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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    87

    Cottage companies and UKtophost

    Hi there. I'd like to alert people to 2 companies called Cottage Companies and UKtophost, both run by the same people. As far as I'm aware the Cottage Companies is the design part of the business while Uktophost is the hosting part.

    Around June/July, I contacted them after they posted an ad in the Job Offers & Requests forum. I was then asked to make a few banners/buttons and a logo for UKtophost aswell as another site they were designing. I was told that the cheque (check) was in the post, but it never turned up. I was asked to send my address again to them, but still i didn't receive payment. This happened a few times and over the last 2 months or so, I've requested payment only to be met with excuses.

    When I saw this thread: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=76581

    I decided to get in touch with them once again only to be ignored. I have messaged them and emailed them, but still no reply. Therefore I've decided to post here in the hope that people will become further aware of their business practices and hopefully get the idea that business dealings of any sort with this company or persons associated with this company should be avoided.

    The money that is owed to me isn't that much (£37 ~ $60) but that's not the reason I'm posting this, just as a further warning.

    Thanks and take care
    Ionplex.com - high quality web solutions

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Location
    Illinois, USA
    Posts
    7,175


    It's a shame that companies do this; money is still money and you should still get it, even if its only $1.

    It also make me wonder why the mods banned timmy and not Uktophost/cottage companies...hopefully chicken will come around to answering...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,622
    I can feel your frustratiion as its happened to me quite often. Even though its a small amount of money I'm sure you'll agree that its the principle of the matter and the feeling of being cheated that is unpleasent (it is with me anyway).

    While we're discussing places like this people can steer clear of www.simplenethosting.com aswell - their 'headguru' Bill Kish did exactly the same as zuby's situation to me (ignored my emails, obviously has no interest in paying for services already provided).

    In my case too it was a small amount (£20) but I suppose we just have to deal with the sour fact that some people would rather defraud than be honest
    Chief brew-maker at several hosting brands since 2002.

    FLXI | UK based, cPanel/WHM reseller hosting
    Pay-as-you-go billing, why pay for what you don't use?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    87
    Yes exactly Jim, it's the principle, not so much the money. I don't think people like that should be in business. The only comfort which I suppose we can get is that if they continue acting like that, then it will eventually catch up with them in the end.

    Thanks and take care

    - Zubair
    Ionplex.com - high quality web solutions

  5. #5
    I guess the amounts seemed too small to enter into a legal contract before agreeing?
    Last edited by I, Brian; 11-07-2002 at 05:42 PM.

  6. #6

    Let me fix it.

    I thought this was paid Jim.

    I have not any intention of screwing anybody.

    We decided not to use the stats program. But after thinking about this i remembered that you assisted in the install.

    Please provide payment details and you will be paid promptly.

    Thanks
    Simplenethosting.com

    "Quality Hosting, It's that Simple"
    http://www.simplenethosting.com

  7. #7
    do u mean dave cottage www.online-ventures.co.uk ?
    im already dealing with the guy
    i made them 4 design jobs till now
    they are really speedy on payment,they were never late,im sure its a miss understanding
    i know both of u guys...and i had work with both of u zuby and cottage..no probs at all
    » Poised.com - Marketing with Passion
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,622

    Re: Let me fix it.

    Originally posted by simplenet
    I thought this was paid Jim.

    I have not any intention of screwing anybody.

    We decided not to use the stats program. But after thinking about this i remembered that you assisted in the install.

    Please provide payment details and you will be paid promptly.

    Thanks
    To be honest I've neither the time nor the energy to be trading posts/emails with you debating the issue. There are honest customers/clients that I would much rather spend my time on.

    You have numerous emails with instructions (none of which you replied to) and you certainly know where to find me yet I've seen absolutely no indiciation that you intend paying.

    What you say here doesn't have any effect on the situation until some action is taken. Until this time, the paragraph in my post above about you still stands.
    Chief brew-maker at several hosting brands since 2002.

    FLXI | UK based, cPanel/WHM reseller hosting
    Pay-as-you-go billing, why pay for what you don't use?

  9. #9

    Hmm

    Maybe I did not reply to any of them because I never got them.

    Make a deal.

    Send me one email to my email addy.
    bill@simplenethosting.com

    with payment instructions.

    I will pay you within 24 hours of reading the email.

    Seems pretty fair to me Jim.

