I was contacted by phone today by an association called Info Greffe, wanting my email address for a business registrar. Has anyone heard of them and are they a scam?
Looking back over this, although I cannot see a reason for being in any directory to begin with, it also strikes me that (like everywhere else) there are so many that only going in one seems pointless, going for all prohibitively expensive and anyway in either case there is no guarantee that any of them will bring in any business in the first place. Given the way we are all increasingly getting into the habit of web searches for services we need, isn't it a website we need and not a directory anyway? Beyond the simple fact, they are also considerably cheaper as a rule.
Already had ones from Registre des Creations and Registre APE and received one this morning from Infos-siret!
Yep, it's the same in the UK once you're in business, I was inundated with stuff there years ago. None of it is a scam, just advertising and directories that you probably don't need, same in any country really ;-)
I was just about to start a thread on AE scams. I have now had 3 letters from different organisations which look alarmingly like invoices. They are all for entries in directories and not obligatory. The first one really worried me so I checked it out with Valerie Lemiere. I'm wondering how many more of these I'm going to receive and how many people do get scammed.
The first was from Registre Des Creations who asked for 179.40 rising to 215.28 if not paid within 15 days.
The second was from infos-siret asking for an amount of 197.34
The third was from Registre APE asking for 234.54
To the poubelle with all of them!
It is info greffe. When I answered the phone a woman said she was from info greffe and wanted my email address, without any explanation. Then she tried to sound official as if it was something obligatory. But she said it was free. But I didn't give her my email address as I wanted to check it out first.
Following on from Andrew because he reminded me: Some of us would be on a register for no reason whatsoever. I do child or children's rights research in mainly developing countries and have a network with Geneva and New York as notional 'hubs', no NGOs in France I work for and whilst UNESCO is Paris based I believe that they are the only France based anything that has ever paid me. Now what earthly purpose would being on a register serve here?
Point. Think about what you are doing, perhaps look at existing registers (more than one) then evaluate whether or not there is a point.
it's not a scam, as long as they don't want any money! they have a very useful site where you can get the details of all officially registered business people www.infogreffe.fr/
but just to back up what the others have said - I haven't paid a penny for any annuaires or advertising in the three plus years I've been an AE, you don't have to, it's your choice ;-)
Louise: I have had a number of calls from them. I usually hang up once their 'salesperson' or whatever has done the slimy intro. My OH has had calls from them too. I once had a recall after hanging up, asked if the woman understood English and the told her that she would therefore understand 'F**k off' - although that obviously has no lasting effect. They may be legit for all I know but they are offering what I am not asking for so I do not want them. Anybody with advice on how to shake them off would be doing some of us potentially a favour.
bot heard of this one, but we did recently receive a letter asking for 99 euro to be in a register for herault. We ignored it.
It has a website but seems to be a search tool for people looking for types of companies, but it is not very clear as to what is is about.