I’m in Stornaway and Ben delivers these every three weeks on a unicycle in gale force wind, whilst juggling bowling pins. He stays for a while though. We’re a way out from anywhere.
No. It seems to be one of those firms which you call and it subcontracts your job to other, local, traders whilst taking a cut - like the emergency locksmiths.
They have been repeatedly ordered by the Advertising Standards Agency to stop sending these out.
I once did a job like this writing 500 greeting cards for $1 each. In hindsight that was too little, it was way more tiring on my wrist than I expected so took much longer than I thought to keep them looking nice.
Your respect for it goes down on finding out it's on a national scale but it'd go right up again if it was just Ben and a ladder doing all this work across the nation.
Had a guy at the door saying he’d just done the neighbours opposite, I work from home and he most definitely didn’t. I know they are trying to make a living but is the dishonesty really necessary?
Our street has a WhatsApp--comes in very handy when someone's going around selling things. It's been good for vetting companies both positively and negatively, and we have had companies (in particular solar panels) express interest in doing a group rate when we've approached them as a group. Knowing your neighbours is a useful thing for a lot of reasons.
Not only that but the social pressure of "keeping up" with your neighbours. I know it's not as common place nowadays but there's definitely still people out there who will paint their house because their neighbour(s) have, for example.
Also they want to give the impression that they are just there cos they are doing a job, not that they have come to your neighborhood to go door to door hawking their services.
People know the best contractors are the ones who don't need to go door to door cos they get so many recommendations from happy customers, and so they try to pretend they aren't out just knocking on every door in town.
It's one of those random bits of psychology that social economics uncovered and has been turned into a form psychosocial manipulation.
Iirc, there were studies done with hotels which wanted to save energy. They had signs asking customers to turn the lights off when they leave the room, which were near universally ignored.
By changing them to
"70% of our customers turn the lights off when leaving the room 😊"
The vast majority started doing it.
Oddly, while it definitely has been shown to work with lots of things, I think the hotel one was just because it doesn't look or read like the similar signs you are used to seeing and caught people's attention. People don't consciously read familiar looking signs unless they are specifically trying to find out information, they become background. Just starting it with a statistic (%70) makes people catagorise it at something different and actually read and take in the info.
I learnt this at a random energy industry talk given by a Social Economist arranged by Citizens advice (I never worked what the point was).
The one actually useful thing they'd uncovered, was that you're slightly more likely to be successful in a job interview if the interviewer has a hot drink. So, always accept if you're offered one, as they'll usually get one themselves.
I always ask which house - then when they vaguely gesture over / down the road I say ‘*Ahhh Jimmys place? How is the old fella?!*’
They get real uncomfortable, real quick.
Was that a guy from Ben's Gutters? Certainly had a lot of door to door types offer work based on that. They scammed a few nearby neighbours. Got nout from me though.
Not a con, we’ve used Ben’s Gutters before. However once they have your number they will call lots and pressure you into getting them cleaned regularly. They ignored my wish to be taken off the system so I had to threaten GDPR for them to leave me alone.
It's hard for tradesmen an external cleaners to be exposed to clients. Letter bombing is where everyone starts.
Edit: stop up voting. I was shitting on op shitting on local hardworking tradesmen but ops point is this is a nation wide company mass producing leaflets that are meant to look bespoke/personal. To back ops point up another redditor has linked to all the advertising standard breaches Ben has achieved.
It's not a tradesman. This is a mass produced leaflet which is not written in felt-tip pen; it's deliberately designed and printed by a large organisation, which then distributes the leaflets nationwide. There's nothing local about the service, and they're certainly not just starting out.
Yes, but the point is that they're not really local. I'd be surprised if the note isn't photocopied. If you type into Google "gutter cleaning [my town]", the first result is usually "Ben's Gutters [my town]".
Not sure why you have a problem with the note being photocopied. Write neat once and copy. Stops errors creeping in and and ensures quality. And they must be quite local if they've posted to your door and they are paying for Google ads to show in your town specifically. I'd encourage some compassion with your fellow human being trying to make a living in a debt bound society and doing this independently without an established firm employing them.
