Secret millionaire James Benamor makes money from scam
A BBC South Inside Out investigation will tomorrow show how a multi-millionaire has made a fortune by misleading his hard-up customers.
James Benamor owns the Richmond Group, which employs almost 300 people in Bournemouth, and his personal wealth is estimated at £77million.
He recently gave away thousands of pounds when he played The Secret Millionaire in a Channel 4 documentary.
But the Inside Out programme, at 7.30pm on BBC One South, will show how Mr Benamor makes money from a simple scam.
His companies, which include Tenant Loans and Advantage Loans, offer to arrange loans for people with a poor credit history.
Half-a-million customers have signed up in the past year and many of them pay a £50 brokerage fee.
But when the paperwork comes through, the clients don’t get the loans they were expecting. Instead, they are simply sent the phone numbers of other banks and lenders.
Joanne Amorello agreed to pay the £50 fee because she was convinced that she was going to get a £500 loan.
She tells Inside Out: “I had already booked things to do with the kids and I even rang the housing office to say my rent arrears are going to be paid.”
Disabled pensioner Shirley O’Sullivan was also certain that she was going to get a loan: “The way they talked to me I was 100 per cent sure they were trying to help. They seemed such nice people and I thought ‘they understand’.”
Mr Benamor denies misleading clients. He says his companies offer a loan brokerage service which is independent and works only on behalf of clients to find the best loan for them: “We will always inform clients that we do not guarantee loan amounts or APRs which ultimately are offered by lenders.”
Inside Out wanted to check whether this was made clear to customers, so presenter Joe Crowley made a series of loan applications. On each occasion, the sales staff gave the impression that he had been accepted for a loan.
Said Joe: “I told them I was on benefits and they still seemed quite happy to offer me large sums of money. I wanted to see how far they would go, so I made some outrageous demands.
“On one call I told them I wanted to borrow £10,000 to gamble on the horses and on another call I asked for £15,000 to invest in the stock market.
“They said yes to whatever I asked, because the company just wants to take the £50 fee.”
Andy Sherriff, from Bournemouth Trading Standards, said the phone calls were a cause for concern: “I think the circumstances suggest it could easily be misleading. People are not being frank, they are not being honest with you.”
Under the Consumer Credit Act, Mr Benamor has to give dissatisfied customers a refund. But several customers who spoke to Inside Out had struggled to get their money back.
Mr Benamor said that his companies provided clients with the best loan options that were available to them in the UK: “In cases like these where our clients are unhappy with loans found by us we have a simple refund procedure which requires the client to write in to cancel their service and request a refund.
“This is clearly explained to our clients, however according to our system no request was ever received.
“We have now refunded all of the clients in full. We aim for client satisfaction in all cases and are sorry that in this instance the customers in question were unhappy with our service.
“We value any feedback regarding our customer experience and are always distressed to hear if people haven’t received the service they required.”
Chat about this on the Unreality TV Forum »
Loading ...
I would have thought taking money off people and failing to provide the goods was fraud.
Maureen
Newcastle
This is totally one sided, we help hundred’s of customers every week that can’t gain credit from high street lenders.
Customer experience is very important to us and James even offers his own email address for anyone that has paid a fee and is not fully happy with the service to contact him and he will arrange a full refund.
I think you should have got hold of customers that are really happy with the service we provide to give a fair reflection.
If anyone wants to ask me any questions about the company then post on here and I will answer as I have worked for James for nearly 2 years and I am proud to say that.
Thanks
what rot vikki
i worked there for 1 day untill i found my self having to lie to people who wants refunds like saying they would have to have a writen coversation ect and there load application would remain open for up to 6 months ect i worked in the customer service dept if you want to call it that i think i was called c*&T about 6 time in the one day ITS A CON
I just saw this on tv tonight Obviously this report is one sided but it does leave a poor taste in the mouth especially after james was so charitable to those poorest in society on C4’s Secret Millionaire earlier in the year But how many of those poorest are forking out £50 a go to receive a service most Citizens Advice Bureaux or other free local support service could help with Or even just a search on the internet. The most shocking thing of course is that people on benefits are being encouraged to borrow large sums of money.
I have worked for one of James’s companies for nearly a year now and have to say this report was totally one sided. You cant get a loan through your bank, you call us, we match your application up to the lenders criteria to see which lenders are able to accept you. Simple as. Not happy, have a refund.
Well as one of the people involved in all of this I can say that dispite his generosity in Manchester which I thought was very kind of him but still does not mean that the way he runs his company is good, I was completely misled and even the man on the other end of the phone was rude when I asked for my money back….now for instance there was an advert that came through my door that guaranteed me a loan as I am a tenant…then after the fee is paid and the details verified I then get paperwork asking for a guarantor??? hmmm here we go…thats a secured loan…that wasn’t advertised or mentioned???….then if you cannot provide that information(As they ask for very personal details)the give u the number for provident….who only lend £50 and have a very high APR….luckily I am working now and don’t need a loan but I didnt want people to fall for this.
Hence the Global Economic Crisis — thanks James and you other scammers !!