Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
N.S. writes: I invested 9,000 with art firm Smith & Partner Ltd after it cold called me and was very persistent.
Two salesmen said demand for prints by the artist Miss Aniela was so great it would be no problem to exit within a week, and I was very likely to see strong returns within a year.
However since requesting a sale I have been given a series of excuses.
Tony Hetherington replies: Since I first sounded the alarm over Smith & Partner a few months ago, complaints have flooded in. The company's long record of false claims and broken promises make it remarkable that it has not been investigated by Trading Standards, if not the police.
You have told me that recently, Smith & Partner even tried to sell you more work by Miss Aniela, claiming that it would be easier to sell a larger portfolio of her prints, and that as she is due to have a baby, values would rise even more as there would be a lack of new work from her.
Both these claims are untrue. Lots of Smith & Partner customers have told me that they were sold more prints for thousands of pounds as a condition of selling their whole collection at auction. Once they forked out, they were told the auction had fallen through.
As for Miss Aniela, who does produce some...
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