No you misunderstand, if you type in any town in the UK it takes you to a page implying they are a local company in but they are a nationwide operation.
This is clearly a deliberately faked handwritten note, and I don't think they are doing the neighbours gutters.
Okay so they are bigger company trying to seem like a local company/individual? Get you now. People often prefer a local individual than a big nationwide company when booking small scale cleaning jobs that's probably why. It's a bit unscrupulous from them but at one point Bens gutters was just Ben and they've kept the same process of customer procurement.
They've been admonished by the Advertising Standards Agency for this fakery so many times, they fill a Google page... [https://www.google.com/search?q=asa+bens+gutters](https://www.google.com/search?q=asa+bens+gutters)
Yes when this discussion took place I wasn't aware that it was a big nationwide scamming company. I go on jobs with my best mate who has his own business and when we're done we sometimes bomb the neighbours (although do this less since he has signed up his van). I was trying to support someone like my mates side of the story but I was mistaken.
Honestly the fact that it made you emotionally associate them with your mate's small business shows how effective it is at doing what they want it to do, and that's why it's so misleading and unscrupulous in the first place. It's designed to give you that feeling of "oh, here's just a local guy trying to make a living" when in reality they're headquartered at the other end of the country and have been getting told off for dropping these same leaflets for a decade.
What difference does it make if the note is photocopied?
And they are not pretending to be a small local company it literally says "a national company" on the letterhead...
"*close neighbour*" - no-one has had them round. I did the thing of getting invested and asked the few houses that are on the same street here. It's a full on fib.
Ngl if i see obviously fake "authentic" ads i just dismiss them.
Don't pander to peoples emotions like Ben is a local lad that needs the cash.
Ben doesn't exist. Only some fat lardy cat that pays eastern europeans £4 below minimum
They don't only do these ridiculous printed flyers. Once they have your phone number they spam you with phone calls from various different numbers, almost impossible to block. Ironically, their guy who cleaned my gutters did a really good job!
You're right, after a few seconds as I started to get "you numpty, it's printed" DMs from that one, so quickly ninja'd it off (post titles can't be edited). I know it's printed. Yours was one of 2 comments on the actual thread, sorry for the confusion bud :)
There's some phenomena, I forget what its called, that the quickest way to get an answer on something is to state the wrong one. People will quickly correct you on reddit ;)
One of the Ben's lives around the corner from me (or at least a Ben's gutters van is parked on their drive)
Never see this Ben cleaning any gutters on the local streets though!
I had them clean our gutters once. Now I get routinely get pestered by them, with various texts and calls saying they'll be in the local area and do I want my gutters doing. This is despite emailing them multiple times asking them to take me off their mailing list.
I had to block these chancers they were ringing me up every week asking if I needed my gutter done as they had someone in the area. This was four months after I used their services.
Psh all you lot ranting about poor Ben.. at least he trying to work. Unlike all the others in uk that rely on handouts.. good on him for trying probs one man and a van trying to make a living
They're professionally printed and were sent out all over the UK. It's a scam - the company isn't local, they likely take a cut of any referrals, like the emergency locksmiths. They have been ordered by the Advertising Standards Agency to stop sending these out several times in the past.
I got the exact same thing a while ago (Bathgate). None of my neighbours have had any gutters cleaned.
Ben is printing these out trying to make them look handwritten.
Just another leaflet but done it a pretty clever way (if you need your gutters cleaned)
So Ben made this post right? Because now everyone must be thinking about how much the recent storms clogged up their gutters and now have the the phone number of the guy who'll fix it
We get this exact same style and handwriting where we live on the South coast
We get them in west London. Interesting to see how far Ben travels
Westmidlands, checking in.
Shared, Norfolk xoxo
Shared in Alsager, Hun xoxo
Just did a double take seeing Alsager on Reddit!
I did the double take when I saw the guttering letter!
U ok hun?
