AT&T YellowPages.com does what they want

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Complaint

0
James
Country: United States
Hello,

A warning for anyone that gets a telemarketing call from AT&T YellowPages.com. My wife and I own a small mom and popbusiness and my wife received a call and listened to the person go through their services, but when he gave my wife the pricing she told him that she would speak with me and he'd contact her the next day. When the next day came she told him no not now.

They proceeded to bill us and said that from part of the conversation they consider it an ok for the expensive but totally useless service. A billion dollar company screwing over a mom and pop. Know they are trying to sue us for failing to make any payments in a service which we did not want.

I guess billion dollar companies and their lawyers think it's ok to screw mom and pop stores and my guess is that the idiotic court system will probably side with them since the supposedly have a voice recording, but coincidently without the end section nor the day after part just cut down to what the contracted telemarketer (who no longer with them for some undisclosed reason) are using as the ok. I guess that since they can no loger use their marketing tactic on people now they have started on mom and pop's.

Jim Tabele

Comments

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  • 0
    SmallBusinessOwner
    Here's an email I received from a Yellowpages.com Rep, calling the Bronze Listing a PRODUCT DESIGNED TO FAIL


    "Please be aware that I don't ever recommend anything less than a platinum listing for one very simple reason....I promise you will see absolutely no results by purchasing one. You would be better off taking that $32 per month and treating yourself to a nice lunch once per month because you won't get clients with it.

    I did not come by this information easily. When I first started at yp.com, I recommended them often in the interest of saving my clients money. In the end, they were disgruntled because they were so low on the page that they received no calls anyway and were wasting money.

    You told me yesterday that you believed the time had come to finally invest a little money into your marketing and I made the best recommendations in my professional experience to help you achieve your goals.

    Please trust in my expertise on this. It's not about me making extra money...that I promise you...it's about you not wasting yours on a product that is destined to fail (a bronze listing). I've learned the hard way over the years that if you don't put your best foot forward, you're better off staying off the stage.

    Please let me know what you think.

    Thanks,

    Dennis

    Dennis Amaral
    Account Manager
    YELLOWPAGES.COM
    460 Park Ave. 18th Floor
    New York, NY 10022
  • 0
    Ripped Off By AT&T -
    It is always nice to read posts from AT&T employees posing as honest consumers- it keeps their advertising decptions and daily activities shamefully congruent.

