Toast Freelance Ltd / Toast Loves You: Avoid at ALL Costs

December 18, 2011

Toast Freelance Ltd is a freelance agency that scouts talent on behalf of companies for temporary/contract work. Earlier this year, I was scouted to work for a fantastic mobile application development studio in Shoreditch, London. This was great opportunity to work on apps for big companies, many of which are in the Featured section of their respective app stores.

I would invoice Toast Freelance Ltd on a weekly basis who would in turn invoice the dev studio. The dev studio paid Toast, who would take their cut and pay me. This system worked well, except for the part where they pay me. I am owed a lot of money for work I did back in June to August.

I knew something was wrong from the first payment run they promised that I would be in. They said I would be paid on 5th August for all outstanding invoices but the 5th came and went. I was told this was pushed back to the 16th. The 16th came and went with no cheque.

I then received this email on the 18th:

Dear Gaurav

I am instructed to inform you that the directors of Toast and its accountants and advisors have made a fundamental change in its company.

Here at Toatlovesyou ( Freelance ) Ltd we have had an internal restructure and decided to cease being involved in the freelance market.

To this end a cheque has been paid to you for payment of outstanding invoices but these are send dated September 1st as we require our accountant to do a final audit to then allow us to close the Toastlovesyou ( Freelance ) Ltd.

Please ensure these cheques are banked on September 1st and no later than September 5th, as our account will be closed form September 10th.

We thank you for working with us and have added a £25.00 extra payment to your due amount to cover inconvenience costs while we make this re structure.

I thought I’d finally get my money. I waited for the cheque and it did actually come, but it wasn’t for the full amount. The email above recommends banking it between 1st-5th September, but the cheque was dated 9th Sept. I was told it’d go through fine and the remaining invoices would be paid next week.

The cheque bounced. I banked it in a few days later as I was extremely busy with a new job I started, but I was told I’d have a few days to bank it. After chasing them up (by chasing them up, I mean days-weeks of constant emails with no reply), they asked for it to be posted back to them and a cheque for the remaining amount would be sent out.

I received this cheque and it cleared fine. What happened to closing their accounts though? I thought they were restructuring and closing everything? Somehow their accounts were still open even after they said they would be closed.

Alas, at least I had some of my money, even if it was peanuts.

A month literally went by with no communication from them. I constantly sent emails but it was like talking to a brick wall. I managed to dig up a telephone number for them. After asking for a few staff members I knew names of, the receptionist said each one was in a meeting. I knew it was complete and utter rubbish. Every time I called, they were all in a meeting.

After a month went by, one of my emails was magically picked up on 27th October and they reacted as if they didn’t read/receive any of my previous emails. If she scrolled down a little bit in the email, she would have seen a constant stream of emails from myself to the company with no reply.

She expressed how shocked she was and that another payment would be made for me in the next monthly “payment run” with a new bank account that would be activated on the 11th November, and rather than a cheque, it would be an online transfer. So, in my eyes, I had 3-5 days until my money was with me after 11th November.

I emailed them daily just to be kept in the loop and to make sure this supposed payment was still happening. The first couple rounds of these emails were replied to by the same person that had been dealing with all of the above correspondence.

I hadn’t received any of my money and on 15th Nov, I emailed them the following:

Hi Odette,

Me again.

I don’t know if you’re out of the office or what’s happening. Yet again I am getting absolutely zero response when this is a matter that requires attention.

I have cc’d in other members of your team and I would greatly appreciate an update on what is happening. This is causing more inconvenience as every day goes by without being paid … and I have been waiting patiently for over 4 months. Needless to say, I am now looking for inconvenience pay on top of what is already owed to me.

I have checked my account and the money has not yet appeared. Today is the third day. Please advise when I should expect to see the transfer completed.

Can someone please let me know what is going on.

Kind regards,
Gaurav

To which I received the following:

Hi Gaurav

Odette no longer works for the company.
I am in discussions with our newly appointed firm of accountants to resolve payments issues.
My apologies in this matter but we have much to unwind.
Either myself or the accountants will get back to you in the next few days.
Best
J

I knew I was well and truly fucked at this point.

Up until 16th Nov, I was liaising with “Odette”, now “Jemma” has stepped in. Great. Jemma goes on to say in a follow up email that she’ll have an update by the following Monday. Again I would have to chase up and she had the following to say on 22nd November:

22/11/2011

Dear Gaurav

Toastlovesyou (Freelance) Ltd & Toastlovesyou Ltd

It is with great regret I write to inform you of the following developments in regards to the above named companies.

Having had exhaustive discussions with both our accountants and other advisors, we find ourselves in the position that we may now need to accept the position of entering into voluntary liquidation.

While we had hoped that to dissolve the freelance company only would have been sufficient action to stem the flow of costs, as running this company in the freelance sector costs have far out weight the sales results but this won’t now be possible.

However before fully accepting defeat I wanted to try one last thing to both save the company but also to allow some payments to be made to the contractors/ umbrella companies that number 11 at present including yourself, whom still have funds outstanding to them.

If at this point we either except liquidation is the only option or indeed allow one of our contractors who are our creditor to take legal action to close the company, as none of the contractors are preferred creditor such as bodies like HMRC whom would be, this would result in no funds being received however if we find a way to trade out of this position then some funds can be used to make payments and hopefully satisfy all parties sufficiently.

