AT&T YellowPages.com does what they want

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

  • 0
    Don
    I just got involved with a yellow page voice approval and am desparate to get out of it after I found out that what they are really providing is nothing like what the salesman told me.  Of course he is telling me it is out of his hands now.  I want to join a class action suit.

    Don Thompson
    ride4ever4@sbcglobal.net
  • 0
    melissa
    AT&T is a shameful & perfect example of dishonest & unethical business practices motivated by big Corporate GREED.
  • 0
    melissa
    I too worked for AT&T & I was disgusted at their fraudulent practices that are just everyday business as usual for them. They demand their sales people to lie to customers & threaten employees with termination if they don't. They spend tens of thousands of dollars having these bogus studies & surveys printed up to make small business owners think that AT&T gets so many clicks with their internet search programs, with their yellowpages.com & phony studies on the number of people who respond to yellow pages ads. The management sits around & laughs at these studies & joke about how bogus they are.

    They don't care about honesty or how they are ripping off the little people as they refer to the small business owners. All they care about is their huge bonuses they get. On a consistent basis I was a witness to sexual discrimination, age discrimination, harassment in the workplace, racial discrimination and the list just goes on. Very sad but very true. Fortunately I resigned. Unfortunately this huge greedy dishonest corporation will probably never be stopped at defrauding customers & abusing their employees.
  • 0
    Ara-CleanTek
    I was contacted by AT&T around December of 2009. Initially the sales rep was very helpful and seemed to be honest. He said in his opinion I could get about 250 hits on my site per month and at least 5% of those would become clients. I figured even if he was exaggerating and I got half of what he promised, I would get about 6-7 clients and things would be fine. In January of 2010, I signed on to the AT&T Yellow pages online and got a listing on the first page for $250/month.

    AT&T started billing me the as of the first date but my ad was not even up for the first month. 2 months into the contract they posted what they claimed was my ad. It had our name, but the logo, and the email was wrong. The logo would not even direct to our website. I kept calling to inform them of the mistakes but kept getting the runaround from my rep and their customer service department. After about 3 weeks my rep called me and told me he was out on vacation and no one else could call me. In March I decided to stop paying since I had already wasted about $750 and I had generated $0 in business from AT&T. My website numbers were showing just 1 hit/month on average. I called and tried to cancel but they said I'm locked in to a 1 year contract. I also asked for a copy of my contract and they kept saying that I was not privy to that since it was an internal AT&T recording. They said they could let me listen to it but they could not provide it to me.

    I have not made  a payment since March and now they are calling me and threatening to send my file to a collections agency. I’m in Florida and if anyone knows of a class action that I could qualify for, please inform me. My email address is arajab123@aol.com
  • 0
    Former Rep.
    Hello All,

     To all business owners out there currently complaining on this board about At&t advertising solutions, here is a message from a former rep who not only witnessed unethical practices, but was also a victim of it as well. Internally all reps will never get support by their general managers to begin with.In turn when changes to any of the programs needed to be made, it was virtually impossible to get anything done in a timely manner. Also the reps can't be solely blamed for not picking up phone calls. We were mainly at the mercy of a department that just could not get changes done which also ruins the credibility of the rep.

    My general manager was a cancerous tumor who was only concerned about protecting his position in power. Unlike alot of the reps in the company i actually gave a damn about my customers and did not want to see them get screwed in anyway which is why im here as a former employee who got the boot by At&t for giving my customers the option to quit his program prematurely which he did thank god but at the cost of my living. So here i am unemployed and struggling in this economy right now because i got completely got screwed by the company i represent for years.

    People don't stop advertising your business. Just make better conscious decisions based on what you see not what people tell you. In this economy local business needs to thrive otherwise we are all done.

    For some good free advice email me at attblows@gmail.com
  • 0
    JP
    Well, it would of been nice for the salesperson to let me know there was a 3 month contract.  Something I could test drive to see if it worked for my business.  But that would lower the sales reps commission so there was no mention of that.  After the sale I tried calling and emailing the rep but he kept pushing me to customer service.  Customer service would then tell me I had to take up my issues with the sales rep.  And it just kept going back and forth until I decided not to pay because I was not getting the service.  AT&T Advertising is an absolute scam and they should be shut down.

    So now they are threatening to take me to court.  Will they really go through all that for $1100.00?
  • 0
    JP
    Hey, I was scammed by Paul Miller too.  I stopped paying and now my bill is $1100.  Total scam.  I would love to see a class action lawsuit against these con artists!
  • 0
    Mark
    I had a rep with a indian accent tell me his name is Ron Taylor... I said I am not interested, so he called me back a couple of times to tell me "F@#K YOU
  • 0
    Elise Delcamp
    I was told it would bring clients to my mathematics tutoring company.  0 calls.  I'm sending them a letter formally requesting they cancel my contract and informing them I will not be paying again.

