Author Topic: Companies that hide their address... why?  (Read 6190 times)

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Offline KarelTopic starter

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Companies that hide their address... why?
« on: May 05, 2023, 11:25:21 am »
I noticed that there are company websites that doesn't provide info about their (legal) address. Sometimes it's buried in some pdf you can download related to privacy.
Usually, the first thing I do when I'm searching on the internet for a certain service or materials, is to check if they are legit. That means I want to know their address.
When I cannot find it on their website, I usually skip them. What is it with those companies that they hide their address? (I'm not talking about email)
 
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Online tautech

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2023, 11:39:46 am »
What is it with those companies that they hide their address?
They just don't need the publicity.
Delivered equipment to such a company this morning.
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Offline KarelTopic starter

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2023, 12:42:56 pm »
What is it with those companies that they hide their address?
They just don't need the publicity.
Delivered equipment to such a company this morning.

Then why the website...
 

Offline David Hess

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2023, 01:32:25 pm »
When I come across this, then I figure they are doing something shady, or are performing a scam.
 

Offline Kjelt

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2023, 01:35:57 pm »
Or they like to produce and sell stuff not talk to salespeople all day long.
 

Offline David Hess

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2023, 01:57:03 pm »
Or they like to produce and sell stuff not talk to salespeople all day long.

If their customers cannot contact them, then they have no customer service problems.

 
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Online johnboxall

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2023, 02:08:10 pm »
Could be working from home, or a house rented for purely business purposes.
 
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Offline KarelTopic starter

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2023, 03:05:55 pm »
Or they like to produce and sell stuff not talk to salespeople all day long.

If their customers cannot contact them, then they have no customer service problems.

They all have an electronic contact form, but I would like to know the address before contacting them.
Also, the contact form does not show their email address but they do want to know mine...  :palm:
 
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Offline ejeffrey

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2023, 06:44:50 pm »
Probably because they don't want unannounced visitors?  Why do you need to know their physical location? 

Quote
They all have an electronic contact form, but I would like to know the address before contacting them.
Also, the contact form does not show their email address but they do want to know mine...

Because posting an email address publicly on a website is the fastest way to make that email useless.  It's much easier to bot-filter the web form, and after you submit it they will email you back within 1-2 business days.  Then you have their email address and can continue your conversation.  It's annoying, but I understand why the do it.

That said, what really turns me off is when the contact us form has a bunch of required fields beyond "what are you interested in". 
 
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Offline james_s

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2023, 07:07:50 pm »
This is exactly it, they don't want people dropping by. The company I work for has no receptionist, random people can't just walk into the office, and on many days most of the staff is working remotely anyway. If a person wants to contact the company they do so online and somebody will respond to them. There are loads of companies like this, they're not set up to deal with walk-ins and everyone working there is busy working, somebody will handle communications when it's convenient for them and they're not busy working.

There are also a lot of smaller companies that are run out of somebody's house with all business conducted through the internet. Almost nobody wants random strangers showing up at their home, and if it's a one man operation any synchronous communication takes time away from their job, it can easily cost an entire day if interruptions occur at a regular pace.
 
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Offline mendip_discovery

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2023, 08:33:15 pm »
Some use one of these buildings that just acts as an address for others. You will find 1000s registered to this address and it's just just for accounting as they are often just holding companies or there to hide the trail of money.

I find it annoying when I have to go to a customer and they obfuscate the address so it makes it a pain to enter into the satnav and even more fun to find once you are near as are a company within a company and the business name isn't known to anyone nearby.

So yeah I share your annoyance.

These days I take the attitude that if they don't supply accessible contact details then I just don't bother with them. Clearly they don't want my custom.
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Online tautech

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2023, 08:43:30 pm »
What is it with those companies that they hide their address?
They just don't need the publicity.
Delivered equipment to such a company this morning.

Then why the website...
To provide an avenue for contact and a face for the organization.

Potential employees and suppliers need some way to contact them and a person can filter the requests and not be besieged with walk in inquiry especially for high profile businesses, take the growing space industry as one example.

I have a few customers like such doing international work with a comparatively small local market.
2 quite recent customers that jump to mind do not show their physical NZ address and one in particular is a well known worldwide brand.  :-X 
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Offline ejeffrey

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #12 on: May 05, 2023, 09:13:44 pm »
Some use one of these buildings that just acts as an address for others. You will find 1000s registered to this address and it's just just for accounting as they are often just holding companies or there to hide the trail of money.

I find it annoying when I have to go to a customer and they obfuscate the address so it makes it a pain to enter into the satnav and even more fun to find once you are near as are a company within a company and the business name isn't known to anyone nearby.

So yeah I share your annoyance.

I'm not sure what you are saying.  You are visiting a customer and they give you a fake address?  Are they expecting you?  Did you schedule the visit?  Because if I am your customer and you have scheduled a meeting, I will make sure you have the correct address, not some PO box or paper address.
 
