Is Marshbell Group Solar A Scam? Review of Fixed Rate Bonds
Latest UPDATE Feb 2024 - Marshbell being struck off - act now!
A question has been raised on Marshbell Group investment in solar farms and whether it is a scam
The website is: marshbellgroup.com
Offering
2 Years Fixed Rate Account at 8.4% p.a with monthly interest payments
2 Years Fixed Rate Account at 10.20% p.a with interests paid at maturity.
Does anyone have any experience with/of them? Is it a legit company or a scam?
UPDATE -December 2021
The FCA have now issued a warning about Marshbell Group operating without authorisation in the UK.
The FCA say: This firm is not authorised by us and is targeting people in the UK.
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| Marshbell claim the investment is only suitable for certain classes of investor - yet it is clear they sold to people that were not in these classes. |
If you are prepared to lose your money then you'll be fine. It's not anything like a fixed rate savings account and there is the possibility as Blackmore and LCF investors have found that companies marketing bonds can go out of business and lose all your money. That's not to say you WILL lose your money, just to be aware that you COULD lose all your money as you are lending it to a fairly new company. If the company goes bust then you will be one of the creditors waiting for assets to be distributed in the administration process.
Marshbell has only been in existence since 2016 and was dormant for the first couple of years. You can view the details of Marshbell Group on Companies House here
Any claim of offering Fixed Rates is entirely dependent on the company being able to pay the interest and capital at that point in time. Many bond offering companies have been in the situation of claiming to offer fixed or guaranteed rates but are unable to pay investors their money. Blackmore Bond made excuses for nearly 9 months before they finally went into administration.
If you think it's a safe secure investment then you need to do some more research. It's not to suggest that Marshbell Group offering bonds is a scam but that lending money to any company carries a risk that they will be unable to repay the interest and capital as these are unsecured loans to the company. There is no FSCS or FCA protection in these investments so if they go bust you are on your own and would need to hire a lawyer to fight your case.
Other companies offering similar high interest rate bonds have gone bust with alleged fraud including companies such as Blackmore, Buy2Let Cars, London Capital & Finance as well as many others. That isn't to suggest that Marshbell is operating in any way illegally but unless you carry out your own due diligence on any company you lend money to you will have no way of knowing their financial position.
Genuine investments do not cold call so whoever is trying to sell this opportunity by calling investors is outside the mainstream FCA regulated investment world. Unregulated introducers earning large commissions are believed to be promoting investments in companies such as Marshbell. For Blackmore Bond and London Capital & Finance these were paid commission of 20-25% of the investment made.
You can read a full review on Marshbell group on the Bond Review site
I have invested money into Marshbellgroup more than a year ago for one year only, just to see how it goes. They have paid me interest every single month. At the end of term when they had to pay my money back nothing happened, i have made numerous phone calls to them, sent numerous emails to them, they just never respond. I have been trying for 6 weeks to get my money paid out, their excuse is always "sorry sir we are extremely busy". "All our consultants are currently busy, we will call you back". The reception even put the phone down in my ear.
ReplyDeleteSTILL FIGHTING THE BATTLE
Unfortunately it's easy for Marshbell to pay interest for a few years as they can essentially just pay back some of your capital. The crunch comes when they need to pay back the capital as you have found. Good luck getting your money back, please keep us updated as it may help others to avoid similar problems.
DeleteI’m also in the same situation. Have you heard back from them?
DeleteI’m also in the same situation. Have you heard back from them?
DeleteI’m also in the same situation. Have you heard back from them?
DeleteHave you not had an email telling you that they are re-structuing and that they will not be returning redemptions for up to two years.....?
DeleteThey have stopped my interest payments just a fee weeks after writing to say that they had a great year........
ReplyDeleteCan't get through to ay of the account managers, and the phone won't go through. If anyone else is in the same position pls reply and the phone won't even ring reply to me and we'll see what we can do about it
ReplyDeleteYes I have invested money with them and I can't get a reply. all that you can do is email them and they make you wait for a answer .
