YellowPages.com Click Fraud and Invalid Clicks – My YellowPages.com Pay-Per-Click Nightmare
February 29th, 2008 
I’m a client of Aldebaran Web Design and Jill kindly invited me to post in her blog about my YellowPages.com pay-per-click advertising experience. This story is for you, the small business owner with a website, who might be contemplating hiring a company to do pay-per-click advertising for you. Please don’t do it! Please repeat after me: “I promise I will use Google AdWords exclusively, and consult Jill at Aldebaran Web Design for guidance if needed.”
I started my Seattle based private psychotherapy practice in the fall of 2007, and soon after Jill and I went live with my new website, it got noticed by online advertising companies who emailed me with business offers: “Sign up on our therapist listing and double your clients!” they’d say, or “The smart therapist hires us for internet advertising!” I deleted most of them, but made the major mistake of taking calls from a sales rep at YellowPages.com.
The YellowPages.com sales rep had seen my website—and he proved he had by describing details about it—and said it was great. (Yes, I’m sorry to say I responded to cheap flattery.) He talked at length about the importance of pay-per-click advertising. At the time, I was experimenting with Google AdWords on my own, but I didn’t feel adept at it. I wasn’t sure I was really making effective ads or getting new clients from it. So…I agreed to hire YellowPages.com to do pay-per-click advertising for me, for quite a lot of money per month.
For a month or two, as the YellowPages.com sales rep warned me, nothing happened. They said they needed to “set up” my account. (Note that with Google AdWords, you can start immediately, and you have full control over your own ads, keywords, campaign themes, everything.)
A month or two later, I got an email from my sales rep with a screen shot of one of my ads. It had a typo in it. (!!) And the text didn’t sound like me. “Run into some trouble?” it said, as if my work as a psychotherapist is to help people who just broke their shoelaces. Most of my clients haven’t “run into some trouble.” They’re wrestling with deep stuff, hard issues, painful problems.
When I asked them to fix the typo, I was told that it would take several days to roll out the fix. (Again, with Google AdWords, it gets fixed the moment you yourself go in and fix it.) And they didn’t want me writing ads. “Run into some trouble” it was, and “Run into some trouble” it was going to continue to be. *sigh*
But the best (worst) was yet to come. In January of 2008, Jill began helping me with my Google AdWords campaign. Part of that included careful review of my website statistics. She started noticing some weird traffic on my site. (I followed her recommendation and use Web-stat, so I could see the weird traffic too.) Jill can recognize invalid clicks and fraudulent pay-per-click traffic, and so Jill emailed me and asked me if I hired someone to do pay-per-click advertising for me. I was embarrassed to say yes, I had hired YellowPages.com.
And here’s what we discovered: my YellowPages.com ads were showing up on odd search-engine sites (odd because they weren’t legitimate sites—they were “made for adsense sites“, sites filled exclusively with sponsored ads, and no real content), and the ads had text like this: “Run into some trouble? Puyallup Therapist. Call today to schedule an appointment.” I boldfaced the word ‘Puyallup’ because it was boldfaced in the ad, and because my therapy office is more than an hour away from Puyallup. The link in the Puyallup ad (and the Bellevue ad, and the Federal Way ad, and on several other ads) was a link to my site.
Turns out YellowPages.com uses dynamic ad-title generation techniques. If someone enters the keywords “Puyallup therapist,” my ad will pop up as a sponsored link, with the word ‘Seattle’ changed to ‘Puyallup.’ This is false advertising. Jill and I found that well over 80% of the clicks on these ads were bounces—the person would click on the ad, see that I don’t work anywhere near Puyallup, and bounce away from my site. And I was paying for the clicks!
I started emailing YellowPages.com, and what followed was a series of email exchanges that would be funny if they weren’t so infuriating.
They tried everything: “Those aren’t our ads.” Oh really? So someone else is paying out of their own pocket to post ads for me that say “Run into some trouble?”?