    I am looking forward to getting a class action suit, it looks as though thousands of people have been ripped off by AT&T.  The value of the name instilled trust in many of us, but AT&T no longer employee honest business practices and they are violating consumer rights by refusing to cancel contracts appropriately and by intentionally financially obligating consumers by deceptive sales tactics and "verbal" contracts.
  • 0
    Class Action Suit
    No one on this site is looking for an advertising and marketing sales pitch- we've all had enough of that from the endless sales calls.   THE ISSUE HERE IS WHETHER OR NOT AT&T IS USING DISHONEST SALES TACTICS AND VIOLATING CONSUMER RIGHTS BY ENGAGING IN ACTS THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TO END SERVICE. It is one thing to make a mistake by advertising with a company that promises you the moon but you find it does nothing for you.  Oh, well, live and learn- IT IS QUITE ANOTHER TO BE TRICKED, LIED TO AND FORCED TO PAY FOR THE SERVICE PAST THE INITIAL CONTRACT.  That is why the company fail when Date Line, 20/20 or whatever news show isn't owned in some way by AT&T exposes this dishonesty and destroys the last bastins of consumer trust AT&T banked on.
  • 0
    AT&T STEALS MONEY LEGALLY
    This lesson in advertising is a great 1980's model that hasn't been relevant for years.  People are upset because AT&T is lying about their services.  I'm glad your business is doing well and that AT&T has done right by you, but from the 500 or so complaints I have read about being lied to and contract problems, it should be obvious there are some real problems with honesty going on at AT&T.  It will likely end in a class action suit that takes 10 years to settle but at least they will be forced to stop their horrible practices of taking money from people by deceptive languages in contracts.
  • 0
    Modern Criminals
    Well..  Add me to the list,  AT&T has got me in this as well. See you in court.  Oh and PLEASE bring the voice verification and try to tell the judge its the same as the written contract that you were supposed to mail to me and have me sign and return Even after, I never received it nor did I/We sign ANYTHING!  Is this because I told you on 4 occasions we did not want your advertising?
  • 0
    Anon
    Yeah, I worked for them for years. I know the unethical tactics they use.  I still have some of the "training" emails.
  • 0
    former at&t yp employee
    I worked for them for nearly two years before i resigned.  the things some of the sales people did there were unthinkable.  the worst was when managers would go in and say we didnt have a contract to get people to sign.  they'd tell them they could cancel after a couple of months if they didnt get results.  once they opted to cancel, it was a "sorry, no can do, we'll downgrade you".  the sad part is that many business owners pay their bill due to fear of collections even though the program doesnt work well.  If they knew some of the unethical contract practices used by managers, they too would be upset.  they rip you off on search engine clicks and nobody looks at yellowpages.com for services.  so many clients of mine canceled because they didnt get a single job over a year's span.  it made me sick.
  • 0
    Shaun
    Hello, I was also ripped off by yellowpages.com  One Good thing was the video.  If Any of you have a video please call me or email me @ allamericandoor@gmail.com or 763.561.3667 I took that video and spread it all over the internet. I now have first page ranking on google with my videos. If you have a video, I can SEO it for google.   Want to see.  Go google garage door repair minneapolis mn,   You will see my video on front page of google with over FIVE THOUSAND VIEWS IN LESS THAN ONE YEAR. I have also grossed over $800,000 off google in the past few years. I can Help others if interested.
  • 0
    Lois Wingo
    Hi ,

