I received this mailer through the post this morning, address to the company for which I work for. It states that our details will be included into the European City Guide, and that “Filling in this form would give you the opportunity to be published in our inter-professional Guide on the CD-Rom and Internet”.
There are the standard spaces to change and modify your details, and a box at the bottom to date and sign. What they only tell you in the small print is that by signing it you are entering into a legal contract to pay Euro 997 per year for the privilege. All the terms and conditions are laid out on the reverse, but they are printed so faintly I struggled to read them.
A quick look on the Internet would suggest that far to many people simply fill this out, sign it and send it back! My apologies if you have already done this, but it’s amazing that scams like this are still so wide-spread and successful! This particular one come from an address in Portugal.
So – please be aware!
Update 7th September 2010
I have have today received several emails from ECG asking for this page, and the comments to be removed as they consider them ‘defamatory’. I have duly refused to do that. I believe that they are valid feedback and that the ECG should take note of their ‘customer’ feedback. We shall see what happens.
Update 24th November 2010
It’s worth noting that following the requests that I got from the ECG to remove this page, I have not had any further communication with them. They did not reply to my response; which, I think goes some way to understanding these people. It’s all about the threats. The threats to pay, the threats of further action and even further costs.
I think that the overwhelming advise from all the people that have had some involvement with these people is to ignore them. Hopefully most people will see this for what it is; but for those that have been caught out my advice is to stand your ground and refuse to pay. At worst seek legal advice if you feel that the form was filled out in error and they are pursuing you for payment.
Update 19th January 2011
I thought that I would attach a letter that was received by one of my readers, from their MEP. I attach it with their permission and in full. I have highlighted some areas that I feel are of importance.
Dear Mike,
Thank you for contacting me about the European City Guide scam. I was sorry to hear that you have been targeted by this organisation. A number of attempts to halt these scams are underway at national and European level.
In my view, you are quite correct not to have paid any money to the ECG. The ‘contract’ that you were tricked into signing has been judged as deceptive by several national authorities across the European Union, including the UK’s Office of Fair Trading. For this reason, although the ECG and its sister debt collection companies will continue to bully and threaten their victims, they have never been known to take anyone to court in the UK. Another strategy of theirs is to offer a discount as a ‘gesture of goodwill’; many victims have been tricked into paying this reduced amount, but have subsequently found that even this is not enough to end the harassment.
There has been progress on this issue in the Parliament. The Petitions Committee in the parliament has drafted a Report (Maltese MEP Simon Busuttil is the rapporteur) on the ECG which was approved in December by a massive majority. Meanwhile, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee has also conducted a study into the issue and an Opinion to the Busuttil report. The Commission have acknowledged the extent of the problem and have promised to urge Member States to enforce the Misleading Advertising Directive more rigorously and, perhaps, propose amendments to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive to specifically tackle ECG-style business to business scams.
However, there are still problems. Firstly, the Commission regards the ECG’s way of working as business-to-business transactions, which means victims are not protected by consumer protection laws. Secondly, there is EU legislation which can and has been used to prosecute the ECG and its sister groups but there has been no real consistent consensus throughout Europe. Whereas Belgium and Austria have found against the ECG, and the Catalan High Court has closed their office down, the authorities in Valencia have tolerated their behaviour. Austria currently has the strongest position against the scams and both the Busuttil report and my colleague Catherine Stihler MEP, Member of the Internal Market Committee, recommend that all EU countries agree the Austrian model should be a common position in Europe.
In October 2009 my Labour colleague Catherine Stihler MEP asked the Competition Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva, to keep pursuing this issue until a way to resolve it is found. Commissioner Kuneva has reassured my colleague that the ECG scam is something which she will not give up on, and she continues to hold meetings to bring about an end to the practice.
Along with my Labour colleagues, I will continue to make representations on this issue at a European level. In the meantime, my advice is as follows:
- Do not pay.
- Contact the Consumer Protection Directorate in Valencia, Spain, where ECG is based, and ask for your contract to be cancelled. Contact details are at http://www.stopecg.org/.
- If the ECG or their debt collection companies continue to harass you, tell them that you are considering legal action against them under European directives on misleading advertising.
Please keep me informed of any further developments.
Best wishes
Glenis Willmott MEP
Update 28th February 2011
There’s also a UK Action Fraud helpline which has been setup, which has been getting some airtime recently which I thought that I would include in this article. For more information take a look at http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/report_fraud
Update 2nd March 2011
Joselyne Reid very kindly contacted me, after contacting her MEP about this scam, and has very kindly offered the letter that she received for posting. You can this here. Thanks Jo!
we are a, small, village newsagent and post office, who have been caught out,( like so many others). Had been binning the invitation letters, for years, until one arrived whilst i was away,(first two weeks in ten years) and a family member (whom i had left in charge of the business) accidently signed the form!!! They thought it was a free listing for a telephone directory. Now ECG claim to have handed the payment to debt collectors. I hope what I have read is true as I dont think my business would survive the huge amounts this company is claiming.