Their next tactic: “Our ads are performing better than you say.” No, they weren’t. I emailed them bounce-rate data and more screen shots of fraudulent ads.
By this time I was three or four levels of supervisors above my YellowPages.com original sales rep. Each time I would email YellowPages.com, it seemed, my email would be forwarded to someone’s supervisor, who would then try to calm me down and convince me that I wasn’t being taken for a pay-per-click fraud ride.
In the end, they canceled my YellowPages.com pay-per-click account. I didn’t get a refund for the money I had already spent, but they did stop the campaign and have not taken any more of my money.
I hope that if you’ve read this far, you are now a true believer: you have now resolved to stick with Google AdWords, and only Google AdWords, and consult Jill at Aldebaran Web Design if you have questions or want to learn more about doing pay-per-click advertising yourself. Take it from me: I went in another direction, and wow, did I ever run into some trouble!!
—Stephen Crippen, StephenCrippen.com
Footnote by Jill:Stephen is now managing his own Google AdWords campaign and in complete control of his online advertising. I offer Google AdWords Campaign Consulting services to my small business website clients to help them avoid situations like these – this is not the first client of mine that has been caught in a poor quality pay-per-click scheme. I got trapped in one myself with CitySearch before I learned about how easy it is to get caught paying for invalid clicks. My goal, is to teach small business owners how to manage their own Google AdWords accounts – knowledge is power 
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J. Olkoski
Aldebaran Web Design, Seattle
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:39 am
I have a problem. I bought a click package from them after having a successful clicks packages with other companies. They would not list my web site as promised. My business has went down to where it is unaffordable not they want to sue me for $6000K Can anyone help me?
July 30th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I too have been scammed, with not one dime made from my website in 2 months. I have paid them $800.00 and I need to get out!! I can’t afford this, I am a small business in the red already. I need help!!
July 30th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Hi Frank and Cynthia,
The best advice I can give is to do what my client did, and keep fighting, getting things in writing, and keep escalating to higher and higher in the company. Hire an attorney if you need to.
And the lesson learned is not to sign any long term contracts for pay per click – especially when there are companies like Google Ad Words, who don’t require them.
August 28th, 2008 at 4:36 am
The same thing has happened to me. I had a long battle with them and they refused to refund any money at all.
They would not release me from my contract and they would not allow me to negotiate or get any form of credit back.
Many times over 60% of the traffic was bounce traffic from my ad. The reps were all rude and customer service was extremely slow in replying to my questions and helping me with my ad.
They did spell things wrong and they would make things up to place in my ad. Stupid things that had nothing to do with my business.
I have since cut my contract with them when I threatened to sue them. They were very rude and insulted me when I brought up the fraud in their advertising. For getting charged 55 dollars a month for Yellow Pages and getting 8 hits (and some of those bounced) They are a fraudulent and horrible company with very service. I would love a lawsuit against them. They took every penny of my money and refused to help or offer a refund.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Hi Aaron,
Very sorry to hear of your awful experience with YellowPages – it sounds extremely frustrating – and to be insulted on top of taking your money – adding insult to injury. There is a law firm in California that is currently suing Citysearch. You can find links to it in this post:
http://aldebaranwebdesign.com/blog/click-fraud-update-citysearch-lawsuit/
October 31st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I have the same problem with yellowpages.com. I have been using theire service since July 08 and pay them $982 per month. I have never received any business from their advertisement.
What should I do to cancel the service? Please advise.
November 1st, 2008 at 9:22 am
Hi Rachel,
The best thing you can do is simply keep trying and escalating your issue up the Yellowpages management chain. Do it in writing so you have proof – versus trying to do it via phone. And worst case, you might have to get some legal advise/assistance. But based on the experience of others, it is possible to get them to cancel your contract, so you should not give up, because $982/month is a lot of money.
November 1st, 2008 at 11:47 am
Thank you for your help. I will try to do that. Do you think the reason of not getting any lead and call from their service is enough? I have called a couple attorney, however, they do not do such case (they said it’s not worth it).
