A Second Open Letter to Wolfgang Valvoda, CEO, Construct Data (Fairguide)

Firstly for new readers of this blog, a little background.

Construct Data Verlag (CDV) has traded from Austria since around 1991, in those years the company has been the subject of consistent complaints that it’s advertising communications are misleading, indeed in 2004 a German judge ruled that the offers formulated by Construct Data AG are formulated in such a way that an intention to deceive in the sense of code 263 Par. 1 St GB German Criminal Code (Fraud) See:
http://www.vertikal.net/en/stories.php?id=1266

CDV has repeatedly modified the contracts it mails but again and again they have failed to remove the misleading aspects that lead to so many complaints. Finally, on 13th February 2007, faced with a comprehensive lawsuit from the Austrian Schutzverband CDV signed a far-reaching accord before the Austrian courts. The objective of this agreement was to prevent the problems caused by Construct Data’s mailing of misleading contracts and to assist those who had signed them in error in releasing themselves from any claimed obligation to CDV.

The Court case was not heard in order to marginally clarify the layout of the documents mailed by CDV, the case had been brought to put an end to a problem so serious that the Judge accepted it could be of harm to Austrian commerce in general.

So it would be an understatement to say that StopECG and others were frustrated when Construct Data started mailing new forms, which although different in layout were, in our opinion still very misleading, In April this year I published An Open Letter to Wolfgang Valvoda, CEO, Construct Data in which I stated my concerns about the new form and offered to assist in the design of an entirely different document that could not mislead. That offer was never accepted and the new misleading forms have been mailed in vast numbers to people all over the world.

The predicted has happened, my inbox is now full of messages from people who have signed the new document in error and are disputing payment, CDV for their part are insisting that the new forms are legal and contractually binding and are attempting to put the blame for this continuing farce onto those people who have signed in error, claiming (sic) that as businesspeople they should have paid closer attention before signing.

Worse, when people reply referring to the cease and desist undertaking as suggested by the Shutsverband and distributed by stopECG, Construct Data are replying with letters describing the messages as fallacious, out of date and coming from a “known internet source”. (Its nice to know you have noticed us).

It is clear from the volume of mail that I am getting that the atmosphere in Construct Data’s offices can hardly be pleasant. Staff must spend much of the day pedalling the same tired arguments, arguments I cannot believe they themselves have total faith in; manning the phones when angry and frustrated ‘customers’ call in, reading a bulging mailbag of complaints and answering similarly hostile emails. Indeed I am aware that many emails to Construct Data simply go unanswered. So both Construct Data’s staff and its so-called customers are being put through considerable stress… why?

The reason for this second open letter is that I have thought long and hard about the possible reasons for people allowing this situation to arise, I can think of 2 possible explanations which are outlined below, neither paints a pretty picture of the activities at CDV and I am hoping Mr Valvoda will respond to this post with a better explanation.

The first explanation goes like this… Wolfgang Valvoda and his merry band of staff in Modling are so inept, that, after a court case which nearly finished their company, they could not muster the common sense between them to design a form that would not deceive. That when told their new creation might mislead they were as myopic in outlook as to believe that they were right and others wrong. That when people started stating that they had signed the document in error the blindness got worse! Rather than take them at their word CDV staff insisted on payments claiming that considerable costs had been incurred as a result of the (other parties) mistake. That rather than examine the new document again and try to rectify what is clearly a critical problem they have blundered on, demanding payments and insisting the document is in order and that they are STILL sending out more copies of the contract even though they must now know that people will dispute it and will refuse to pay!

Does that sound unfair? OK, let us for a moment consider the alternative, an option far more disturbing and one which I have to state I find it hard to believe so many people would wilfully partake in.

The only alternative I can see is that following the court case a new form was cleverly and deliberately contrived WITH THE INTENT to deceive, both the layout and text have misleading aspects so this form would possibly be the work of several people, possibly lawyers and other experts would be consulted to affirm that it might sidestep the wording of the agreement signed before the courts.

The perpetrators would know that any new legal process would time and in that time those who signed the new form in error could be told they had no protection under the Feb 13th agreement and then be bullied into paying before any new restraints were placed on Construct Data to stop. Could it be that the perpetrators signed the agreement before the courts in the full knowledge that it could be flouted? Rather than hold out for a formal judgement on the legality of the previous forms and face the possibility of an injunction that would be hard to defy?!

I.e. the second option would indicate that the staff at CDV had deliberate and flagrant disregard for Austrian law, that they had wilfully created a document in the hope that they could con people, then scare them into paying up with bogus threats of legal action. How sickening would that be?

It is possible that I have missed something here… So Mr Valvoda, the stage is yours! Please feel free to respond and I will publish your comments.

Jules Woodell.

People in dispute with Construct Data Verlag AG can find advice on stopecg.org

SECO issues new warning about Intercable Verlag AG

In a very brief message posted to their website (English / French / Italian) on 26th October the Swiss state secretariat (seco) advises companies to beware of forms mailed by intercable Verlag AG

The attached PDF states

The Central European Trade Register advertised by Intercable AG is not in any way associated with the cohesion fund contribution provided by the Swiss Confederation for the ten states that joined the EU on 1 May 2004.