Same boat here. But kept returning their post back to them and marking it as “Return to Sender” Posted to Wrong Address, no such company.
I hope this works to shake them off!!!
THESE PARASITES HAVE BEEN IN TOUCH WITH ME AGAIN SO I HAVE WRITTEN TO THE FOLLOWING INSTITUTIONS WHICH MIGHT HELP SOME OF YOU GUYS:-
Mr. Bernardo Rosell,
Dirección General de Comercio (Regional Government of Valencia)
C/ Colón, 32
46004 Valencia
Spain
Tel. 0034 96 3184221
Fax. 0034 96 3184216
E-mail: rosell_ber@gva.es
You should copy your correspondence to central coordinating body
Instituto Nacional del Consumo
(Ms. Lourdes Dietta)
C/ Principe de Vergara 54
E-28006 Madrid
Spain
E-mail: lourdes.dietta@consumo-inc.es
Dña. Rita Barber~ Nolla
Ayuntamiento de Valencia
Plaza del Ayuntamiento, 1
46002 Valencia
Spanish Embassy (UK)
Spanish Embassy Office for Economic and Commercial Affairs,
Second Floor,
66 Chiltern St,
W1U 4LS,
London
I am also getting our EMP involved!! I am certainly not paying!!
Received telephone from so called debt collector, asking if we could settle our two year dissagreement over the contract and that would we be willing to pay a reduced amount and our contract would then be cancelled and we would not hear from them again. I did trial them out and I actually stated a price I was willing to pay to hear the end of it, she said will cantact the company and come back to me, probably in ten minutes time with an answer if they were willing to accept my offer. Amazed me how you can contact the company,get through to the correct person, discuss the situation and our offer and come back to me in ten minutes, gees if so, I need to employ this person, can you imagine the work she would get through in a day for me. Anyway she came back to me saying had discussed and that they werent willing to accept but would accept mid way between the figures. That then if sent cheque, recorded delivery of course, they would then send a letter advising contract cancelled, haha do I believe that, nope after reading all these reviews no way. So you see all that written above is so true as to what will be happening. So take note and please dont delete any of this information from the net…… lets stick together guys, dont pay out. Im emailing them, the debt colletor, whom you can only get in touch with through ECG, that I am taking them to court if they try anything further and that I have been in touch with the Consumer Protection Directorate in Valencia, Spain and ECG to cancell our contract, thanks guys, I needed this page.
Awesome article once again! Thanks.
Hi everyone on this website,
My business has received numerous letters and final demands from ECG since April 2010. I received a letter from there Legal department saying we are in a 3 year contract and it does worry you. But having read the messages on this website it has helped alot. So everyone stick together and just keep ignoring them. Hopefully thet will go away.
Just received my 3rd reminder for £1,880.59! am i bothered, not in the least, filed away with all the other demands, havn’t received no phone calls yet – pity – could do with a good argument.
Same here, signed the form in March 2010, had several letters, 1st reminder, 2nd reminder etc and the CD-Rom a few weeks ago. Not had any phone calls as of yet but when I do I will be giving them a piece of my mind.
Was worried to begin with but after Googling them and seeing all these comments on this site I now don’t care.
DONT PAY THEM ANYTHING, DON’T REPLY TO THEM, DON’T DO ANYTHING.
If we all do this they will soon have no funds left to hassle us all with letters, phone calls and CD’s!
ps. Well done for starting this site
Thanks for posting the letter from Glenis Willmott MEP. Just in case the European and UK readers weren’t aware: European City Guide has been targeting Canada and Australia as well (under the name Industry & Commerce), in an attempt to expand their scam globally. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission initiated proceedings against them in late 2009 (presumably after the complaints started rolling in in 2006). I’d be interested to hear if they had any success.
We, too, have been caught in this web. Someone at our office (unauthorsied to sign for anything of this magnitude) unwittingly signed last year, thinking it was a confirmation of details for a legitimate free listing, and the mail (demanding payment & threatening collections) keeps coming. We’ve decided to bounce all mail from them and ignore it.
As near as I can tell, nothing in the “contract” states the jurisdiction under whose laws the contract will be upheld, so if they decide to take us to court – highly unlikely – we’ll demand a change of venue to our continent and our jurisdiction and force them to come here to prosecute under our system of jurisprudence. As I understand it, in our courts for a claim of this kind they must show up personally or have their charges dismissed. Somehow I don’t see them flying here to prosecute for an outstanding balance that is less than the cost of their airline tickets! If they do, they’re in for a surprise. Pay special attention to the end of the 3rd paragraph of the excerpt below (regarding the Canadian Federal Competition Act, as taken from http://www.ipvancouverblog.com/canadiancompetitionlaw-misleadingadvertising/):
“As the Act contains both criminal and civil misleading representations provisions, the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) may pursue misleading representations on either a civil or criminal track. While in most instances the Bureau will proceed civilly, it may commence an investigation or inquiry on the criminal track in some cases – for example, where there is evidence that an accused has engaged in intentional or fraudulent conduct.
