Monday, September 22, 2008
Report from Brussels: Lopez Paleaz defends the ECG
As time permits I will write up in more detail the proceedings of the Public workshop of the Petitions Committee in the European Parliament which was held on 11th September 2008.
For now I will concentrate on the presentation and answers of Francisco Lopez Palaez, who, flanked by his lawyer, spoke on behalf of the European City Guide (ECG). Mr Lopez Paleaz has fronted the ECG pretty much from the outset, and has steered the company though it’s unsuccessful legal defence in Barcelona and subsequent move to Valencia. He came to Brussels to speak at his own request. While I utterly oppose the business practices of Mr Lopez Paleaz, credit where it’s due for coming into the lions den to defend himself.
When asked to speak he immediately set about criticising StopECG, me, and Michael Plümpe (Who has to managed a German language website critical of the guides).
I had signed his form but never paid, and am apparently an anti-system activist pedalling defamation and insults, the website ties his company in with unconnected companies and even separate scams, while Plumpe associated with a known Paedophile. (These are all claims made on the German defamation site used by Ludenbach guides to attack those who criticize them.)
His clients are professionals, he gets requests to sign up and satisfied return customers. At one stage he held aloft the disputed form, pointing out that it required a signature, that the terms are on the back and that the price is in black. He stated that the form complies with the law (If not he would be punished) and that the client defence was free to the customer.
He stated that the ECG mails 6 and a half million forms per annum, 32 million in the last 6 years (This figure is far higher than I had estimated). He stated (To some mirth) that he complies with the law and has never been found guilty. He also caused amusement with his claim that he could not speak for the other guides (Common ownership of many of these guides being a proven fact)
Simon Busuttil MEP, who will soon author a report on the Petition asked
1) Why the form never mentions that it is an advertisement but the first letter sent to people who signed it does use the word?
2) Why the ECG had moved to Valencia?
3) Was the ECG found Guilty in Belgium?
Lopez Paleaz Replied
1) The form has the word ORDER in bold
2) Moved to Valencia because it was an up and coming town, (Admiral's Cup, Formula One, business friendly), No mention of his company’s conviction for misleading advertising in Barcelona!
3) The Rulings against the ECG are not firm rulings (Because the Brussles conviction is under Appeal) Later Mr. Lopez Paleaz’s own Lawyer would have to qualify this point because the Barcelona conviction is now confirmed with all appeal processes exhausted.
When asked why the ECG has such a poor relationship with its customers
Lopez Paleaz replied that the complaints were fuelled by the websites rather than genuine grievance.
Later the ECG’s lawyer would state that his client was not a crook, had traded in Spain (Barcelona and Valencia both being under Spanish Law) for over 10 years and had 46 employees. He said that the use of high pressure collection tactics and claims of imminent legal action did not constitute threats as the courts exist to resolve disputes.
Then came perhaps the most remarkable claim of the session, that the Majority of the ECG’s clients were satisfied.
In response I did not see it necessary to answer the personal attacks; however I did state one thing and I will repeat it here. I did indeed sign the ECG’s form and then refuse to pay, and if Mr. Lopez Paleaz believes I am in the wrong he should take me to court and sue me for breach of contract. In fact I want him to do this because I firmly believe that I could prove to the judge that the form I signed was misleading, was contrived with the intent to deceive me (Fraud) and is not a legally binding contract.
Regarding the claim that the Majority of the ECG’s customers are satisfied I have decided to institute the Lopez Paleaz Challenge, help me to find this silent majority! If you would like to assist in this please email me
For now I will concentrate on the presentation and answers of Francisco Lopez Palaez, who, flanked by his lawyer, spoke on behalf of the European City Guide (ECG). Mr Lopez Paleaz has fronted the ECG pretty much from the outset, and has steered the company though it’s unsuccessful legal defence in Barcelona and subsequent move to Valencia. He came to Brussels to speak at his own request. While I utterly oppose the business practices of Mr Lopez Paleaz, credit where it’s due for coming into the lions den to defend himself.
When asked to speak he immediately set about criticising StopECG, me, and Michael Plümpe (Who has to managed a German language website critical of the guides).
I had signed his form but never paid, and am apparently an anti-system activist pedalling defamation and insults, the website ties his company in with unconnected companies and even separate scams, while Plumpe associated with a known Paedophile. (These are all claims made on the German defamation site used by Ludenbach guides to attack those who criticize them.)
His clients are professionals, he gets requests to sign up and satisfied return customers. At one stage he held aloft the disputed form, pointing out that it required a signature, that the terms are on the back and that the price is in black. He stated that the form complies with the law (If not he would be punished) and that the client defence was free to the customer.