Of the Cohesion fund they say

The form and the website http://www.cetregister.com/ refer to the cohesion fund contribution that Swiss Confederation pledged for projects in the nine new EU member countries for a commitment period of five years (for further information see: http://www.erweiterungsbeitrag.admin.ch/index.html?lang=en). With the enlargement contribution, Switzerland aims to participate in the reduction of the economic and social disparities within the EU.

They go on to warn that signing the Intercable contract involves a commercial liability and that those who sign will not benefit from the Cohesion fund

The Intercable form they refer appears to have been mailed since July 2007.

Intercable Verlag AG has been using forms that result in complaints for decades and is currently under criminal investigation by the Swiss government. It is part of the Ludenbach stable of guides, many of which have been fined, closed or reprimanded for deceptive advertising.

As always with StopECG blog postings we would welcome a response from Intercable Boss Adrian Wittmer.

Data Protection Scams (Again)

This Blog Message is taken from an email sent to the Constoppers email list. Constoppers is an entirely free service from http://www.stopecg.org/. While it is not comprehensive we believe it does assist many readers in avoiding the commonest scams affecting small businesses. Please forward this message to associates you think may benefit from its content. To subscribe send a blank email to: constoppers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
.

DATA PROTECTION SCAMS
This is a recurring issue for UK firms, just when you think it is dead and buried the scam operators return, quite cunning really, there are a lot of new companies that have begun trading since this issue gained widespread publicity, they are now vulnerable to the tried and tested tricks of yesteryear.

The Trick is very simple, you get a letter that looks like an official notification of your requirement to register with the Information Commissioner, however it is in fact a misleading advert from a company that will charge you several times the actual fee and in some cases will not actually do the necessary paperwork!

The latest misleading adverts come a company in Blackpool, requesting a fee of over £100. Ignore such mailshots, (better still take them to your local trading standards who can decide if they are legal or not)

Companies holding personal data should notify the Information Commissioner, this Costs £35, letters demanding fees in excess of £35 are almost certainly bogus.

Need to know if you should notify, see
http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection/notification/do_i_need_to_notify.aspx
More on data Protection scams
http://stopecg.org/dataprotection.htm

Yours,
Jules

Such a simple scam

The email below is the first stop on what is a very simple scam, it is part of the suite of tricks used primarily by Nigerians known as 419 scams (After the article of Nigerian law that deals with them) or advance fee fraud, however this one differs in that no upfront fee is requested. Here is how it works...

1) You respond and they sign you up.

2) The cheques start to arrive; you are implored to pay them in to your bank and wire the money immediately.

3) The Cheques bounce (they are fake) and you have to repay the money, problem is that international money transfers are hard to trace, the fraudster has made off with your money.

It really is that simple, yet it works because it has the classic scam hook, easy money, the optimist in us would love to believe that someone would just email, out of the blue offering money for old rope.

Interestingly a trace on “Michael Nash” showed that the email was send from Hamburg, Germany, not Japan as claimed.

MIN-KAN INTERNATIONAL LIMITED appears not to exist

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Nash" minkan.international@yahoo.co.uk
To: stopscamguides(at)yahoo.co.uk
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 11:25 AM
Subject: P/T Job Vacancy.

>
> MIN-KAN INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
> 1089 MARUNOUCHI,
> CHIYODA-KU
> TOKYO 1000005
> JAPAN
> Registration Number: 3699677
> VAT registration number: 832 6732
>
> My name is Michael Nash, a representatives from MIN-KAN INTERNATIONAL LIMITED with the head quarter in Tokyo, Japan.
>
> We recently expanded our sales to the United Kingdom and Europe becuase of the great innovation the company have gain across the world in the marketing of all sort of Electronic apppliances. We have been facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling our products to britain, interms of payment as majority of them offer payment with cheque payment, which is very difficult for us to cash here in Japan.
>
> We are presently working on setting up a branch in the United Kingdom for now and we are urgently in need of a representative in the United kingdom who will be working for us as a part time staff workers who will be working from home without affecting his/her present job if they have any at hand now and we will be willing to pay 10% for every transaction.
>
> We are looking for an individual in the United Kingdom who will be working for us and we are willing to pay 10% for each & every transaction, which wouldn't affect your present state of work, someone who will receive payments on our behalf, from our customers in Europe. These payments are in form of a cheque and it will be made payable to your name, so all you need do is cash the cheque, deduct your percentage and wire the rest back to us via western union or moneygram money transfer. I want you to know that you will not be investing any money from your pocket in this venture, you are to receive payments which will be sent by my customers to you via express mail.
>
> If you can assist us with this transaction, I would like you to get back to me.
>
> Awaiting your response and thanks.
>
> Sincerely,
> Michael Nash
> X-PHP-Mail: Mon May 14 12:25:52 CEST 2007 - /home/www/web93/html
>
>