“The civil misleading representations provisions prohibit representations to the public, for the purpose of promoting a product or business interest, that are false or misleading in a material respect. The criminal provisions, which are substantially similar, prohibit false or misleading representations that are made intentionally (i.e., knowingly or recklessly).
“It is worth noting that a representation to a single person may be caught, both the literal meaning as well as the “general impression” of a claim are relevant in determining whether a representation is false or misleading (i.e., a representation that is literally true may, nevertheless, be false or misleading if the “general impression” of the representation is false or misleading) and that it is not necessary to show that any person has actually been deceived or misled as a result of the claim.
“The relevant test to determine whether a representation is false or misleading is an objective test, which considers whether consumers are likely to be misled by the representation (or otherwise alter their conduct)”
The more people who claim to be misled (on sites like this one) and refuse to pay, the better a case we have.
Received a phone call this morning from a debt recovery agency for these clowns. The number is +34 661 546 791 a Scottish gentleman called Frazer which confused me (guess the number is diverted) for anyone who wants to add it to their blocked numbers. I signed up 3 years ago for an alleged free entry, the following year another form came through which I thought was renewal so sent it back to then receive an invoice. I emailed and called to cancel the listing but was told I couldn’t as it was a binding contract however it was within the UK legal time limit to cancel an agreement if 28 Days. I will not be paying any money over to these thugs who threaten over the telephone and with threatening letters frightening people into paying for useless advertising.
I to mistakenly signed this form a year ago it was asking if the buissness details were correct so not thinking i filled it in and sent it off.I have 3 letters from them asking for money and finally got a cd last week i will not and have not paid them a thing its a pain in the arse to keep getting harrased by them and it does make you worry cos its alot of money they are demanding which would kill my buissness so if anyone knows how long it takes to get rid of thwem it would be nice to know
Cheers
Chris
safety in numbers…
It’s a nice feeling that so many of us have all been scammed in the same way and that I’m not on my own. It’s also nice to see that no one has ever been to court or had to pay anything to these fools.
I just keep sending everything back I’ve not had the phone calls but I’m sure they are coming….lol
good luck all
I got the shit cd today,how can our goverment let such shark to bother our life?they should do sth for us.I am waiting any organizations to catch them behind bar!I so called owe them round £2000 now, They are rubbish!
Should we send a letter to MEP or so with all our business info and signature?
DO NOT PAY!!!
Take away in Belfast, UK
I mistakenly signed a form two years ago that asked me if my business details are correct. Then i just posted it away not realising what i had done. I then started getting letters wanting £995 for my inclusion in the city guide. I must have worried my self sick for about 5 minutes. Until i googled the European city guide and a whole lot came up about them. They started pestering me for money and i just took no notice of them. Then they said the legal team will be on my case.
I received a parcel last week with a shiny European city guide cd. And a letter the next day saying they were so happy that i had decided to stay included in the guide and were basically thanking me. At the bottom of the page they were now asking for about £2500 now. Anybody who has ever been tricked into signing the form do what i have done. Absolutely nothing. Don’t try and phone them, E mail them and get stressed out. The best way is to ignore them. I am just a Joiner working for myself and getting by and i would love them to try and get money out of me. They haven’t took anyone in the UK to court its just a cruel scam that tricks people. you certainly learn by your mistakes.
Exactly the same has happened to us. We are a forestry contracing business and been duped into something dodgy. We got the cd last week and another invoice thanking us for continuing advertiizing in the ECG. We now owe2352.92 euros. What a joke and never will we pay a cent to this scam
I applied for this not seeing the small print,I have today been called by a Maria Rodriguez from the legal depaertment!!!0034-682-363-681 , i said that the ECG was a scam, she said dont believe what i read online. She then told me i would have to go to court in spain, if i dont they will internationaly black list me and freeze my accounts?
Any idea what i said, KISS MY A***
she said i wasnt helping, i hung up.
Whats your views?
Ben
Nice one Ben.
The more of us that stick together, the better. I’m just waiting for those fun phone calls to start. I would just hang up in future as soon as you find out who’s calling you. Its good that the MEP is behind us and have said not to pay.
Good luck mate.
Jay
HI all, I also have just recieved my CD Rom Ive put not known at this address and its back in the post. again also waiting for my next letter from the legal dept. Do NOT PAY!!
