UK Essays - Essay Scam Warning

www.ukessays.com is a legitimate UK-based and registered company. As a customer of www.ukessays.com you are protected by UK consumer law.

Learn more about www.ukessays.com

We have provided the information on this page to help YOU avoid being ripped off by essay scam companies. There are many custom essay websites on the web. Some are genuine. Some will rip you off. It is hard to spot which are the genuine websites but with our help, you'll be an expert in hunting them down.

Congratulations, you have already found one of the legitimate sites - www.ukessays.com

To help you decide which custom essay writing sites you can trust, we have prepared the following to help you:

• About us
• What are essay scam websites?
• Top 8 ways to avoid scams
• Top 7 tricks used by scam essay companies
• Legal requirements for UK websites

---

About us

We're a genuine UK Company that you can trust.

www.ukessays.com is a part of All Answers Ltd. Founded in 2003 All Answers Ltd. runs a portfolio of websites that deliver answers, research and other services to students, academics and professionals.

www.ukessays.com passes all of the 'scam buster' tests (below) with flying colours!

• As a UK company we stringently adhere to UK consumer law.
  This means, whatever service you buy from us, you are covered by the UK's consumer laws just like any other well-known website or high-street retailer.

• Our UK landline number is shown at the top of this website.
  Please give us a call - you won't hear any strange ring tones or foreign voices here!

• We're a registered UK company.
  Our company name is All Answers Limited. Our company number is 4964706. Feel free to check us out at Companies House!

• We have a UK business bank account with Barclays Bank.
  The details are: Sort Code: 20-41-50, Account Number: 50411590, Account Name: Degree Essays UK

• Our prices are realistic.
  That's because we use professionals. We never use ESL (English Second Language) writers. You can see our recruitment policy on our writer vacancies page.

• You can check that our press coverage is genuine.
  We have links to the actual reports, as well as videos, on our press page in the about us section.

Whether or not you choose to use our service, we urge you to protect yourself by learning how to tell the difference between a genuine website and a scam.

---

What are essay scam websites?

Scam websites are out to rip you off. Don't be their next victim.

There are three types of scam websites you should be wary of; those run by:

1. ...individuals who will take your money and run
2. ...companies who will send you junk copied and pasted from the web
3. ...foreign companies who pretend to be UK-based but use unqualified foreign writers

Remember, not all essay websites operate this way. There are some simple checks you can carry out to protect yourself from the sharks that are just out there to make a 'quick buck'.

---

Top 8 ways to avoid scams

1. Use a genuine UK Company.

• UK companies are subject to UK law
• UK companies can be sued in the UK courts
• You have more 'comeback' against UK companies if anything goes wrong

Be careful. Many companies claim to be UK-based but aren't really, so you need to run a few checks to make sure you're really dealing with a UK company. Don't be fooled by easy tricks such as the use of 'co.uk' domains which anyone can buy (see 'Top 7 'tricks' used by scam essay companies' below).

2. Make sure they have a genuine UK landline telephone number answered by UK staff.

• Now, anyone can get a UK landline number
• These numbers can be diverted to anywhere in the world
• Listen to the ring tone - does it sound odd?
• Listen to their accent (if they answer) - does it sound foreign?
• Ask them where they're based: ask them questions about their 'local area'.

3. Ask them to promise in writing to deliver 2:1 standard the first time, on time, and with a plagiarism scan - then watch the excuses fly!

A genuine UK company won't mind that you insist on:

• 2.1 standard work the first time or a full refund
• A comprehensive, accurate plagiarism scan
• A solid plagiarism guarantee

After all, you're paying for custom work, and under UK consumer protection law, you are entitled to get what you pay for! But don't be surprised if they say no or mumble something that sounds like an excuse. There are not many foreign companies who are willing to give these guarantees and put their money where their mouth is.

4. Check their credentials at Companies House.

• Deal with a registered company - they have to comply with certain legal requirements
• Check they are listed at Companies House
• Make sure their Company Number matches the name registered at Companies House
• Make sure the Company is not listed as 'Dissolved' and does not have 'pending applications' (e.g. to be struck off/removed from the register)
• Check their website complies with UK legal requirements (see 'Legal Requirements for UK Websites' below)
• Run a 'WHOIS' check against the domain name

TIP! If the website name is listed at Companies House but you run in to difficulties with the company at a later stage, you can download a lot of useful information about them from the Companies House website, including the names and addresses of the directors and company secretaries for a small fee of approximately £1.00 per document.

5. Make sure they have a UK bank account.

• It is very difficult for foreign companies to get UK bank accounts
• Ask for their details: account name, sort code, account number and the name of the bank
• Don't accept any excuses for them not giving you this information
• Check the details are authentic - make a small deposit into their bank account of a few pence and ask them to confirm what the amount was.

Remember, don't accept any excuses for them not giving you this information - it would be extremely difficult for you to misuse it, so they have no reason to refuse to hand it over.

6. Consider their prices - are they realistic?

• Companies exist to make a profit
• UK companies must pay many expenses: staff, advertising, premises, utilities, business rates, tax, VAT and much more
• It is unlikely a company could be profitable if it paid its writers more than 30% of the total price.