November 1st, 2008 at 11:51 am
Hi Rachel,
Well, if you are tracking your website traffic (meaning you can see who the referral source is) and if you are asking folks who call you on the phone where they found you – and this data shows you that you’re not getting any new leads from them, then sure, it’s enough of a reason – I mean, that’s what you’re paying for right?
November 1st, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I don’t know how to track my website traffic. I do received report form them month, however I cannot see the referral source.
Yes, We never get even one call from their marketing tools.
I have signed agreement from one year contract aare they allow you to cancel it?
November 1st, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Hi Rachel,
In order to be able to determine whether any pay-per-click is working, you must track your website traffic with a independent tool (one that isn’t controlled by the pay-per-click company). Otherwise, you don’t know whether they are, or are not sending you traffic.
Regarding your contract, as I’ve said before, you can try to get them to let you out of it. That’s all you can do, is to try.
November 1st, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Thank you for your help. I will e-mail them and let you now the out come.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:23 am
I am still fighting with YP.com. They have been contacted many times, although they say they have not. They will never call me back, and the person who sold me this mess does not work for them any more. They are finally stopping the service according to a phone message from their collections department. Even collections did not call me back!!! I called and left a message telling them I have been trying to get them to stop for months so I could do google add words. I can’t do that till they get out. If I do and my web site gets successful they will take the credit!! I have still not made a dime with them and it has been like 5 months!! I put in a complaint with the better business and with the attorney general. I beg you all to do the same!! They are the most unresponsive bunch of crooks I have ever seen. They say I have not been in contact with them!!! That is a bold face lie!!! The only thing that has happened is my web site is now getting spammed. Please file a complaint along with me, they are going to have a collections person hounding me now and trash my credit!!! Who is going to be next? We never even had a contract!!!
December 17th, 2008 at 5:40 am
It is nice to know I am not alone. I have had the same issue with the AT&T Yellow pages search engine solution. They are reporting 104 click through a month that are the direct result of their product, I use Google analytics and it only shows 35 hits period to my site. I decided to use their service when I first started my company and believed that AT&T was a reputable company so I could rely on them for this and focus on starting my company, I was wrong. What can we do? Are we forced to hire lawyers and spend a ton of money fighting this scam? When trying to contact the person who sold me these services, I always get voice mail and never get a call back, emails product the same result. I then tried calling customer service and they told me that they are passing along the information and someone will get back to me, after one week, I am not holding my breath.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Hi Greg,
Other folks have tried for months before being able to get their accounts canceled – so all I can recommend is to keep fighting. These Pay Per Click sales reps are so often unavailable after the sale – horrible!
December 17th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I am writing this to help others. I am deeply grateful to this site and the fine lady that runs it. I feel compelled now, (that this is off me), to help you too.
This is what “worked for me”. I enclosed this in a quote since I did not get my money back, but they have finally backed off. If we all work together we may get some money back. This is what I did. I wrote the Attorney General in Bellingham Washington. You can search for them online. You ALL NEED TO DO THIS. The more complaints they get, the more chance we have of getting some of this money back. We were all tricked into getting involved with them. After the second month of their failure to perform, I stopped paying them. Had I not canceled the card it was on, they would still be charging me. Stop paying them. Complain to the BBB and to the Attorney General. It only takes a few minutes, and they get that monkey off your back. If I had not stopped paying them I would be out of business. Do this. With our combined call to justice they will get investigated for their sleazy practices. Possibly put on TV. Who knows, class action law suit? We need to help others from being scammed. I am telling all the business owners I know what happened. Please don’t keep paying them and letting them get away with this.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Hi Frank,
Thanks very much for posting this. So complaining to the BBB and the state Attorney General did the trick – and stopping the flow of money via canceling the credit card – I’m glad to hear that you fought and won. And thanks for posting this news in the hopes of helping others. I see from the comment history that you’ve posted twice before, and it’s a testament to your persistence. Congrats!