26/01/11 got a bill last week for 3700 euro am i worried ? no i will never pay a penny I also recieved the CDROM its in the bin THE SAD THING IS SOME PEOPLE ARE PAYING THIS LOT MONEY PAY THIS LOW LIFE NOTHING USE THE BIN
update, today we recieved the actual CDROM of the city guide, nice of them to send it after so long….not that i ever asked for it or even care what the hell it is.
i will ‘file’ it with all the other letters. i have also been noticing ‘international’ coming up on my caller display lately, i wonder if thats them ringing to further their harrassment of me, so i dont bother answering.
Hello there
My name is dimitris and ive been caught in the same situation like everyone else here. I want to seek the advise of others after I received a phone call today from a solicitor. She stated that if i dont pay at least 1000euro to settle the matter I will taken to court in spain. Is this an idol threat or is this something that I should seek legal advise on? My business is in Greece-if anyone knows anyone in greece that would be able to help me or advise me on the matter, I would be grateful.
kind regards
dimitrios
Hi,
From what I have read, ECG have never taken any1 to court. they are just Idle threats. If they did try to take yo to court. they would not have a leg to stand on due to the amount of info on ECG being a advertising scam. If you feel worried then just remember there 100′s of companies in the same position as you. Nothing will happen just more threats. Just hang up on them.
Good Luck.
Hello everyone,
We here at the RSPB have been targeted by these people, I got an “update” form from them today. Fortunately it set off some alarm bells in my head, but I was shocked when I found this website! How these people can target family businesses and charities really beggars belief. How do they sleep at night?
I am an RSPB supporter and a business owner who too is being harassed by the ECG. Amazing thing is, I wasn’t even in the country when I supposedly filled out this form and it’s even filled out under the name of the previous company who were here before me! They have sent me the legal letter, the CD and even a fake copy of the form “I” filled out. With all the money they are wasting on harrassing people, they could make a fantastic donation to the RSPB instead! I am not paying them a penny and if we all stick together and ignore them, surely they must take the hint sometime soon.
Hi all,
ECG have been chasing me now for over 12 months, they can keep chasing and chasing, do NOT pay them a penny! at first i was worried sick about payment, but just google them and all will be revealed showing what scam artists they are. I’ve learnt NEVER sign any documentation until i’ve read the small print.
We too are on our first ‘legal dept’ letter. Trading standards have reassured me that it is ok to ignore all correspondance and that legally it will not be seen as a binding contract in a court of law. It is however, still distressing to have at the back of your mind. The latest letter arrived on my doormat the day of a very close relatives funeral. It really is a form of harassment and i have just one concern now, that maybe someone on here can answer… will i have to endure this for three years??? and each year will i get a bill, and have to write a letter etc…. it is a harsh lesson in READING the small print that i have learned…
Hi all,
Thats good news. Ive just had my first letter from there so called Legal department saying I need to pay up within 2 weeks or there going legal. ( I’d like to see them try!!!) Theres no contact information appart from the dutch address legal Department. No Telephone numbers or email addresses on it. What A load of Tripe!!! Will NOT PAY A PENNY!!!
Ive just had a letter from Glenis Willmott who is the EMP charged with investigating these scams. Its a very interesting reply, and Im please to say that she says do not pay. Ive asked if I can post her reply on this site and I am waiting for her response.
That’s great Mike, thanks. Hopefully if you get permission then I will add the reply to the main article. Please let me know.
Hi Guys we to Have fallen for this Scam we are only a very small company and we cant even recall getting anything through the post let alone signing anything from European City Guide.. We have received a letter from them today saying that we signed up to ECG in August 2010 and that this is the second reminder that we owe them 1.176,46 EUR .. I telephoned them today and told the person I spoke to that we have no Idea what this is about and we are paying nothing, I was told that I would have to write to them and they would consider my case, but because we signed (as far as they are concerned) we owe the money so have to pay….. The spanish man I spoke to told me to go on the European city guide website and I would see our company advertised on it.. (To my suprise it was there) I requested for it to be removed straight away and he refused by saying he couldnt do that because we were in a legal contract……. Im so mad pleae advise me what to do ie… ignore them, email them, We just want them to basically get lost….. Just cant believe these scams are allowed top go on….. Thankyou for listening to me babble on, I look forward to your advice….
Many thanks Sally….
)
So Glad that I googgled these sharks and founf this site.
I would never have agreed to ECG as I would have no use for it. We have never advertised in 20 years. Im sure the intial form asked us to change the business activity info which was done and returned. Im sure that the small print was covered over. I have written to them telling them that we dont want to be associated with such a guide which they ignored and started sending threatening letters. Ive had 2nd & 3rd reminders and threat of legal action over the xmas period, which I will now ignore and put in the bin!!
Keep up the info on this site!!
Thank you very much for the info.