What I am proposing is in order to save the company, is if I can ask each contractor to accept 50 % of what’s currently due to them in full and final settlement paid over a 20 week period this will at least ensure you have some funds paid to you.

I am not in a position to do any more than I have already done to save the company, costs have been cut to the bone in all areas and Odette is no longer employed on doing the accounts, so all matters will now only be dealt with by the accountants, so the companies fate and that of your funds and the other contractors, are more in your hands at this point than mine.

We do however need to act swiftly as I can’t be seen to allow the company to trade while a possible insolvent position.

So I would ask you to write in the next 7 days ( they won’t accept emails ) to our accountants at the address below to confirm if you will accept this settlement, if I can get the main body of the outstanding contractors to accept this compromise, payments will be able to be made and the company will be able to trade on.

Of course I expect and would advise you to talk to your accountant / solicitor about this action before replying.

If we can’t find a way forward via this method then I will have to release all current staff employed by the company on December 1st and cease trading in its entirety.

Please write to:
Jo Bromley
c /o
ToastLovesyou (freelance) Ltd
58A High Street Heathfield
East Sussex
TN21 8JB

( This address is the companies registered offices and all post is being forwarded to the accountants direct from this address in order to comply with requirements )

I hope this action will be in some way be helpful and a better result for all than just to fold the company and all payments be lost.

Either I or our accountants will contact you again on Tuesday 29th, when I hope we will have heard from all parties and have a path one way or another to follow.

Kind Regards
J

To summarise: We’re closing the company. If you want to have a hope of seeing any of your money, write to our accountants. I do just that and await a response. I email Jemma a few days later as she states she would have a response for all outstanding freelancers. On 8th Dec, she said she would have an update on 12th Dec. I email her on the 13th and I received this:

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

jemma@toastlovesyou.co.uk

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 5.1.1 : Recipient address rejected: User unknown in relay recipient table (state 14).

Basically, she’s vanished, with £50-60k (guesstimate) of unpaid freelancer fees.

ToastLovesYou Ltd still exists, but it seems “MRS JEMMA STEPHENSON-OLIVER” is looking to start afresh under toastcreativemedia.co.uk.

If you’re still reading this (I love you) and you have any advice, tips or have had a similar experience, get in touch below.

I only know of two resources that can help me, Companies House & Citizens Advice Bureau.

Throughout this entire ordeal, I have been extremely patient and civilised. I worked hard for the period that I was contracted for, but Toast Freelance/Toastlovesyou seemingly set out to take honest peoples hard earned money from the get go.

Jemma, Odette et al.: If you’re reading this, I hope you enjoy spending my money. Looks like you can only get some cash by illegitimate methods.

tl;dr I got fucked.

Comments

  1. One thing you haven’t mentioned is the developer you actually worked for. I wonder if they themselves know of this too. I am assuming they lost money too, or was it just the end user ie yourself that has lost out?

    The worst thing is, as a ltd company you can close and set up a new company very quickly and you are the last one on their list of debtors to pay! There should be a way of companies house stopping the same individual (who has previously dissolved a company) to start up again!

  2. Bad luck! You seem to have fallen victim to one of those ‘serial entrepreneurs’ who are so necessary to a vibrant economy… ;-)

    For a start, if I were you, I’d mail a link to this blog post to the newsdesks of all the local and regional press in your area, and say you are willing to be interviewed. Dunno if it will help get you your money back, but if it were me, it would make me feel better!

    It isn’t that businesses fail – shit happens, but when they go under owing people money then the people behind it set up again doing the same thing, that’s not on. Get your story out there and some journo may well pick it up and run with it.

  3. I’m also a victom of these scammers. Toast Loves You owes me close to 10k.
    Let’s sue Jemma Stephenson-Oliver, we probably won’t get our money back but it might prevent her from scamming other people in the future.

    • I can’t believe I’ve found this post after a few months of searching for Jemma Stephenson Oliver through various search engines. I got EXACTLY the same letter about the 11 freelancers, etc, etc and have been trying to work out a way to find out who the others were.

      My investigations haven’t got me too far, except for this. Jemma Stephenson-Oliver is now a director for a company called Rue 24. If you go to companies house and buy the registration document for £1 you will see her name there.

      The company also has a website http://www.rue24.co.uk but at this stage it has nothing on it. I’m basically waiting to find out what they’re going to be and then I’m going to make sure they are screwed before they’ve even set up properly.

      Interesting comment from Sue there – would be intrigued to hear more about that although couldn’t find any records on it doing a quick Google search.

    • Thanks Alan. With regards to the rivington office it wasn’t really ever used during the time I worked there with the exception of meeting candidates. I don’t know if they used it in the period after I left but I highly doubt it. They are still east Sussex based under Grape and Grey but i have not been able to find out the exact location. A candidate or freelancer would haves better chance just by making an enquiry and see what the phone number is.

  4. Dear Gaurav,

    Your not the only one that got screwed, i was one as well. I am going to name and shame her and PHILIP STEPHESNON-OLIVER on linkedin as from what i heard this company had a bad reputation of not paying people either on time or not at all.

