It was supposed to be a pro forma contract. Signed, in theory, not to buy anything but, on the contrary, to sell books and objects bought in the past years from a well-known publishing house. In the end, however, a 72-year-old invalid, a resident of Treviso, discovered despite her that she had signed the forms for the purchase of a very precious bible: the Anjou Bible.
A copy to tell the truth, given that the original is a priceless manuscript, kept in Belgium. A facsimile, however, sold at a not exactly negligible cost: 22 thousand and 500 euros. The old woman had turned to the publishing house to sell what she had bought in the past, instead she saw a seller arrive at the house, who, complete with a tag, invited the pensioner to sign some forms which were in fact a contract for the purchase of the precious text.
The story falls into the category of so-called “door-to-door scams” since the seller with a series of verbal subterfuges hid from the victim the real nature of the contract he was going to sign. Husband and wife then decided to contact the Adico to cancel the contract. The spouses contacted the seller several times to cancel the contract. Uselessly. The man on the phone, never answered. The publisher’s reassurances regarding an imminent contact with the seller were also useless. What never happened.
“Right now our client finds herself with a more than onerous contract for a bible she didn’t request – says Carlo Garofolini, president of Adico -. As we always do in door-to-door selling when we find that the prospective customer has been tricked into signing a contract presented as a non-economically binding form, we will request cancellation even if we are past the off-premises withdrawal deadline. In this mishap, a bitter taste remains in the mouth also due to the poor health conditions of our partner, a circumstance that has not affected the very determined commercial. We need to understand what the real level of involvement of the publishing house is which, being a historic and prestigious company, we expect to proceed immediately with the cancellation of that pharaonic contract ”he concludes.
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