Leap Creative/48 press

[DazzyD]

I would urge all clients of Leap or 48Press who are experiencing difficulties to read this page:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/englan..._standards.htm

There's some good advice of what routes to follow and what action to take. It's clear from this thread alone how many people are experiencing difficulties with this company. What is not clear is just how many people have been affected who are nnot members of this forum and who have not seen this thread. I've a feeling the disgruntled customers here are just the very tip of the iceberg.

By the way, Leap claim to be members of the UK Web Design Association - http://www.ukwda.org/ - and The Recommended Agencies Register - http://www.recommendedagencies.com/ so you could drop them a message about the conduct of Leap.

Also, on Freeindex, Leap have 1 reviewer who gave them 5 stars - http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile%2...%29_514202.htm. As perspective clients use these reviews, maybe you guys could leave your own reviews of how this company really operates? I'm not suggesting anyone posts anything libellous just honest comments as you have all done here. No customer should be treated with the contempt and disregard that Leap has shown to it's clients here.

A bit of other information which sounds strange. On Freeindex, their blurb is as follows:

Based in Manchester, 48Press provides a range of print services including business cards, stationery, flyers, leaflets, large format and display products to clients throughout the UK. Formed in 2011 by their parent company, Leap Manchester Ltd, the team has many years of experience in the printing and design sector through their heritage as a successful and well respected creative agency. 48Press offer low price, high quality print with unparalleled customer service and have a huge number of happy customers already! Give 48Press a call today to see how they can help your business!

However, according to Companies House:

Company Details

Name & Registered Office:
LEAP MANCHESTER LTD
132-134 GREAT ANCOATS STREET
MANCHESTER
MANCHESTER
ENGLAND
M4 6DE
Company No. 08347031



Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 04/01/2013

Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC):
None Supplied
Accounting Reference Date: 31/01
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 04/10/2014
Last Return Made Up To:
Next Return Due: 01/02/2014
Mortgage: Number of charges: ( 0 outstanding / 0 satisfied / 0 part satisfied )
Previous Names:
No previous name information has been recorded over the last 20 years.
UK Establishment Details
There are no UK Establishments associated with this company.
Oversea Company Info
There are no Oversea Details associated with this company.

So, Leap Manchester Ltd wasn't formed until 2013. Were they really trading under a "Ltd" company banner two years before it's incorporation? Is this allowed? Something else to ponder over!

[surround sounds]

Thanks for the info Dazzy
Very helpful
Cheers

[DJ Frankie]

I gave up on Leap ages ago now, fed up with wasting my time on them.
In the end I moved my website and email away from their hosting as I knew I wouldn't get any future support. Such a shame because some of the work Lee did for me was great.

[Jonny Boy]

I've stayed out of this for some time, as up until a month ago things were going well.

I hired Leap to redesign my website. The project started in early April and I was dealing with Lee, who was very helpful.
After a bit of design brief and draft design (photoshop) was emailed out. They work on a staged payment system (which I also use when doing development work)
.....
They are trading under Leap Manchester Ltd, but as this is a fairly recent formation, very little information exists.

Your story is almost identical to mine, Jason.

Yes this outfit is unbelievable.
Its impossible to contact them if you have a complaint.
Its amazing if you send them a email via a different email address asking about prices and services, they will reply with in 1 hour.
I am collecting people names and details of people who as been let down by this company because Trading Standards will want a list.
I have contacted a few organisations to take thing further but i am waiting for leap/48press to get back to me (guess i will be waiting a long time)

I'd be happy for my details be added. Please PM to let me know what info you need.

[surround sounds]

Well a Result..
Not the way i wanted it but i got my money back
After waiting 2 months for some workwear and logos etc.
I had to go down the legal route.
I contacted Trading Standards and paypal (dispute again Leap manchester)
After 1 week of Paypal dispute someone contacted me from 48press and said
Hi John
Sorry we have not contacted you before but we have had problem with our suppliers ( i thought you now how i feel now because i been waiting 2 months for my products and 48press did not tell me the truth from start to finish)
We can either get these printed and delivered within 5 days or as you requested a full refund.

I was taking on further risk with this company so i had a full refund. Well today a got it at last.

what i would say about this company is they have broken so many promises and the worse company i have ever dealt with.
Well i deal with them again? No Chance

[Shaun]

Well a Result..
Not the way i wanted it but i got my money back
After waiting 2 months for some workwear and logos etc.
I had to go down the legal route.
I contacted Trading Standards and paypal (dispute again Leap manchester)
After 1 week of Paypal dispute someone contacted me from 48press and said
Hi John
Sorry we have not contacted you before but we have had problem with our suppliers ( i thought you now how i feel now because i been waiting 2 months for my products and 48press did not tell me the truth from start to finish)
We can either get these printed and delivered within 5 days or as you requested a full refund.

I was taking on further risk with this company so i had a full refund. Well today a got it at last.

what i would say about this company is they have broken so many promises and the worse company i have ever dealt with.
Well i deal with them again? No Chance

Glad to hear you've managed to reach some conclusion with them.

[DazzyD]

Well a Result..
Not the way i wanted it but i got my money back
After waiting 2 months for some workwear and logos etc.
I had to go down the legal route.
I contacted Trading Standards and paypal (dispute again Leap manchester)
After 1 week of Paypal dispute someone contacted me from 48press and said
Hi John
Sorry we have not contacted you before but we have had problem with our suppliers ( i thought you now how i feel now because i been waiting 2 months for my products and 48press did not tell me the truth from start to finish)
We can either get these printed and delivered within 5 days or as you requested a full refund.

