Marzenna Lukaszewicz, executive director of the Polish Chamber of the Exhibition Industry
Beware of emails and letters from Mexico-based companies FairGuide and Expo-Guide, and under no circumstances sign and return the enclosed forms. They are attempting to dishonestly obtain substantial amounts of money from exhibition organisers by offering promotional services.
They write that returning a signed form will update an already-existing free entry in the Expo-Guide catalogue. However, the small print binds whoever signs it into an agreement wherein they must pay more than €1,000 per year, for three consecutive years.
Unfortunately, many exhibitors and organisers don’t read such application forms thoroughly and are unaware of the financial consequences of returning the signed form.
This is a common problem, and not confined by national borders. As far as we know, the activities of Expo-Guide have reached quite sizable proportions not only on the European market including Poland but also in the United States and Asia.
We appeal to those who have received an application form to inform the appropriate foreign embassy about the case, so it can collect evidence for any legal steps in the future. The costs of going through a legal battle are substantial, and we are not familiar with Mexican law, which is the applicable law in this case, and we can’t predict the judge’s decision. We have seen different verdicts reached in similar cases in Germany and Austria.
If, by mistake, you have signed the form and sent it back to the publisher, you have to cancel the order by a registered letter. And regardless of whether you have sent sucha cancellation, do not allow payments under any circumstances.
