Hi - thought I'd mention this website in case anyone's interested:

http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/

I came across it in an email from Martin Lewis' moneysavingexpert.com
(another website I'd recommend to anyone wanting to save money!)

It appears to be a 'community' type website and although there are quite
a few 'under construction' pages at the moment, there's a lot of useful
info there already.

Best of all - it all seems to be free.
You can register with them and get a free 'world of gardening' CD-ROM
and quarterly magazine.

Oh, and I suppose I'd better say I've got nothing to do with it ;-)
(well not yet anyway)

Jeff
(NE England)

Hi,

Looks like its time for me to repost a message that I sent earlier in
the year - see below.

Jeff, I have been tracing the owner of the website for some months and
liasing with the CID in London - please please do not get involved with
him or the website. He is a wanted criminal. There are no freebies to
be had at this site. He is currently operating in the Bolton area - I
am in contact with three people who have been taken by him for a
considerable sum of money. The gardening course that are mentioned on
the website DO NOT exist. He was planning to hold them at a hotel in
windemere ( I have spoken with the hotel and the cumbrian police ) but
following an altercation ( he didnt pay for the hotel ) he ran off when
they called the police. He headed north to Edinburgh where he did the
same at a hotel there. As I say he is now physically back in the
northwest.

I am happy to answer any questions.

Regards,

Sam.


Hello,

I would like to make the UK gardening public aware of the above website
and the history of the person behind it. The information I offer is
entirely factual, in the public domain and verifiable by anyone who
cares to look. I have one aim - to make sure no one else, gardeners and
suppliers alike, are deceived.

The website is run by Tim Whitcombe, operating mainly around the North
West ( ie manchester etc ) but has moved around the country.

Whitcombe previously operated in the South before being found guilty of
multiple charges of deception at Kingston upon Thames crown court.
Unfortunately for the public the judge warned him that he faced a
custodial sentence and, unsurprisingly, he absconded prior to
sentencing. A Crown Court arrest warrant was issued and has been
outstanding ever since. The Metropolitan Police are very keen to locate
and apprehend him.

The company he was director of at the time was wound up by the court
(search for "garden advice media" at www.companieshouse.gov.uk") and
placed into the hands of the official receiver (it was already the
subject of multiple county court judgements). Whitcombe was made
bankrupt ( and it is believed he is still an undischarged bankrupt ).
Indeed the website name forms part of the company's assets which are in
the hands of the insolvency practitioner and should not even be used by
Whitcombe.

Whitcombe surfaced in the North West trading as "gardenadvice.co.uk" 12
months or so ago and has left behind him a trail of dissatisfied
"customers" and suppliers to whom he owes a considerable sum of money.
Indeed even the video's on the website were obtained without payment
and technically are stolen property.

As well as being wanted by the police, Whitcombe is wanted by a number
of government agencies, including the DTI for various trading and
company offences.

Unfortunately, being on the run, he is "of no fixed abode",uses B&B's,
a pay as you go phone and public transport. Consequentially he
difficult to trace by the authorities - if you have any idea where this
person is then you are urged to contact your local police immediately
so that he can be apprehended.

But above all, learn from the mistakes of others and do not be taken in
by this man - remember, he is a convicted conman, the only reason he is
not behind bars is that he absconded from the Crown Court.

If you are webmaster of a site with links into gardenadvice.co.uk then
I urge you to remove your links as you are potentially directing
victims towards a convicted conman.

If you run a B&B / Hotel then be warned that this man has a habit of
leaving without paying - get payment in advance.

If you have already lost out to this man then please share your story
here.

Best Wishes

Samuel Vimes.