    Steve

  5. Jemma Stephenson-Oliver (aka Jane Morris – convicted of fraud and theft at Maidstone Crown Court). This woman is pure poison – I worked for Toast Loves You and also got soundly ‘done over’.
    Ever watched ‘Hustle’? – the smart offices etc – big talk plans for this and that – big clients on board – well that’s what it was like…. I started getting worried when I found that accoounts were being done on various different spreadsheets, freelancers chasing for payment no audit trails anywhere. Then suddenly dismissed without notice. I took her to an Employment Tribunal for breaches of employment law, discrimination and non payment of salary and holiday pay- won my case
    I doubt I’ll see any money – she’s spent it all on herself, country club memberships, nice cars, Michelin starred restaurant dinners, weekends away in 5* hotels, childrens private education. Meanwhile the likes of us have honestly given our labour and services to fund her lifestyle!
    She should be held to account for her actions and NEVER EVER be allowed to run a company.

    • OMG this women is pure evil……Shes taken from me aswell
      i have her address if anyone wants it……Let me know

      • hey louise,

        whats her number and how can i get hold of you so that i can get hold of that number.

        • 01630 620 333 call me anytime ill be glad to help

          • thanks, btw have you had any chance of getting money back from them.

  6. She screwed me too… Jemma intentionally lied to me on many occasions in an effort to delay payment, which was due in July but was still being delayed in December due to a range of escalating excuses, everything from, “Slipping through the net”, to being told that the reason a cheque bounced was because I, “Did not cash it within the required timescale” – this was a post dated cheque that I cashed on the day she requested. I still have not been paid to this day without so much as even an apology. The first warning signs came when they wanted to charge me £25 up front for requesting they sign a contract with me, something I always do with agencies… my employer assured me that they were diligent and that it would not be required and so I did not follow it up :( I suspect she will try to restart the Toast company under a different name with the same clients, so my advice is to watch her every move and contact every company that she represents with a link to this page. As she is happy using pseudonyms it is important that we follow her paper trail. I am not one for public DOXing but the internet is a very expansive resource full of knowledge where nobody can hide – especially not when you piss off a bunch of nerds. Have fun!

  7. Shit dude! They’re fuckers. I did one project with them and that was it. If you’ve got business insurance, speak to them as you may also have legal cover. That’ll help you get in touch with the accountants and the admins of the company and possibly take out a case against the owner. If you work at it hard enough you will see your money and some more for your effort.

  8. WOW she run a business that friend of mine worked for and they also didnt pay their staff either.

    Have you also tried calling the client and informing them that you were screwed over. Of course they will not pay you at all but at least can stop that women for getting any work from clients again.

  9. Every payment ever received from Toast (Jemma Stephenson-Oliver aka Jane Morris) was late and never matched up to my invoices. In the end she tried to withhold over £10k from me, this was 2009. I ended up recovering a large proportion of the money from my employer luckily.

    This woman is a con artist and a fraudster. I wouldn’t stop to urinate on her if I saw her in the street on fire.

  10. Pretty confident that this is the third time she has done this, any remember Rare talent or Milk Recruitment? and now Toast, it’s a joke how someone can get away with this sort of behaviour. I mean how easy is it for Sophie LeBrett aka Gemma Stevenson aka Jane Morris to keeping changing her name/ setting up company after company? apparently she has a Bentley and I don’t believe they are cheap.

    Unfortuntley I don’ think you have a hope in hell of recieving your money, it’s a sad occasion.

    • She drives a new range rover and she has a Aston Martin!

  11. Looks like they have set up again and are now called Bonobo
    http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/directory/recruitment/bonobo/ – STAY WELL AWAY

    • Bonobo have nothing to do with Toast Loves You ltd what so ever, i was wrong in assuming they were, they are a decent company with have been put into the posting by misfortune and not getting the fact straight, so please use them

  12. This women took my house on in November “for rent” paid her months deposit then her months rent then failed to pay in December then didnt pay in January either.
    Said she had paid it into the wrong account twice. Then we found out she wasnt living in my house she had turned it into a huge office. Desks were everywhere. Computer equipment all over the place electric fires were added to the house and she finally blew my electric. Then told us it was our fault.
    She signed a contract and told our agent she was living in the house and owned this other farm that she gave details of. She said her internet was so poor at the farm she needed to move out and was just going to let her family use the other house when they were in the area as she OWNED the other place…..Its against the law to have 2 houses on rent!

    I then started to check her out and found that her farm was in fact not purchased by her in Jan 2011 but she actually moved into it in September 2011 as she was renting it. Its a huge stunning well over 1.5 million pounds i would say as i know the area well!

    I found her landlord and he confirmed that it was not her house and she had told a load of rubbish on the tenancy agreement she had signed for my house.

    I then went to her Farm at night and asked her why she wasnt paying my rent. And what was she doing at this other house and not mine.
    She then told me she HAD paid all the rent “she had not” and that she told the agent she only needed my house as office space…..It was a five bedroomed farm house and she turned every room into offices with 3 to 4 desks in each room…Living room, dining room and so on. She then took my arm and said she owned this other farm house “dear” as she kept calling me.

    I then looked her in the eye and said well that is not what your landlord has told me today….He said you have only moved into it in September and you are renting. She then shut up and agreed to pay the rent…….She didnt pay it all only part of it then the electrics blew and she moved out without and notice! THANK GOD
    This women is a nightmare and god help anyone who deals with her.
    Shes in East Sussex so im not sure why the new website is saying cheshire…..Shes not in cheshire!

  13. Hello Guarav

    Well done for getting this out there.

    Unfortunately she is known to so many people for the wrong reasons.

