NOTT MARKETING SERVICES

What to do when they get your number

In the spring and summer months of 2011, I recall many call-center solicitations for 'local yellow pages' inclusion. Of course the callers sounded foreign, not local, and always asked to speak to the person authorized to make decisions about advertising. They could not pronounce my name, even after I introduced myself, although they had to confirm my physical address and business name. They mentioned a 'free ad'. I agreed in the first ten or twenty calls, to a free ad ONLY, and don't recall detailing my business hours, a description of my services, or other premium information.
In late summer there was a call that was different, though. I apparently owed the "YellowPages Local Directory" company $ 499 for my listing, which was free every time I got those painful scripted calls supposedly recording me accepting the free ad. I had a yelling match and hung up on the guy after telling him I do NOT want ANYTHING they are selling or giving away.

Came home from work one day in late October and there was a message from a collection agent warning me about my delinquent bill- he rattles off an account number as well as an invoice number. I intuited that this had something to do with my difficulty with call centers in the summer, and began investigating the company online. A few weeks later he got me in person, and I had him mail an invoice so I could make copies to send to complaint departments.

BIG CITY YELLOW PAGES. These guys are no longer in business under this name. An offshore call center confirms the business address for the introductory free listing, but the business owner has to telephone or go online to cancel the account within a certain period to avoid the premium ad charge ON THE COMPANY TELEPHONE BILL.

YELLOWPAGES LOCAL DIRECTORY 1320 State Route 9 #18151, Champlain, New York. I just resolved my complaint with the Upper New York State Better Business Bureau with these guys- you may see their rating of F and details of customer complaints on the BBB website. I got calls ALL SUMMER from call center people who barely spoke English about "my free listing" on their online directory. Well, free is okay, right? WRONG!!! You are recorded saying "yes" that you are the authorized person to speak to about advertising. If you receive a call from these jokers, HANG UP. HANG UP and block them from your telephone. Report them to the FTC for violating your registration on the No Call List. DO NOT waste time with these people. See if you can find the listing for your company on their site- my website design company was in the "Boat Dealers and Sales" category, with no premium features, no business description, no website link, no business hours... ALL these "premium features" were itemized on this invoice they sent me. With the help of the Upper NY Stete BBB, they sheepishly deleted my info from the database when I called them out on this $500.00 ad I never ordered.

'LOCALUSPAGESONLINE.COM'- this is not a real company. Some foreign fellow who could barely get the words out in English opens with "I understand you want to cancel your account with Local US Pages Online?" to which I answered that I did not have any account with this company, and the internet says they do not exist. I told him I have never heard of the company. He says I must not be in the United States, then, because they are local yellow pages. I asked the poor fool three times what the URL was and checked while he was on the line- no such place. Hung up on him too.