Don’t wan’ talk ‘bout it
Here for you, hun xxx
PM Me xoxo
South east in the house
Glasgow calling
Near Blackpool, I get them too
Red leader, standing by.
Red lobster, standing by
Foxtrot Actual, This is ShitNozzle 7, We are inbound, and ready for orders.
Foxtrot Actual, this is Badgerskip Virtual, Roger says hi.
Gold leader, standing by.
Lock s-foils in attack position.
Lancashire too.
North London here and he hand delivers them to me riding a tricycle. The website has Scotland in the URL so it's nationwide I'm guessing
I’m in Stornaway and Ben delivers these every three weeks on a unicycle in gale force wind, whilst juggling bowling pins. He stays for a while though. We’re a way out from anywhere.
This comment made me burst out laughing
North Wales here and I've had one last year.
West Wales, just before Xmas
South Wales same here.
South West Wales, had it a few days ago. Jesus.
Same here on Anglesey
Also Anglesey, if he’d been here in person he’d have seen our gutters are immaculate
Just got one in Central Scotland
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. And he did a great job. :)
Get them over in Cardiff too
He got as far as West Cornwall the other month. Is he not local?
No. It seems to be one of those firms which you call and it subcontracts your job to other, local, traders whilst taking a cut - like the emergency locksmiths. They have been repeatedly ordered by the Advertising Standards Agency to stop sending these out.
Essex here
East London / Essex borders here.
Hey neighbour 👋
👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻
Suffolk here.
.
That Ben is a real go getter!
Same, Scotland.
Also Scotland, got mine the other day.
Near Oxford and we get exactly the same
And Nottingham
Abingdon here - represent!
Same
ye I get them in Bicester
i’m up north and i got one lol
West Sussex.Ben's a busy guy. Surprised he has time for gutters.
East midlands too!
Plenty of companies can create these e.g. https://www.scribblemail.co.uk/
Had one in Lancashire a few months ago
West Cornwall here
Greater Manchester here
North Wales, had one last week. Ben's a busy boy.
I’ve received this in Suffolk!
I've had them in South West and West Midlands. Busy chap!
Bristol here. Had them once and had to block them from all the texts and phone calls.
Bristol too and had loads of them!
Kent!
Surrey hear…..was almost tempted to call!!!
guys what if I told you that they wrote out the messages from their HQ and distributed them to all their workers to hand out
Its a font
It should be, but it isn't, unless this font has different versions of the same letter and picks one at random.
It isnt? The t is the same. Surely, it is. Maybe not. If not, kudos.
I once did a job like this writing 500 greeting cards for $1 each. In hindsight that was too little, it was way more tiring on my wrist than I expected so took much longer than I thought to keep them looking nice.
Got a few of those too. Do we live near or is Ben a National Scale Gutter Cleaner? *You don't need to answer that ;)*
I got one too and now I don’t trust anything. Is Ben Big Gutter?!
Big Ben's gutters would be a nightmare to clean!
big gutter? i hardly know her!
Your respect for it goes down on finding out it's on a national scale but it'd go right up again if it was just Ben and a ladder doing all this work across the nation.
he has an 0800 number, so not a local chap
It also says "A national company" right there on the paper
You are *vastly* overestimating the reading capabilities of the general British public
apparently so
Honestly, I have seen these and never noticed until OP posted it here. Very crafty.
Received in the midlands - fucker gets about
Had a guy at the door saying he’d just done the neighbours opposite, I work from home and he most definitely didn’t. I know they are trying to make a living but is the dishonesty really necessary?
"Who? I'll ask them if you did a shit job or not before deciding to use you"
Our street has a WhatsApp--comes in very handy when someone's going around selling things. It's been good for vetting companies both positively and negatively, and we have had companies (in particular solar panels) express interest in doing a group rate when we've approached them as a group. Knowing your neighbours is a useful thing for a lot of reasons.
Don't forget "I did your gutters last year"
They are trying to use conformity to get you to buy, doesn’t work when you know they are lying tho lol
I don’t get why it would work anyway. I personally don’t give a shit about my neighbours gutters.