    If the lawsuit is for deceptive practices, add me to it.
  • 0
    sadik
    hi my name is sadik I am also one of this victim of yellow page
    I want file out lawsuit against them so they told me that

    They gone advertise my business to their website and I only pay if i make money for percentage what ever that money is, they lied to me.

    did you closed your case or it is still open.
  • 0
    wtg
    I am currently a sales rep in this department... I actually know the rep mentioned above... all I have to say is it all stems from the top... Paul was trained to tell you what he did... I personally ignore the majority of the training for this reason because I know better... I apologize for your troubles... call customer service and file a claim... they may be able to help.
  • 0
    Unhappy with AT&T
    I had advertised with AT&T for the last 20 years, I was never treated or spoke to the way I have been treated for the last two years in a row and no there will not be a third.  It seems all this started when AT&T for our company when you were not allowed to meet face to face but over the phone, and the reps are talking in circles.  I was surprise to find so many unhappy customers of the Yellow Pages, I think most of it is related to the Internet "Sales Reps" that are extremely High Pressured Sales that will shove anything they can down your throat, as long as they get their sales.  This is not the old "BELLSOUTH" Reps, who truly enjoyed their jobs and seeing their customers, return year after year.  It is truely ashame for what was such a great company with a great reputation.  I also believe that it comes from the top management.  I too will be going with Google for all my internet ads, and like the previous poster I have gotten more from American Classifieds than I have from yp... I could have saved a bundle of money with that.  I hope that I can find a class action lawsuit or hope that someone will start one...it's not all about the money, it's how everything is to AT&T advantage, for one I don't tape my calls, but I will be buying a recorder so that I can tape them in the future.  Right now, I have to hit star 67 just to get someone to answer my calls, everytime I would call it would always go to voice mail, then I tried that and the person picked right up.  I was shocked, all I need was a word spelled right in the ad. It has been a very long hard year for most of us, ecomony, my husband was downsized with employment, my father has stage 4 lung cancer, and AT&T has taken advantage of a person with disabilities for two years in a row, and all I'm was trying to do was not sign over my house, get a reasonable rate, told the rep this....all she could say is how many clicks that I would get, well a click is not a sale, sometimes a click is not even a phone call, that is why I have had two full months of greive with AT&T, now instead of canceling the one acct, I have two.  Not sure who I will call Tuesday, I'm sure they will not answer.  Maybe I'll just start at the top with the Atty Gen and BBB and some of better Class Action Lawsuit Attys to see if there is any interest.  I was really Amazed to see my story, the same story over and over at every website that I have visited today.  Maybe Fox News would be interested in the practices of the great company that was.  How sad for all those who are currently employed by mislead and tricking hard working people out of money in a downed economy.
  • 0
    Unhappy with AT&T
    Please add me to your list

    ghvtav@msn.com
    in Georgia
  • 0
    Unhappy with AT&T
    I have called everyone, it's a never ending circle.  I have a call into the General Manager (3rd call to her office), I have a certified letter to cancellation manager to cancel acct before renewal date with a return Receipted signed and mailed back to me.  I have to star 67 my phone number just to get AT&T to answer my calls.  So, after reading all the post today, I guess I will not hear from Iris McKee, her assistant, nor the Wonderful Rep Kimberly Jacobs...who told she could guantee me 8 calls a week to pay for $450 p/m ad, which I have in writing, nor will I hear from anybody at AT&T.  I will call a few more hundred times to try to get this resolved, it's a sham what people like Kimberly Jacobs has done in my personal opionion to AT&T reputation, we had another rep just like her last year.  I hope to get as far up the corporate ladder as I can with the promises, and would be nice to get it in from of the FCC.  I have also asked for a copy of transcript of Kimberly telling me that I didn't know what I was talking about and seperate conversation telling my husband that I didn't know what high pressure sales was.  That's what our life has been like for the last 2 months...now I can't get the one acct cancelled, but have two.  I will go to a local atty for now, get him to write me a letter on his letterhead for the one acct that was canceled correctly and ask them to stop renewing, and if they don't...Well I'm sure he'll love that all the way to the bank and so will I.  Sick of begging, ready to get even.
  • 0
    att emplyee
    | 2 replies
    its so funny what people will say  to try and get out of something. att records every single call made to a customer. there is no way someone could lie and get away with it. the problem is everyone thinks they can roll out of bed and open a business. and when it fails they blame everyone else.
    • 0
      att the real yellow pages replies to att emplyee
      I just want to say, AMEN! So very true. Ever call is recorded and we even tell you that every time we talk to someone.
      Advertising is a necessity if you are a business owner!
    • 0
      Splif replies to att emplyee
      BS. People love telemarketers! What a forward thinking company!
  • 0
    ????
    wow!! thats crazy ...after 4 years of being lied to you still stayed with the company.lol
  • 0
    "You know why"
    | 1 reply
    You cant keep blaming AT&T for a shift in the market. You are not the only busines experiencing a shortfall. When times get tough people change the ways that they look for business.  Unless you are staying competitive with your prices and service these customers will find someone else. Unfortunately with the turn in the economy customers are looking for cheap service no matter the quality. They just can't afford to hire true professionals anymore.  AT&T is not your problem.  It worked before because it works.  "You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
    • 0
      Sam replies to "You know why"
      AT&T doesn't hire true professionals. Stop trying to get everyone to drink the Kool-aid. You obviously have.

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