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Bernie's letter to the FCA regarding BCW, March 2016

Read Receipt Requested

Since writing the first part of this email I have conducted some research on the internet and so I now ask you to cancel these fraudulent peoples registrations immediately . At the very least suspend them and investigate but in the light of the fraudulent pretence of being a firm of Solicitors perhaps an immediate referral to the SRA and or the Police and the CPS would be more potent? ( I put that part in red ink)

Dear Sirs

I am complaining about the lack of available information concerning the BCW Group , otherwise Buchanan Clark & Wells also claiming to be Arvato Financial Solutions Limited but in reality a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann UK Limited Company Number 03185285 .

These people purport to be Licensed Debt Collectors and claim to be authorised and regulated by you The Financial Conduct Authority.

However as best I can gather and strictly as at today Thursday March 10th 2016 this registration is only an administrative convenience to facilitate the full registration which they would need to operate legally.

What are the key dates for the full registration of this company and why are they being allowed to operate as the bcw group when in truth the substantive owners and directors are Bertelsmann SE & Co KGAA who in turn are the owners of Bertelsmann UK Limited ?

This claim appears on their notepaper and I attach 2 copy letters for your attention.

In my submission you should only regulate one company and that should have substance and form and should trade in the UK under its own name as is a requisite of Company Law.

Further Searches ( under the brilliant new Companies House Beta Search service reveal :-

1. That a german company i.e. Bertelsmann SE & Co KGAA are in turn the 100 per cent owners of Bertelsmann UK Limited
2. That there is no actual person as a secretary rather its another amorphous organisation designed to veil off any liability actions and Directors name a certain Michael Beisheim said to be usually resident in Germany ( where in Germany could that ever be ascertained ?!)
3. His qualification is hardly re-assuring does being a “Diplom-Finanzwirt” re assure the English consumers that here is an expert in English Consumer law and debt collection in particular?

There are several complaints to you today as follows :-

• How can it be legal and appropriate to allow foreign and largely anonymous companies to operate in the UK in this way ? Most people would be surprised to learn that they are being threatened with a Home Visit for a disputed debt where the Firm doing the threatening is a trading name of a Company which has temporary / interim registration
• I am shocked to think that there is a layer after layer which apparently protects the main German parent Company which wholly owns the German owned UK Company which has the FCA interim registered company but which trades as a Glasgow based company which in turn trades as the BCW Group.
• I have had email correspondence with these Buchanan and Wells people and asked them to accept that I am in UK law Karen’s properly appointed agent. I have asked them to prove their registration with you but they are being very guarded about this. They do not listen to that ; they will not accept me and yet I am supposed to accept that bcw-group or rather Bertelsmann SE & Co KGAA with its multiple corporate personality form is a bona fide UK licensed Debt Collector; I do not believe you should accept any of these people as fit for debt collection and that is my complaint here
• You yourselves apparently have some kind of phased operation as you take over the task of registering many thousands of companies but my complaint is that you Must tell the public properly when you are going to consider exchanging the interim approval to full approval. The key dates are conspicuous by their absence from the registration records for Arvato Financial Solutions Limited .
• If it be the case that you are inclined to accept these people for full UK FCA registration you should surely make it a pre-condition that Bertelsmann SE & Co KGAA and Bertelsmann UK Limited register with you in their own names and agree to be bound by English law in all their dealings with UK consumers and agree to trade under their own names and that both companies and the likes of Mr M W Gardiner and RR Grant disclose their names and addresses ( Mr Gardiner does not)
• Further it should be a pre-requisite ( rather like Solicitors are obliged ) to have current professional indemnity insurance to a minimum of £1,000,000 and that there should be further cover in cases of fraud by any of the de facto UK resident Directors.

Please let me hear from you. Myself and Karen Hughes my principal are refusing to have any further dealings with them until you sort this out.

We expect to see a properly constituted UK registered and operational Company with indemnity insurance and fraud cover is registered with you which has some transparent real and directly accountable substance rather than these people with their layers of corporate disguises not immediately apparent to the ordinary ( non-legally trained ) consumer.

Further Evidence ( written after my research on the Internet )

Please follow this link to see an entirely similar case http://grke.net/complaints/bcw.html

In particular I urge you to take up very seriously the role of the so called Solicitors named as Geoffrey Parker Bourne in the case of Mr & Mrs Keeling.

Clearly not being clued up on it they had a correct hunch that this so called firm of Solicitors was not bona fide ; I have 2 points on this for them and yourselves

• All firms have to appear on the law Society’s database at law Society Find a Solicitor ( updated daily)
• They are also bound to have professional indemnity insurance to practice law and they are all bound by the Legal Services Act 2007 and the (highly relevant ) provisions of Code of Practice

All firms are bound by an obligation to give their SRA registrations number as in Information on letters, websites and emails

1. As part of your duty to provide a proper standard of service to clients, you must supply them with the information they need to make informed decisions about the services they require and how these will be delivered.
2. Your letterhead, websites and emails must state that your practice is 'authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority', and must provide:
   • either the registered name and number of your practice if it is a limited liability partnership (LLP) or company, or
   • if your practice is a partnership or a sole practice, the name under which it is licensed or authorised by the SRA and the number allocated to it by the same.

You at the FCA will see from the Copy attached ( better quality if you follow the link) of the letter to Mr & Mrs Keeling from Geoffrey Parker Bourne that the small print describes them as Geoffrey Parker Bourne Ltd

Evidently no such company has ever existed and nothing shows up at the Law society’s directory either.

This is quite plainly serious fraud contrary to the Fraud Act 2006 and I am glad that Mr Keeling went to the trouble he did .

He is not alone .

You should carefully consider http://bcw-complaint.blogspot.co.uk/

Please take some swift action against these crooks and rid us of the responsibility of going into battle against them ?
Mr Keeling and myself have made it easy for you or the SRA or the Police ; just tackle them about sending out fraudulent letters from non-existent solicitors ; your refusal to register any of the various corporate fronts should quickly follow and you will free many people’s lives from being made a misery.

Bernie Brandon