Jeff wrote:
> Hi - thought I'd mention this website in case anyone's interested:
>
> http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/
>
> I came across it in an email from Martin Lewis' moneysavingexpert.com
> (another website I'd recommend to anyone wanting to save money!)
>
> It appears to be a 'community' type website and although there are quite
> a few 'under construction' pages at the moment, there's a lot of useful
> info there already.
>
> Best of all - it all seems to be free.
> You can register with them and get a free 'world of gardening' CD-ROM
> and quarterly magazine.
>
> Oh, and I suppose I'd better say I've got nothing to do with it ;-)
> (well not yet anyway)
>
> Jeff
> (NE England)

Sam Vimes wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Looks like its time for me to repost a message that I sent earlier in
> the year - see below.
>
> Jeff, I have been tracing the owner of the website for some months and
> liasing with the CID in London - please please do not get involved with
> him or the website. He is a wanted criminal. There are no freebies to
> be had at this site. He is currently operating in the Bolton area - I
> am in contact with three people who have been taken by him for a
> considerable sum of money. The gardening course that are mentioned on
> the website DO NOT exist. He was planning to hold them at a hotel in
> windemere ( I have spoken with the hotel and the cumbrian police ) but
> following an altercation ( he didnt pay for the hotel ) he ran off when
> they called the police. He headed north to Edinburgh where he did the
> same at a hotel there. As I say he is now physically back in the
> northwest.
>
> I am happy to answer any questions.
>
> Regards,
>
> Sam.
>

Oh - in that case let me not recommend this site ;-)

Thanks for all that information, Sam.
I guess when it comes to gardening I just tend to expect folk to be an
honest lot! (and I'm sure most of us are).
Shame when criminals try to use our hobby for their own gain.
Sigh, you live and learn...

Thanks again,

Jeff
NE England

Jeff wrote:
> Hi - thought I'd mention this website in case anyone's interested:
> http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/

Once you have digested the other warning posted, ponder this: Why
bother? They won't be anywhere near as helpful as urg

I just did a whois on domain gardenadvice.co.uk; note that though the
site has a .UK domain the address is in the US which is very odd !
Plus the site has no proper "contact us" - with a address or phone
number; just a bunch of email addresses. Scary! Thanks Sam!
And the site is so professionally done!

Registrant:
Garden Associates

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
3rd Floor 8
Faneuil Hall
Marketplace
Boston
MA
02019
US

Registrant's agent:
Skymarket Ltd [Tag = SKYMARKET]
URL: http://www.skymarket.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 07-Dec-1999
Renewal date: 07-Dec-2007
Last updated: 17-Mar-2006

Sorry to other folk if this is wandering "off topic" - I do feel its
important that the gardening public are aware of this.

The site isnt that well done if you look around it - it is littered
with spelling mistakes, including an interesting variation of the word
Rhodendrum glaringly obvious at the bottom of the front page - not to
mention the many missing pages. I cannot fault the technical
information on the site.

Yes, there is not proper contact address as the man concerned is "on
the run" and is, as they say, of "no fixed address". He did use a
serviced office address in Bolton upto December last year but they
ceased dealing with him when he never paid them. I have four mobile
phone numbers for him - all pay as you go and all untraceable according
to the CID that I gave the numbers to. He uses B&B accomodation - which
he usually leaves without paying. I am in contact with an list of
accomodation providers ( which is without doubt a small number of all
that have been taken ). I have checked the USA address for the website
( yes, I do know how & why the website was moved offshore ) - it does
exist and is the home of a company that offers business services -
although I dont think he actually uses their services - he is just
cheeky enough to use their address!

He uses a number of aliases - Tim White, Adam Wilson are two that I
know of.

All I can say if that if anyone reads this post and knows where he is
then please inform the police, Whitcombe can be found on the Police
National Computer if they check - he has quite a long entry Im told.

Again, apologies for heading off topic - its a nice afternoon, time for
me to get out in the garden now!

Sam.

Vivek.M wrote:
> I just did a whois on domain gardenadvice.co.uk; note that though the
> site has a .UK domain the address is in the US which is very odd !
> Plus the site has no proper "contact us" - with a address or phone
> number; just a bunch of email addresses. Scary! Thanks Sam!
> And the site is so professionally done!
>
> Registrant:
> Garden Associates
>
> Registrant type:
> UK Individual
>
> Registrant's address:
> 3rd Floor 8
> Faneuil Hall
> Marketplace
> Boston
> MA
> 02019
> US
>
> Registrant's agent:
> Skymarket Ltd [Tag = SKYMARKET]
> URL: http://www.skymarket.co.uk
>
> Relevant dates:
> Registered on: 07-Dec-1999
> Renewal date: 07-Dec-2007
> Last updated: 17-Mar-2006

Actually I looked at Martin Lewis' moneysavingexpert.com website where
jeff got his tip from and I see that someone else actually beat me to
it and got the a warning posted before I did!

