| DISCLAIMER This website is in no way affiliated to or associated with the European City Guide (ECG). This is a non-commercial website established in opposition to the ECG and it's marketing tactics. If you are seeking the services of the ECG please proceed to www.google.com and conduct a new search. |
If you are involved with a small business or organisation please read this
If you receive a form which seems to invite free representation in The European City Guide, based in Spain (or other similar directories based in
other European countries) DO NOT SIGN AND RETURN IT without first reading all the small print. Close inspection of the small print reveals that it is in fact a contract, and numerous people have signed and returned it unaware of the financial implications. In theory they should all pay well over a thousand pounds for an advertisement that they never wanted (and many can't afford). However, action by the Spanish authorities has already been taken against the publishers of the European City Guide, and many "contracts" have been cancelled. For more detailed information, and possible courses of action if you have signed up but feel that you have been duped, visit the websites below. They are all dedicated to exposing this scam (and others) and we are extremely grateful for the information and advice they offer.On September 9th 2003 the Catalan authorities fined the ECG 300,000 Euros and suspended their trade for 1 year. In response the ECG have changed their address from their original one in Barcelona to a new one: Ribera 11, 3o 4o, E-46002 Valencia, Spain, from where they have been active once again.
UPDATE: The ECG and other similar guides have all depended on various Swiss based debt collecting agencies to try and force people who had signed the so-called 'contracts' to pay up. However in July the Swiss Authorities raided various companies that are associated with the guides, and the details may be read in the following official press release: http://www.seco.admin.ch/news/00642/index.html?lang=en
Since then the StopECG organisation has worked with a Swiss newspaper to expose more details and finally name the man who is behind much of the scam guide infrastructure in Europe. There are 3 articles online so far:
http://www.stopecg.org/wirtschaft1.htmWebsites set up in opposition to the ECG (and similar organisations)
The ECG have also engaged the services of debt
collection agency in Switzerland: Premium Recovery AG. There is a detailed
report about this organisation at: http://www.stopecg.org/premium_recovery_ag.htm
http://members.aol.com/ActionECG/MainPage.html
OsservatorioAziende Italian language site
With reference to the advertisement proof and the invoice which you sent, dated 28/08/01, please note that we do not wish to be included in The European City Guide, nor represented in the associated Internet Directory. Please therefore cancel the entry, and any "contract" you may consider you have with this Company.
I must state clearly that, given the wording and layout of the form that you sent, I believed I was only responding to a request for revised information. It was not at all clear that completion of the form entailed entering into an agreement, and it has been never my intention to enter into any kind of financial agreement with the European City Guide.
Furthermore, I understand that the misleading layout of the form has been officially confirmed by the Advertising Standards Authorities in both Britain and Spain, and by the actions of The Office of Fair Trading in Britain and subsequently by the Director General for Consumer Affairs at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Tourism in Barcelona.
In view of the above I am not enclosing any money and I am requesting the Catalonian Director General for Consumer Affairs to order cancellation of the "contract". If I hear from you that you have cancelled it in response to this letter I will, of course notify them immediately.
Yours sincerely,
They contacted us earlier this year asking that we complete a form so as to be included in their publication. I assumed that this was to be a free entry in The European City Guide and that they simply wanted to confirm our address. As this had changed recently I completed the form with our new address, signed it and returned it to them.
It was, however, a deceitfully disguised contract and they are now demanding money from this company. They have sent an invoice for Euro 717.00, and they say that the same sum must be paid for a further two years; 2151.00 in total. Please take a look at the enclosed copy of the form and you will see that it is deliberately designed to deceive.
We would be very grateful if you can take action to stop the European City Guide from demanding money from us. I have written to them asking that they cancel the advertisement, and to tell them that I am not prepared to pay them. I have also informed them that I am referring the matter to you (I enclose a copy of that letter).
I hope you feel that this situation deserves fuller investigation, and that you will be able to demand that the publishers of The European City Guide conform to Spanish law and cancel the contract that they say they now have with us.