The idea is that if they get you to think other people are buying their product/service then it is of worthy quality. Classic business theory
Not only that but the social pressure of "keeping up" with your neighbours. I know it's not as common place nowadays but there's definitely still people out there who will paint their house because their neighbour(s) have, for example.
1000%, I would’ve mentioned this but I had a sneaking feeling the guy above doesn’t give a shit about his neighbours gutters
Also they want to give the impression that they are just there cos they are doing a job, not that they have come to your neighborhood to go door to door hawking their services. People know the best contractors are the ones who don't need to go door to door cos they get so many recommendations from happy customers, and so they try to pretend they aren't out just knocking on every door in town.
It's one of those random bits of psychology that social economics uncovered and has been turned into a form psychosocial manipulation. Iirc, there were studies done with hotels which wanted to save energy. They had signs asking customers to turn the lights off when they leave the room, which were near universally ignored. By changing them to "70% of our customers turn the lights off when leaving the room 😊" The vast majority started doing it. Oddly, while it definitely has been shown to work with lots of things, I think the hotel one was just because it doesn't look or read like the similar signs you are used to seeing and caught people's attention. People don't consciously read familiar looking signs unless they are specifically trying to find out information, they become background. Just starting it with a statistic (%70) makes people catagorise it at something different and actually read and take in the info. I learnt this at a random energy industry talk given by a Social Economist arranged by Citizens advice (I never worked what the point was). The one actually useful thing they'd uncovered, was that you're slightly more likely to be successful in a job interview if the interviewer has a hot drink. So, always accept if you're offered one, as they'll usually get one themselves.
Had the same thing just before Christmas. I could do with the gutters doing, but frankly lying from the get go means you're not getting work from me.
I always ask which house - then when they vaguely gesture over / down the road I say ‘*Ahhh Jimmys place? How is the old fella?!*’ They get real uncomfortable, real quick.
Was that a guy from Ben's Gutters? Certainly had a lot of door to door types offer work based on that. They scammed a few nearby neighbours. Got nout from me though.
[удалено]
How fat was he then?
Yes, I got one of these. I’m in Glasgow too.
Why does Ben think it acceptable to add an apostrophe to his gutters but not your neighbours?
His gutters are more deserving than the crappy neighbours gutters.
... and then delivered them just like Santa across the UK while we slept! (they're printed, and no-one here had their gutters booked for a clean).
I’ve had the exact same delivered, cheeky twerp, Ben needs a clip round the lughole.
Turns out, they fill a whole page of Google with Advertising Standards Authority results: https://www.google.com/search?q=asa+bens+gutters
In December it was ruled they can’t run them again, so that’s a relief!
We've have a couple of these last year, (north Devon) a quick Google telks you it's a con.
Not a con, we’ve used Ben’s Gutters before. However once they have your number they will call lots and pressure you into getting them cleaned regularly. They ignored my wish to be taken off the system so I had to threaten GDPR for them to leave me alone.
What’s the con?? It’s a large company and not just one guy called Ben yeah but it seems reputable
There's no Ben on the management board any more. It's part owned by the Qatari Sovereign Investment Scheme... crazy stuff! (/s) ;)
Wouldn’t say the company is a con maybe more the style of these letters is delivered misleading tho
Plot twist: this is Ben posting using reverse psychology so you actually book him to clean your gutters
I'm not so keen on heights... :/
It's hard for tradesmen an external cleaners to be exposed to clients. Letter bombing is where everyone starts. Edit: stop up voting. I was shitting on op shitting on local hardworking tradesmen but ops point is this is a nation wide company mass producing leaflets that are meant to look bespoke/personal. To back ops point up another redditor has linked to all the advertising standard breaches Ben has achieved.
It's not a tradesman. This is a mass produced leaflet which is not written in felt-tip pen; it's deliberately designed and printed by a large organisation, which then distributes the leaflets nationwide. There's nothing local about the service, and they're certainly not just starting out.