He stated that the ECG mails 6 and a half million forms per annum, 32 million in the last 6 years (This figure is far higher than I had estimated). He stated (To some mirth) that he complies with the law and has never been found guilty. He also caused amusement with his claim that he could not speak for the other guides (Common ownership of many of these guides being a proven fact)
Simon Busuttil MEP, who will soon author a report on the Petition asked
1) Why the form never mentions that it is an advertisement but the first letter sent to people who signed it does use the word?
2) Why the ECG had moved to Valencia?
3) Was the ECG found Guilty in Belgium?
Lopez Paleaz Replied
1) The form has the word ORDER in bold
2) Moved to Valencia because it was an up and coming town, (Admiral's Cup, Formula One, business friendly), No mention of his company’s conviction for misleading advertising in Barcelona!
3) The Rulings against the ECG are not firm rulings (Because the Brussles conviction is under Appeal) Later Mr. Lopez Paleaz’s own Lawyer would have to qualify this point because the Barcelona conviction is now confirmed with all appeal processes exhausted.
When asked why the ECG has such a poor relationship with its customers
Lopez Paleaz replied that the complaints were fuelled by the websites rather than genuine grievance.
Later the ECG’s lawyer would state that his client was not a crook, had traded in Spain (Barcelona and Valencia both being under Spanish Law) for over 10 years and had 46 employees. He said that the use of high pressure collection tactics and claims of imminent legal action did not constitute threats as the courts exist to resolve disputes.
Then came perhaps the most remarkable claim of the session, that the Majority of the ECG’s clients were satisfied.
In response I did not see it necessary to answer the personal attacks; however I did state one thing and I will repeat it here. I did indeed sign the ECG’s form and then refuse to pay, and if Mr. Lopez Paleaz believes I am in the wrong he should take me to court and sue me for breach of contract. In fact I want him to do this because I firmly believe that I could prove to the judge that the form I signed was misleading, was contrived with the intent to deceive me (Fraud) and is not a legally binding contract.
Regarding the claim that the Majority of the ECG’s customers are satisfied I have decided to institute the Lopez Paleaz Challenge, help me to find this silent majority! If you would like to assist in this please email me
Labels: ECG, Francisco Lopez Palaez, misleading advertising, professionals, Scam European city Guide, StopECG
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
An Open Letter to the owners of Expo-Guide
Dear Sir/Madam,
Having studied the forms currently being mailed by expo-guide and done comparisons with the forms formerly mailed by Construct Data Verlag (CDV) I have come to the conclusion that it is almost impossible that your forms were contrived without reference to Construct Data’s mailings
I fully accept that you may have accepted the design in complete innocence, that they it have been presented to you by a third party, and that as such this letter may represent your first warning of the problems these forms can cause.
A little history
CDVs forms were widely criticised, for over a decade the company profited from the fact that people would sign the forms in error, mistaking them for a communication from an exhibition organiser. CDV suffered numerous adverse rulings, both legal and from self regulatory organisations. When faced with such rulings they would amend the form slightly, but the aspects of the form which mislead were always maintained.
In early 2007 after a prolonged legal tussle with the Schutzverband gegen unlauteren Wettbewerb CDV found it necessary to modify their forms once again and the latest layout, (the layout to which expo-guides forms correspond) was conceived. I was in no doubt that the new form would mislead and I published an open letter to Wolfgang Valvoda, CEO of CDV telling him of my concerns and offering to assist in the design of a form that would not mislead
The letter went unanswered and the forms were indeed signed in error, in very large numbers. In November 2007 I was forced to publish a second open letter in which I concluded that Mr Valvoda was either remarkably inept or had set out with the intent to decieve, again he chose not to respond. Eventually the Schutzverband gegen unlauteren Wettbewerb forced deeper concessions from CDV who are now barred from mailing new forms from Austria.
Because CDV made concessions out of court the forms were never subjected to detailed scrutiny by a judge, which does not mean that they are legal!
The Forms you are mailing
So there you have it, expo-guide are in the position CDV found themselves in back in April 2007, you are mailing a form that I predict will be signed in error, you can fully expect that many who sign the new form will refuse to pay you.
You have clearly invested considerable money in this new project, with phone lines in six countries and a substantial website at http://www.expo-guide.com but your business model could be fatally flawed if you persist with the forms you are mailing at present.
Another Free offer
So once again I am willing to offer my time and experience to help your company design a form that cannot mislead, this offer comes with two provisos:
Jules Woodell - 16th June 2008
See StopECGs Advice page regarding expo-guide
Having studied the forms currently being mailed by expo-guide and done comparisons with the forms formerly mailed by Construct Data Verlag (CDV) I have come to the conclusion that it is almost impossible that your forms were contrived without reference to Construct Data’s mailings
I fully accept that you may have accepted the design in complete innocence, that they it have been presented to you by a third party, and that as such this letter may represent your first warning of the problems these forms can cause.