Our company received a letter dated on the 22nd of Dec 2010 from a European City guide with address: Martinez Cubells 6, 4 pta 8, E-46002 Valencia . They asked us to pay an invoice with amount EUR 1194 for an advert we never asked for or even signed for . The letter came from their legal depratment . There is no Telephone , only their the bank detials .
What a stupid they are as with today techonlogy a quick search can give answer like this link. Once again thank you very much
My husband has been accused of signing up for ECG but its not his signiture and have never seen the papers before we are now on our third reminder debt collectors ect. its comforting to know we’re not he only ones as we have been worried. We must all stick together and not pay. They are just scum!!
Maria
My partner has received these threatening letters. I have said it is a total scam. The letters are not signed, there is no name and no telephone number or email address.
But it is frightening, particularly when you are fully occupied with running your own business.
I think we should highlight this and get someone in the media involved who will expose these people once and for all.
Angela
well we’ve had a second reminder now.
i sent them a firm letter a couple of weeks ago as instructed by the stopecg website but they havent responded to that as yet.
HOWEVER. i noticed on this last reminder that it’s referenced as a PROFORMA invoice which i’m sure most of us in business are familiar with. I am now about to email them some definitions of PROFORMA in the hope that they will bog off. Check yours.
Why Use a Pro Forma Invoice?
A pro forma invoice is used to offer an initial product price quotation, preceding the actual sale of that particular product. It may be used also to give the potential buyer additional details on the product. Since the pro forma is the initial quotation price, it is not a legal document. A pro forma invoice is simply a confirmation of a purchase order.
Non Binding
The pro forma invoice for all intents and purposes is not binding on the parties involved. Its contents, however, may look similar to the final commercial invoice, but it does not necessarily have to be the same. It gives the seller an opportunity to revise the cost calculations prior to issuing the final cost. The buyer has the option to review the planned purchase, and may decline the purchase altogether.
What is a pro forma invoicing scam?
This is a bill you receive for goods or services that you never requested. The scam typically involves sales people from a publishing company contacting a business and falsely claiming that the business agreed to advertise in a particular publication. This is also called “false invoicing” or “false billing”. The scam primarily targets small businesses. It is a breach of the law to engage in pro forma invoicing.
Euro city guide is a scam
In 2003, international action led by the Office of Fair Trading landed the guide itself in court in Barcelona, accused of deception.
More than 3,500 mainly British and French businesses complained that after accepting what appeared to be a free mention in the guide, they were billed for up to £1,455 because the small print committed them to a listing on a CD for three years. The publishers were fined £200,000 and the guide was shut down for a year.
Since then, the guide has moved to Valencia. Otherwise, it is business as usual. Labour Euro MP Richard Corbett told the European Parliament last year that the guide is nothing more than a ‘pan-European scam’.
Thankyou all soooo much, i was too caught out by this scam. I have received 3 requests for payment since October 2010, i
rang the people at the ecg to tell them we did’nt want this advert but they were very rude a said we had to pay. I have been so worried about this over christmas we did’nt know where we were going to get the money from. I am so glad i look on google for advise, i now know thanks to all you lovely people to stand firm and not pay..THIS IS A SCAM.
Hi,
We unfortunately have also been caught out by this scam and have just received a letter from so-called legal department, demanding payment. I think it’s time everyone got together and signed a petition or similar and involve our MEPs to get this terrible business stopped. I am going to write to Richard Corbett(MEP)
and ask for advise on how to proceed. Will you support any action?
Regards,
Jo.
Hi Jo,
We to have been caught up in this scam and have now received a second reminder for payment… According to ECG we have signed up for 3 years with them, We dont even remember getting anything from them and they state that the signature they have from us on the paperwork are the letters M U, thats news to us because we dont even have a signature that represents M U…. I phoned them (before I had any Idea it was a scam) and stated we knew nothing about them that we didnt want any of this and we wouldnt be paying… they are still insistant we give them the money… We wont be paying a penny to them… this kind of thing makes me mad I cant believe it goes on… Im with you on supporting any action.. Its also a good Idea to write to the Valencian authorities as stated on some of the websites about this being a scam… How many letters did you get before they threatened you with the so called legal department??
Kind Regards
Sally….
hi,
i have just recieved a demand from the legal department, saying they are in posseion of :your legally binding contract: not going to pay however had it gets horrible scam
polics in spain should do something.
We went through all this a couple of years ago, when one of our office staff corrected wrong information on the ECG mailshot and returned it (apparently there is usually an error in the information given which you are invited to correct). We got their demand for payment several weeks later and wrote back stating that as far as we were concerned there was no contract and we would not be paying them anything. Over the following months we received further letters, each more threatening than the last, which we ignored -they actually became a source of amusement – and eventually they stopped.
