And, of course, we get yet another unsolicited business name renewal letter. Online Business Registration Pty Ltd has been sending unsolicited mail (physical) to Australian businesses for at least 3 years that we can see and we just got one.
Their letters haven’t changed since our last example, except for their address, and probably do better job at mentioning this is not a letter from ASIC than others. It’s still an unsolicited commercial offer for them to renew it for you with an extra fee.
They are able to do this as a private service provider (PSP).
Business names can be registered or renewed directly with the Australian Securities and Investment Commision (ASIC) on their website.
https://asic.gov.au/for-business/renewing-your-business-name/
The current rates are one year for $39 or three years for $92
Online Business Registration Pty Ltd doesn’t tell you their price on the letter but if you follow the link to their website, enter all your personal details and look in the cart, you will see they are offering to renew your business name for you for $99 for one year or $199 for three years.
This doesn’t seem like very good value.
Speaking of cost, ASIC states that PSPs must:
Set out your fees
Ensure that information given to customers about fees you charge clearly separate fees charged by ASIC, and service fees charged by you as a service provider.
Online Business Registration Pty Ltd is only listing a combined fee for renewal which does not meet ASIC requirements.
Another note is that business names can’t actually be renewed more than 60 days before expiry. ASIC also states that a PSP cannot:
Send you a letter in the mail offering to renew your business name earlier than 2 months before your expiry date
So in this case, Online Business Registration Pty Ltd has also breached ASIC PSP rules by sending the renewal well in advance of two months.
ASIC has information about private service providers on their webpage, including their expectations.
Most PSPs have started behaving better by making their unsolicited mail comply to ASICs requirements to state that it is NOT a letter from ASIC and use less confusing and deceptive formatting. Still, these letters catch many business owners out and you will find many complaints online. We can also see many PSPs are not complying with other rules like fees and timelines.
It seems like ASIC is only going to do something about these service providers if they receive enough complaints about their behavior.
If you receive renewal offers, you should check that they comply with guidelines and report companies that clearly don’t.
We would also like ASIC to also restrict these organizations from contacting business name owners by mail unless consent has already been given, in line with their restriction on email contact.
Information contained in letter:
Company: Online Business Registration Pty Ltd
ABN: 36 618 716 019
Address: PO Box 491 – Suite 1111, Kellyville NSW 2155 (mail forwarding service aussiemailman.com.au)
Phone: 1300 651 752
Website: www.brenewal.com.au
Email: support@brenewal.com
Contact Name on Letter: Victoria Kur
Domain Registrant Contact Name: Csilla Vinkovicsne Caroli
ABN also associated with other names, some of which violate ASIC guidance.
Do not use marketing that may mislead customers
Do not operate under a business name that may make customers think ASIC endorses or authorises your services. For example, you must not use words such as ‘ASIC’ or ‘Business Name’ in your business name.
Interesting in this list is NAVTARANG AUSTRALIA DJ DHIREN in Fairfield NSW and DARK SIDE OF BEAUTY in Berserker QLD which ONLINE BUSINESS REGISTRATION PTY LTD is listed as a Holder Type of Body Corporate.
An information request from the ASIC website, which anyone can do, shows the following:
Registered address: SMART SKIN CHECK PTY LTD, ‘903’, 50 Clarence
Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000
Start date: 28/12/2018
Principal Place Of Business address:
‘903’, 50 Clarence Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000
Start date: 10/12/2018
It’s a little odd the registered address and principal place of business is a Skin clinic?
Contact Address
Address: PO BOX 199, WERRIBEE VIC 3030
Start date: 24/11/2021
A contact address in a different state.
Director
Name: CSILLA VINKOVICSNE CAROLI
Address: 40 Robin Avenue, NORLANE VIC 3214
Appointment date: 24/04/2017
Secretary
Name: CSILLA VINKOVICSNE CAROLI
Address: 40 Robin Avenue, NORLANE VIC 3214
Appointment date: 24/04/2017
Ultimate Holding Company
Name: DELPHI FINANCIAL GROUP HUNGARY LTD.
Org No.: 616 014 521
A Victorian address for the Director which seems to match some other reporting about this company from 2017 / 2018 with Victorian addresses.
The Delphi Financial Group Hungary Ltd is the complete share holder of the company and is located in Hungary. Interesting reading in this thread on Whirlpool with someone suggesting this organization may either be being used as a fake address or is part of a larger group of scammers. We don’t know.
Also in this thread is discussion of Registration and Registry Australia’s behavior who we also recently received unsolicited business name renewal correspondence from.
Name: DELPHI FINANCIAL GROUP HUNGARY LTD.
Org No.: 616 014 521
Address: Level 2 Unit 14, 57 Podmaniczky Street, Budapest, 1064, Hungary
One reply on “POSTAL SPAM: Online Business Registration – back again”
You state, “It seems like ASIC is only going to do something about these service providers if they receive enough complaints about their behavior.
If you receive renewal offers, you should check that they comply with guidelines and report companies that clearly don’t.”
It would be good if you were able to provide a link to HOW to report this SPAM as the only thing I could find on the ASIC website was for reporting email scams. It seems that they aren’t particularly interested in being contacted.