    Jane, Gemma, Jemma, Sophie etc was also going to set up mojo-selection.co.uk end of last year.
    http://jobs.wura.co.uk/trainees-grads-wanted-new-media-recruitment-agency-at-mojo-selection/

    At one time she had consultants working for her, but having to hide under their desks when anyone knocked on the door looking for their money! She also uses her son as a Director so that she can continue to scam people.

    As for the ‘baby blue’ Aston she is always talking about, never seen it!! It’s all make-believe!!!
    I also heard that she was involved with an art gallery in Tunbridge Wells some years ago, that suddenly closed with the loss of all pieces that somehow got sold privately!!! The artists received nothing.

  14. Sorry guys to hear this but I can tell you from personal experience that it’s not just, Toast, Milk and any other breakfast commodity you can think of that she’s done with with. I think if you go digging even further you might find that there is ITA (pheonixed) and Xpert IT both in Tunbridge Wells. Oh and some dating agency that she ran also in Tunbridge Wells. She was at one point on bail for fraud but unfortunately the case fell apart as I understand the prosecution didn’t have enough evidence.

  15. This is her address according to companies house –
    Amberwood Roselands Avenue,
    Mayfield
    United Kingdom
    TN20 6EB

  16. Yep…total con artist in my opinion.
    I worked for her years ago at a company called Xpert IT in Tunbridge Wells, all the stories above are true as far as I’m aware and there are many more to be told. She did the similar thing at a recrutment called Metro too. XpertIT fell fowl of her non payments to HMRC and she also tried dropping a few senior members of staff in it by making them directors and consiquently sharing the responsibility for the debt.
    She also set up a dating agency for the over 60′s as well as a gallery in the Pantiles. As well as the names mentioned above that she uses, she also went under the name Jemma Hele-Arnou or something like that.
    The lady above that mentioned about Jemma being done for fraud, this is true, prior to that she skipped the country in order to avoid being done….I know this as I was interviewed by the police who were looking for her and gaining as much evidence they could for the case!
    Good luck with trying to get your money back and I hope she gets all she deserves….she is poison.

  17. Hi, I was linked to this page by a friend in the industry who alerted me to the comments in which I can see my company name has been linked in the form of the CreativeBoom directory link. I want to assure anybody reading this page that we have nothing to do with the woman in question and the link has been made purely because I am an ex employee of theirs who also suffered and lost a large amount of due salary upon leaving!! Please do not wildly link our company with this person as we have NOTHING to do with her or any of her new businesses which i have no doubt will appear!

  18. This woman is without doubt a Crook, if you want any help in tracking her down contact me on 07816 427 980

    She does not live at nor work from 58A High Street, Heathfield this is an office address which she left some 2 years ago and still uses to conceal her current whereabouts

    John

  19. Her name is Jemma Stephenson-Oliver but uses a number of others including Morris, the one in which it has quite rightly been highlighted that she was convicted of Fraud / Theft

    Up until recently she was operating from the below address on a daily basis:

    Monkhurst House, Sandy Cross Lane, Heathfield, TN21 8QR

    Her DOB is 29/03/1957

    She previously lived at Amberwood, Roselands Avenue, Mayfield, TN20 6EB but is no longer there

    Best wishes and good luck with this one

  20. Absolutely gob smacked by this and very pleased people are aware of this woman! I had some brief dealings with Toast last year and, fortunately, they never went anywhere. I was considering getting back in touch with them but noticed they’d vanshed from the usual job sites I used, and Googled them to see what had happened. Very pleased I read your post, hopefully someone will catchup with this woman eventually.

  21. The photos on Flickr are interesting.

    Squinting at this one, it looks there’s about £150,000 of business on the whiteboard:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/51621737@N03/4748584134/sizes/l/in/photostream/

    This is what they were spending our money on.. shooting parties in the country. The guy on the left must be her husband – Jack Stephenson-Oliver ? :
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/51621737@N03/4748568344/sizes/l/in/photostream/

    And here’s where everything fell down:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/51621737@N03/4747922181/sizes/l/in/photostream/

  22. I would highly recommend that you all let as many agencies aware of your story… I heard a rumour a couple of years ago that she was bad news and therefore never used their services.

  23. I worked at toast for about 3 months before I smelt a rat and left, she is as dodgy as they come and cons everyone from her employees to her clients.

    She will be caught HMRC turned up once at the office, so they are onto her. I am looking to find a way to send this to her current employees at what ever company she has now invented who I’m sure have no idea about all this.

    I would ask that anyone reading this hold nothing against old employees as we were all conned too, and are still awaiting payment of thousands of pounds and I have never received my p45!

    Good luck to everyone.

  24. Hi All, very interesting topic and it goes to show how little you can know about somebody you work for day in and day out. I used to work for Toast along with a few other people in this thread and firstly i would like to point out that my current company has NOTHING to do with this woman or her businesses. So i find it quite ridiculous for somebody to link us on the basis “we used to work there” please think about the consequences before you post such potentially damaging comments.

    Much like many of the others guy, i eventually became increasingly suspicious of events and embarrassed and angry and what was happy to many of my freelancers who i would say i had a great relationship with, i would feel confident they would say the same. Sadly toward the end it was increasingly tarnished by bad accounts and a real lack of contact from Jemma to the freelancers in question. That was when i decided to leave and have since started up my own company Bonobo, which again has NO relation. I infact lost thousands of pounds worth of due salary and commission like many of the other staff.