Thank you in advance for any assistance that you can give. I very much look forward to hearing your response.
Yours sincerely,For the reasons listed on the enclosed sheet I assumed that this was to be a free entry in The European City Guide and that they simply wanted to confirm our address. As this had changed recently I completed the form with our new address, signed it and returned it to them. I was not aware that the form was a subtly disguised contract and that there was to be a charge. We have now received an invoice demanding Euro 717.00, and I understand that we can expect the same for two further years, making 2151.00 in total.
I have written to The European City Guide asking them to cancel the advertisement, and to tell them that I am not prepared to pay them. However, I understand from various references on internet that they never comply with requests to cancel, and that I will probably get another, stronger demand quite soon. I have also written to the Director General for Consumer Affairs at the Department of Industry, Commerce and Tourism in Barcelona asking for further investigation, and requesting that they demand that the publishers of The European City Guide cancel our contract. I am also writing to The Advertising Standards Authority and to the Office of Fair Trading in London.
I feel sure that publishers of The European City Guide are attempting to defraud small companies by means of the deceptive wording of the form they send out. I hope you feel that their method of advertising what they claim to offer is outside the standards that you consider acceptable, and I very much look forward to hearing your response.
Yours sincerely,1) The box at the top right
hand side of the form states “PLEASE CHECK YOUR ADDRESS CAREFULLY, FOR AN
UPDATE OF THE DATA AND RETURN IT...” The word “update” and the prominence of
this box suggests that confirmation of the address is the only reason that the
form has been sent. This is reinforced by the text “PLEASE CORRECT YOUR ADDRESS
IF NECESSARY” on the left hand side of the form. (See also point 6 below)
2) The text following “Dear Sirs” strongly implies, in several
ways, that the entry is to be a free
one:
a) It states “We are presently compiling information”
which suggests that they require the information for their purposes, not that
they are selling advertising.
b) The phrase “we would be grateful if you would fill in
and return this form” reinforces the above point and implies that they are
making a request.
c) “Thank you in advance for your co-operation” If
they are to charge for an entry it cannot be described as “co-operation”, but
as “custom” on behalf of their clients
3) The prominently placed words
"PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR BROCHURE OR BUSINESS CARD", reinforced by "Please send us any additional information
about your business…" (after “Dear Sirs”), implies that the ECG might
include some additional information about companies in their guide. As there is
no reference to the recipient of the form having control over the content of
their entry in the guide it will inevitably be assumed that the form is not
concerned with the selling of advertising. Anyone placing an
advertisement wants to know exactly what they are paying for; however if an
entry is to be free most companies will be content to leave a publication to
put something together on the basis of material sent in.
4) There is no prominent reference
to the cost of placing an advertisement in the Guide. The only reference to the
Euro 717.00 charge appears in very small print in the middle of a long
and linguistically complex paragraph, and even this is somewhat unclear as it
states “The cost per edition...” not “the cost per insertion in each
edition”. If read hastily (as most people do with small print) this
sentence can easily be misunderstood to mean that this is the cost of the
publication itself, especially as the next sentence refers to the free copy
that will be delivered on return of the form.
5) The use of colour to connect
the cross on the signing line on the form to the section “PLEASE INDICATE YOUR ACTIVITY…” and the headings “SHOPPING, BUSINESS,
CULTURE” encourages the spontaneous response that one is signing confirmation
of one’s business activity.
6) A very substantial number of
the forms received by UK companies contained inaccuracies in the company name
or address as typed by the ECG. This immediately draws the reader’s attention
to the need to correct the errors. Furthermore, it inclines the reader to
assume that the ECG’s motive for sending the form may be uncertainty about data
that they hold, thereby diverting attention away from the fact that they may be
selling advertising. The large proportion of incorrect forms (possibly 50% or
more), combined with other deceptive features of the form, raises the
possibility that these errors were intentional.