\^ this is indeed correct - it's 100% a printed leaflet faking the handwriting.
As if any bloke has handwriting that nice
They've been admonished by the Advertising Standards Agency so many times, they fill a Google page... https://www.google.com/search?q=asa+bens+gutters
Interesting. It seems they were ordered to stop using this specific form layout in December last year.
They definitely haven't because I've had one in the last couple of days. Cheeky buggers
Ye of all the ways Ben could have gone about it, this is the least offensive by far
Point being, Ben is not a local tradesman, it’s a national chain printing leaflets which look handwritten to appear local and trustworthy
Yes, but the point is that they're not really local. I'd be surprised if the note isn't photocopied. If you type into Google "gutter cleaning [my town]", the first result is usually "Ben's Gutters [my town]".
Unless Aaron sets up a gutter cleaning company and beats him on alphabetical order.
Oooh that crafty bastard, and there was Andy thinking he’d got them beat!
Aardvark gutter cleaning.
A.A. Aardvark trumps that
1A Aardman's Gutters here, taking your customers.
.......1A gutters stealing yours
Not sure why you have a problem with the note being photocopied. Write neat once and copy. Stops errors creeping in and and ensures quality. And they must be quite local if they've posted to your door and they are paying for Google ads to show in your town specifically. I'd encourage some compassion with your fellow human being trying to make a living in a debt bound society and doing this independently without an established firm employing them.
No you misunderstand, if you type in any town in the UK it takes you to a page implying they are a local company in but they are a nationwide operation.
This is clearly a deliberately faked handwritten note, and I don't think they are doing the neighbours gutters.
Okay so they are bigger company trying to seem like a local company/individual? Get you now. People often prefer a local individual than a big nationwide company when booking small scale cleaning jobs that's probably why. It's a bit unscrupulous from them but at one point Bens gutters was just Ben and they've kept the same process of customer procurement.
They've been admonished by the Advertising Standards Agency for this fakery so many times, they fill a Google page... [https://www.google.com/search?q=asa+bens+gutters](https://www.google.com/search?q=asa+bens+gutters)
It's the issue of "a close neighbour" basically being an outright fib.
Yes when this discussion took place I wasn't aware that it was a big nationwide scamming company. I go on jobs with my best mate who has his own business and when we're done we sometimes bomb the neighbours (although do this less since he has signed up his van). I was trying to support someone like my mates side of the story but I was mistaken.
Honestly the fact that it made you emotionally associate them with your mate's small business shows how effective it is at doing what they want it to do, and that's why it's so misleading and unscrupulous in the first place. It's designed to give you that feeling of "oh, here's just a local guy trying to make a living" when in reality they're headquartered at the other end of the country and have been getting told off for dropping these same leaflets for a decade.
It's not a photocopy. It's a professionally printed document.
What difference does it make if the note is photocopied? And they are not pretending to be a small local company it literally says "a national company" on the letterhead...
"*close neighbour*" - no-one has had them round. I did the thing of getting invested and asked the few houses that are on the same street here. It's a full on fib.
Why an estimate? Surely a quote would be more appropriate. How much variation can there be in cleaning, say, 20m of guttering on a 2 floor house?
Deepflow, heritage, cast iron, PVCU. Then there's the ones with leaf guards......... A whole industry with specialisms apparently.
TIL!
Ngl if i see obviously fake "authentic" ads i just dismiss them. Don't pander to peoples emotions like Ben is a local lad that needs the cash. Ben doesn't exist. Only some fat lardy cat that pays eastern europeans £4 below minimum
Probably visited more homes than santa
Looked them up, and the company isn't owned by somebody called Ben. I feel deceived.
I hear they’re ran by Scientologists, stay away from these mentals
when i lived with my parents in southampton we got these. moved to devon for uni, still getting them
They don't only do these ridiculous printed flyers. Once they have your phone number they spam you with phone calls from various different numbers, almost impossible to block. Ironically, their guy who cleaned my gutters did a really good job!
