In addition to Tom Hankin, author of the email below (which basically said I would have to get biometric authentication of my identity and that of my next of kin before they would give me access to the account they have already charged me for), I wonder why these proud professionals are working for an organisation with the ethical balance of pond scum?
Specifically, Adrian Smith, what are you doing with these bozos? Surely your experience at Supanet qualified you for something more interesting? Your hard work is supporting a business model that depends on fraud to continue--do you really want to be associated with them?
And Gareth Bromley--you have a fine record with Colt, Siemens, and Sports.com. You're obviously capable of better things. And you of all people should know that a future financial obligation needs to be explicitly referred to in a contract, rather than being buried in the Ts and Cs. You do financial modelling! You could explain how it would be to the benefit of Fasthosts to put mention of recurring charges in the contract itself. There's no excuse.
Mr. Steve Holford. How do you market reeking garbage like Fasthosts? Are you even able to tell your former colleagues at NTL, Argos and Tesco what you do for a living now?
And all of you--how do you describe Fasthosts to family and friends? "Well, erm, we charge people's credit cards for things they don't want, and we don't tell them we're going to do this." How does that go over?
And Mr. Andrew Michael, Managing Director. I doubt if you'll be shamed. I'm sure you're proud of what you do. I'm sure you're proud of your company's performance. "Cyprus-born Michael, 27, started his Fasthosts internet business in his bedroom, aged 17. From its Gloucester headquarters provides e-mail and other web services to small firms. Sales soared from £240,000 in 1999 to £20m in 2005, and last year the German company ISP United Internet paid £61.5m for Fasthosts. Michael picked up £46m for his stake."
This can't be you, can it? "ANDREW MICHAEL, age 38, BERNADETTE PAGAN, age 36, and PHYLLIS RIES, age 75, all of Las Vegas, are charged with one count of Bank Fraud, one count of False Statement on Credit Application, and Criminal Forfeiture. If convicted, the defendants face up to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine on each of the charges."
Criminal Complaint against Michael Andrew
From May 2001 until May 2003, Michael Andrew misrepresented himself as a surgeon and graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He served as chief executive officer of Meadows Diagnostic Imaging Center in Henderson, Colorado and supervised at least ten contrast x-ray procedures while pretending to be a physician. (During such procedures, a dye is injected into the patient to highlight the areas that are being studied. A physician's presence is necessary in case the dye causes anaphylactic shock, a potentially fatal allergic reaction.) Michael had received a bachelor’s degree from the now-defunct Hamilton University, a nonaccredited online school based in Wyoming, and was enrolled in St. Luke’s School of Medicine, a correspondence school that has since been shut down by Liberian government authorities. In June 2005, Michael pleaded guilty to one felony count of attempt to practice medicine without a license. In August he was sentenced to serve 120 days in the Clark County Detention Center to be followed by 4 years of intensive supervision probation."
No, I don't think any of those are you. What you do is worse.
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