Spamming from Bark.com
 

Has anybody else had a load of enquiries coming in from this company?

They are apparently an online service finder company that people are able to go on to to find a range of suppliers in different trades. I have started to receive a number of enquiries for wedding video, all of which are very similar and usually looking for cheap suppliers. The company charge £10 +vat for you to respond to the leads but the searchers pay nothing. The first couple of leads are free to tempt you, but although I have put in a reply to tempt the searchers there has been no response and no acknowledgement from Bark that my reply has been read. That seems odd as they state that they only average about 2 responses per enquiry.

There have been various lead supply companies over the years that charge for leads but Bark are very persistent. One of the UK photography forums has been flooded with posts from photographers who are being deluged with enquiries from Bark. Some have received over 40 enquiries over 3 or 4 weeks. The vast majority say that they get absolutely no response from their replies, no reply acknowledgements and the same emails are sent to. a large numbers of suppliers. Those that have paid for leads are also getting little or zero response.

It is illegal in the UK for companies such as Bark to send out unsolicited emails to suppliers and even more so as they appear to be harvesting email addresses from third party companies. In my own case they have used a web address that I last publicised 10 years ago. There have been suggestions that many of the enquiries are fake to generate response payments. This has come from most enquiries being almost identical with variations just to names and areas, plus the fact that all the enquiries seem to have a different Bark employee name as a reference. I have had four in the last 10 days all with different Bark names. The other problem of course is that because there is no cost to the searcher, anyone remotely interested in finding out how much a videographer or other supplier may charge can put in an enquiry with no obligation to reply. RIval companies can therefore put in an enquiry to get you to show prices etc as can bored casual watchers who might be curious as to what suppliers charge. The more people enquire, the more chance that Bark will receive payments from those keen to get leads from the emails they send out.

OK guys, would you like to buy a full broadcast camera kit in perfect condition with spare batteries,tripod and various lenses, all less than 12 month old and under £500? Just send me your offer with your application fee of £10. The seller will contact you if they are interested!!!!!

Roger

Re: Spamming from Bark.com
 

Same here Roger and another company called brides something, they have a name list using a brides email, you answer the enquiry and you never get any reply its as if they are just using emails addresses to get you to think they are doing you a favour by booking brides. Two months later they email you to ask you to go in their directory for a fee.