Laura Fraser, owner of Rowan Tree Nursery in Glasgow, received three phone calls on 7 July from a company claiming she had agreed back in February to pay 199 towards the cost of a publication to be distributed to local primary schools. She said, 'When I said I was unaware of the publication, the caller said the order had been reduced "from a full contribution to a contribution for a single class". They waffled on and said they'd just rung to find out which primary school I wanted to send the copies to.'
Ms Fraser was then told she would receive an invoice for 199 along with a copy of the publication in due course. 'I got the impression it was to do with sponsoring the publication and making a donation towards the printing costs. They didn't even say I'd agreed to advertising. I again asked for more information and was told that someone from administration would call later to "confirm my details" and the call was ended,' she said.
None of the other nursery staff, including its manager, Laura's sister Elaine, recalled the earlier call. Then a few hours later a second caller asked to confirm name and address details because the publication was being delivered to schools that day. 'If I'd signed an order form they'd have had a contact name. At this point I was thinking something very strange was going on. I was kind of baffled,' said Ms Fraser.
She said she was not prepared to give details until she received a faxed copy of the order, but the caller did not want to leave the company's phone number and hung up. Later a third caller from 'administration' rang to confirm details, but Ms Fraser refused and he hung up. All callers withheld their numbers.
The company that contacted Rowan Tree Nursery gave the same name as the Lancashire-based company that earlier this year claimed several Childcare Corporation nurseries owed money for advertising in a child abuse booklet (News, 29 May).
A Glasgow Trading Standards spokesman said, 'It's a common thing all over.
It's certainly something that has been heard of in many different guises and in many different organisations.'
He warned that such companies would try to get invoices passed by junior members of staff and that nurseries should ensure clear accounting processes are in place so there was a proper audit trail. If approached, nurseries should contact their local Trading Standards office.