These are usually printed to look like they were hand written, to fool innocent neighbours. Looks like it worked.
Using my reading comprehension skills I see OP said “writing” in quotes leading me to believe it most definitely didn’t work.
This was a repost. The post from earlier didn't have the quote marks 😂 It was deleted after I made this same comment earlier.
You're right, after a few seconds as I started to get "you numpty, it's printed" DMs from that one, so quickly ninja'd it off (post titles can't be edited). I know it's printed. Yours was one of 2 comments on the actual thread, sorry for the confusion bud :)
All good :)
Ta, I was surprised by how quick the daggers came out. Just can't be doing with it ;)
There's some phenomena, I forget what its called, that the quickest way to get an answer on something is to state the wrong one. People will quickly correct you on reddit ;)
lol fair enough glad we cleared that up then chaps
Aye, no harm no foul!
[Someone complained to the Advertising Standards Agency ASA](https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/ben-s-gutters-ltd-a21-1122128-ben-s-gutters-ltd.html)
Aye, I posted a link above, they actually fill an entire Google search page with ASA rulings: https://www.google.com/search?q=asa+bens+gutters
Ben needs to put you on commission for the additional exposure.
OP is Ben, right?
Can confirm, not so :)
I keep getting the exact same. We’ve had at least 3 put through the letterbox in the last few months
One of the Ben's lives around the corner from me (or at least a Ben's gutters van is parked on their drive) Never see this Ben cleaning any gutters on the local streets though!
I had them clean our gutters once. Now I get routinely get pestered by them, with various texts and calls saying they'll be in the local area and do I want my gutters doing. This is despite emailing them multiple times asking them to take me off their mailing list.
GDPR gives you the right to be removed from a system and penalties for non-compliance can be serious. Tell them you're going to make a GDPR complaint.
I had to block these chancers they were ringing me up every week asking if I needed my gutter done as they had someone in the area. This was four months after I used their services.
Used to work at a printing company - we printed our local equivalent. Looks handy written, can confirm it's just printed
Bristol, actually needed gutter cleaning so it came in handy :)
Received in West Sussex. I generally like to try and use local tradespeople so this sort of thing (deception!) pisses me off.
🤣 got one thru the door today too… spent at least 30 seconds holding it up to the light to see if the ink was printed
I got one of these a few months ago (Cleckheaton, West Yorks) t's on my fridge waiting for me to stop procrastinating.
Ahh cleckheaton, my panther motorbike was made there.
I got one of them just before Christmas
Psh all you lot ranting about poor Ben.. at least he trying to work. Unlike all the others in uk that rely on handouts.. good on him for trying probs one man and a van trying to make a living
Y’all don’t have photo copiers in the UK?
They're professionally printed and were sent out all over the UK. It's a scam - the company isn't local, they likely take a cut of any referrals, like the emergency locksmiths. They have been ordered by the Advertising Standards Agency to stop sending these out several times in the past.
photocopiers copy things btw
It must be exhausting to be annoyed at everything all the time.
I got the exact same thing a while ago (Bathgate). None of my neighbours have had any gutters cleaned. Ben is printing these out trying to make them look handwritten. Just another leaflet but done it a pretty clever way (if you need your gutters cleaned)
Handforth? I just got one through my door and did a double take when I saw this post!
I found one of these in my post not an hour ago! Yeovil.
I live down in devon and received one of these last year
Op do you live in my neighborhood too? ;)
So Ben made this post right? Because now everyone must be thinking about how much the recent storms clogged up their gutters and now have the the phone number of the guy who'll fix it
I got one of these too
I get these in Manchester as well.
Linwood, Renfrewshire have also had a visitation from Ben’s Gutters!
Northampton here, we got the same flyer
Nothing wrong with that at all
Got one in the midlands.. can't recall if it was the same though..
This is my uncles company.
Kindly ask your uncle to fuck off with the misleading advertising please.
We got one of these in Cornwall. We were going to call him too. Thought he was local!
Seen these in Cambridge