A little history
CDVs forms were widely criticised, for over a decade the company profited from the fact that people would sign the forms in error, mistaking them for a communication from an exhibition organiser. CDV suffered numerous adverse rulings, both legal and from self regulatory organisations. When faced with such rulings they would amend the form slightly, but the aspects of the form which mislead were always maintained.
In early 2007 after a prolonged legal tussle with the Schutzverband gegen unlauteren Wettbewerb CDV found it necessary to modify their forms once again and the latest layout, (the layout to which expo-guides forms correspond) was conceived. I was in no doubt that the new form would mislead and I published an open letter to Wolfgang Valvoda, CEO of CDV telling him of my concerns and offering to assist in the design of a form that would not mislead
The letter went unanswered and the forms were indeed signed in error, in very large numbers. In November 2007 I was forced to publish a second open letter in which I concluded that Mr Valvoda was either remarkably inept or had set out with the intent to decieve, again he chose not to respond. Eventually the Schutzverband gegen unlauteren Wettbewerb forced deeper concessions from CDV who are now barred from mailing new forms from Austria.
Because CDV made concessions out of court the forms were never subjected to detailed scrutiny by a judge, which does not mean that they are legal!
The Forms you are mailing
So there you have it, expo-guide are in the position CDV found themselves in back in April 2007, you are mailing a form that I predict will be signed in error, you can fully expect that many who sign the new form will refuse to pay you.
You have clearly invested considerable money in this new project, with phone lines in six countries and a substantial website at http://www.expo-guide.com but your business model could be fatally flawed if you persist with the forms you are mailing at present.
Another Free offer
So once again I am willing to offer my time and experience to help your company design a form that cannot mislead, this offer comes with two provisos:
- I would expect you to accept that your initial mailshots were a mistake, and where people state that they signed in error you should offer them the opportunity to rescind the contract.
- That in accepting a new design you take it in its entirety and do not modify it or alter the meaning when translating into other languages
Should Expo-guide continue to mail the misleading forms and/or demand money from those who have signed in error it will be hard not to conclude that it is your intent to mislead people. In that instance stopECG will campaign against you with the same zeal CDV experienced.
Should you wish to reply to any part of this letter, please let me know, your reply will be published here for all readers to see.
Jules Woodell - 16th June 2008
See StopECGs Advice page regarding expo-guide
Labels: Construct Data Verlag, contract, Expo-guide, misleading, Open Letter, StopECG, www.expo-guide.com
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Attacked Again
A sense of deja-vu this morning when I discovered that StopECG.org was offline, sending a few data packets revealed that half were lost and those getting through were slow. I contacted the host who confirmed that a massive amount of data was being thrown at the site in a deliberate attempt to take it offline.
This attack has been slightly more sophisticated than previous efforts however some quick work by the ever helpful folks at Gemini Data Loggers and a bit of tech wizardry by the upstream provider had us back online by lunchtime to spite the continuing attack.
This sort of activity is known as a denial of service attack, it is a criminal action and the police are investigating this and previous efforts to silence the site.
Why you might ask, would anyone waste the time, effort and money needed to launch such an attack, well it appears most likely a person or people exposed on StopECG.org would rather not have the truth about them revealed, unfortunately for them each attack increases the information we have on them, if the attacks continue it is only a matter of time before they are caught.
However it is best to minimise any downtime that results from such attacks, to do this we need more offers of hosting, if the site is mirrored and/or dns is easily switched when an attack begins then the site will remain available to readers at all times. If you can help by mirroring the site or by hosting it please get in contact, especially if you have the ability to take large bandwidth should an attack occur. Please also get in contact if you are able to offer any other technical expertise that would help us at this time.
Jules Woodell
This attack has been slightly more sophisticated than previous efforts however some quick work by the ever helpful folks at Gemini Data Loggers and a bit of tech wizardry by the upstream provider had us back online by lunchtime to spite the continuing attack.
This sort of activity is known as a denial of service attack, it is a criminal action and the police are investigating this and previous efforts to silence the site.
Why you might ask, would anyone waste the time, effort and money needed to launch such an attack, well it appears most likely a person or people exposed on StopECG.org would rather not have the truth about them revealed, unfortunately for them each attack increases the information we have on them, if the attacks continue it is only a matter of time before they are caught.
However it is best to minimise any downtime that results from such attacks, to do this we need more offers of hosting, if the site is mirrored and/or dns is easily switched when an attack begins then the site will remain available to readers at all times. If you can help by mirroring the site or by hosting it please get in contact, especially if you have the ability to take large bandwidth should an attack occur. Please also get in contact if you are able to offer any other technical expertise that would help us at this time.
Jules Woodell
Labels: denial of service, hosting, StopECG