These people are parasitic slime – they are banking on you being intimidated and afraid. They will not take you to court – as far as I know they have never gone to court.
I feel strongly that actually you owe it to society NOT to pay them anything, as doing so only encourages them to perpetuate their fraudulent scam. Only when their activities bring them no financial return will they stop.
I got an email from them as follows:
Dear Sir,
While we are aware of the information in the media slandering us, we must
point that which they fail to do, which is that all of the information necessary to make an informed decision about our service was available at the outset, nothing has ever been hidden.
We must also inform you that any action which may have previously been
taken against the EUROPEAN CITY GUIDE referred to order contracts entered into prior to appropriate amendments having been made to the order form,and applies to order contracts entered into long before your company’s order contract was prepared.
We must also point out that you did have an unlimited amount of time in which to read the form, and no obligation to return it. Therefore we do not see how you can claim that we are “scamming” you.
I have already replied back to it firlmy holding my ground and will not be paying any amount and they would have to take me to the european courts. whick I know they wont.
I signed the same document by mistake 5 years ago. They kept sending letters to pay but just ignored them all the way. Their debt collector got me once on the phone and tried to threaten me with court proceedings but I told to f**k off. He got so angry and told him to do whatever wherever however he could and that I wouldn’t pay a cent. And he left me alone. No letters, no phones, more than a year ago. DO NOT PAY A CENT! ECG are a bunch of thieves!
My Innocent Girlfriend “signed” up to this and got these emails. I’m now dealing with them and every email they send me is funnier and funnier. They can send me all the serious and cleverly written emails they like, the second i heard about it i googled them and it’s all a stupid scam. If we can sue them back please keep me in the loop as this crowd are a bunch of right little ——-
Their scam artists and bullies, ignore them and if they can be sued let me know please.
DO NOT PAY them
Hi we are a small company trying our best to make it!
we have been harrased since july 2009. as of yet have not paid them a penny.
Yesterday we got a phone call from a”collector” saying we should pay now a reduced rate and she would help us by disregarding the admin fee…If not we would be taken to court in spain and have to pay a lot more in flights, court costs etc….I have been adament to this point and even though I know its a scam it still causes worry, has any one else had a call from Ms Dell. speaks with an american accent
Debbie
Hi all , boring as it may seem i am on my third reminder , i have sent a copy of it back to thier Valencia address with a note telling them that i do not know who they are , do not want to know who they are , i also suggested that they must have sent to us by mistake and that i have sent a copy of their demand to the metropolitan police and the police force in Lucerne , Switzerland , i await the reply with amusement and interest and will let you know .
Hi you all scammed !
I have got scams from ECG for several years now. It´s funny how they keep on sending bills and “legal department” threats. I have ignored all of them and also sent some of their documents to the Swiss and Spanish police. I assume that their “organisation” includes one or two fat old and ugly men who try to get their tomorrow-evenings beer with this kind of scam. Poor them. They refuse to communicate in Spanish and their English is even poorer than mine, so they must be German or something?
So, NEVER EVER pay them a penny, nor be afraid of debt-collectors. There are none!!! Just bring the “scary” letters to your local police and that´s it. I have allready more than 4000 euros on my “credit”. No worries, I shall wipe my hairy but with it.
Have a good time!
T-J, Helsinski, Finland
Big thankyou to david for starting this site. I to was cought out by the ECG scammers earlier this year and now just begining to get the letters but wont be paying them a penny. Cant resist sending them a letter though to tell them to shove their invoice where the sun dont shine. To anyone needing to read this remember to be strong and dont pay them your not alone. So come ECG lets get the lawyers out.
Hi, I also received this form last year, and accidentally signed it!! Ive had several demands and have written to them several times stating that it was signed in error and based on all the the information regarding the ECG’s criminal activity in this field I will not be paying. I got a responce today threatening to pass it to the legal team for for libellous actions, and a demand to pay….again!!
They can go jump, I ain’t paying them a penny! They can send me as many threats as they wish! I will simply file each one until such a time I have enough to file a harrassement claim against them!
They are a scam, just ignore them.
Nik.
Hi all,
just got my second reminder. from these low lifes demading £1021 from me. I am soooooo angry with them, I have emailed them 3 times now with no replies just more reminders. any suggestions on what else I can do?
Well, I finally got a reply from the Swiss Authorities stating categorically that there are no debt collectors now working in Switzerland on behalf of the ECG; the Swiss authorities stated they have shut them down.
The ECG have never responded to any of my very detailed responses, the key points of which I have summarised in a previous entry on this website. Until cross-border legislation is strengthened and pan-European legal action can be taken by the European Parliament against the ECG, all the advice I have received is that this scam is not legal, the associated documentation is misleading and no business should be paying the ECG any money. If everyone stands firm and parts with no money,pending legal action, eventually the ECG will not be financially viable. best wishes to all. Stuart
another great point from “stuart”
if no one pays or emails these people
eventually the ECG will not be financially viable.
and thanks to david for starting this site
regards.
