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26/03/2008, 12:34 Quillan Joined on 23/08/2004 Forum Moderator Posts 3,576 Is this a clever scam? We had  very official letter arrive an hour ago through the post. It is from the Tourist Directory and headed Guide D'Hotels and has a nice prepaid return envelope with it. It is written in French and asks you to tick all the box's for things you have in your CDH. The two things you should be aware of if you read the incredibly small, like minuscule, print at the bottom of the page. You will be invoiced for 989 Euros once they have the paper back to be registered . You will have to buy a copy of the directory for a further 98 Euros. Oh yes and the prepaid envelope is post box Roissy (95929) yet the letter came from Switzerland. Now I'm not saying this is a scam but the little bit at the bottom, so easily overlooked by the way, seems a bit sneaky as does trying to make it look like a government form and as for the prices well, if you get one you can decide for yourself. Personally for me it's a bin job. http://www.chambresdhote.com    Report

26/03/2008, 12:51 Cat Joined on 21/01/2005 ------- Forum Moderator ------- Lot Posts 2,788 Re: Is this a clever scam? Hmm yes, Novachannel is the company involved.  Try googling the name, it's a real eye opener. Cathy Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...    Report

26/03/2008, 13:23 Pierre ZFP Joined on 12/11/2004 PdC(62)/Luxembourg Posts 1,649 Re: Is this a clever scam? Wow what a bunch of charmers - may they rot in Hell. Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice, shame on me Fool me 3 times and you can see a statistical tendency    Report

26/03/2008, 13:26 David Joined on 23/08/2004 North Deux-Sevres Posts 352 Re: Is this a clever scam? In my opinion, yes, it is a scam.  Not illegal, but expensive.  As a self employed trader we got these things all the time in UK.  They set up a directory, charge you a fortune to be included in it, charge you to buy it, and this covers the cost of publishing. However, very few people actually buy the publication, it (in our case) would not have helped with marketing, and the publishers walk away with a healthy management fee. I suggest that you chuck it in the bin. David    Report

26/03/2008, 13:43 Gastines Joined on 23/08/2004 Les Gastines.St.Pere 5mins St.Malo Posts 772 Re: Is this a clever scam? We get about 10 a year from various agencies in France/Switzerland and used to get plenty of  "Trade" offers in UK. More rubbish for the recylce bin. Most don't even publish.    Report

27/03/2008, 18:51 Jura Joined on 28/11/2005 Posts 714 Re: Is this a clever scam? Quillan we have received loads of those, about 5/6 a month; we just give them to the kids to rip open.Whenever we get mail like that we just throw it in the bin, whoever it is from. We particularly steer clear of 'tourist directories' of all kinds, French or otherwise, that ask for money. We market ourselves for next to nothing.    Report

06/04/2008, 18:34 cassis Joined on 28/12/2007 Manhattan and Glasgow Posts 309 Re: Is this a clever scam?  Jura wrote: Quillan we have received loads of those, about 5/6 a month; we just give them to the kids to rip open.Whenever we get mail like that we just throw it in the bin, whoever it is from. We particularly steer clear of 'tourist directories' of all kinds, French or otherwise, that ask for money. We market ourselves for next to nothing.  Gastines wrote: We get about 10 a year from various agencies in France/Switzerland and used to get plenty of  "Trade" offers in UK. More rubbish for the recylce bin. Most don't even publish. Ditto.  Some Swiss directory contacts us by post regularly with a draft advert that shows our name address spelt incorrectly and asks us to return a form with any corrections, otherwise our listing will be published "as is", i.e. incorrectly.  Small print includes a billing instruction if you send a correction.  It's not that clever but at least the address is not on the Ivory Coast.  Zoggy played guitar, jammin' good with Weird and Golly. Lyrics copyright Sausage Music 2008    Report

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