Menu
Login
I received a phone call from Jessie leal from simply lunches who wanted to book a buffet to be delivered to a hospital in London. He was very professional and said that he took bookings from hospitals, pharmacy, dental practices etc and was looking for caterers in the London area to provide these buffets. We took the booking and delivered the lunch, we then sent the invoice to simply lunches. I have later found out that many caterers have provided this service for simply lunches and none ever get paid for the job. I have contacted trading standards about this and am posting this in the hope that if you have been conned, to please also contact trading standards. The more people that come forward the better the claim the trading standards will have against them. I have done some research and simon granger is the owner and director of simply lunches. He has been a director of seven other companies all registered to the same address and all the businesses were dissolved. He is nothing but a con man. He is earning a good living from taking bookings and also payment via credit and debit cards for buffets, he then outsources the work to local catering companies with the
promise of more bookings but never pays for it! I have no doubt that I will never see the money for the buffet that I did the work for but Simon granger received the money for, but I just want to try and put a stop to his con so that he cannot continue to make a living on the back of someone else's work. If trading standards have enough complaints then they may be able to prosecute Simon granger for fraud. so if you have been caught like many others then get in touch with trading standards now as it is hard enough for small businesses to make a living as it is without ### like simply lunches conning people.
I know hindsight is a great thing. The thing is you see we have many corporate customers who we provide catering work for on account, it is not unusual for this type of buffet to be provided on account. We provide for meetings etc and then we invoice them. For private individuals it is different altogether, the payment is always made prior to us delivering. Simply lunches book the buffet for same day delivery, before you have time to suspect anything. As I said though, in hindsight I realise now. Put it this way it won't happen again and all I hope is that I can prevent him from continuing.
Well done 'filp'! you have certainly done your homework, can I ask whether you have informed trading standards yet? I have you see and the contact number for them is [protected]. They are very helpful, but need alot of complaints to take things further. We only provided one lunch for this Simon Granger/Jessie Leal man, but that was one too many!
Laurellie, I would suggest that you contact Helen McGuiness who is the senior assistant at Wirral Trading Standards. The contact number is [protected], They are aware of Simply Lunches scams and are in the process of preparing statements, so the more people who report them the better case they have against them. So I urge people who have been conned by this ### to please take it to Trading Standards otherwise Jessie Leal/Simon Granger is free to carry on earning a great deal of money out of small businesses who are trying to make an honest living.
I can understand that some people here will have sympathy for this man due the loss of his sister...but hello...to continue to book buffets with small catering businesses then receiving the payment from the client and not paying for our services is no excuse. It would appear that he was not grieving enough to not take the bookings, only using his grief to get out of paying for them. HE IS A CON MAN FULL STOP! HE HAS BEEN A DIRECTOR OF MANY BUSINESSES ALL WHICH WENT BUST!
It is a lesson learned. I Do not expect to receive payment for my work from him, But now I ensure that I receive a deposit or payment on delivery if they do not have a credit account with us. I am only pleased that it was only one job I did for him but I feel for the people who trusted him and lost more money, it is just wrong.
I have a question: why would anyone provide a service without a signed contract and a deposit in advance?
I feel for you - but its mostly a 'wow, who would be so stupid?' kinda feeling.
you could always try court - see if a judgement against him would deter from future scams.
If you don't sue - he's free to scam the next sucka'
Simply lunches subcontract work, they get in touch with catering businesses in different parts of uk. Once they have received an order & payment from a client, they will contact you for you to provide a buffet near where you & the clients are based. Don't do it, you will never get your money from simply lunches.
Firstly my sympathy to anyone caught up by this low life and his little scam. I'm posting this in the hope that 1) Trading standards will have a little more information to go off and 2) Anyone who googles Simon Granger or Simply Lunches Scam will see this and be warned.
We're based in Manchester and are one of around five catering companies who got ripped off.
As he was a new client, we started on card payment prior to order. At this point, the two people known to us were
Jeff / Jessie Leal (aka Simon Granger) and Rachel Mcnamee
After several orders over a couple months (this was mid 2010) there would be the occasional order where something is booked last minute by Rachel, but Jessie (Simon) is not around to make a payment and will call in a few hours. Interestingly, the card Simon paid with passed AVS (card verification) with the name 'Jessie Leal' which either means our card services are inaccurate or he's obtained finance in this alias too (which I believe is fraud?).
Through our own slackness, a few invoices slipped through the net via this method and in a short space of time he had accumulated over £1, 500 in debt - a small amount compared to some of his other debts but important to us all the same as it was done via deception.
Fortunately, a colleague of mine was a private investigator and did some research on our behalf. Here's where we got to.
Rachel Mcnamee (believed to have parted ways with Simon recently ?) - last known address
14 THE LAWNS VINER ROAD, PRENTON MERSEYSIDE CH43 7YE
If you do make contact at this address, please be aware that she has a husband who genuinely doesn't appear to have any knowledge of her and Simon's 'activities'.
Jessie Leal - Simon Granger
We discovered his real name after he had disappeared.
