Kieran Cassidy
Kieran Paul Cassidy (born 6 November 1972) is the founder of VehicleMatch Services Ltd and Vehicle Seller, two "car matching" companies now in liquidation that operated from South Woodford in Essex between 2003 and 2009. On 27 October 2010, following an investigation by the Insolvency Service into his conduct at these two companies, he was given an 11-year ban from acting as a company director in the UK.[1] He currently works for PPC Claim, a subsidiary of online marketing company Trafiki.[2]
Vehicle matching companies
“Vehicle matching” companies look through magazines such as Auto Trader and call people who are advertising a vehicle for sale and give sellers the impression that they have buyers lined up. They then charge a registration fee to add their details to a database; however, according to media reports, this rarely results in a sale.[3]
Vehicle Seller, where Kieran Cassidy was a director,[4] has been described as “one of the worst offenders” of this practice and took an £89.99 fee from sellers, but according to the Insolvency Service “it is arguable that the company never caused a single car to be sold.”[5]
Due to Cassidy’s failure to provide up-to-date accounting records for Vehicle Seller, it is not possible to know the number of sales made by the company.[6]
Kieran Cassidy founded his first car matching firm, VehicleMatch Services Ltd, in 2003 with Andrew Louka and held the position of Company Secretary.[7] The company was put into compulsory liquidation by the UK High Court in December 2007.[4]
Cassidy then went on to set up Vehicle Seller Ltd. Having received over 240 complaints about the company, Redbridge Trading Standards passed the case on to the Insolvency Service.[6]
Investigation by the Insolvency Service
In October 2010, investigators found the two companies run by Cassidy, VehicleMatch Services and Vehicle Seller, were under common control. On 27 October 2010, they issued a press release stating that, between 5 December 2006 and 29 April 2009, Vehicle Seller's liquidation date, Cassidy had caused the company to deliberately mislead and confuse the public. The press release cited the following as examples of misleading statements given by Cassidy to the public:
- That they had existing enquiries from a number of buyers for the type of vehicle they were trying to sell, when this wasn’t the case;
- They had buyers waiting and willing to purchase immediately;
- The company would market the vehicles to potential buyers until sold;
- The company was in contact with thousands of buyers every week;
- All vehicles were ‘matched’ within seven days;
- Those wishing to purchase a vehicle would be able to do so at below market value;
- The company had affiliate organisations through which they could arrange finance for buyers.
According to Stephen Speed, Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service, there were a total of 2,700 complaints made about Vehicle Seller in its 18 months of trading.[6]
Disqualification as a director
Following the Insolvency Service investigation, Cassidy was given an 11-year directorship disqualification commencing on 27 October 2010. The length of the disqualification was intended to reflect the level of responsibility that Cassidy had for the way in which the two companies operated.[6]
Commenting on this at the time, Hayley Roberts from Redbridge Trading Standards, who cooperated with the Insolvency Service on this case, said: “Directors, Kieran Paul Cassidy and Andrew Louka, showed a total lack of regard for their customers, and the disqualification will ensure they do not return to take advantage of the public again.”[6]
Google Adword miss-selling
More recently, Cassidy has been employed by web design and internet marketing company Trafiki and its subsidiary PPC Claim.[8] Through PPC Claim, Cassidy claims to "educate and inform" the public about what he describes as "rogue" sellers of Google AdWords. Through his LinkedIn blog, he makes regular posts criticising companies that sell pay-per-click advertising and attempts to get customers who he believes have been mis-sold AdWords to pursue claims against the sellers.[9]
According to the latest statement of accounts, Cassidy is a 50% shareholder in PPC Claim's parent company, Trafiki, although he holds no official directorships.[10]
References
- ↑ "SOUTH WOODFORD: Second car sales firm director banned". East London and West Essex Guardian Series.
- ↑ PPC Claim, Linkedin
- ↑ Tony Hetherington. "Car matchmaker sets off danger signals". This is Money.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Penman and Sommerlad Investigates (6 November 2008). "Watchdog tackles Vehicle Seller". mirror.
- ↑ Penman and Sommerlad Investigates (28 May 2009). "Vehicle Seller smashed after hundreds of complaints". mirror.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Insolvency Service (London): Second Director of Misleading Essex... - UK Government". Mynewsdesk. Archived from the original on 2018-10-05. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
- ↑ "Vehiclematch Services. Limited".
- ↑ Kieran Cassidy Linkedin
- ↑ Kieran Cassidy, The Great Google Adword Sting
- ↑ Companies House filings
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