Watch out for Euro directory, warns FPB

by Ewan Turney

The Forum of Private Business has warned that one of the 'most devious' scams offering free listings in a Euro business directory could target pubs.

The FPB said the bogus directory offer was one of the most deceptive that it had come across.

Small businesses, such as pubs, are sent a form that seems to offer a free listing in a business directory. But companies filling in the form could end up being charged a small fortune.

The FPB said one of its members had received a bill for £2,000 for a three-year listing he thought was free.

'The key to listings like these is the wording,' said a FPB spokesman. 'The ones we have seen use some deliberately vague terms to lure people in. For instance they may say that updating a listing is free, it's only when you read the small print that you realise that by signing you are not updating, you are in fact inserting a listing that comes with a hefty price tag.'

He added: 'Having read through the small print, of which there is plenty, it seems that the listing company is under no obligation to do anything at all with the directory they compile - for all we know it might just sit on their shelf for three years.'

The FPB said it was difficult to prove these companies were acting illegally because of the amount of small print.

'However, moral boundaries are another matter entirely. It only takes a few companies to sign up to make it worthwhile for the people running the dodgy schemes.'