Received mail from the business registrar?

At the moment we are receiving information from many readers that they have received mail from the business registrar!

The fantasy logo (coat of arms) in the top right corner makes the letter look official and for the recipient it appears as if it is an official business entry.

But that's not the case! Behind this letter is GES Registrat GmbH, based in Berlin.

All of the recipient’s data is already pre-filled. The recipient will be asked to complete or correct the data. He must then confirm this with his signature. This letter will be sent nationwide.

This letter is about:

Tobias Röttger from GGR Rechtsanwälte gave us the following statement:

The letter is extremely similar to the letters from GWE Wirtschaftsinformations GmbH .

The person concerned assumes that he is making an official entry and is not aware, due to the format of the letter, that it is a “worthless” private entry that requires a fee.

The costs are hidden in the running text on the right and are not highlighted in bold.

Screenshot / excerpt of the letter from the business registrar

It says:

Legal form, company name, telephone, fax, industry, e-mail and link to your website, description, highlighting, customer login, use of data sets, legal advice and credit information from partners. Contribution: EUR 588 annually including VAT. The check and calculation takes place once a year.

In a very similar case, the BGH recently decided that the “subscription rip-off service” cannot claim the alleged fees due to the hidden fee clause.

There was no contract at all here. Anyone who has received an invoice based on such a contract should dispute this alleged contract on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation and the insufficiently stated fee clause.

If you make payments, you will most likely never get your money back.

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What to do if you have received a letter from the business registrar?

Variant 1 – You have received a letter but have not signed anything yet and are annoyed by it

You can simply throw away the writing. If you feel harassed, you can have the business registrar issue a warning for interfering with your established and operating business.

Variant 2 – You have already signed the letter, sent it away and are now receiving the invoice.

You or your lawyer can dispute the invoice and the supposedly concluded contract, for example due to fraudulent misrepresentation and hidden payment clauses, and reject any payment.
Experience from similar cases shows that the operators of such “subscription traps” ignore any challenges and counter them with further reminder letters or even by engaging a debt collection agency. You have to remain steadfast here. There are two ways to deal with this: a) You just sit it out and wait to see if they actually sue.
Which almost never happens. b) You go on the offensive yourself and file a declaratory judgment action. As part of legal proceedings, the court will then determine whether the claims actually exist. If the court confirms our opinion that there is no claim, the other side must bear all costs. This option is particularly preferable if you really want to clarify the matter and don't want to be constantly bombarded with letters.

Variant 3 – You have already signed and paid the first invoice

In this case, an out-of-court repayment of the amount is usually of no use. You should, yourself or through a lawyer, send a maximum of one letter of repayment and then sue GES Registrat GmbH directly for reimbursement of the amounts already paid and for a determination that there are no further claims for the alleged contract term.

If you would like to take legal action against the claims of GES Registrat GmbH through a lawyer, you are welcome to contact ggr // gulden röttger Rechtsanwälte at [email protected] .