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Offline thm_w

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #13 on: May 05, 2023, 09:40:59 pm »
Sometimes if you search the company name on google maps it will show up.

I will admit it can be annoying if I'm trying to buy from the closest location, and the website doesn't give the city or province in the About or Contact page. I don't care about the full address though.
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Offline vk6zgo

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #14 on: May 05, 2023, 11:40:36 pm »
Probably because they don't want unannounced visitors?

Ones in blue uniforms?
 
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Online Halcyon

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #15 on: May 06, 2023, 05:57:28 am »
There are some valid reasons. For example, I actually have a business of my own (which I operate in addition to my day job). Sure, it's not generating huge turnover, but there are times where I'm asked to do contract work for various things, so I need to operate as a business entity as opposed to "doing a favour for a mate".

Because I'm a sole trader, I don't want my home address exposed. Even my business registration is not registered here, because of security concerns. It's not illegal and it's the way I choose to operate. If you're contacting me for work, it's because you've already met me, or you've been put in contact with me by someone else who knows me personally.

Whether I'm operating a business or not, my home address is private and should not be accessible to anyone other than who I choose to share it with.

If the Australian Taxation Office need to speak to me, they know how to reach me.
 
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Offline mendip_discovery

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #16 on: May 06, 2023, 06:22:14 am »
Some use one of these buildings that just acts as an address for others. You will find 1000s registered to this address and it's just just for accounting as they are often just holding companies or there to hide the trail of money.

I find it annoying when I have to go to a customer and they obfuscate the address so it makes it a pain to enter into the satnav and even more fun to find once you are near as are a company within a company and the business name isn't known to anyone nearby.

So yeah I share your annoyance.

I'm not sure what you are saying.  You are visiting a customer and they give you a fake address?  Are they expecting you?  Did you schedule the visit?  Because if I am your customer and you have scheduled a meeting, I will make sure you have the correct address, not some PO box or paper address.

I get a mix of issues, part of it is my works fault. At times my paperwork will have the address for the head office where the accounts are done. I need to find the site they have in Wilton and that is all I have. At times I am doing a different onsite each day so I don't have the head space to be planning and working out these issues until the night before or the morning of the job. Going to the main website and they don't list the addresses of the other sites just makes it tougher.

I have an address on my paperwork when you put the address into google maps I get the rough area that the firm is located but they could be anywhere on that industrial site or postcode area so I might not be on the right road so takes time to find them. Even worse when it's a company that has a different company in the building as they are doing a Trading As type thing.
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Offline jonpaul

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #17 on: May 06, 2023, 07:27:57 am »
On the web since 1995, any info like email address, phys address, name, can be mined by the bots and added to spam, fraude, and malware databases sold on darknet or by government and terrorist regimes...

We "munged" our site decades ago and have reduced the threats and spam to an extent.

Nowadays the  threat is constant and ever increasing...Russia, China, North Korea, Iran......

In case you need to check a firm's existence or rep, and it is listed on the US stock exchanges, just use the USA SEC EDGAR site,

https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch

search the name for the 10K, 10Q and other required corporate filings that are public info.

Be safe,

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Offline JPortici

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #18 on: May 06, 2023, 07:52:46 am »
Probably because they don't want unannounced visitors?  Why do you need to know their physical location?

Because
to check if they are legit
If you don't know the address, or the address is not legit you can't send the police in case of a scam. Been there.
 

Offline hans

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #19 on: May 06, 2023, 12:07:43 pm »
Or they like to produce and sell stuff not talk to salespeople all day long.

If their customers cannot contact them, then they have no customer service problems.

And it's a customer problem when they show up with an axe on your front step demanding a fix for some issue. Which may or may not be the shop's fault, at all. A customer can be tech-illiterate. Or as a webshop you rely on a manufacturer doing a proper refurb but still messes up. There are tons of legit reasons, but customers will be (sometimes stupid) customers and find reasons to be pissed off at you.
And then you still have someone with an axe on your door step.

Don't get me wrong. It indeed does sound a bit shady. But say you're an internet-only webshop. What purpose does a physical address have? Do you have a showroom?(internet-only=no) Do you have a service desk?(internet-only=no) Can gov find you?(yes, if need be) Then listing the address will only cause more problems:
- Unsolicited customer visits (legit questions or with an axe)
- Other companies trying to scam you by sending random invoices for "consultancy work" under a registered letter (e.g. claiming to have send you unsolicited advice in some other registered letter)
- etc.

Honestly I think hiding a visitor address isn't the worst. Sure, if a company is ignoring your  issue, then showing up physically can make it very urgent. But that also predisposes the kind of customers you will still find at your doorstep, and since we live in 2023 where many people order crap online (through Amazon or whatever), then as a business it will only cause problems. And here I'm assuming that business is doing legit work and trying their best. It's probably better to hand money back to these kinds of customers anyway, as you don't want to have these people as your customer.

