting and general records. This made it impossible to establish the extent and nature of the company's income and expenditure or determine if it successfully placed all its applicants.
If you have dealt with this company and think you are owed money, contact the official receiver. Write to The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, PO Box 326, 17-21 Chorlton Street, Manchester, M60 3ZZ or email piu@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.
The Publican says:
The Publican has been campaigning against companies which offer Retail Partnerships. The companies offer training and placement for a fee of thousands of pounds. Generally the potential licensee is offered a percentage of the wet sales and the total income from any food sales. The Publican is advising licensees to go directly through a recognised pub company if they want to get into the trade. Go to www.thepublican.com for advice and help.
If you have had dealings with Inn-Direct or were placed in a pub by the company please let us know your story. email michellep@thepublican.com
Case Study:
Case study: Andrew and Andrea Thrupp
Andrew and Andrea Thrupp contacted The Publican in April complaining about Inn-Direct. The couple who live in Abergavenney in Wales paid £5,000 to the company in February 2005 and were never placed in a pub.
They placed a message on thepublican.com message board last year asking for licensees to contact them if they had dealt with the company.
They say they received responses from at least 25 couples who claim they were misled by Inn-Direct and were never placed, despite handing over £5,000.
Andrea told The Publican: "We have managed to stop six or seven couples signing up. We have had contact with at least 25 couples , and no-one has had any good experiences.
"We have gone through our frustration months ago. When you hear the licensees' stories it's heartbreaking."
The couple had previously been working as licensees, which they loved, but this experience has forced them back into other jobs. Andrea now works in retail and Andrew has set up his own business.
Andrea said: "This has turned me off the pub trade. I know that up to two weeks ago they were still taking people's money. How can they get away with this?"
However, they have also heard horror stories from licensees who were actually placed through using Inn-Direct. Many are in bottom-end boozers with serious drug problems.
"I am so glad we didn't get into a pub," said Andrea.