Sam.


robertharvey [at] my-deja.com wrote:
> Jeff wrote:
> > Hi - thought I'd mention this website in case anyone's interested:
> > http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/
>
> Once you have digested the other warning posted, ponder this: Why
> bother? They won't be anywhere near as helpful as urg

"Jeff" <newjtayl [at] yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:CYztg.313428$8W1.132956 [at] fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Hi - thought I'd mention this website in case anyone's interested:

We already have free and easy access to a mine of information for advice on
all scopes of gardening, it's called uk.rec.gardening!

Alan

Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)

Hello Janet,

Im sorry you doubt my sincerity.

Well I never claimed to be a horticulturalist and yes you are correct,
I did make a typo in my haste to reply. I also said I cannot fault the
technical ( ie horticultural ) information on the site. The owner of
the website attended to the Lancashire Horticulteral College so I would
expect him to know his stull, and indeed he does.

I have presented the warning, whether it is believed or not is upto the
reader - but I can assure you that no one will receive the freebies,
they simply do not exist, if you want evidence have a look around the
site that Jeff listed where people have stated they have not received
anything - perhaps uk.rec.freebies ( and the poor woman who in 2004
thought she had won a =A32000 garden makeover only to have her hopes
dashed ). I get very frustrated trying to warn people about this conman
when all I get back are doubts and accusations back.

I cannot offer you documentry proof but I can point you in the
direction to prove my story for yourself.

If you really want to check then feel free to call Kingston upon Thames
Crown court (where he was found guilty and absconded from in Dec/Jan
2005) or the Metropolitan Police Teddington Station who brought the
deception charges and see what they have to say about Timothy Charles
Whitcombe, date of birth 17/2/1964 ( the name/dob are enough for any
police force to find him in the PNC ).

Or maybe call the DTI and ask them - they are investigating various
offences.

Or perhaps email the owner of http://www.uk-apas.org.uk/ - a website
used by the accomodation business and where Whitcombes activities are
well known, or perhaps contact the Lindethfell Hotel in Windermere
(http://www.lindethfell.co.uk) where he had an altercation recently and
made an escape when the police were called leaving behind his laptop.

Or perhaps have a look at the videos on the website from which you will
see the name of the company that produced them - call them and see if
he paid for them (they will tell you that the videos were acquired
without payment leaving the filming and post-production companies
concerned some =A325,000 out of pocket ).

Maybe you should risk signing up for his gardening club and let me know
if you ever receive anything.

I sincerely apologise to all readers for taking this posting well
off-topic, I will not make any further postings but will be happy to
discuss this matter with anyone who cares to contact me directly.

Regards

Sam

Janet Baraclough wrote:
> The message <1152971170.563918.244770 [at] p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com>
> from "Sam Vimes" <sam.vimes2 [at] googlemail.com> contains these words:
>
>
> > The site isnt that well done if you look around it - it is littered
> > with spelling mistakes
>
> I don't think that is accurate at all.
>
> > including an interesting variation of the word
> > Rhodendrum glaringly obvious at the bottom of the front page -
>
> Hardly. The bottom of the front page has an article titled
> "rhdodendron". The first O has been omitted after H, but throughout that
> article the word is spelled perfectly correctly, so obviously the
> headline was just a finger error by someone who knows and uses the
> correct name, the correct spelling, and the correct pronunciation.
>
> Your version above, "rhodendrum", shows that you don't know the
> correct name, the correct spelling, or the correct pronunciation.
>
> Such glaringly obvious discrepancies make me wonder if your other
> comments are equally far off the mark.
>
> Janet.
>
>
>
> --
> Isle of Arran Open Gardens weekend 21,22,23 July 2006
> 5 UKP three-day adult ticket (funds go to island charities) buys entry
> to 26 private gardens