Hi everyone on this website,
My business has recieved letters numerous letters from ECG since May 2010. We haven’t stamped the contract but someone has stamped it with my company name. I recieved a letter from the Legal department and they said “for economic issues this case will be handed to a international debt collector”
What are the debt collectors going to do?
I have now emailed BBC’s watchdog about the ECG scam if we all do the same they may take notice and help our cause.
Good luck all
Jay
well done jay for reporting them to the bbc,
i will do the same. regards.
Got caught about 6 years ago – never paid them, told them to get lost. You should all do the same.
They’ll threaten but eventually they go away after easy targets!!
Do you still receive letters even though it was six years ago?
Kind regards
Hayley
We are Rugby Polo Club and have been had by this scam and will not be paying it keep this site going it helps reasure everyone
Im worried sick, we received the above mentioned document, apparently tony pearce signed it, even thou he has never seen the document, and its not his signature, and we have received numerous letters now requesting payment, the last letter received was on 3rd november 2010, stating, we have asked on numberous occasions that you fulfill your payment obligations, as stipulated on the order contract with EUROPEAN CITY GUIDE. never the less you have failed to comply with several payment deadlines and we are now obliged to proceed with legal action as we cannot accept your negligence in meeting your obligations. Given that you have also failed to comply with our last payment deadline, for economic reasons we have decided to assign your case to an international debt collection agency. amount due 980.10 eur plus vat at 18.% 176.42 eur adminstation fee 27.00 eur, grand total 1183.52 eur £1030.14 GBP
please make your payment of your highlighted advertisement by bank transfer in favour of EUROPEAN CITY GUIDE, S.L.,
Bank transfer: Bank Bancaja, Swift:CVALESVVXXX
bank account 2077 0014 39 3102077019
iban ES50 2077 0014 3931 0207 7019
cHEQUES TO EUROPEAN CITY GUIDE, MARTINEZ CUBELLS,6 , 4′ PTA 8, E-46002 vALENICA
IF settlement has been made in the meantime please disregard this reminder.
I am worrying myself into ill health over this issue, and would so appreciate people advise on what or where i should go with this.
Kind regards
Brenda Haughey
This is all a joke, we all need to make a stand together, lets get a list of people and then we can take them to court for the continual harrasment from the European city guide..I apparently now owe over 2000 euro’s..
The police need to come in on this and help us all out.
Please sen me your email if you are interested in standing up tp these guys as they will not get a penny from me.
Sara
Dear Sara
I’m also worrying about this, yesterday I had a phone call from their debt collection dept informing we HAVE to pay. I returned all their letters unopened, she called to check the mailing address and said they will take us to court! I’m worried sick!
Thank you for all of your input. My family business has also been dealing with European City Guide scam but was also under the name Industry & Commerce. My issue has been going on for over a year. I have just recieved another letter and was about to just suck it up and pay until I saw all of your comments. Sara, if you could contact me, I would love some advice. As of right now, I AM NOT paying anything.
Hi Brenda.
Please ignore these parasites like the rest of us and, if they do call you laugh at them and tell them that they can do what they like (all they do is threaten and try to scare) and that you are not paying them a thing. I have spoken to a solicitor, in Guildford, Surrey, who specialises in helping people afflicted by this disease and they say to ignore it all and, if it does get to be a problem they will be able to get them off your back. Their style of trading is totally illegal in the EU, and they don’t have a leg to stand on. IGNORE, IGNORE, IGNORE!
honnest people seem to be the ones that get all the worry in life, i have recieved cd’s
6 letters, court threats. more than once.
just come back here, every time you get a threat. just to get some great advise from every body else in the same boat,
and share your experiance.
but what ever you do, do not pay any money.
just egnore.
Hi Dennis
glad to see that it isn’t only me that has since received a CD (which i have not opened or played)a couple of days ago. stangely enough the CD was postmarked from Slough in Bucks, yet all previous correspondence including the follow up letter recceived the next day was postmarked Switzerland informing me that i would be receiving such CD and reminding me of the money I owe.
Just thought i would share this with others on here – i too am ignoring everything and have no intention of paying – I am keeping all documents, paperwork, CD’s etc though in a separete file just in case we would be summoned to court at a future date, together with pages and pages of this blog, i update and print the added pages every couple of months so that i can see that the scam is still ongoing!
Is there anyone else that has received the CD this year?
Hi i have also been targted in this scam i had only taken over a small buissness about a month and signed it my mistake and have now had letters demanding money.I have not and will not pay anything just worried it could get out of hand.I got a cd sent last week aswell and a letter demanding nearly 2000 euros just would some reassurance really as its been going on for a year now
My friend has been caught by the scam and paid 1st instalment – how can she get out of this? Any ideas please?
