Construct Data/Fairguide Warning for Exhibitors
It has come to our attention that a company operating out of Austria, Fairguide.com/Construct Data Verlag (Fairguide), has made contact with some HR Southwest exhibitors representing themselves as a legitimate exhibition guide featuring HR Southwest exhibitors. Please be aware that this organization is in no way affiliated with HR Southwest or Dallas Human Resource Management Association, Inc.
The company claims to offer online services and uses a form that resembles a free program listing service. They invite exhibitors to sign and return the form for an entry in an online directory. Exhibitors who sign and return the form are then contracted into a three-year, non-retractable agreement, which could cost the exhibitor a significant amount of money, with no apparent benefits.
This company has been under investigation by the Austrian Advertising Commission and has been found in breach of the Austrian Advertising Code. Further proceedings are in process.
If you have been contacted by Fairguide.com/Construct Data Verlag, following is the recommended course of action:
If you are contacted by Fairguide.com/Construct Data, you should NOT complete the listings form. However, if you have mistakenly completed and returned the forms, it has been established that Fairguide.com/Construct Data has never carried out their threat of legal action against non-payers and attempts to get companies to settle for one-year payment instead of three to “avoid prosecution”. Companies are advised to seek their own legal advice on whether to withhold payment.
Complete the attached letter and forward to Fairguide.com/Construct Data with a copy to HR Southwest. Keep a written record of any communication with this company. If possible, record any telephone calls and inform them that you are doing so.
Advise HR Southwest if you have been contacted by Fairguide.com/Construct Data and what the current status of this communication is.
Forward details of all communication to the following contacts:
Federal Trade Commission
Office of Business Fraud
600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20580
Tel. +1(202)326-2800
Fax +1(202)326-2034
E-mail: OIG@ftc.gov
The Austrian Embassy—Washington, D.C.
Austrian Ambassador to the United States
3524 International Court, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel. +1(202)895-6711
Fax +1(202)895-6773
The U.S. Embassy—Austria
Boltzmanngasse 16
A-1090 Vienna
Tel. (+43-1)31339-0
Fax (+43-1)310 06 82
E-mail: embassy@usembassy.at
Mr. Burger Scheidlin—head of white-collar crime in Austria
E-mail: maximilian.burger-scheidlin@wko.at
HR Southwest
Yvette Remschel, CMP
4100 Spring Valley Rd, Ste 300
Dallas, TX 75244
Tel. (214) 631-7476, x 22
Fax (214) 631-4533
E-mail: yvette@hrsouthwest.com
We hope that this information is useful for those who may currently be involved in a dispute with Fairguide.com, and hope it serves to warn all other exhibitors of the potential harm. If we can provide any further information or assistance, please let me know.
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