The International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) has reason to believe that www.expo-guide.com, a company operating out of Mexico, is targeting SEMA Show exhibitors and SEMA members to purchase a three-year commitment of advertising that is cleverly disguised as an offer of a free directory listing.
At this time, the IAEE has not determined if the Mexico operation is just a facade for Construct Data/Fairguide or if it is unrelated. Nevertheless, the operations of the two companies are remarkably similar. IAEE reports that Expo-Guide is actively targeting the exhibitor databases of many IAEE-member events. With this information, SEMA is warning members and exhibitors to be on the look out for this bogus offer of a free directory listing that may result in a three-year commitment costing about $1,500 annually.
The offer is in an all-too familiar format: "Verify that our information about your company is correct and you get a free listing in the exhibitor directory." However, the offer is a cleverly constructed three-year ad commitment for $4,500 that results in endless harassment and collection demands.
For more information, contact Gary Vigil at garyv@sema.org.