Hi there,
Just refuse to pay any more instalments and follow the instructions on this site.
http://stopecg.org/default.htm#catalan
I am yet to pay any bills and am at the beginning of this long mess. If we all complain we all cant be wrong and thingsa will be done about it.
Best of Luck
Jay
Hi ,
I did the same thing , as they refused to cancel the “order” and as matter of goodwill for the first time .
They do not exchange by email , fyi .
After receipt of reminders , legal deptmt letters , I forward everything to my lawyer .
He sent two letters and recommend me to ignore them .
Do the same thing .
There is a webside from ECG about
Jules Woodell
I think this was the best what he
could do to make this webside STOPECG
thanks a lot
ECG is complaining about the donation
on his webside
I think its good to make a donation to Jules Woodell and not to European City Guide
Pay absolot nothing to ECG
I know they need some money to pay there
fine from 300.000 Euro, but please not from us.
We checked some customers from ECG in Malta, some shops dont exist anymore, some signed years ago and nobody was interested,
but still on the list.
This is a giude without customers, except
a few which signed by mistake.
I mean nobody wants to be on the list from ECG, but they dont remove it, even if you dont pay. They are sending letters for example 5 years. I meam what kind of guide is this to force people to be on this list
and they are no interested.
I think that they want to show, that they are a big company and have many customers
and I am the only one who is not happy with them. I found nobody who paid. Even this computer programm what they use is not good quality.
I’ve been getting the demands form ECG and ignore them – be strong and nothing will happen , I have today received a new letter, in pretty much the same format – from the expo guide, sme amount everyhting. Please everyone shred it!!!
Beware they have reinvented themselves.
yes, we received a letter and invoice in Sept after supposedly agreeing to advertise with them in July. sent an email to them cancelling etc and have now received a very strong letter saying that we MUST pay.
they are complete and utter low lifes.
they are just preying on hard-working business owners.
we couldnt afford to pay this even if we wanted to. very worrying.
we forwarded the email we went to trading standards but we will now follow the advice stated here.
thanks to everyone involved in this.
they can bog off.
Hi,
Back in February 09 we received a form from the european city Guide asking us to change details, we then received an invoice for £896.95 997,00 (Eur)payable to bank Caixa Galicia, after checking the internet we found it to be a scam. So we didn’t pay. On the 4/8/09 we got a letter from the Legal dept asking for £878.28 payable to Bank Bancaja again we didn’t pay but the letters continued to arrive, we then got a second invoice for another edition one that we didn’t ask for putting up the total to £1757.41 again we didn’t pay. On the 29/10/09 we sent a letter to the company downloaded from the stop the ECG and sent it. We got a reply on the 10/11/09 stating that we couldn’t cancel and that our order was legally binding so on the 15/12/09 we received our second letter from the Legal dept asking for £1,817.98 no payment was made. Then on the 19/8/10 almost a year we get more demands from the Legal dept requesting £1,687.94. To sum up we have now received two letters by certified post and E-mails from the legal Dept now asking for £905.00 and if we don’t pay by the 26/11/10 court action will follow. Any advice
My boyfriend signed up for this November 2009 again like everyone else in error. We are now in receipt of the invoice for the final (third) year as he signed up for. Despite a letter every month for the last 7 months I guess it will keep on receiving a bill for the next few years and the amount will climb. We won’t pay it out of principal and money is too hard to earn to give it away to this con. After reading this I say ‘thank you all for your information’, I will start bining the letters, and give what for if anyone dares to ring chasing this. Blogs like this gives you the peace of mind and confidence to bin it and forget it.
My opinions may be helpful to some readers as STOPECG was to me. Into second year now. Recieved latest intimidating letter yesterday £2,000+. Have sent recommended letters on Stop ECG site and now file and wait. Please do not pay it only shows you are willing and they will target you more and increase thier demands. Actually we have little choice but to refuse to pay. The way they opperate, our only option is to ignore them and accept they will continue to threaten as that is their business. If anyone gets the opportunity to go to court it will be a very popular event. Good luck to all and relax, we are in and have to ride it out whatever as paying makes it worse and funds these dis-honourable parasites feeding on the vast majority of us who are busy working hard and unfortunately let our guard down for a moment. If we knew what we know now and and that the product had no value to us, would we have signed? Are we more careful signing documents now? I guess the value is that we are all better business people for this experience. This is not about intellegence, as human beings don’t have the ability to to be totally concious 100% of the time. We deal with things unconciously much of the time (ie driving), especially if they are familiar or appear harmless, using our concious mind to deal with more important things. This is a cleaver use of that fact backed up with threats that work well with most people to get results. So please sleep well and read all small print in the future, I do!