I think companies that hide all human contact information is far worse. E.g. which number to call, or mail address to send,  if you have a problem with your private Facebook, Microsoft or Google account? There is none. They will have some FAQs with dummy tier troubleshooting, and a chatbot that refers to those articles. Yet I'm pretty sure that almost everyone (once had) an account at 1 or multiple of these companies. What a great way of doing business..

Then there are large physical corporations that make contact information unnecessarily hard to find, where I presume they do that to reduce costs (less people finding phone number = less calls = smaller call center). Mediamarkt in NL is a classic where it takes half a dozen 'correct' clicks to find their actual contact information, whereas on the Belgium website its literally 1 click on "contact" (maybe Belgian people like to skip BS?)

Honestly I was amazed that I could call a company like Apple the other day. I'm not trying to make out I'm a fanboy, because Apple in other ways is a horrible corporation. But when I had a problem with my (new) AppleID, they have a human chat service plus a phone agency that called me back the same day.
Yet I think their (only) physical store in NL is a 2hr drive away from me.

E-mail is a bare minimum, phone is nice for urgent questions.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2023, 12:11:31 pm by hans »
 
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Offline rodcastler

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #20 on: May 06, 2023, 12:37:47 pm »
I work for one of the largest tech companies in the world that has been around for more than four decades and is currently one of the leaders in the industry. The street address is nowhere visible on the website and that doesn't make the company it any less legit.
I also run a small business of my own, from home, and I don't publish my address anywhere on that website either because well, it's my home.

Back to the large company scenario, it makes no sense to publish a street address on the website. What for? Customer support is performed 100% digitally, so is product delivery, contract signing, payments, product development and so on. Plus, in the past 2 years we've been reducing office space everywhere towards a home office model so yes: you will find plenty of physical addresses on the web or some legal document but it will be of no use to our customers, at all.

We live in a world where your website IS your address. I can relate to the fact that for many of us a street address provides a certain sense of security, but to me that is merely a psychological matter, and I can anticipate the generations that come after us will not even think of this.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2023, 12:43:39 pm by rodcastler »
 
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Offline ebastler

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #21 on: May 06, 2023, 12:45:19 pm »
In the European Union, EU directive 2000/31/EC makes it a legal requirement that contact information and address are provided on any website which offers "information society services". Member states have to put appropriate national legislation in place, e.g. in Germany the "Telemediengesetz" (TMG).

That strange term "information society services" is defined broadly and includes e.g. online shops, online product catalogs, and other information offerings which serve a commercial purpose (and are typically, but not necessarily, offered for a charge). So there should not be much debate whether a EU-based commercial website makes the company's address available.
 
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Offline james_s

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #22 on: May 06, 2023, 05:58:15 pm »
I get a mix of issues, part of it is my works fault. At times my paperwork will have the address for the head office where the accounts are done. I need to find the site they have in Wilton and that is all I have. At times I am doing a different onsite each day so I don't have the head space to be planning and working out these issues until the night before or the morning of the job. Going to the main website and they don't list the addresses of the other sites just makes it tougher.

I have an address on my paperwork when you put the address into google maps I get the rough area that the firm is located but they could be anywhere on that industrial site or postcode area so I might not be on the right road so takes time to find them. Even worse when it's a company that has a different company in the building as they are doing a Trading As type thing.

That sounds like a problem with the company you work for rather than the companies you are visiting. If they are going to send you out to a customer site, it is their duty to make sure they have a correct and concise address included in the paperwork you get, along with any specific instructions for locating or gaining access. You should not be expected to rely on public internet sources to find your destination.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #23 on: May 06, 2023, 06:00:15 pm »
In the European Union, EU directive 2000/31/EC makes it a legal requirement that contact information and address are provided on any website which offers "information society services". Member states have to put appropriate national legislation in place, e.g. in Germany the "Telemediengesetz" (TMG).

That strange term "information society services" is defined broadly and includes e.g. online shops, online product catalogs, and other information offerings which serve a commercial purpose (and are typically, but not necessarily, offered for a charge). So there should not be much debate whether a EU-based commercial website makes the company's address available.

That's bizarre, and people actually operate home based businesses under those rules? There is no way I would do that, my home address is private, there is absolutely no reason for it to be publicly posted. Here standard practice for home based businesses is to use a PO box for all physical correspondence.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Companies that hide their address... why?
« Reply #24 on: May 06, 2023, 06:08:03 pm »
If you don't know the address, or the address is not legit you can't send the police in case of a scam. Been there.

If it's a registered business the authorities are able to get the physical address of the owner.

If it's a scam business they could just as easily list a fake address. Say you look on their site and it shows an address, you look that up on google and it's a nondescript business park a few hundred miles away, how do you know it's legit? Are you going to drive there and check it out before you do business? After you get scammed, maybe the authorities drop by and it turns out it's just an empty building, or occupied by some other business, what good did that do? Having a reasonable looking address doesn't mean the company is legit.
 


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