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   124700.jpg','npics2','');)  BEWARE - European City Guide - could be an expensive mistake!by Brian Everall
Don't fall for this one! I have this morning received a document purporting to be an application form for a business listing in something called the European City Guide, it's an official-looking document bearing what might be mistaken, at first glance, for an EU logo. It's simple enough to authorise, just check some basic company information such as name, address, etc., notify them of any changes in the box provided, sign at the bottom and hey presto! You will now represent both your company and your city in their "inter-professional Guide on CD-Rom and Internet". Great! But who are they? Is it the EU Commission themselves? Has Mandy, sorry LORD Mandelson, come up with yet another wonderful plan to save the economy? Er, well, no (on both counts). Let's take a closer look at that form shall we? Firstly, that official looking logo, shouldn't those flags be stars? And wait a minute, if you look carefully at the small print along the left hand edge the words...Martinez Cubells ….Valencia....This company is not linked to where the Institutions of the European Commission are printed. All well and good I suppose, a bit like those diaries which were sold to help a police benevolent fund, but didn't. The real rub however comes in the final paragraph, just above the signature panel...wait for it: "The cost per addition is Euro 997" (that's over £850 by current exchange rates) and if that's not enough, your signature authorises a further TWO editions, that’s a total of Euro 2991.00 (£2550.00) - now it's getting expensive! They haven't finished yet: unless you notify the publishers by a certain date each year the contract automatically renews. The T & C's read like a death sentence, all in all I think it's worth checking over this form and making sure some well-meaning member of staff doesn't just sign it and dump you in it!
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