Home address (belongs to his parents - Stuart and Jane who are very polite and seemingly decent people, but also very much aware of what's going on and will play naive when screening calls. I assume they're doing what any good parents would do and protecting their son.)
17 SHIREBURN ROAD, FORMBY, SOUTHPORT MERSEYSIDE L37 1LR
Tel. [protected]
Having spoke to his past business partners and people who have invested money, it seems the general consensus of Simon is not good. He is claimed to have
- Took money for a failed medical sharps disposal venture which ultimately failed with a six figure 'hole' in the accounts.
- Took money for a three month retreat on the grounds that his sister was terminally ill and had passed away. It is claimed that she is currently living in France.
- Ran up a sizeable bill with various printers, caterers and serviced office companies, all of whom I'll be contacting about this thread.
If you've been stung, the only way to stop others from making the same mistake is to
1) Write to trading standards - unfortunately, especially after this, he'll probably have changed names and companies but it's a start.
2) Try to find out who you delivered to (the Pharma companies) and write to them explaining the situation - include a copy of the letter to trading standards.
3) Call his home in the hope he'll answer the phone rather than put his parents through the embarrassment of covering for him.
The failed legal system in the UK will allow people like this to keep operating within the law. (Hopefully, someone will investigate if a Jessie Leal has ever applied for a credit card which has consequently been used to pay catering companies ... could be nothing, but also could be an angle.)
I hope this helps, if not to warn others then to drive Mr Granger from under the rock he currently resides. The sad thing is, he clearly has the ability to generate catering revenue during a recession ... surely he could use his skills for good rather than evil and choose not to be a ###!
Wow - How interesting to read this. We as above with last minute order where also stung by Simply Lunches (he had paid for first few. After not paying for quite some months. With lots of unsuccessful chasing we assumed he'd disappeared then the cheek of it - he rang again out of the blue trying to order another lunch! So I started chasing again & this has lead me to find this info. I would certainly like to take this further to ensure he ceases to operate.
Hi. We are a small catering company based in Stoke on Trent who have been conned by this person too . I had to chase payment for the first two buffets delivered and when he tried ordering a third I said I would not provide it until I had payment for the previous two invoices still outstanding. Two days later I got a cq in the post for the money owed and once cleared I again did 3 buffets for them, two on the same day and another the next day and after much chasing the payment is still outstanding and I dont think we will see it. I was contacted by both Jessie and Rachel. I have just seen the above comment posed 9 feb 2012 and will be giving Wirral Trading Standards a call after I post this. If it stops others getting conned by these people it will be worth it.
Unfortunately we were scammed too, up in Scotland. Three functions in a week!
Please check facts before making assumptions. Simon's sister did die from a brain tumour. My wife and I went to her funeral at St Peter's Church, Formby. A very sad event, she was so young and so brave.
Hi, I too got ripped off by this idiot! If you want to find him he trains in a gym in bromborough on the Wirral called klick fitness most mornings at around 6.30 am! My husband confronted him in the gym and he gave it a big sob storey how he'd lost everything! He's nothing but a lying ###! Luckily mine was on £300 and could of been a lot worse! I'm yet to see him at the gym but he'll be getting a right mouthful off me when I do bump into the tit!
I think the biggest joke in all of this is Wirral / Cheshire trading standards.
Despite numerous complaints they're yet to stop this low life from ripping people off.
We are a small catering company in Hertfordshire and have also been conned to the sum of £2500.00.
My story is the same as many of the above, buffets for hospitals etc.
He also gave us a sob story which meant nothing to us as at the time we were trying to cope with my dads wife dying of brain cancer and I was due to give birth.
@ Formby1 - To use his sisters death as an excuse to all the above caters is so low, I would be ashamed of admitting knowing him.
It is sad that she died, my step mum died a very slow painful death at the age of 47. But we have not gone round stealing money and lying to honest hard working people!
He is ### and screwed us at the worse possible time.
We have had time to grieve and now I want his debt paid.
I have been in contact with another victim with a larger loss than mine and they are also prepared to take this matter further.
If this has happened to you please take the advice to contact trading standards, contact your local hospitals and let them know and share any information you can to help get this evil low life put down!
I've had dealings with Simon in a number of business dealings and would strongly disagree that he is a conman! I suggest you check your facts from your 'private investigator, ' he sold his stake in his medical device company to me to fund his catering business. When I had dealings with him HMRC had stopped paying the VAT back to him due a query over whether he was due to get VAT rebates or not. I bought his shares and our business hasn't closed down with a 6 figure sum owing as you 'PI' stated and his sister did die! I appreciate that people are owed money but before thinking he is a conman do some proper research and check your facts thoroughly!
Rachel Leah McNamee, born 29th December 1973
6 children
At the above address
Known to have scammed many people for borrowing and not repaying debts
Habitually sends excrement through the post to people she wishes to insult
Had her husband evicted from the family home after goading him into hitting her after telling him she had affairs with numerous persons.
Spent company credit cards of her former employer on personal use.