We are aware that people are receiving nuisance calls from GBS trading as Advantage & Beneficial (http://beneficialopinions.co.uk/).
These calls are not coming from us and we have contacted the Information Commissioners Office, the Market Research Society and ESOMAR about this.
Calls are being made from several UK telephone numbers including:
0141 456 1048
0141 456 2790
01792 735 432
01744 775 774
If you have been receiving calls from this company, I would encourage you to make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office. It only takes a couple of minutes and it is important to get your voice heard.
Let me tell you what I know about GBS. Despite appearances, it is a company based in the Philippines. Their UK company Advantage & Beneficial is a virtual one.
GBS is run by Andrew B. This is his LinkedIn page. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-b-98370a9b/?originalSubdomain=ph
I have contacted Andrew to tell him of the complaints we are receiving, but he has not yet replied. I am sure he would welcome your feedback too.
The UK company is managed by Shaynne Erasmo:
Her email is dnc@beneficialopinions.co.uk
Except she is actually Ennyahs Erasmo.
The Philippine company can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gbs%20Business%20Solutions%20-%20Digos%20City/172572079520971/
We had to take legal action against GBS Business Solutions in the UK due to the number of complaints we received. We were successful.
Some examples of the complaints we received include:
"You have plagued me with incessant telephone calls for over a year, please take me off your call list."
"I would like to make a complaint against your company. I am fed up with getting daily calls requesting my private information. The people calling on a daily basis, although I have asked every day over last month to take my name off list still continue to bombard me with calls. Please leave me alone. A reputable company would not behave in this manner. Please take my information off your data lists. I don't want it used."
Behaviour like this harms the research industry and our reputation we take it very seriously when we get associated with these clowns.
Kevin Simmonds
Managing Director
Advantage Market Intelligence Ltd.
I'm forever being harrassed by this company, ive had asked multiple times to have my number removed but they seriously just hung up. Just wish they would get the hint & fuck off. I dont know what else to do.
Ask how the weather is in the Philippines today,then they usually say very nice, realise they have been twigged and hang
Hi Kevin, unfortunately nothing happens when you log a complaint with the ICO, I have done it numerous times. Short of finding out Andrew and Shaynne's contact details and spam calling them every hour of the day I am at a loss as to how to stop these calls happening. I am currently receiving at least two calls a day, one from 'Beneficial' and one from 'Advantage'. Both with callers with Philippine accents but both with supposed UK Landline numbers
Kevin, thanks for your useful post. I support market surveys as an essential element of enterprise. I agree, it's a shame to receive aggressive nuisance calls, especially after following their procedure for removing my number. As well as the disruption, GBS offer no reassurance that the personal info they are asking for won't be shared and used in a damaging way. I have followed up with the authorities and directly on LinkedIn. Let's hope there will be sufficient action taken to bring this to a stop. Cheers, Martin