European City Guide S.L. ECG, Meinolf Lüdenbach directory listing scam, unfair practise, debt collection Internet

European City Guide S.L. Scam now in Ireland?

This is a warning to fellow Irish entrepreneurs. Stay away from European City Guide S.L. based in Valencia, Spain. Don't sign anything, just bin their letters.

I received a letter addressed to my company (see pictures). On first sight it looks like one of these free advertisement directories.  Information about my company (which was obviously obtained from public record) is already filled in and it just requires a date and signature to get featured in their "publication". Conveniently, a free post return envelope is attached.

What made me suspicious, was why on earth would they want to know my company's VAT number (ECG don't give theirs, neither could I spot mandatory information who is the director of European City Guide on their letterhead) and a post code (we don't have post codes here).

If you read the fine print on page one (section called order), it states you end up in a yearly contract for publishing your company data on a CD-ROM(!) and this costs you €997 per edition/year!

Their "terms of business" can be found on the reverse side, they are quite restrictive regarding payment/cancellation and -possibly intentionally- printed in light grey colour.

European City Guide S.L. don't say where they intend to distribute the CD's and how many copies they will produce. The entire ECG "offer" appears to be useless, who still does CD advertisement these days?

I did some research on European City Guide S.L and a simple Google search says it all:

According to http://stopecg.org/ecg_in_valencia.htm and http://stopecg.org/#ecg

the European City Guide S.L scam is going on since 2003 in various European countries. The office of Fair Trading in the UK had shut them down for a year and ECG was sued €300,000:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2003/pn_124-03

There is also a website in German language (Google translate it) around which appears to have documentary evidence of the persons involved in this scam:

http://raubwirtschaft.info/go/b2b/a01-adressbuchverlage/firmeninfo/139-luedenbach-firmen/ecg.html

This website also states that ECL were convicted in Graz/Austria in 2003. Funny that ECL still seem to send their letters from Austria these days (see envelope scan).

It looks like ECG are now trying the same scam here in Ireland. I bet a pint that if you sign their "order form" European City Guide S.L. will send the debt collectors in a few weeks time (see reports from other countries).

AVOID / STAY AWAY from European City Guide S.L. !

DON'T SIGN or RETURN their order form!

DON'T pay them a cent!

Instead Report them to  The Advertising Standards Authority  http://www.asai.ie/complain.asp

General de Consumo y Seguridad Industrial
c/ Colón, 32 46004 Valencia, Spain
http://cec.consumo-inc.es/cec/Secciones/Contacta/Contacta_en.asp

Schutzverband gegen unlauteren Wettbewerb
Schwarzenbergplatz 14
1040 Vienna, Austria
http://www.schutzverband.at/impressum.asp