    I totally agree with the comment above in that you do not hold anything against previous employees of any of the companies she ran, as i can tell you from the inside that nobody was aware of any of her terrible actions. The comments from Louise her previous landlord above are outrageous and certainly explains a few things.

    I’m not entirely sure of there whereabouts now, but i believe she is now working under the company http://www.grapeandgrey.co.uk and working somewhere in the Uckfield area.I assume she has dropped her own name completely now and is working under a completely random alias. I believe due to ongoing problems with the HMRC this company will be a Partnership LLC as she won’t be able to open another Limited Company.

    Good luck to anybody trying to track her down, you are welcome to contact me for information (if you search me, you will find me :) ) just like many of the other people have offered above.

    I decided to put it out my mind and forget about it, but i completely understand the sheer amount of money that has been taken from some is so disgusting it cannot be forgotten.

    Nick

    • @Nick (Bonobo) – well said Nick, Like Alan I’ve never met Nick but have spoken to him on the phone and via email – I think it’s worth saying that we shouldn’t tar previous employees with the same brush, it simply wouldn’t be fair. He’s always been pretty honest with me and I wouldn’t have a problem working for him and Bonobo.

      I was also screwed over by Toast – back in 2010, I was owed at one point just over eight grand – from reading the posts above it seems I was pretty lucky and eventually got my money (although it came through in dribs and drabs) – I got it by being very aggressive in communication (but not rude) and threatening court action – in the end I was kind of disappointed that they paid; I wanted to have a crack at them in court. Jemma finally paid when I sent an email with her home address and phone number and said that court bayliffs would be sent there.

      I got this information from a site called uk data, they have copies of all documents regarding uk businesses etc – although I’m also informed this information is available from companies house.

      For those of a technical bent – Grape and Grey site is designed by Edible Labs, whose site is in turn designed by Peter Grevitt (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peter-Grevitt-Photography-and-Design/164534631226?sk=info) – I wonder if he got paid? A Whois on Grapeandgrey.co.uk gives a registered name of Jeremy Grape.

      Here’s some more url’s for them: http://grapeandgrey-candidate.blogspot.com/ and here http://grapeandgrey-clients.blogspot.com/ and here http://thisisukjobs.com/profile/247 – by the looks of it Grape and grey have already started trading and there are jobs posted up.

  25. Hi guys,

    Just to confirm my info from before about her owning a new company Rue 24 – you can see the info here:

    http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/916176437

    She also owns the URL:

    http://www.rue24.co.uk

    Interested to see what this business is going to be…

    • if rue24 is going to be run by her and if it is her, should we not report her to the fraud office

  26. I wasn’t sure that grapeandgrey.co.uk were anything to do with Jemma, but then I googled ‘Jeremy Grape & Edward Grey’ and the sixth result was the Wikipedia definition for ‘Cunt’.

    Now I’m certain she is involved.

  27. Jemma rented our offices in Heathfield and left over a week end without paying outstnading rent and service charges.

    I suggest we all keep in contact and trace her and make sure she does not rip anyone else off.

    • Call me! my numbers on this blog above……You will want to speak to me

  28. This is disgusting.

    Someone should make a Google group, share all your info together, it’d be a shame for her to get away with it. Maybe someone could make a website even?

    Power in numbers.

  29. Regarding the case against Jane Morris i found this:

    14-01-2011 Maidstone Crown Court 3 T20100344
    Jane Morris
    For Sentence – Hearing Finished For JANE MORRIS – 15:57

    I’m going to keep track of what happens and i’ll post details here.

    Need to verify if this is the Jane Morris we know as Jemma Stephenson-Oliver

    Cheers

    • It’s the same person as the Kent & Sussex Courier reported in May 2010:
      ‘MAYFIELD: A woman accused of fraud, theft and falsifying documents has appeared in court.
      Jane Morris, 53, of Roselands Avenue, is accused of three counts of committing fraud by lying about her personal circumstances for her personal benefit.
      In each case she is alleged to have falsely claimed she owned a Pounds 1.2 million house.
      She has also been charged with stealing a Pounds 629 Dell laptop belonging to Datascope Recruitment and four counts of falsifying documents.
      She appeared in Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday last week where her case was committed to Maidstone Crown Court for trial.’
      The given age and address (one of the residences Jemma Stephenson-Oliver has used)all match.

    • That is definitely the same woman, Jane Edwina Morris, Jemma Stephenson-Oliver, Jemma Hele-Arnaud all round con artist. Jack is her son, not her husband, she also has another son by the name of Phillip. Happy hunting guys

  30. Thanks Sue that’s brilliant

    I don’t think the case held against, due to lack of evidence, still need to do some more digging.

    I am owed money from Toast, she recruitment me in November last year, and I have outstanding monies owed.

    I’ve discovered she uses at least 7 aliases, has been director of at least 10 companies since 1993.

    I;ve spent the last 2 days gathering evidence of her activities, and have now contact East Sussex police

    I’m going to fight to get what I can back – please don’t give up.