Now, ask yourself, would you complete the work for 30% of the price the website is charging? Would a professional writer? If the answer is no, be on your guard!

If prices look too good to be true, they probably are (unfortunately).

7. Look for genuine favourable UK press coverage.

• Check for press coverage on the newspaper's or TV channel's website - make sure it's genuine
• If reporters have visited the company's offices, you'll know (at least) that it exists
• If reporters have ordered from the website and received good work, this is an indication that you'll also receive good work.

Press coverage isn't a guarantee that a website is UK-based and genuine, just as lack of press coverage doesn't mean the website will scam you. Positive press coverage is a sign that the company is likely to be genuine and likely to deliver on their promises.

8. Read the website carefully. Check for typos and odd expressions!

• Foreign websites are often full of sloppy mistakes - spelling/grammar errors
• Read the website carefully or (if English isn't your first language) get someone to check it for you
• If the website is full of mistakes, it's likely that the work they send out will be too!

And that's it!

We can't guarantee that if you follow these 7 steps, the website you use will give you what they promise. There are a small number of dishonest companies operating in the UK and these are much harder to spot.

What we can guarantee is that if you follow these 7 steps, you'll be able to identify 99.5% of foreign, dishonest, scam companies, saving you time, money and upset.

Still wondering whether to use us?

That's okay - we understand how important this decision is!

The very best way to reassure yourself that we're genuine is to give us a call and speak to our team. We have a few accents in the office, but they are all distinctively English! Olivia, our friendly Yorkshire Customer Experience team member, and Karina, our outgoing Cornish HR Manager, are just two of the many friendly voices you'll hear on the end of our phone lines.

We're looking forward to speaking to you and putting your mind at rest.

---

Top 7 tricks used by essay scam websites

1. Foreign companies often use co.uk domain names

Remember that anyone anywhere in the world can buy a co.uk domain name.

Do you really think this means you're dealing with a UK company? Think again. It takes 5 minutes to register a domain name, from anywhere in the world!

2. Foreign companies often use 'British' images

Some of the websites that appear in Google's listings for custom essays have UK flags and images of UK universities.

Anyone can put these images on their website. It doesn't mean they're based in the UK! There are hundreds of royalty free image sites where you can download them for free!

3. Scam companies often display convincing 'testimonials'

Anyone can write a good fake 'testimonial' and make it sound genuine. It happens a lot, as you might have guessed, and the Office of Fair Trading is often involved with companies making wild claims through fake customer testimonials.

Did you know that under UK law, companies are obliged to provide evidence that testimonials are genuine, if requested?

4. Scam companies often write shining 'reviews' about themselves on other websites and forums

These are really easy to do: the company just registers for a new account and creates a few fake messages, pretending to be a student, saying how they got a great essay from the company's website. The same companies often slate other genuine websites to gain an advantage.

Don't trust reviews unless you're certain who wrote them.

5. Scam companies often claim the press has investigated them, favourably

Anyone can write press quotations on their website, but are they genuine?

You need to check out how genuine they are on the newspaper's website. You can do this by going to any of the search engines and entering the newspaper name and the essay website name, for example "bbc news ukessays.com".

6. Just because they use paid listings on Google Adwords doesn't mean they're genuine

You might think because Google allows a company to advertise its website on their paid listings, the website must be genuine.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case. We complain almost every week to Google about scam companies posting adverts on the highlighted search results, but Google take no action. Don't trust a site just because Google allow them to advertise.

7. Scam companies often display fake endorsements

You might see some attractive badges on the company's website that suggest they are part of 'consumer protection' groups. These are very easy to forge (and if you do a little research, you'll often find that the groups don't exist). You should also be wary of them name dropping, saying they work with companies you know to be reputable. Check out their claims as we've found many are just shameless lies!

Another trick we've noticed is that some sites use a newspaper's logo next to a quote. Don't be fooled. Just because the company is using the newspaper's logo doesn't mean the story is authentic. In fact, we know from experience that newspapers generally don't allow the use of their logos on commercial websites. Check out the story on the newspaper's website make sure it exists and if it does, that the quote hasn't been taken out of context.

---

Legal requirements for UK websites

All UK websites must comply with a number of legal requirements. If the website you're thinking of using doesn't comply with this list, ask yourself whether or not it is likely to be a genuine UK-based company.

Briefly, UK websites must:

• Display their actual company name (not just the website name) somewhere obvious on the website. For example: 'All Answers Limited'
• Where the company name is different to the website name, they must explain the relationship. For example, 'UK Essays is a trading name of All Answers Limited'
• The company's place of registration must be displayed. For example, 'All Answers Limited is a Company registered in England and Wales
• The company's registration number must be displayed. For example, 'Company Number 4964706'.
• The email address must be displayed: it is not sufficient to have only a contact form.
• The registered office address must be displayed. It is fine to give the PO Box address as well for correspondence, but a PO Box cannot be a registered office!
• The VAT registration number must be quoted (where there is one)
• Prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous and state clearly whether they are inclusive or exclusive of VAT and delivery costs.