From: Aleksander Boyd To: Bruce Gaston <B.Gaston@cdnet.at> Date: Jun 15 2005 - 3:14pm
Dear Mr Gaston, After doing a bit of internet research about the company you represent, I find most interesting the very many instances in which your company has been denounced for improper conduct before authorities of different European countries. It has even been referred to as a "rogue trader" [sic] by the European Advertising Standards Alliance. This being the case, I hereby inform you that Vida Organica will not pay the Fairguide or Construct Data Verlag AG any monies and I demand, in unequivocal terms, that my company details are immediately removed from the Fairguide website. Cordially, Aleksander Boyd 9, Cleveland Court Cleveland Street London W1T 6NH T: +44 (0) 20 7387 0189 M: +44 (0) 7958 425670 W: http://vidaorganica.com Bruce Gaston wrote: Dear Sir, Further to your e-mail, we went to our management to ask for their opinion. With a view to settling the matter once and for all, they are prepared to offer you (exceptionally and without prejudice to Construct Data Verlag's rights): either an immediate cancellation against a single payment of EUR 1650. The amount represents the minimum sum that would cover the set-up, maintenance and administrative costs for your insertion, as well as compensating for loss of business, or a reduction of the duration of your order to two years (keeping your entitlement to all ancillary services e.g. free updates to your integrated website). They ask that you confirm your preference in writing, so that we could register the status in our accounts department and provide the corresponding invoice immediately. Thank you. Yours faithfully, i. A. Mag. Bruce Gaston Customer Services +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Construct Data Verlag AG Ortsstrasse 54 2331 Voesendorf Austria tel +43-1/6994077 fax +43-1/6994077-992 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Aleksander Boyd Gesendet: Montag, 16. Mai 2005 15:06 An: Bruce Gaston Betreff: Re: AW: AW: AW: AW: AW: Copy of your Order 95311 for minimum three periods of insertion in The FAIR Guide Wichtigkeit: Hoch Dear Mr Gaston, I am still waiting to hear from you re a sensible and mutually beneficial way of settling this issue. Please do forward your views in that respect. Cordially, Aleksander Boyd 9, Cleveland Court Cleveland Street London W1T 6NH T: +44 (0) 20 7387 0189 M: +44 (0) 7958 425670 W: http://vidaorganica.com Bruce Gaston wrote: Dear Mr Boyd, Further to your e-mail of 14.03.2005, we are aware that your order resulted from a failure to read our form before signing it, but would like to specify again that by the time you contacted us on 07.02.2005, we had already accepted your legally valid order for a full-size advertisement in the FAIR Guide, acted upon it, and created your company's full-size insertion and integrated website. By this stage we had incurred considerable costs and we cannot simply write them off and bear the full loss for an oversight occurring outside our control. We remain open to discussion to find an agreement that both parties can live with, but as a businessman yourself you will understand that your offer to pay approximately 0.36% of the cost of an insertion cannot possibly be considered, when the full price for a full-sized insertion is EUR 2913. We have worked hard to set up and maintain the high quality of our product and our costs are more than justified, given the guide's complexity and worldwide scope. We do not offer pro rata advertising rates and you can certainly not think that EUR 10 (GBP 7.50) would be sufficient to cover our costs, let alone compensate us for loss of business. Please return to us with a sensible offer for the consideration of our management. Yours faithfully, i.A. Bruce Gaston -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Aleksander Boyd Gesendet: Montag, 14. März 2005 15:28 An: Bruce Gaston Betreff: Re: AW: AW: AW: AW: Copy of your Order 95311 for minimum three periods of insertion in The FAIR Guide Dear Sir, I have just re-read the copy of the original order place with your company. If I have understood correctly not only do we have to settle this year's invoice of £674.55, what's more given the duration of the contract you will also charge us, presumably, equal amounts each of the next two years. I have been sufficiently clear, since first writen and electronic communication, vis-a-vis my definite desire to not have any business with your company. My naive and misinformed belief that such service was but part of the package I bought from Full Moon Productions has been a mistake on my part. However the realisation of such err came pronto upon receipt of invoice dated 03.02.05 and that very same day [07.02.05] I sent two emails to your company [ [email protected] and [email protected] ] with the following message: To whom it may concern, I have just received an invoice [No F185195/95311] of an order [No 95311] dated 28.09.2004 [customer Nr. 52987826] of 674.55 pounds Sterling for "Advertisement entry in the FAIR-guide for 1 year". I do no recall having ever read or having been informed by either Natural Products Europe or you of the costs involved in the said order, therefore we are not willing to pay the said amount. Furthermore we do not wish for our company's name or details to be included in your registry at such an exorbitant price. Please take our company's data off your guide. Cordially, These were followed by yet another email and a letter, all with similar content. In further communications I have been explicit about not wanting to have my company's details listed in your directory, expressing that I would be willing to pay for the days elapsed since insertion to day of first electronic communication [07.02.05] alas you have ignored my requests to have these removed. In your latest email you spoke about your duly noting of my penchant for misintepretation and you further invite me "to start factual and constructive dialogue to resolve the matter amicably" [sic]. I do not know what sort of understanding have you got for "factual and constructive dialogue" thus let me hear it from you then. Cordially, Aleksander Boyd 9, Cleveland Court Cleveland Street London W1T 6NH T: +44 (0) 20 7387 0189 M: +44 (0) 7958 425670 W: http://vidaorganica.com Bruce Gaston wrote: Dear Sir, It has not escaped our attention that you have chosen to misinterpret our sincere acknowledgement of your decision to refuse to find a settlement that we can also agree to. Your propensity to interpret documents on the basis of isolated phrases taken out of context (i.e. order submission form) has been duly noted. Please feel free to contact us when you are ready to start factual and constructive dialogue with a view to resolve the matter amicably. Yours faithfully, i.A. Bruce Gaston -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Aleksander Boyd Gesendet: Donnerstag, 3. März 2005 18:18 An: Bruce Gaston Betreff: Re: AW: AW: AW: Copy of your Order 95311 for minimum three periods of insertion in The FAIR Guide Dear Sir, In any case the only mutually accepted compromise that I am prepared to accept is to pay for the settlement of four day inclusion since the date of issue of invoice to the date I communicated my firm desire to have our company details removed from your database and website. I have not chosen to close the channels and such language will not deter me from defending my rights. As stated I was led to believe that the inclusion of our contact details and company information was part of the package purchased to Full Moon Productions. I also express explicitly that I did not want for said details to continue to be posted in your website and database. Ergo, from a stricly legal perspective, at best I reckon you have a very weak case. I do not know what sort of policies you pursue as a company vis-a-vis customer satisfaction but certainly threats with international collection agencies figure in my taxonomic dictionary of B2B relationships as mere bullying. Hence for the umpteenth time I demand the immediate removal of Vida Organica Ltd data from your database and website and I hereby declare that I do not wish to have commercial relationships of any sort or nature with Construct Data Verlag AG, the FAIR Guide, or any subsidiary that the aforementioned entities may have. Cordially, Aleksander Boyd 9, Cleveland Court Cleveland Street London W1T 6NH T: +44 (0) 20 7387 0189 M: +44 (0) 7958 425670 W: http://vidaorganica.com Bruce Gaston wrote: Dear Sir, We are in receipt of your letter. We are sorry that our Customer Services Department can be of no further assistance to you in attempting to resolve the ongoing matter. We remain committed to finding a mutually acceptable compromise should this be your wish, yet we cannot ignore the terms and conditions set up to protect your rights as a customer and our interests as a service provider. You have chosen to close the channels of communication but this will not affect our actions regarding your order. If no settlement can be agreed then you will continue to receive reminders that can only be stopped by the payment of the due invoice. Failure to remit the due monies will result in an international collection agency being engaged to recover the full sum owed. Yours faithfully, i.A. Bruce Gaston -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Aleksander Boyd Gesendet: Dienstag, 1. März 2005 16:57 An: Bruce Gaston Betreff: Re: AW: AW: Copy of your Order 95311 for minimum three periods of insertion in The FAIR Guide Wichtigkeit: Hoch Dear Sir, as stated we will not settle the payment for we do not want to be included in your guide. Please remove our company details from it immediately and note that the said removal [...furthermore we do not wish for our company's name or details to be included in your registry at such an exorbitant price...] (sic) was requested by us the very same day I received your invoice on February the 7th, on email message addressed to [email protected] and [email protected] , by which time our company details would have been posted on your guide for four days according to date of invoice. Cordially, Aleksander Boyd 9, Cleveland Court Cleveland Street London W1T 6NH T: +44 (0) 20 7387 0189 M: +44 (0) 7958 425670 W: http://vidaorganica.com Bruce Gaston wrote: Dear Mr Boyd, We must ask you again to refer to the order conditions printed on your order form. We are confident that we do not have to advise you that a contract can only be cancelled when the other contractual party agrees to it and with respect to the terms and conditions governing the agreement. We remain ready to start constructive dialogue with a view to resolve the matter amicably but a simple cancellation whereby Construct Data carries the full costs is commercially not acceptable. Yours faithfully, i.A .Bruce Gaston -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Aleksander Boyd Gesendet: Donnerstag, 24. Februar 2005 11:04 An: Bruce Gaston Betreff: Re: AW: Copy of your Order 95311 for minimum three periods of insertion in The FAIR Guide Wichtigkeit: Hoch Dear Sir, as stated we will not settle the payment for we do not want to be included in your guide. Please remove our company details from it immediately and note that the said removal [...furthermore we do not wish for our company's name or details to be included in your registry at such an exorbitant price...] (sic) was requested by us the very same day I received your invoice on February the 7th, on