Hi,

I was wondering if any one knew of a way that you can confirm if a foreign company is genuine. I would like to order something from a company based in Germany, however the purchase would be several thousand pounds and I don't want to find myself conned. I'm pretty sure it's genuine, but I'd like to be 100% sure. I don't have any payment protection on any of my accounts that I am aware of to cover any problems. I have a had a quick look on google for reviews and can't find any though not too surprised because of the nature of the product.

Cheers!

Nathalie

Hi -- The "Büergel Wirtschaftsinformationen" is the German equivalent of our companies house, click the link then the Union jack flag to get contact details in English.

http://www.buergel.de/index.php

Your other precautionary measure should be to pay for the item using a credit card if at all possible, you even have protection for the full amount where you have paid a deposit as long as the goods are over £100 up to £30k. This protection applies and extends to overseas purchases, under the consumer credit act 1974 in the same manner as an item bought in the UK, in the event no delivery or refund is made or the firm went bankrupt.

I am intrigued as to what you're intending to buy, if you feel like disclosing. ?

Thanks a lot, that's really useful I've just sent them an email. I do have a credit card, so by law I am guaranteed to get the money back if the company is a con (even if I don't pay a deposit)?

Yes, if you pay the whole lot by CC or even ony a deposit providing the goods are over £100, then you are covered for the full amount of money that you have paid on the transaction. i.e. even if the balance was sent by a cheque.

I asked them today what payment methods the company accepts. They said they prefer bank transfer and that I would pay 50% up front and 50% after delivery. Does this sound right to you? It sounds a bit funny to me but then I don't know how they do things in Germany. 50% up front is still a lot of money (approx £2500), so that doesn't really reassure me. This site has been up for at least a year though, if it was a scam would it have disappeared by now?

Hi -- What they "prefer" and what they get is not necessarilly the same thing, they will prefer this because there is often a handling charge to them from accepting a card payment.

However you are the customer, tell them to forget the deal if they are not prepared to accept a CC as you don't have any other way of funding it otherwise........I bet they will see it your way then and accept, if they think they are not going to get your business. !

Or suggest 50% upfront by CC with the balance payable by bank transfer upon delivery. I would not risk making a totally unprotected transfer of £2500 from my bank account, even if I knew the company and it was UK based. !

Thanks for the advice, I'll tell them I'll pay by credit card first. If they say no, then they're definitely dodge! Most if not all online companies should have a card payment facility I would have thought. The thing is I'm now left with the dilemma of purchase protection. I called up the credit card company to ask if the purchase was covered if paid in installments and they said no, it has to be paid for in full. However I might not have explained it properly. I'm going to see Nationwide this week anyway so I'll ask again.

Hi -- It is covered in full as long as you pay over £100 for the goods, I will find you the relevant legislation shortly in the consumer credit act 1974.

I would not part with anywhere near that amount of money to an unknown German company, unless it had the protection of the consumer credit act.......Here you are Section 75

What's more, even if you've only paid a deposit of, say, £1 on your credit card, you can claim a refund of the entire cost of the goods.

.......................................................

Credit Cards: Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, if you use a credit card to buy goods or services costing more than £100 and the goods or service prove to be defective, you will have an equal claim for compensation against both the seller of the goods or service and the finance company. Section 75 (equal liability) applies only to credit transactions. The finance company does not have any liability for purchases paid for by charge cards because these are debit cards, not credit cards. American Express and Diners Card are examples of debit cards.

Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, if you use a credit card to buy goods or services costing more than £100 and the goods or service prove to be defective, you will have an equal claim for compensation against both the seller of the goods or service and the finance company. Section 75 (equal liability) applies only to credit transactions. The finance company does not have any liability for purchases paid for by charge cards because these are debit cards, not credit cards. American Express and Diners Card are examples of debit cards.

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Section 75) provides you with a valuable legal right when you buy goods or services on a credit card. If you buy something costing between £100 and £30,000 on a credit card (but not a debit card), you can claim against your card issuer if something goes wrong. What's more, even if you've only paid a deposit of, say, £1 on your credit card, you can claim a refund of the entire cost of the goods.

So, if goods are damaged, faulty or don't turn up, or the supplier goes bust, your card issuer wears the supplier's shoes and must make good your loss (under what's known as a debtor-creditor-supplier arrangement or connected lender liability).

Great, thanks! I'm going to print that off and wave it in the face of my cc company if it all goes pear shaped and the cc company runs a mile... I might just take the plunge now.

Thanks again conmankiller

You're welcome Nathalie, remember tell them, "it's my way .......or the Highway". !

You are the customer stay in control, I would have hated you to post back in a Month's time telling us you had been "conned," with no way of reclaiming your hard earned money. !

my way or the highway, I like that... I might get carried away with that phrase lol

I don't even want to think about what I would have done if that happened... I'll keep you posted on the final outcome. Fingers crossed!

Well thats the end of that, they say they don't have the facility to accept visa credit cards... a company that claims to serve the whole of europe doesn't accept a credit card as payment? Please. Is this possible??

I'm actually quite gutted now, it took me months to find something we liked and I'm back to square one ;(

Hmmm it's your gamble then, how much do you want the goods as opposed to the risks. ?

I had a good look round their website, there is no mention of them accepting a CC, although they claim to have been trading for the last 20 years,.... it's up to you now. !

They must be turning a lot of trade away through not taking CC, especially with the supply and installation service offered. How are people at a distance expected to pay otherwise...not everybody has the funds readily available in the bank.

Exactly, it seems odd to me that they would assume most would have funds spare.

It's not worth the risk, especially because the person who I'm buying it for would have been furious that I took such a risk in the first place lol!

I have one last option, I know someone who lives in Germany who might be able to find out if this company is legit. She would have quite a few connections also so if she can't find out she will probably know someone who can. Fingers crossed again.

I spoke to my German friend last night and surprisingly she has already got back to me. She made a few calls and turns out the company is legit. He's not a stonemason himself but a middleman. She got mixed reviews about the company, the design and intricacy of the work was very good but the sandstone he imports is from Poland and is of poor quality. However she said the marble is fine which is what I'm going for anyway.

Apparently the design I want he stole from another company and that company has offered to make the piece for me. So now I have two companies to choose from... I should have just spoken to her from the start lol.