    I’ve got some free time so i’m going for it -

    Cheers
    Chris

  31. I tried to warn all freelancers about this company back in 2009 when I did 6 weeks work for the at an agency. It too me 3 months to get my money which ok I did get it but the financial stresses it put on my family took a further year to straighten. I have never and would recommend that no freelancer ever works for them or any person involved with this company again. I only resolved my issues by getting the agency I had worked for to chase them on my behalf. It had a devastating affect on my freelancing for over 5 months as I could not afford to travel to new placements or interviews. I am sorry that I was ignored back then. I put the warning out via linked in. Please people take note this time!!!

  32. My copy partner Mark Hill and I worked a number of times in 2010/11 for Toast.The money didn’t come when they said it would but initially it wasn’t so bad as to raise suspicion. However they eventually owed is both about 6 days money each in early 2011. We gave up e-mailing Odette (did she really exist?) and eventually we both had to resort to solicitor’s letters and lodging forms with the County Court. After a lot of effort we did get all our money. I’m upset that a lot of you have been seriously ripped off. If there’s any help I can b,e let me know.

  33. Wow… I got done also by Toast about 1 year ago. I did get some cash but it was a mission. In the end I’m still owed a few grand and had to get a debt collector involved. After a few months, the conclusion from the debt collector was that I had nil chance of recovery. I don’t live too far from the old registered Toast office on Rivington in Shoreditch and I noticed the other day that their logo is still on the wall in the ground floor foyer. I highly doubt anyone is there anymore but I might just enquire nevertheless.

    Can any of the ex Toast employees confirm if this office was even used?

    • The Rivington street office is no longer used.

  34. Praise for Nick (Bonobo)

    I never met Nick in the flesh but spoke to him a number of times and he always
    came across well on the phone.

    It must be a nightmare working for Jane/Jemma/whoever or somebody like that
    but let’s wish him well in his new venture.

    Good luck Nick!

    • I totally agree with Alan Docherty – haven’t met Nick in person but he always came across descent. Good luck Nick!

  35. More info.

    Simon John Stephenson-Oliver (husband, DOB: ?/10/61) – now divorced, he has left the UK
    Jack Stephenson-Oliver (son, DOB: ?/09/ 83
    Philip Stephenson-Oliver (son)

    Ben & Tania Stephenson-Oliver (son and sister-in-law) – have spoken to Tania – she described her as a ‘nasty piece of work’. Tania no longer has anything to do with Jemma or the family since the divorce. Ben and Tania are married

  36. According to his Facebook page, Jemma’s son Philip Stephenson-Oliver is staunchly against paying taxes, a member of Conservative Future, and a fan of Jeffrey Archer. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

    I guess his education was paid for by the people commenting on this page.

  37. I had a similar experience with these wankers. However, I eventually got paid. Since then I’ve been advising people to steer clear of them. It took me about 3-4 months to get it all sorted.

    Get this — they said they couldn’t pay me in full because if they paid more than £1500 in one BACS transaction, it’d trigger their anti-fraud mechanisms and lock the account!? Yeah, WTF!?

    I do feel for the rest of you who have been totally screwed by this bitch.

  38. My partner worked all through the summer at a brilliant company he went to through Toast. To date, the only money he has seen has been one invoice (for one week), which the company paid straight to him, and not to Toast.

    His experience has been more or less the same as yours, Gaurav (and a few others who’ve posted here); the letters, the post-dated cheques which bounced, the excuses, etc…. he is owed £16,000 by Toast.

    It’s all actually rather heartbreaking and frustrating; not just because we are now in debt because of this, but also because there seems to be little that honest people can do to prevent such criminals doing this kind of thing to others, and even less recourse to recoup money they have legitimately earned. And all the while, she is carrying on, spending the money she has stolen, and probably feeling very smug about it. How can she keep getting away with it?

    What are your thoughts on contacting BBC Watchdog? Even if there’s no chance of getting your money, it might be a way to get some kind of justice done, or at the very least, make people aware of her and her illegal practices.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/
    watchdog@bbc.co.uk

    I’d be more than happy to co-ordinate.

  39. I too had a similar experience that to JG’s. I worked for Toast for over three weeks, it took over 3 months to get paid and when I did they they told me I had to pay a £50 admin fee which at that point I threatened with legal action and told them they 1 week to pay up. The harsh tones seemed to have done some good though they I was still underpaid by £75. At that point I thought I had at least got something and from there on vowed never to use them again.

    There are two main people involved in this and Jemma Stephenson-Oliver is one of them, her husband is Philip Stephenson-Oliver was once a Director back in December 2011.
    There is a company called Rue24 Ltd who have been apparently trading for around 6 months.

    When I get any more info I will post. :-)

  40. This is a major surprise for me! so does this mean us freelancer’s can’t trust any recruitment agencies or is this a publicity stunt for yourself to get recognized!! sorry to say this! your portfolio isn’t that great! you seem pretty junior so must be on about £120 to £200 per day, I have never heard any recruitment agency giving out cheque’s to anyone and I have been in the freelance business for 17 years normally they are process through you business account or an umbrella company,
    also you haven’t mention which agency you were contract to? so your statement is bogus? fair enough you have recruitment agency toast on your but the agency you were working for should be on your statement, otherwise this sounds like a loads of bollocks to me!

  41. Such a preponderance of exclamation marks in the last Freelancer comment. They remind me of emails I’ve received from Jemma of Toast.

