A headteacher has issued a warning about bogus salesman claiming to be affiliated to his school.
Ian Mottram, head of Le Cateau Primary in Catterick Garrison, said they had been made aware of a man knocking on doors in the town claiming to be affiliated to the school.
The head said the man was trying to sell tutoring sessions on behalf of a company called Southwestern Advantage.
The head said: “I can assure you that this is not the case.
“We are not affiliated with any ‘tutoring’ schemes and is definitely a scam that has been seen locally over recent days.
“Please stay vigilant.”
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My name is Matthieu Menis and I am working with the Southwestern Advantage as their operation manager. I am very sorry to read about the Southwestern Advantage being associated to a scam.
Since 1868, The Southwestern Advantage runs a sales and leadership exchange program involving university students from around the world. The program started in the US with our company headquarters located in Nashville, TN. The program was opened to European students in the 1990s. The Southwestern Advantage is registered in England & Wales (UK Registration Number 12691315) at the following address: Freshford House, Redcliffe Way Bristol, BS1 6NL, England.
University students participating in the program are independent and running their own business selling educational resources for use at home to help pay for school and learn about entrepreneurialism. This is no tutoring services but educational resources (books, support websites) to help out families with homework and children’s education.
I do invite you to visit our website (www.southwesternadvantage.co.uk) where you will be able to go through our product line as well as verify the identity of any of our reps should you meet any.
Each participant is going through extensive training throughout the year on campus as well as just before the summer where they are taught selling skills as well as good business practices.
While selling educational products, though they are not used in the classroom, nor are they endorsed by the school system, the teachers and school occasionally come up. I think our reps may be using the names in reference to what class the kids are in and to build rapport. This probably mislead some prospects to think they were affiliated with the school.
I will immediately get in touch with their sales manager and personally reach out to them as well to ask that they refrain from further use of any references to any local school.
In addition, I do invite you to contact our Customer Support centre by email (customercontact@southwesternadvantage.co.uk) or by phone (Toll Free Number 0800 048 5391 9am – 5pm Mon-Fri) should you have any further questions.