April 8th, 2009 at 1:13 am
I signed a large contract with YP. $2500 per month. I am licensed to arrange loans in NY and CT. The clicks I get are from all over the country. They use very general search words that do not target my area’s of business. I stopped paying long ago. My rep. knows my area and made great big promises of unending business. It was understood that my clicks be targeted to areas I could do business in. I never get a response on this issue. I want to sue them.
April 8th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Hi John,
Oh my, $2500 a month is a massive amount of money to spend on Yellowpages and see no return on your pay-per-click investment. But it’s good that you were able to track your traffic and come to this conclusion sooner versus later. Yes, reps of these pay-per-click companies make very big promises to get you to sign the contract. If you do end up suing them, drop us a line!
May 13th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I am currently fighting with yp.com about the service they are not providing me. I am trying to cancel my contract, but every representative has been trained to repeat “There are no contract cancellations”. What we were sold and the service we are getting are two totally different things. From what I understand the salesman can say whatever he wants to make the sale and the company doesn’t have to stand by that at all. It’s fraud. If we ran our business like this, we would be out of business immediately. The only way to get a responce from them was to stop payment on my credit card. They still don’t want to help me, they just want their money. I am trying the BBB and the attorney general now. I’m so happy to find this site. Thanks.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Hi Maureen,
Glad to help, but very sorry you are in this situation. I completely agree with your comment regarding promises made by salespeople (and my opinion is broader than just YellowPages.com sales folks). If it’s not in writing, it’s just not going to be upheld. It is amazing how they stay in business. But there are so many small business owners out there who get stuck in these contracts, it must keep them afloat, despite the bad service. I certainly wish you the best of luck, and if you’re successful, please come back and give us an update so that others may learn from your efforts.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Luckily, our organization hasn’t signed any contracts with Yellowpages.com. I’m wondering though, has anybody used the pay-per-call system that is fairly new to traditional Yellow Pages? I think it is actually AT&T who provides the service where an advertiser gets a printed ad in YP and only pays for a call over 30 seconds coming to a unique, traceable 800 number.
We are a nonprofit and the last thing we need is a bunch of charges for illegitimate leads.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Hi Sarah,
That’s a good question – I haven’t had any experience with the pay-per-call system of Yellowpages.com. But perhaps other folks will have comments on this service. My thoughts are, that if at all possible, only sign up for a limited time, or ask for a trial period – if the service is so wonderful, Yellowpages.com should be willing to offer a short free trial or a limited contract – to prove to you that it can be useful. I’d be nervous about signing up for any long term contracts with an unproven advertising methodology.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
HELLO!!
Hi my name is Paul Perkins. I have filed a class action against yellowpages.com and would love to hear from any and every one that has had a problem! I may be contacting you too! YOU CAN FIGHT IT!!!!! You have rights!!!!
I can be reached at paulperkins@lynchlawyers.com or (800) 656-9529!!
HOPE TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE!!!
June 28th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I was talked into the pay-per-call BS. Now I get calls for work I don’t do and people looking for work. And it costs about $14 -$17 PER CALL. They were supposed to send an email alert every time someone calls. Never happened. Now I get a bill—my first and only—for May (I signed-on May 11) for $183. I was also getting “ghost calls” from all over the country. I was getting calls never placed by or to me but were being billed to me—some 30 calls. This happened twice for about 12 hours per day. I found out on my own that ATT assigned me a bogus already-in-use 800 number which is how they track and bill. My sales rep’s boss told me they are “still learning” and not getting the right training up and down the system. NOT MY PROBLEM. Today I emailed them and told them to cancel within 5 days and not bill me or I will sue—I may be contacting you (the last writer) about the class action suit. I signed on for about $15,000 in service value.
Oh yeah, they didn’t allow me to see my ad proofs before it went to print—I had to ask! I was told it already went to print!
And it was not right either–many changes. I am sooooo pissed at them. F—ers.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hi Jeff,
Your comment is the first I’ve gotten regarding actual feedback via the Pay-Per-Call (versus Pay-Per-Click) and the feedback is very much appreciated. I’m very sorry to hear about your issues with YellowPages Pay-Per-Class and I can totally understand your frustration. If you actually have success pursuing the legal class action route – please drop us a line. I hope you don’t end up getting taken for $15,000.