DeleteCan anyone tell me what's the next stage.
ReplyDeleteDepending how much you invested you might be able to take them to small claims court, if not then legal action but that will be costly. When you did your due diligence did you find out the exact details of the company you invested with? You'll need to know that to do anything against them so looking that up will be a first step. Feel free to post company name/details here and we can check it out for you
DeleteThankyou I need to have help with this as I have put a lump sum into marshbell group. Can you give me some way to contact you . regards
DeleteWe can't offer individual advice unfortunately so don't publish any contact details. If you can put any redacted info up here then it may help others to assist as well who are in the same situation
DeleteI need to know is this a scam as I can't make any sense of this ?
DeleteThey misled people about the risks involved right from the start and investors are reporting they can't get their money back so it would appear that way. If Marshbell want to reply to answer these allegations then they are welcome to do so but haven't yet put their side of the story
DeleteThere seem to be some new directors appointed
DeleteThankyou J Drew I have tried to find out what the company has in assets .they say that they won't reply to my email .there is a 10 days before they answer .
DeleteJ DREW - FIND IT QUITE CONCERNING YOU ARE SAYING MARSHBELL HAS MISLED PEOPLE FROM THE START. IF YOU ARE REFERRING TO THE FACEBOOK ADVERTISING WHICH BONDREVIEW WERE ANALYSING, THIS HAS BEEN REPORTED TO THE AUTHORITIES AS THE COMPANY WAS A VICTIM A CLONING SCAM ATTEMPT LAST YEAR IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS WERE MAKING FALSE ADVERTISING CLAIMS. SO PLEASE DO NOT JUMP INTO CONCLUSIONS, IT IS NOT FAIR ON EVERYONE.
DeleteTHE RISKS ARE CLEARLY OUTLINED IN THEIR WEBSITE, MEMORANDUM AND BROCHURES.
BY NO MEANS THIS HAS BEEN NEVER BEEN SOLD AS AN FSCS PROTECTED FCA APPROVED PRODUCT. THESE ARE HIGH RISK LOAN NOTES INTO A LIMITED COMPANY. THE COMPANY HAS HAD DELAYS DUE TO CERTAIN ISSUES WHICH HAVE BEEN OUTLINED TO INVESTORS PRIVATELY HOWEVER THE COMPANY REMAINS COMMITTED TO FULLFILLING ITS OBJECTIVES.
Anonymous - but presumably someone connected to Marshbell based on your "inside info"
DeleteYou might want to read the FCA website that clearly says Marshbell (not the Facebook version but the one on the actual website) are operating illegally by targeting investors in the UK.
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/warnings/marshbell-limited-t-marshbell-group
FCA say: We believe this firm may be providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorisation. Find out why you should be wary of dealing with this unauthorised firm and how to protect yourself.
THIS WARNING NOTICE WAS IN RELATION TO THE CLONE INCIDENT IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS WERE CALLING RETAIL INVESTORS OFFERING FSCS PROTECTION AND FCA CUSTODY, WHICH OF COURSE CANNOT BE FROM THE REAL MARSHBELL GROUP AS THE WEBSITE AND DOCUMENTS CLEARLY STATE THE PRODUCT IS NOT FSCS PROTECTED. FURTHERMORE THE FCA DID REVIEW MARSHBELL'S MARKETING AND ONBOARDING PROCEDURES IN THE PAST SO THEY HAD NO ISSUES WITH THE REAL COMPANY. THIS FCA WARNING IS ACTUALLU HELPFUL AS IT PREVENTS CLONES FROM CALLING RETAIL INVESTORS OFFERING GURANTEES ETC.
DeleteNice try. Maybe you should post the actual Marshbell website address so we can see if it's the scam one or not? The one that the FCA warned about was the genuine Marshbell site. They were also very clear that Marshbell Limited were acting illegally and there is no mention of clones at all in that FCA link. Or are you claiming that the real Marshbell is something other than the company called Marshbell Limited?
DeleteAs you are apparently part of Marshbell maybe you could address the complaints from investors that have not received their money rather than trying to divert attention talking about clones.