    I have been ripped off by Yellow Pages.com my company name is not even appearing on the sites they promised me.  I;m a petsitter, and the bulk of my business takes place during Thanksgiving and Christmas, so far I have recieved 0 calls, unbelievable.  I would like to be included in your suit, I am also looking into an attorney myself.
  • 0
    The Truth About AT&T's Yellowpages.com
    AT&T Advertising Solutions and/or yellowpages.com Sales Reps and Sales Managers are nothing but lying, money hungry salesmen. "Beware"
    The only thing these Sales Reps care about it's your credit card.
    Bait and Switch everyday so they can get paid a nice commission check.
  • 0
    Chet Cook
    I signed up for AT&T Real Advertising and agreed to pay $270 per month for online clicks (60). in Ann Arbor, MI. I ask the sales rep a simple question, will my allowable clicks per month be in the Ann Arbor, Detroit area, NOT in some other part of the country. His answer, Yes. Plain and simple. Well, that's not true. I get maybe 3-4 clicks from the Ann Arbor, Detroit area and rest come from other parts of the country, which I do not service or want to service. Basically, I was told that because it's internet based there is nothing that they could do about it and I needed to pay my bill. What a complete scam. They don't care, and I can't afford a lawyer to fight them, so I'm stuck with this useless advertising program, that has yielded me $0.
  • 0
    Jesse
    I am a former Yellowpages.com employee. I can provide valuable information on the deceptive intentions of AT&T advertising. I will speak to attorneys only. contact me at 7179039766
  • 0
    rachelron
    | 1 reply
    People stop complaining and pay your darn bill. The problem with all of you is that because it is not print you think you can cancel at any juncture and we can just take it off. Hello, no different from verizon or yellowbook it is a 12 month contract.
    • 0
      Bob replies to rachelron
      The problem is that they hire non-qualified people & pay them close to nothing to be telemarketers. There telemarketing sales department is a revolving door of incompetent employees that know nothing about advertising. The company cares nothing about building relationships with it's customers & hires people like you. Since SBC (they just use the AT&T name) took over the company has nose dived in it's commitment to it's clients, integrity & it's obligation to it's employees.
  • 0
    michele12
    this is completely false. It discriminates against sales people. I am a christian I dont lie and have helped many people.You are a fully grown person I meet with people twice before they sign. Take responsibility for signing a contract and quit whining.
  • 0
    dankenny2
    Are you serious. You are a grown up take responsibility. You signed up to get the rep out of your house. Then your an idiot.
  • 0
    Stupid Moron
    Another AT&T plant.
  • 0
    Stupid Moron
    I was talked into a full page add in the 08 Orlando Bell South/AT&T Yellow page book and a Internet ad on YellowPages.com for $3000,00+ a month. They showed me a return of investment print out that stated 100 calls a month and with only 33 sold calls I would get $10,000.00 in sales.
    The most calls I got in a month from AT&T Yellow Page users was 15. And the most sales from people using AT&T ads for a month was $2000.00.
    I paid what I could each month but could not keep up with the bill. They sent me to a collection company named Credit Watch. They called every day and told me they would call my neighbors and tell them what a deadbeat I was and They are going to take my house. I told them that I know they can't do that because I was a corporation, but that did not seem to mater to them. I stopped answering there calls and then started getting calls from a different collection company. When the 1 year contract was over I continued to get a bill from AT&T for a $500.00 late charge each month. At that point I realized I would never be able to catch up and stopped paying the bill.
    I was served a summons Nov 24 2009 and am being sued for $44000.00+
    I can not believe that a company that I hired to make my phone ring and make my business successful is now destroying my company and life. I will have to close my business and file chapter 7 because the Yellow Pages do not work and I signed a contract.
    To anyone out there that thinks that AT&T will just write off your debt and leave you alone. Take it from me, They will destroy you and not bat an eye. DO NOT SIGN A 12 MONTH CONTRACT WITH ANY ADVERTISER. GO WITH A SEO THAT CAN GET YOU ON GOOGLE ON A MONTH TO MONTH CONTRACT. I have got more calls from customers using Google than I ever got from AT&T Yellow Pages or YellowPages.com
    And if there is a class action law suit I can get in on, Call me.
    www.DrainDoctorPlumbers.com
    I may only be in business till spring. Good Luck to all of you on your fight. Call if you think I could help.
  • 0
    Joe
    I have used Yellowpages.com for local search.  Used them for about 2 years.  First yr. was for 1 county.  2nd yr. was 7 counties.

    YELLOWPAGES.COM LOCAL SEARCH IS A RIPOFF.

    Fortunately I did not use them for pay for clicks.

    They produced data that shows "people" clicked on our ad.  I got a hosting service that shows where people come from.  Turns out that most all these "people" were just web crawlers "looking" over my ad.  What a RIPOFF.
  • 0
    Foolish in New YOrk
    I recieved a phone solicitation from AT&T Advertising Solutions selling internet advertising.  I agreed to a meeting on Wednesday January 6, 2010.  He came to my place of business to explain his services.  After hearing his sales pitch, I explained to him that I was interested but not willing to pay more than $500.00 for the year for the advertising service.  Not a problem, he said, the cost was $538.00 for the year to be paid in monthly installments.  I felt this was a great deal and agreed.  He told me to sign his digital receiver (no hard copy was present) and that he would email a copy of the contract with the terms agreed to above.  I told him that  once I reviewed and agreed to the terms in the contract emailed to me  that this would be a go.  I did not receive a copy of the contract.  I called the sales guy to inform him of this.  He, according to his email, sent it to the wrong address.  I opened the contract to read it and discovered that the cost of the services were not as represented in our meeting.  The actual cost of services were $538.00 PER MONTH for a total of $6,456.00!  I was shocked and called to explain that he made a mistake and that these were not the terms that were explained to me.  He spoke to his manager.  I immediately sent an email to request cancellation. The manager came to my place of business and informed me that this contract could not be cancelled and that I would be subject to pay $6.456.00.  I can't believe that they can attach my digital signature to a contract and claim that I am liable for the terms they set!
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