    Thanks
    Simplenethosting.com

    "Quality Hosting, It's that Simple"
    http://www.simplenethosting.com

  10. #10
    Jim,

    I think you right. I went thru my emails and found the emails you sent. I owe you $30 US dollars.

    Give me a paypal address and lets get this behind us.

    Thanks
    Simplenethosting.com

    "Quality Hosting, It's that Simple"
    http://www.simplenethosting.com

  11. #11

    Jim?

    Just drop me your paypal address and I can pay you.

    I dont want this to drag on and on.

    How bout it?
    Simplenethosting.com

    "Quality Hosting, It's that Simple"
    http://www.simplenethosting.com

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,098
    simplenet,

    To be honest I've neither the time nor the energy to be trading posts/emails with you debating the issue.

  13. #13
    Jim_uk

    You have been paid as promised. Please remove us from your list. I lived up to my promise.
    Simplenethosting.com

    "Quality Hosting, It's that Simple"
    http://www.simplenethosting.com

  14. #14
    Jim you gonna remove us from your website or not?

    This is stupid!
    Simplenethosting.com

    "Quality Hosting, It's that Simple"
    http://www.simplenethosting.com

  15. #15
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,622
    Originally posted by simplenet
    Jim you gonna remove us from your website or not?

    This is stupid!
    I've just checked and an uncleared payment has appeared in the Paypal account. I've never seen an 'uncleared' payment before but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

    You'll have to excuse the delay in replying but I'm sure you understand that people who have ripped me off or attempted to rip me off don't exactly get shot to the top of my priority list - things have been busy.

    Isn't it a shame that it took me posting my experience here on WHT for you to pay (or even respond for that matter)? I'm 99% sure that if I hadn't posted you'd still be ignoring my emails.

    Your name will be removed from the fraud list but I'm in the middle of something at this exact moment - you can be sure it will be treated as a higher priority than your payment to me was anyway
    Chief brew-maker at several hosting brands since 2002.

    FLXI | UK based, cPanel/WHM reseller hosting
    Pay-as-you-go billing, why pay for what you don't use?

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    929
    Going back on topic, I think we should ban his sorry hind.

    He'll play the diplomat and try to blag it off to avoid bad press. It doesn't bother me much; I was an out of work student over the summer when he screwed me, now i'm a student and a working for an internet company which pays me more in 4 hours than mr cottage.

    I'll give him his dues - he gave me a piss poor cheque for £17 which I just cashed out of the principle. His handwriting on the cheque was similar to a 7 year old if that helps.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    87
    At what point does a person/companies get banned from here? I've also found out that their cottage companies new venture is http://www.online-ventures.co.uk . So beware of doing business with this company too as they are run by the same people. I've not even got an email/response from them. Maybe because they've made a new company?

    Thanks and take care
    Ionplex.com - high quality web solutions

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    216
    It’s very sad and disappointing that Dave Cottage from Cottage Company was at it again. I was also a victim of his horrible business tactics and never did get paid for my services (over $100 if I can remember). To me it really was not worth going after and gets the money, but to let other people aware of him and is 2 companies.

    I would also like to see him banned from WHT as he has frustrated many of its members, and Im sure their will be more in the future. Many of us may have not lost a lot; many of us have lost loads of money. But one way or another, his victims are left to pick up the peaces.
    iPhone 4 HD Wallpapers - High Quality 640x960 iPhone 4 Wallpapers

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    929
    Agreed, I think it's important we warn people to be weary of cottage companies and online ventures.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    929
    Erm hang on..... this is so obvious.

    online-ventures
    ventures-online

    this sounds like an infringement of name. I hope VO have it trademarked. It's funny that cottage was a vo reseller if i recall.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    929
    The story gets even more exciting.

    Cottage has put his "company" into the UKWDA which is the uk webdesign association. It's free to get placed in it. He has stated that his company is a Private Limited Company (LTD) and the address is:

    16 Vicarage Gardens, Clacton-On-Sea, Essex CO15 1BU

    I've checked companies house which lists all the registered companies in the UK. This is what it shows:

    ONLINE VENTURES LIMITED
    3RD FLOOR
    41 CRUTCHED FRIARS
    LONDON
    EC3N 2AE

    I think Mr Cottage has got out of his depth. Firstly his "original" name has come from ripping VO. Secondly he is falsifying registration of a company. I'm going to confirm the facts as what I say above may not be 100% accurate. After that i'll contact the police, companies house and the real online ventures.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    346

    Online-Ventures

    May I introduce myself to you all, my name is David Bolton. In early October myself and a partner purchased an Internet Business named Cottage Companies from "David Cottage" who had advertised the business for sale, it seemed like a good investment and so we purchased it.