I was taking on further risk with this company so i had a full refund. Well today a got it at last.

what i would say about this company is they have broken so many promises and the worse company i have ever dealt with.
Well i deal with them again? No Chance

Like Shaun, I'm glad you've come to a conclusion that you're somewhat happier with. It's just a shame that it's cost you so much in time, effort and communications costs to get your money back. So, you're still out of pocket. I think Leap should be consider themselves extremely lucky that a refund is all it's cost them. If it had been me, I'd have gone further and pushed for costs, out of pocket expenses, loss of business that could have been generated given that the order was not fulfilled on time, etc. Still, Trading Standards will now have Leap on their radar and if more people put their complaints in then it might even get to the point where real action is taken to prevent others being let down so badly.

[Bananaman]

Evening all,

Sorry to resurrect this thread - I'm afraid I'm not a DJ, so apologies for the intrusion, but I've been trying to track down more details about the owners or operators of 48Press Ltd. and I've read through this thread with intrigue.

I assumed they had gone bust although having seen some of the posts on here I expect this might not be the case. Not that I really understand what else is really happening with them.

I run a design and print company and I started our relationship with 48Press as a trade account in early Feb. The production team were great, orders went through at great prices and we were in advanced talks to begin reselling print, about to go live with their print reseller platform which was always 'one day away' from completion for a month, and we were invited to a potential meeting/open day at the end of the month at their printing facility.

Throughout the whole thing the partner manager Greg Thompson was great, sorting everything out for us. We had a couple of slow deliveries, a couple of which never turned up, but they instantly 're-sent'. The overall quality of work seemed very good, in our experience.

Then, about 2 weeks ago, Greg supposedly went into hospital and stopped answering his mobile - their lines are now closed and they are uncontactable. We still have a couple of small orders in with them that have not been fulfilled (About £200 worth) and a larger order for design which was about £500 which was not finished and left us totally in the lurch.

Stephen Vose in the Design team kept answering his emails despite everyone else going dark, and we received most of the artwork he did for us, although he refused to answer emails that mentioned the weird situation of why nobody could/would contact us. In the emails he replied to about artwork, he ignored the questions about what was happening.

We had a brochure design in the works and luckily we got most of the native artwork, but then Stephen stopped responding a couple of weeks ago, so I think we were lucky to get what we did (and had paid pro forma for). We had to get another designer to finish the artwork and very nearly lost a good customer.

Only now do we realise how difficult it is to track down their actual locations (both of which seem to be virtual postbox city addresses) and all their phone numbers lead nowhere.

I genuinely don't understand what's happened to them - they were an absolute Jekyll and Hyde company. Great work and friendly service and then complete disappearance. They seemed to be onto a great thing, so it's a huge shame.

I don't know how their conscience doesn't kick in, to be honest. If they're reading this, I hope they feel ashamed for being too cowardly to even send an email to explain or apologise. If they'd explained anything in time we could have made alternative arrangements. It goes beyond business to a matter of simple human decency.

The posts here are backed up by the reviews all over the web that have appeared in the last month. I just wish I'd seen them beforehand, but it appears we all got done over at the same time.

if anyone has any further details on the company and any actual addresses or operations, they would be greatly appreciated. We need to get remuneration for artwork and print not received and we will be looking to take legal action imminently.

Please feel free to PM me if you have had a similar experience or would like to speak in confidence, but otherwise I post here in the vain hope of actually getting through to someone who knows someone there, with the goal of actually getting our money back.

Thanks,

Chris

[Shaun]

if anyone has any further details on the company and any actual addresses or operations, they would be greatly appreciated. We need to get remuneration for artwork and print not received and we will be looking to take legal action imminently.

Please feel free to PM me if you have had a similar experience or would like to speak in confidence, but otherwise I post here in the vain hope of actually getting through to someone who knows someone there, with the goal of actually getting our money back.

Thanks,

Chris

Hi Chris. Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear you've had bad experiences with this business too. It's shocking that it still seems to be business as usual for them.

Dazzy posted an address earlier in this thread with some details from company house. I've reposted it again below for you. Hope it helps...

Company Details

Name & Registered Office:
LEAP MANCHESTER LTD
132-134 GREAT ANCOATS STREET
MANCHESTER
MANCHESTER
ENGLAND
M4 6DE
Company No. 08347031



Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 04/01/2013

Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC):
None Supplied
Accounting Reference Date: 31/01
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 04/10/2014
Last Return Made Up To:
Next Return Due: 01/02/2014
Mortgage: Number of charges: ( 0 outstanding / 0 satisfied / 0 part satisfied )
Previous Names:
No previous name information has been recorded over the last 20 years.
UK Establishment Details
There are no UK Establishments associated with this company.
Oversea Company Info
There are no Oversea Details associated with this company.

[Bananaman]

Thanks Shaun,

I do have that address, but it's appreciated all the same. I've also tracked down a home address for the directors of Leap. Unfortunately they have not responded to our threats of legal action, so it looks like Trading Standards is our next port of call in the meantime, as they are still taking orders through their website.

I'll send a PM to the guy who was also reporting them to see how it is progressing and hopefully we can help each other out.

If anyone from 48Press has seen this thread I would highly recommend they contact me directly, and fast.

Thanks,

Chris