email message addressed to [email protected] and [email protected] , by which time our company details would have been posted on your guide for four days according to date of invoice. Cordially, Aleksander Boyd 9, Cleveland Court Cleveland Street London W1T 6NH T: +44 (0) 20 7387 0189 M: +44 (0) 7958 425670 W: http://vidaorganica.com Bruce Gaston wrote: Dear Sir, Further to your e-mail, we note its contents but are not entirely certain how you could have reached the conclusions stated in it. All the necessary information was on the form you signed (a copy of which is enclosed). The FAIR Guide ( www.fairguide.com ) is an Internet publication that lists details of trade fairs, shows, etc. and their organisers and participants all over the world. The reason the Natural Products Europe Fair was mentioned on the form is because your company is listed under this show in the FAIR Guide. The name is included for information purposes only. To avoid any possibility of confusion our order form states in the second paragraph: "The FAIR Guide is independent, objective and not affiliated to any organiser or marketing association". There are two ways of being included in the Fair Guide. You can use the form to either correct/update the free-of-charge, single line entry, showing basic data only (company name, address, phone, fax and e-mail), or order a full-sized insertion, and integrated website, allowing for comprehensive data to be published. You have ordered the second of these. All business conditions, including price, are in the paragraph "Order" immediately above the space for a signature, confirming the order. On receiving the form, we acted in good faith and created for your organisation a full-sized insertion, and integrated website. Since we have provided the services ordered we have a right to expect payment for them. Our business conditions (given on the form) do not permit a cancellation at such a late date and we cannot simply write off costs incurred for services provided in good faith. We therefore request settlement of our invoice. Yours faithfully, i. A. Mag. Bruce Gaston (Customer Services) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Construct Data Verlag AG Ortsstrasse 54 A-2331 Voesendorf Austria tel +43-1/6994077 fax +43-1/6994077-992 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Aleksander Boyd Gesendet: Freitag, 18. Februar 2005 12:03 An: Bruce Gaston Betreff: Re: Copy of your Order 95311 for minimum three periods of insertion in The FAIR Guide Wichtigkeit: Hoch Dear Mr Gaston, many thanks for your reply. As stated in previous emails and letter, I was unaware of the high cost of this service and I was led to believe that said inclusion was part of the package offered to exhibitors of the Natural Products Europe Fair held in Olympia last April, organized by Full Moon Productions. However complete and functional the service of the Fair Guide may be, we are not going to pay for that inclusion for the reasons aforementioned. Cordially, Aleksander Boyd 9, Cleveland Court Cleveland Street London W1T 6NH T: +44 (0) 20 7387 0189 M: +44 (0) 7958 425670 W: http://vidaorganica.com Bruce Gaston wrote: Dear Sir, Further to your e-mails and letter, you can see from the attached copy of the order form that an order was placed with us for full inclusion in the Fair Guide under the conditions stated in the paragraph "Order", confirmed by legally binding signature. All necessary information - our services, the two types of entry in the guide, our contact details and all business conditions including price and duration of the order - are printed on this form. Your company has placed an order for a full-sized insertion and integrated website, allowing for comprehensive data to be published. This includes: a. an enlarged database insertion with your company name, address, telephone and fax number, and links to your e-mail and homepage address, b. an "Integrated Website" which can be created individually for your requirements. This website can have 4 subpages: a "Homepage" where again your basic data is shown, "Further Details" for your company profile, "Products" for description of your products and services, "Agencies and Representations" for the basic data of such agencies / representations / subsidiaries and their short presentation. c. a free fax contact service for clients / business partners Moreover, our paying customers are prioritised in any searches carried out through the main website and can maximise their search profile by specifying ten keywords. Your insertion is linked to all the fairs you participate in that we know of. Please let us know if we have missed any out. Your full-size insertion and integrated website were created by us and have been published online since 03.02.2005. They can be viewed through the search facilities on our website www.fairguide.com . Please note the navigation buttons to take you to other pages. Orders last for a minimum period of three years. A premature cancellation is not possible. The currently valid specifications Exh/Adv for the completion and maintenance of clients' insertions are published under http://www.fairguide.com/docs/exh_adv.pdf . This service is included in the amount invoiced per year, and we are at your disposal for any corrections and updates needed at no further cost. We trust that this information clarifies your query and that the invoice can now be settled. Please contact us if you have any other questions. Yours faithfully, i. A. Mag. Bruce Gaston (Customer Services) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Construct Data Verlag AG Ortsstrasse 54 A-2331 Voesendorf Austria tel +43-1/6994077 fax +43-1/6994077-992 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Attachment: <<A95311.pdf>>