Please come see us at the show (Hall 3A – Stand N16). Gordon Kinnear and Sid Vel will be available to show how Optimise can help your business, in-store and online.

SHOW OFFER : 30% OFF on all orders placed at the show or 20% OFF on all orders placed before the 28th of February 2012.

“Expo Guide is an international organisation based in Mexico that deceives people into signing up to their online expo directory at www.expo-guide.com before sending them an extortionate bill. Thousands worldwide have fallen for this scam.” – www.energygrid.com

If you have received any letters for a Birmingham Interior sign-up, make sure you read the letter closely and authenticate the intent. The letter below, received by our team, appears to be a legitimate trade show letter. UBM United Business Media Limited do in fact “organise” the Birmingham Interiors Event, but they are not the ones writing the letter.

Below is an example of the letter:

There are many business expositions around the UK that send a lot of different forms like these to be filled out by small and medium businesses participating in expo-shows. Expo-Guide ‘s branding could easily mislead someone into thinking that they are the real expo organisers, as in this case for the Birmingham Interiors Show, but in fact they do state on the right side of the letter:

The mention of this fair or exhibition is merely informative, in favor of the copyright owner, and at no time does it violate copyright or trademark laws.

In the same letter you’ll receive a form to fill out:

In most cases they Expo-Guide will have filled out the company details for you. We have just removed our information here for security reasons. The “Stamp, legally binding signature” at the bottom  is scam psychology used so you don’t pay attention to the “legally binding”.

If you do read the small print, then you will see that you are signing up to on online directory that has nothing to do with the Birmingham exposition listed. Upon closer inspection, your agreeing to pay €1271.00 per year which is automatically credited every year, for the next three years!

We hereby agree to the publication of our company’s data indicated on this form and place an order to publish them for the next three years on www.expoguide.com. This order is payable and irrevocable unless revoked by registered letter within twelve days of the date of subscription. The three-year duration begins with the date of the first invoice. Cost per year amounts to 1271 Euros or its monetary equivalent in Mexican pesos…

Below is the back of the letter:

The back of the letter is printed in a very faint gray lettering and has a bad quality of type which make it hard to read (as you see above). If you read the fine print, you’ll see that Expo-Guide do in fact provide a “legitimate” explanation of who they are:

The “show fairs” link in the database entry allows the internet users to have a general idea of all the exhibitions and fairs in which you have participated.

Unfortunately some do not read the fine-print and get sucked into signing the form.

Last but not least, the envelope that they send along with the application is addressed to France:

For a very good description and exploration of the scam, Energygrid has a blog post in which they have cases of those who signed the letter and were bombarded with phone calls and threats of lawyers by Expo-Guide. They offer good advice if this has happened to you.

These types of scams though misleading, can most likely be legally backed as they do write what their services are. However, they have no legal backing to make you pay, except to make you feel ashamed into giving in. You can also visit the Stop Expo Guide Linkedin Group or the Stop EU Business Services Ltd / International Directories Group Ltd Facebook Group.

Please come see us at the show (Hall 3 – Stand O21). Gordon Kinnear and Sid Vel will be available to show how Optimise can help your business, in-store and online.

SHOW OFFER : 30% OFF on all orders placed at the show or 20% OFF on all orders placed before the 28th of February 2011.

We are also happy to be one of those furniture software providers who are brave enough to publish their prices! Obviously, our prices are super simple, straight forward, honest and above all – affordable.

Happy browsing!