    • no it not Jemma Candy, all I want know is which company Mr Patel work for two months and didn’t payed, personally you might compete idiot to work somewhere for two months and not get payed, one or two weeks I could understand but two months you must a right moron not to noticed that…
      I personally think it just not the recruitment agency it is the actual company who he for which again Mr Patel has not mention involved so my question is which company did he worked for? If he can’t state that which company he work then obviously he statement is bogus…and I think this is quite disgusting to get recognition by degrading any company because one day he might do to you.

  42. Freelancer
    Please do calm down. I agree with some of your points but remember he is only young and probably just starting out, so didn;t want to ‘upset’ anyone

    I’m investigating Jemma and over the last few days have compiled a 20 page document on her activities. She has a track record of setting companies up making / taking money out of them and then going bust. In her early years it was her and her husband doing the same thing.

    Its not just contractors she rips off, it’s property owners she rents from, HMRC and employees.

    Anybody that uses at least 7 different names, some made up, others variations on her maiden name and married name, has something to hide. She is currently operating under the name Jemma Edwina Morris, and a new set up yet again called grape and grey.

    HMRC are after her too. I’ve passed my dossier onto them, which includes her current address, mobile number and email address.

    This woman rents a 500k property and drives an aston martin and landrover. She is lording it on our money and I am determined to get even.

    There are a group of us working together now, pooling all information and knowledge of her.

    And Jemma if you are reading this – it won’t be long until you world comes crashing down.

    If you have anything constructive to say, or want to pay people what you owe do email me on geteven@hush.com

    And freelancer you do the same, if indeed your are not Jemma.

    Robin Hood

    • Robin Hood
      I would say the house she is in at the moment (renting) is worth well over a million pounds.
      Why dont we set up a group on Facebook on her and see how many people we get on it!
      The house she rented of me for a office is on the market for £625 plus god knows how much rent shes paying on the farm house shes in at the moment.
      SHES NOT PAID COMMERCIAL BUSINESS RATES ON THIS HOUSE!Didnt get planning permission! Filled in the tennacy agreement in her own name but wanted it for a office! Said she was going to live in the house and didnt! Said she owned the other house shes living in and shes renting it…..I would say all that is fraud and proves this women is a liar!
      If we do get this women in court then all this will PROVE shes a con man! I have all the forms shes filled in and its also against the law to have 2 x houses on rent at the same time.
      I also have all the emails shes sent saying shes paid the rent, its gone in the wrong account. The money will be paid by…..And never gets paid. BULLSHIT

      My rent was at £2160 although getting this from her was a NIGHTMARE.
      Shes a evil, liar and nothing more than a con artist.
      DONT DEAL WITH HER KEEP AWAY!

  43. I have no doubt that ‘Freelancer’ is Jemma. The same technique of evasion, and blaming the victim.

  44. Toby, Robin all I want to find out is on this blog who he for? that is all my curiosity is…which company he as for 2 months that all Robin Hood states that he is young and naive but still put up this blog, I’m sorry he seem pretty sharp to me (brave..I would say because would he still get work from other agencies? so if this happens again would he expose them too..um food for thought) plus it probably it might be the competitor agencies might be behid this too, who knows! until he states which company he work for this blog for me is bogus.
    Also there have been more comments from other recruitment agencies its just shows bad game play…that mean us freelancers could never trust any start-up recruitment agency
    And if this happen to me I would sold the debt to debt collection agency whom would of dealt with matter!

  45. Toby, Robin all I want to find out is on this blog who he been working for? that is all my curiosity is…which company he as been working for last 2 months that all! Robin Hood states that he is young and naive but still put up this blog, I’m sorry he seem pretty sharp to me (brave..I would say because would he still get work from other agencies? so if this happens again would he expose them too..um food for thought) plus it probably it might be the competitor agencies might be behid this too, who knows! until he states which company he work for this blog for me is BOGUS.
    Also there have been more comments from other recruitment agencies its just shows bad game play…that mean us freelancers could never trust any start-up recruitment agency
    And if this happen to me I would sold the debt to debt collection agency whom would of dealt with matter!

  46. I said young – i didn;t say naive. He got duped, like the others and we are going to sort this out.

    It is not just him either – my research shows the depth and scale is much greater than one or two contractors. It is artists, contractors, ex employees, and people who have let property to her. God know who else!

    She has been doing this since about 1993. The MO is always the same, and illustrating that in court will give us a good case against her.

    So Freelancer the case against you is mounting…..

  47. Robin Hood you really starting real idiot about yourself, If Jemma was scamming since 1993 she would been a multi-millionaire which means 60k scam are pennies Just a little education for all the freelancers out there recruitment charge there lowest is 50 pounds to 150 pounds per day fee which is on top on your rates even if Jemma was running the company since 1993 she still would of made millions of pounds, FYI Robin hood 1993 to 2012 she would minimum about £20 million pounds 60 k scam is bullshit has I said Garv still as not mention which company he has work for there for he is talking a load of bollocks.
    Now since is the blame blogs for scammers do remember a person called Rob Sheffield he is the owner of Nakama he scam many freelancers through aquent his previous company he use to charge 400 pounds per day and give pocket change rates like £180 per day and his company is winning awards, WorkStation another scamming recruitment agency, then the is be kaler from future heads she worked for recruit media another scamming agency I will start naming some agency and dirt on doggy consultant please stay tuned.
    P.s. Well done Gaurav I think this blog you get sued

    • HA HA HA THIS MADE ME LAUGH can anyone even read this comment above……

  48. We are coming after you Jemma. And I will be chatting to those people you have just accused of fraud, I’m sure they’ll be interested. Can you give me there full names please.