So - all their emails are on OOO. A supposed covid outbreak has led to 2 weeks isolation so no chance of any responses. Bizarre when you consider the whole country has been working from home during periods of the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteOther supposed account manager emails are now bouncing back.
I invested a sizeable amount and was receiving monthly payments then was asked to switch to a separate product and wasn’t fully told that the monthly would stop and it would be paid at maturity.
No idea how many people are caught up in this.
Hey Thomas, what's your thoughts on this. Do you think Marshbell actually plan on repaying us? What's your thoughts on what to do next?
DeleteLuke can we work a way of contact some how as I have information that may be useful to you . Steve
DeleteHi Steve, sorry only just seen this, happy to make contact. You can email me on lukeharding1@hotmail.co.uk
DeleteI've been trying to get hold of them too. The phone line never goes through and the only email I have had is on the 7th saying that they will be releasing a new system at the end of January.
ReplyDeleteI even went to there address, 60 Cannon Street, and apparently they are no longer there and have relocated.
J Drew, what is your advice for us all... Should we be taking court proceedings or should we hold out to see if they contact us? Marshbell if you are reading this, please respond to your clients asap.
Hi Luke it's the end of January have they released a new system ? Or are they just leading you on .regards Steve.
DeleteFunnily enough Marshbell see very keen to threaten legal action, less keen to reply to worried Investors
DeleteHi J Drew, Steve and other Marshbell investors. I've recently had much better communication with Marshbell and feel more rest assured that they are working towards investors best interests.
DeleteThey have had to go through big changes as a company recently and are becoming a fin-tech company, hence the lack of phone line. Send them an email with your concerns and give it 2 weeks and they should get back to you. I've made it clear to them that the lack o communication with there clients has caused all of the above confusion, but my instinct is they are just finding there feet with the new way the company is now working. I would say bare with them for now.
If I get any negative changes occur again I'll be sure to update here, but for now I feel a lot more positive about them as a company.
J DREW what do you make of Luke's comments ? they can't have much in the way of assets now after paying off all there directors that have come and gone .
Delete@Luke. Pretty poor if you ask me. If they're really scrapped all their phone lines why are they still showing them on their website? It doesn't add up and just sounds like an excuse. If it really was the case then surely they would put an announcement on their website to that effect. One way or another it smacks of very poor setup from Marshbell. Their website https://www.marshbell-classify.com/ also is down which they link from their main site which presumably means they are not taking any new investors on.
DeleteYou are spot on J Drew. I question whether Luke is a genuine investor because they have caused a lot more than just "confusion".... Has anybody spoken to Luke ?
DeleteJ Drew,
ReplyDeleteWe are giving you a maximum of 48hours to take this defamatory post down. If it remains up, we will making effort every to:-
1) Finding out who you are...
2) Taking legal proceedings for damages caused by your post as we have substantial evidence to defend ourselves regarding this fake advert you have posted from a clone incident. We have reported this incident to the police.
3)If you would like evidence of the above, please send us your private email and we would be happy to send details of the matter.
Maybe rather than issuing threats you could actually answer the questions from investors who are saying they haven't been paid and have been unable to contact the company.
Delete1) Why are investors not receiving their money that is due?
2) Why have the FCA said you are operating without authorisation? Note - not a clone company but Marshbell Ltd. This is relating to the Marshbell website not any clones of it.
3) What is incorrect in this blog post? It says that investors could lose all their money - you've confirmed that there is no FCA/FSCS protection so there is no route for investors to get money back if the company fails.
No comment from marshbell. that says it all .
DeleteJ Drew there is no comuncation with marshbell where do we go now ? . they say there will be updates but nothing.
DeleteHave you tried contacting Marshbell via the website? Does the phone number work? Maybe the "Anonymous" person threatening legal action could actually address investor's concerns rather than trying to get them taken down.
DeleteJ DREW I have tried to contact by phone and email but can't get a reply they are still a active company but no one there to answer clients.