    We already owned the domain name "Online-Ventures.co.uk" which I might add is not in any way copied from any other company, in fact we had a struggle finding any onlineventures domain names left to register and had to settle for a "-" in between the two words. Anyhow we decided to change the business name from Cottage Companies to Online-Ventures, the main reason being the old name did not make any sense to us.

    Over the last month or so with the part time aid and input from Mr Cottage (who found us the design) we have been building the web-site, as you can see a lot of pages are still missing.

    Only the other day we found this web-site and registered. Last night I decided to view some forums and came across "Cottage Companies & UK Top Host". At this point I would like to point out that we did not purchase UK Top Host and are not connected in any way with that business as far as I am aware Mr Cottage still owns UK Top Host. After reading this topic I was horrified and did email one of the site moderators (I am still awaiting a reply). In the E-Mail I explain what is going on and how we believe it is not fair for us to share the same reputation as Cottage Companies and UK Top Host.

    We do however recognize that we purchased Cottage Companies and that whatever reputation surrounds it we must share to some extent, therefore we would like to apologize to any people who did work and were not paid. We would also like to offer you all the chance to receive delayed payment for your services, if you would still like to receive payment for any work you did for Cottage Companies please send me a PM or an E-Mail with your name, username, cost and proof of services.

    I would now like to talk about the Limited company fiasco. As you may have read on our home page we are about to become a Limited company and are just awaiting the required paperwork, obviously we cannot be listed as "Online Ventures LTD" we have known that for a while and have since got around it. As far as UKWDA goes that is a genuine mistake on our behalf, Mr Cottage gave us access to his account with them and we made some changes to the profile e.g. the services we can offer. We did change the Business status to "Limited" as we are about to become a limited company and were due to the receive paperwork within 5 days to confirm our listing. The UKWDA have been notified that we are not quite registered and that it has to be pointed out that we will not trade as "Online Ventures LTD", our registered address has also been updated.

    I sincerely hope this clears any outstanding queries regarding Cottage Companies. As for David Cottage he does still help us out whilst we find our feet and has arranged for several projects to be done for us.

    Once again I apologize on behalf of Online Ventures for any inconvenience caused by Cottage Companies/David Cottage and hope that this message clears up the situation. I also hope our offer for payments left unpaid in the past is gratefully received.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    929
    So how comes the address of online-ventures at the ukwda is that of Mr Cottage? With respect, this sounds like a troll. If you can proove otherwise i'll apologise.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    346

    UKWDA

    Hello,

    I don't know whether or not you are listed with the UKWDA if you are not then you will not be aware of their update times. Apparently every time you request an update of your profile it takes 14 days. Fortunately we explained the problems with the Limited company statement and they kindly changed that as a matter of urgency to Partnership.

    As far as proof goes the best proof I can offer is David's confirmation but I doubt that will be accepted as gospel. The amount we paid for the Business was relatively small and so we did not go into any major legal changeover proceedings. The only other proof I have is emails between the two of us. If you can think of anything we could get hold of to prove we are the new owners of Cottage Companies/Online Ventures I would be happy to do so.

    I can assure you that we intend to run Online-Ventures in a professional and honest way and in turn pay all employees and also offer to pay deposits to dispel any thoughts of non payment that may surround our name. We did not expect to have pay out to previous employees when we brought the business but if people can prove that they did unpaid work for Cottage Companies it is something we have to do to clear our name.
    Last edited by phpprobid; 11-21-2002 at 12:40 PM.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    929
    Okay, I like what you say but this one thing bothers me. You say

    "We already owned the domain name "Online-Ventures.co.uk" which I might add is not in any way copied from any other company <SNIP> Anyhow we decided to change the business name from Cottage Companies to Online-Ventures, the main reason being the old name did not make any sense to us. "

    However if "you" i.e David Bolton and "your" partner (presumedly not Mr Cottage) already owned online-ventures... then how comes the details show his address? If you never had dealt with him before or whatever - why does he have himself as the UKWDA authority for this company?

    Why did he sell the company? He said he made thousands of pounds a year and employed hundreds of workers. Things can't have been doing that well in reality.

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