I am a freelance florist with a company website. I was phoned by OPM 3 weeks ago and told that I had had free listing with Google for the last year and now had to start paying for it and would be sent an invoice for £238 which would be due for payment on 24/4. I questioned the listing stating that the company I had employed to design the website had put it on google for me. I was confused and unsure as to the nature of the call and did some research on the internet and checked with my website designer. It seems that OPM are a scam organisation who claim to be linked to google. I found many blogs warning against paying anything. 2 days later an invoice arrived with what looked like a photocopy of an HSBC logo and the company bank details for me to pay into. However, there was no information as to what I was paying for. I did not respond. I then started to receive phone calls reminding me that the payment was due, 5 days before the invoice due date. I stated that I did not want the service and had no intention of settling the invoice and that I had not agreed to anything. I was told that I had agreed verbally in the initial phone conversation and that this was legally binding. I then received a further invoice, again before the due date of 24th, stating 'legal' invoice. A further phone call warned me that if the invoice was not settled it would go to a debt management agent and I could incur further costs, legal proceedings and baillif action. On Saturday 27th april I received information in the post informing me of how to activate my account with OPM once payment was received. On the outside of the letter was a photocopy of the Google logo. I have reported the matter to the Trading Standards Authority and Watchdog. Any advice gratefully received
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