DeleteI WOULD APPRECIATE SOME HELP REGARDING THIS COMPANY IS THERE MUST BE MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THERE ACTIVITY.?
ReplyDeleteHi, see my above comment to my original response. Have been getting more positive communication from them recently, so feel it is only fair to post that side as well
DeleteThankyou for your reply Luke. I have been trying to contact them but no comuncation. I am going to give them a week and if they don't answer my emails then I will be calling in a lawyer.
DeleteThey are responsive if you email their client services team.
DeleteI’m also caught up in whatever the Marshbell issue is. I wrote to them early March and told them that their communication was woeful if they really meant what they said in their letter of 31 Oct 21. Peter White replied that they’ll be sending an update May/June. I’ve been worried that if people employ lawyers they’ll effectively get everyone’s funds and I’ll be left with nothing.
DeleteHello have had any updates from marshbell sally as we are coming to the end of june now ?
DeleteHi I’ve invested a lot of money with tham I’ve told tham I was going to go to Martin Lewis on tv about they said they would take me to court
DeleteThey seem to like to threaten investors with court, even though they are the ones who need to be taken to court. You are perfectly within your right to share your experience. It is not wrong to speak the truth
DeleteThat is correct Sally Liquidators and Lawyers swallow all the fees and clients get left with nothing.
ReplyDeleteI am planning to let this one run its course for the next 6-12 months, then perhaps explore other legal channels.
I’m trying to get tham to reply to email
ReplyDeleteWhat can we do
ReplyDeleteI would love to come face to face with Alex gilroy that’s who I was dealing with there
No, I emailed again on 16 May 2022 re the communication Peter White said would be sent 'May/June" for an update on liekly date. He said as soon as the update comes out, I'd be the first to receive it. I emailed again on 7 July and have had no response.
ReplyDeleteAlso re court, a company cannot successfully prosecute you for telling the truth and I don't know what else they could try prosecuting for except if they have funds they would rather throw away in legal cases just to shut people up who won't throw good money after bad. No court of law would accept their refusal to update us in a simple email as our failure. It would also be a misuse of our funds to use them to prosecute people doing no wrong. Not that any of these things will bring our money back. If anyone can suggest how we can contact each other, please let me know.
ReplyDeleteComing to the end of my 2 year investment with marshbell group .i will let you all know what happens.
DeleteThanks 👍. That would be useful to know.
DeleteI have also had a lot of difficulty contacting anyone at Marshbell. I had some correspondance in February/March and then I got a statement in JUne. On that it said, next statement in January 2023. Butif you try to email them, there is absolutely no reply which is very concerning as I feel that there should always be someone at the end of the phone or replies to enquiries within a couple of days..this is not happening
ReplyDeleteI have also had huge problems contacting Marshbell, I had some conversation back in February and a statement in June, the message said the next statement would be January 2023. However I am concerned as is everyone, that there is never anyone at the end of the phone and e mails are not replied to, leaving us all totally in the dark.
ReplyDeleteMy initial investment has gone past its two year period and I have tried on numerous occasions to contact by email and telephone. Nothing back whatsoever!!. Had email back in June outlining current state of my investments and also correspondence from Peter White back in April when I first began to get concerned!
ReplyDeleteVery worried at this stage and just wondering is there anything I can do bar sitting and hoping for the best
Cant you see this is a scam .
DeleteYes but the last time I looked its not legal to scam people
DeleteWell if you had an update on your investment in June you have had more than me! I haven't heard anything. I'm waiting for my contract to reach the end before commencing legal proceedings, (due to how the contract is written regarding majority shareholders rights). If they have gone dark on you, and they are not communicating (as any legitimate company would) you can contact your solicitor to commence proceedings for breach of contract. You can also contact Action Fraud (because failure to be contactable makes it increasingly likely that they don't have any intention of giving Investors their money back . You can also contact the FCA, as although the investment is not covered by the FSCS, the investment was advertised as asset backed, and the more evidence they can gather from investors of mis-selling the better.
ReplyDeleteI am in the same position they havent paid me back my money after the maturity date .
