A Kilkenny-based company has collected revenue from hundreds of businesses in Ireland and Wales for entries in tourism guides which were not subsequently printed.
Trailblazer Publications, however, says it still intends to deliver the service promised to subscribers, who include hotel, guesthouse, B&B and visitor-attraction operators. Some subscribed four years ago.
The company's Welsh office closed this year after it failed to pay rent for nine months. It ignored court proceedings taken against it by its landlord at the Aberystwyth Science Park.
It also received about €35,000 in EU funding last year for a website project, backed by the South East Regional Authority, which is now behind schedule. A number of former staff also claim they are owed wages by the company.
Trailblazer ceased trading last month, but has not been wound up, and its founder and chief executive, Mr Chris Fleming, said he was endeavouring to save the business. "I have put too much of my life into this and I am not walking away from it."
Trailblazer was started in 1996 as a producer of printed guides with local-area maps and a range of tourism information, from accommodation to visitor attractions. It later launched an interactive website on the same theme.
A number of accommodation-providers in Ireland and Wales have told The Irish Times they paid sums ranging from €250 to €500 for entries on the website and in the printed guide. They said the website entry had generated no business and the guides had not been printed.
Mr Timmy Donovan, the owner of Sean's Bar in Athlone, a popular venue with tourists, said he paid "at least £300" to Trailblazer about two to three years ago.
"They had a great set-up on the computer. They were to set up a web page for ourselves, with facilities for e-mails to come in directly to us. We never got an e-mail as a result, and the web page was not delivered. As a direct result of the experience I refuse to advertise with any of these companies."
Ms Judith Russell, owner of the Rhydlewis House guesthouse in Fishguard, said a Trailblazer representative called on July 18th last year. She paid £197 sterling to be on "this all-singing, all-dancing" website, as well as a printed guide, to be available in time for the 2002 summer season. "I got zilch response from the website, and the guide was not printed," she said. Other guesthouse and B&B owners told The Irish Times they had similar experiences.
Mr Fleming said he had to "hold my hands up" regarding the printed guides. The company had spent a lot of money developing the website and did not have the resources to pay printers. He still intended to print them, however.
The website, www.trailblazerworld.com, was a "quite unique" service that was not available anywhere else. It used maps in an innovative way and enabled people checking accommodation or visitor attractions to find information about other facilities in the area.
The company was "its own worst enemy" and had failed to promote the site properly. Trailblazer was, effectively, providing subscribers with their own website "and they don't even know it yet". In response to complaints that the website had generated no business for clients, he said they could be receiving e-mails via the Trailblazer site without realising it.
The company, he said, had had "a rotten six months" and been hit by the general decline in the dot.com sector.
It had not turned up in Wales to challenge the court proceedings taken against it for non-payment of rent because there was "no point". Its landlord company, Abersoft, secured a judgment against Trailblazer for £3,800 plus legal expenses at Aberystwyth County Court on March 19th.
Five former staff, four in Ireland one in Wales, told The Irish Times they were owed wages by the company. Mr Fleming said it was true that about four sales staff had left without being paid in full because the company did not have the money. Sales staff had been paid a good basic salary and had not been successful in raising much revenue for the company.