  49. Well I’m partying real hard in SA cape town, So my words are mumbling a little but the bottom line is where did Gaurav worked? Which Company that’s all I want to find out? Simple

    • I just wanted to know where my rent was SIMPLE but you didnt seem to understand that you horrible vile women. We are all coming after you for everything now so it might be best to stay in cape town!

  50. I think Jemma or whatever you are calling yourself today needs a history lesson. So pay attention because it is about to begin here, now

    History lesson part 1: Known names and aliases:

    1. Jemma Stephenson-Oliver
    2. Gemma Stevenson (tbc)
    3. Jane Edwina Stephenson
    4. JANE EDWINA STEPHENSON-OLIVER
    5. Jane Morris
    6. Jayne Morris (tbc, listed at an address with Jack Stephenson-Oliver 2009 census – Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2)
    7. Jane Stephenson-Oliver
    8. Jemma Hele Arnould
    9. Sophie Lebrett
    10. Julie E Harris
    11. Jemma Edwina Morris (currently working under this name – January 30, 2012)

    Can you please explain why you have used so many names? Because the HMRC and Companies House are very interested to know too.

  51. Nick from Bonobo, Louise Baker, Rob Shenfield from Nakama, Source another dodgy recruitment agency, Be Kaler FutureHeads, MacPeople Another scamming artist, Chris Haslam dodgy Let me get over my high I will write in detail all companies names and how they are scamming. to be continued…

  52. Nice one Black Swan that’s a lot names, so drew them out of hat! Brilliant! But Again all I’m simply asking to expose the name of the company he work for? Cause it seem like he couldn’t complete his tasks, ask to leave and didn’t get payed. Please anyone just take a look his book portfolio and judge yourself would you hire him ever…

  53. Who is going to take you seriously when you are just randomly pasting names from people who have commented in this topic already. Do you realise Louise Baker isn’t even a recruitment consultant?

  54. Freelancer why are you getting so worked up? This is about Jemma, she has scammed people and that is what this blog is about.

    Feel free to email all of those people you have named and deal with then directly.

    If anybody reading this blog has been scammed by any of those listed (and it is quite a list too, some people I know) deal with then directly.

    Please prepare your case before putting an allegations to them. You need evidence not just word of mouth. hearsay or gossip.

    It seems freelnacer is talking about a rates type scam, so they’ve scammed the agencies too.

    OK back to getting even – Team JSO lets not get distracted by the comments from freelancer.

  55. History Lesson Part 4

    In the dock:

    Kent & Sussex Courier reported, May 2010:
    ‘MAYFIELD: A woman accused of fraud, theft and falsifying documents has appeared in court.
    Jane Morris, 53, of Roselands Avenue, is accused of three counts of committing fraud by lying about her personal circumstances for her personal benefit. In each case she is alleged to have falsely claimed she owned a £1.2 million house.

    She has also been charged with stealing a £629 Dell laptop belonging to Datascope Recruitment and four counts of falsifying documents. She appeared in Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday last week where her case was committed to Maidstone Crown Court for trial.’

    • Hi Does anyone
      know where you can read the court thing on this con artist..I would like to read it.

  56. That’s a lot of companies, non lasting too long, and then dissolved before the creditors came calling

    This is beyond belief – I’m disgusted at what this woman has done to peoples lives.

    I spoke to 2 other people today in her area, related to the properties she has rented, and what they told me she had done, even a chav with nothing would do a person

    Jemma you are disgusting, bitter, spiteful, deceitful, uncaring old lady. You deserve everything that is coming to you.

    What don’t you reveal yourself, apologise and pay back what you owe

  57. Black Swan, and everyone else, I just want to take this opportunity to assure everyone of what they already know, “freelancer” is Jemma. (you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to see that). Why would a random “freelancer” be so interested in justifying why a fellow freelancer hasn’t been payed by an agency, as well as inferring that the reason Guarav wasn’t paid was due to his own incapabilities. I find it genuinely hilarious that you, Jemma, thought that we wouldnt realise it was you, aside from the fact that anyone could spot your utter mis-use of written English a mile off. Jemma, please give up, we are all fed up of your bullshit. And if you are in South Africa, please stay there.

    I would also like to again clarify that Nick at Bonobo is a genuine recruiter and no scam artist, his company is genuine.

  58. Apologies, I might have been the cause of Jemma (or Freelancer) appearing in these comments. I emailed her son, Jack Stephenson-Oliver, asking if his guitar lessons were paid from ripped-off freelancers (he is in a mediocre band), and included a link to this blog. Freelancer/Jemma’s comments started appearing on here right after this. It may be that she is hiding with her son in South Africa. Perhaps the authorities would be interested.

    Speaking of her crime family, I’ve come across a hilarious picture of her other son Philip Stephenson-Oliver shaking hands with Iain Duncan Smith – the man who loves taxing the poor into further poverty. I’m sure the papers could make a story from that, “IDS and his tax-dodging friend” or something.

  59. Comments are now disabled.

    I wanted a discussion about the way freelancers are being treated and obviously recruitment firms dealing with freelancers need to put into some systematic way of dealing out these sort of issues, especially those involving payment.

    Good luck to those of you who are actively seeking your money.

    You know how to contact me.