DeleteI am going to start my legal proceedings. This company is a scam!
ReplyDeleteGood luck, who are you taking legal action against? If a company has no assets then action is likely to be futile unfortunately
DeleteHi everyone. I'm a fellow investor. If you see this please give me an email on lukeharding1@hotmail.co.uk so we can discuss this further.
ReplyDeleteI think its absolutely disgusting,to steel money from pensioners who have worked and saved for there retirement ,all of their lives ,as I have ,who can they live with a clear conscience ,,something will return to them and punish them of their greed ,
ReplyDeleteHello. I too have been affected by this and have had no communication from Marshbell. Is there any way of recovering the money?
ReplyDeleteHas anyone received the letter from Zorro Finance ? It’s quite clearly a big scam , the whole thing ! We need to all come together to make a loud noise and try and get these heartless criminals held accountable. I’m already in touch with two other investors. If you see this please email me on lukeharding1@hotmail.co.uk
ReplyDeleteThis is pointless hiring lawyers, I had a very bad experience with another investment of this nature, usually when you put your money into an unregulated loan note investment you should be prepared to lose your money. For starters, no FOS and the govt enabled many companies to get away with losses due to the legislations surrounding classifications of investors. The seem to be increasing the requirements for these type of investors now following backlash from people like ourselves who have lost money. I think the UK needs to change it lows, before more companies get away with more losses.
DeleteI am in the same boat, disappointed with the loss but nothing you can do with unregulated investments, they can just say we had risk warning everywhere on our website and brochure, which they did. The only people who can tell us the truth is the FCA, whom Marshbell claim they had dealings with in 2021, what surprises me the most is why the FCA Did not stop them if they were doing illegal activities, these are just wild conspiracies!.
ReplyDeleteFCA can warn but it's unregulated so outside their scope
DeleteUnregulated investment is one thing. But lying and deception is fraud. In July 21 Marshbell sent an email saying they were doing well and had a good year and offered an incentive to invest more.... The very next month they send an email saying they have been affected by Covid and have to stop monthly payments, thereby breaking the contract. They then dissappear and make themselves uncontactable. That is what you call a scam. Everyone involved should give as much evidence as possible to Action Fraud so that they can track what Marshbell have done with the money they took from everyone involved. They should face justice.
DeleteBu they have not technically lied have they, their materials clearly said it was high risk and unregulated. Their marketing teams were maybe unaware of the internal status of their business by July, also their letter in August clearly said they were affected by Northern Provident randomly closing down, which in fact is true because it was in the public domain, so this is not deceptive is it. There were a list of default scenarios in their contact which enabled to break the terms if they faced difficulty. It is very easy to make conspiracies about these guys but when you look at the hard facts, we were stupid enough to invest in a unregulated investment!. The point that they have confirmed dealings with the FCA, is concerning, because it shows their materials must of been compliant with laws, otherwise the FCA would have made the warning a lot earlier.
DeleteOh I wonder who wrote the previous msg?!. Unregulated and high risk is not a free pass to run away with people's money without any accountability or trace! Anyway, it was advertised as asset backed ! What were these assets? What happened to them? They were meant to be backed by property loans at a maximum LTV of 70% ! Property values have not plummeted! Northern Provident closing had nothing to do with it... They were not NPI investments. The money was just moved through them. Marshbell had no dealings with the FCA, the FCA did not approve any materials whatsoever. Ask them if you like! Every company must have financial accounts and a trail of where the money has been moved to. It is only a matter of time before the banking trail of where this money has been transferred to is identified. Its very odd that Marshbell can provide no detail whatsoever about what assets they had, and what happened to them.
