Authorised Publications Ltd
Complaint 131200 Details

I had been contacted by Andrew Vassiliou representing Authorised Publications Ltd during July 2011 with very simple and quite interesting proposal.

As a business owner (part time business - online shop www.venbella.com) I always look for opportunity to promote my business and advertising in SCG (self care guide) brochure which should be distributed for following 12 months into every health care provider, dental surgery, hospitals, NHS and other medical centres in Croydon for only £395 plus VAT, and payment based on Invoice due in October (after 3months) sound very interesting. The time space would give me an opportunity to monitor the effectiveness of such advertising. According to our telephone conversation, Authorised Publications should provide me with writen contract, brochure sample and graphic sample of my ad, all during August 2011 for my approval. The very same day, about 15 minutes later, I have received another call from my friend and business partner, clearly stating that Authorised Publications have contacted her with same proposal but only £250 plus VAT due to pay in February 2012. She also mentioned a different name (not Andrew). Later on that day, I received another call from Authorised Publications regarding my ad in Community Care Guide which will be distributed also from September 2011 on monthly basis in every household in Croydon and postcode beginning with CR* (same conditions, different price). A few days later I have received another call, this time a lady from some "media" in New Addington offering me the same but distribution into High Schools in and around Croydon. I became quite suspicious and I consider myself very lucky not to agree to payment over the phone and giving them my bank details. I had not interest in another such advertising offer received within 3 working days. In following few days I received invoices for both brochures with payment details and time schedule for October 2011 and February 2012.
Unfortunately, I have not receive the written contract or graphic desing of my ad for approval during August as agreed and I did not hear from them till October. If they don't communicate with their potential client for almost 3 months, then I am not interested in doing business with them. You can ask, why didn't I contact them but the answer is simple.

I had different priorities
VenBella online shop is my part time business. That time I also worked as night receptionist and day time general maintenace in local hotel. I have invloved in fight during my night shift (17 July 2011) when intoxicated couple decided not to pay for their room and beat me instead. Following incident took place on Monday 8th August 2011 during "Riots in Croydon" when I was on my way home after work and I got beaten unconscious by groupe of 5 and my personal property stolen. These two events, have change my personal circumstances rapidly (living, job, income, bank assets frozen, dispute with Vodafone, etc.) and my priority became to clear my name and resolve the situation with my bank, emplyement, vodafone, fraud and so on.

October 2012
I have finaly received the brochures including invoices for approval but without any written contract. My reaction was that I am no longer interested (after 3 months no communication) and I do not approve this advertisement. Since than, I only deal with Debt Collecting agency and Solicitiors representing Authorised Publications demanding over £1200. As I mentioned above, they don't like to include their names or signature, not even if you request this from them. All they want is the money and they use certain techniques to get anything from you, including:


"WE ARE PREPARED TO OFFER YOU A SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN THE AMOUNT OWED TO OUR CLIENT. THIS OFFER STANDS FOR 48 HOURS ONLY, AFTER WHICH THE NEXT COURSE OF ACTION WILL TAKE PLACE WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE TO YOU.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE US TO GIVE YOU A FULL & FINAL SETTLEMENT FIGURE TO CLOSE THIS MATTER, REPLY TO THIS EMAIL OR TELEPHONE US ON 01430 430000.

Mr Oros, may we emphasise that this offer stands for 48 hours only; after then it will be too late and the martter will be out of our hands".

Henriksen Limited


On 14.04.2012 (Easter Saturday) unknown two black male were looking for me at my residential address only frightening my friends as I wasn't home that time. They also left message on my mobile phone asking if "i am opened for business" but hidden number means, there is nothing I can do. Very strange, since 2008 running online business, nobody realy visited me at home, nobody has a reason to frighten my friends.

I do keep a copy of all my comunication with Authorised Publications and their assossiatess, whomever they are. I have also spent two week visiting local mediacl centres and non of them ever recived any of these brochures on monthly basis since September 2011. No household in Croydon ever received the CCG brochure. I have list of business so called "advertisers" who paid a diferent amount or who refused to pay for reasons we all already know. Some of them also frightened. I have also compared two "identical" SCG brochures published at the same time, unforrtunately, they not identical and they contain diferent companies and not always a local business.

Numbers - Do the Math
How many advertiser is there in the brochure? How many medical centres or households is there in Croydon? How much do these advertiser pay and what is the cost of printing and distributing?

Is that over now?
I don't realy know. In my last email to Henriksen Limited from 23.05.2012, I have sent very clear message:


Dear Whomever you are,
Take your illegal demand from so called Authorised Publications to the Court and stop annoying me with your letters. Just make sure that you have got enough assessments to refund and compensate all businesses involved or included in one of those "Community Care Guide" brochures.

You can also send another two black male to frighten my housemates but I can guarantee you, when I finish with them, I will certainly put some faces to real names.

Good luck,

Mr Vaclav Oros
Since than, nobody realy contacted me regarding Authorise Publications but I have received similar proposal from another people regarding advertisement in some Banstead Golf Club brochure. This one should be published for 16 months, the cost is again £395 plus VAT, and they targeting over 15.000 members (rich people) they say. I am not realy interested in such scam again.

Names they are using:
Ray Young, Andy Vassiliou, Chris Green
Authorised Publications, CAS Media, Leisure Medical, lPL Media, MLP Media

How much does it cost?
The price for Self care guide is in avergae £395 plus VAT and Community care guide £495 plus VAT. The price estimate is based on average price that Authorised Publication's offer to other business involved. The price vary as they always negotiate some kind of deal in order to get at least some money.

Authorised Publications - Assossiates, Solicitors and Debt Collecting Agency:
Henriksen Limited ( Catherine Williams, Sandra Courtney, Roger Williams)
Gilchrist Khan & Simms - Debt Collecting Agency

I only know these names from email communication and letters received. They don't sign letters and email by name but only add a company name. In October 2011, I have marked emails from Authorised Publications as a "spam" and I was quite surprise to discover email from Henriksen Limited in spam folder.
I am the one creating rules in my Outlook, the email should be displayed in Inbox not a spam folder unless I mark it as a spam. Futhrmore, emails from Authorised Publications and Henriksen Limited can not be analysed.

What I mean by this?
If you receive email in your inbox, you can actualy view the source by "right click" of the mouse and it will open a new window with html code (display everything including fonts, size, IP address, origin of the message, etc.) Based on this source code, you can track where such email come from. But it doesn't work with emails from Authorised Publications and their assossiates. I suspect that these emails came from the very same IP address, therefore, it went to the spam folder.

You can find more stories on Authorised Publications, whatever name they currently use, by simply typing "business scam, publishing scam, etc." in your browser.