Positive Weather Solutions (PWS) gone out of business

Su Campu · 26-01-2012 10:44pm #1

Hurray!!! PWS, the source of the Daily Mail's ridiculous headline forecasts of impending doom, has ceased trading. One less shower to deal with. Their website says that due to illness and the current economic climate they have had to cease trading.

Look at this article. The "forecasters" that allegedly generated these mad forecasts were Russian brides, models, etc. with absolutely no credentials.

Criminal. These guys are guilty of bringing the science into disrepute and should be charged with fraud and false advertising.

My favourite bit...

I phoned Jonathan Powell, who runs PWS, and asked him who these people are. He told me that a lot of contributors had been assisting his service. The photos
"were put up there just for holding or were avatars of people who were contributing. Or people who wanted to contribute. They came and went."
He said he removed them from the site in mid-December.
"There was no intention of being misleading. We're sorry if that was the case. But we're trying to clean our act up."
"But using other people's pictures is a deception isn't it?" I asked.
"OK, you've got me on that."
"Does Charlotte Haines exist?"
"Charlotte did."
"Can I have her contact number?"
"I can fish that out for you no trouble at all. I'll have to go back to the office to get it."
"Could I have the other people's numbers too?"
"OK, I'll get you all the details. No problem."
Two hours later he sent me an email.
"Quite frankly, the filing system I have is a mess and I cannot put my hands of the information you require … Your column which was understandably critical of us at Christmas made me face a few things about the company and where it was going, and now as I can't find anything to back anyone up then quite frankly PWS is now more trouble than its worth and in debt. Therefore, I have taken the decision after six years to close the business forthwith."
I wrote back:
"Thanks for letting me know. You never did use people with those names though, did you? And I'm guessing you wrote Charlotte's blog and Emma's forecasts yourself?"