DeleteActually am an investor, who has been in these scenarios before with another unregulated storage investment, and I do not feel MPs etc help, only the FCA is to blame, they rush to put people on risk warnings but do not change the laws that allow these loop holes to happen. I only received my first loan note investment back (my 2nd investment has not been returned), which was in June 2021, according to their letter some lucky investors did get their money back before they stopped raising funds, it seems like I was one of them. I did not see anything on their website to confirm it was asset backed, they did not say they are directly investing in properties!! These loans were allegedly provided to developers in property and in renewables, this has nothing to do with actually lending against a house for example!. This is what I mean, you did not even read the materials before investing and you have to the cheek to ask us to spend money on lawyers for a model they did not even sell! I noticed they posted adjusted accounts on companies house, they showed a loss, as loans are technically debt, again I do not see anything suspicious here. By law unless they are regulated or have a huge turnover or are a PLC, they are not required to post audited accounts, again there is nothing illegal about this, I checked with my lawyer friend!. Of course banking trail helps us but we better just hope those companies who borrowed money from Marshbell are still active so we could see where the funds where spent on. Bear in mind, we will need to take legal action against those companies too, which is another cost. Northern Provident has a lot to do with it, they were the only party receiving funds on behalf of Marshbell and I did verify this at the time by calling Northern (as Marshbell had their name on the brochure), as they were authorised by the FCA not only to offer this service not only to Marshbell but other unregulated investments for anti-money laundering checks. In this instance, if what Marshbell is saying is true (and public news shows it was as the FCA put Northern on the warning list), if they were not able to receive client funds via 3rd party to replace Northern, this could of caused them operational problems as Banks do not allow unregulated investments to receive monies directly so this could have disrupted their fundraising efforts!.
Deleteyou are not obliged to show audited companies if you are exempt, this means they technically did not break any laws. As they were giving out loans to construction companies, technically these assets will not be shown on their books.
DeleteAccording to Companies House the company must have an audit if at any time in the financial year it’s been one of the following:
a public company (unless it’s dormant - read the dormant accounts section of the company accounts guidance)
a subsidiary company (unless it qualifies for an exemption - read the subsidiary company section of the company accounts guidance)
an authorised insurance company
carrying out insurance market activity
involved in banking
an issuer of electronic money (e-money)
a Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) investment firm
an Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) management company
a corporate body and its shares have been traded on a regulated market
a funder of a master trust pensions scheme
a special register body
a pensions or labour relations body
I am in the same boat, disappointed with the loss but nothing you can do with unregulated investments, they can just say we had risk warning everywhere on our website and brochure, which they did. The only people who can tell us the truth is the FCA, whom Marshbell claim they had dealings with in 2021, what surprises me the most is why the FCA Did not stop them if they were doing illegal activities, these are just wild conspiracies!.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for marketing people not knowing the state of the company... they must have before they could assert that the company had a great year...! If I were them, I would pack in more lavish ski resort holidays before they lose their freedom.
ReplyDeleteNew blog post about Marsh bell. All investors need to be aware and take action
ReplyDeletehttps://damn-lies-and-statistics.blogspot.com/2024/02/marshbell-ltd-was-it-investment-scam.html
J DREW . what can we do to get the money back to the owners .
DeleteVery little unfortunately but read this latest post about the company being struck off
Deletehttps://damn-lies-and-statistics.blogspot.com/2024/02/marshbell-ltd-was-it-investment-scam.html
I’m an investor also! Absolutely convinced this was one big sophisticated scam, i second the person who said we all need to report this to action fraud. The more that do, the more they are likely to take this seriously. There is massive power in numbers.
ReplyDeleteI would like to get as many investors together and we can discuss our options.
Feel free to call me on my mobile number 07909161912. The more we can work together the more likely we can get this looked at properly.
To all investors who lost money through the criminals that are Marshbell:
ReplyDeleteI was an investor with them and lost my money to these horrible people.
I’m now in touch with someone from the BBC who wants help and make this public. Please do email him. The more voices we have on this , the more of a chance we may find out who this is and recover our funds somehow.
Please email Jack.woolcomb@bbc.co.uk introducing yourself as a victim of the Marshbell scam
This scam company is going to be investigated by the radio / tv / papers . To show have all investors have been treated by this scam of a company
DeleteJack.woolcomb@bbc.co.uk is not a live link/ failure when sending.
Delete