July 9th, 2009 at 1:55 am
Please have those who are complaining about AT&T contact Paul Perkins
paulperkins@lynchlawyers.com
800.656.9529. This firm has filed a class action recently.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
I sent my AT&T sales rep and his boss a scathing email about what I intend to if they didn’t cancel ALL my contracts and recind their outrageous bill. Haven’t heard one peep out of them YET. I’m seeing if they send another bill, since the other one is due in a few days.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Okay, the stops are all pulled out now. I already sent them an email demanding they stop my service. Today for the first time since I signed on back in May I get an email stating who called and from where. One call was from two states away!
July 15th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Go Jeff Go! Two states away? Wow, that seems like an unlikely new client!
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Well it is still going on. My sales rep nor his boss will respond to my emails.
Even though I told them they’re in breach of contract awhile ago they are still sending me calls–averaging 3-5 calls a day at $11-$14 a call–that’s $30-$70 A DAY! Or $900-$2100 a month OR $25,000 a year! I go for weeks without making a dime (I’m in the automotive eco-depressed metro-Detroit area.)
And I’m still getting calls from other area codes I specifically told them I wanted to exclude, which was captured on THEIR tape!
The type of calls isn’t the issue now either! I’m still getting calls for people looking for work, people wanting work done my ad doesn’t cover nor do I do (“will you come cut my grass?”—I don’t CUT GRASS dumba—!), out-of-area, out of state, etc.. I’m being billed for calls I’m not even answering. I even had T-mobile disable my voicemail thinking poeple would give up if I didn’t answer! But no. They let it ring and ring. Now, like before even if I don’t take the call for whatever reason (I’m not working that day; I’m working but can’t hear fot eh drone of heaby equipment; it’s past work hours; turned off the phone; didn’t hear the phone ring; the phone was dead; the phone was not getting service) I still got charged the full amount. And to top it off—if I didn’t answer the call the first time, they hang up and try again! And I get billed twice for not even taking the freaking call! I’m pulling what’s left of my hair out!
Paul the lawyer, what’s going on with the class-action-suit?
July 24th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Hi Jeff…ugh, what a nightmare. Paul…any updates for us?
August 9th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
I also have paid a hefty price for their ad and aI finally started receiving stats about 6 months after the program started. I do not trust their stats. I felt I was trapped and wasted 2000.00. Class action lawsuit anyone?
August 10th, 2009 at 10:57 am
PAUL PERKINS: Hey we have not heard back from you here. I have called and spoken to you once but not heard anything since. Are you still going forward with the suit or should we find someone else?
My situation is still going on. They sent me a collection letter stating if I didn’t pay them the $1000-plus by a certain day they will cancel me. That’s what I have been telling them them all along–about 15 times by email. The other day I get a call from ATT Customer Service under the guise that “had a a problem with a few numbers” I got calls from “they wanted to discuss”. I let him have it! I told them there was nothing to discuss, and if they wanted to know more to contact my sales rep and his boss and read the 15 or more emails I sent them and find out for himself. And I reiterated that I’m suing class-actio style (or rather, waiting for Mr. Perkins to respond) He politely said, “I see. Have a good day sir”.
To date, they have not gotten one red cent from me. Nor will they.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Hi Jeff,
I’ll echo your question…I initially got a call from Paul who wanted to discuss things with me, but haven’t heard back in a long time.
Paul, if you’re still subscribed to this article, can you drop us a line?
Jill
August 10th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Hello! I am sorry that I have been busy. We have been working on the next phase. I will call everyone back – but I need for this next event to take place. This will happen in the next week. It is our hope that the class action will now go national in its reach. I will reach out in a week. everyone can always email me: paulperkins@lynchlawyers.com and I can respond individually.
Jill, I sincerely apologize for not reaching out – I will call you as soon as the next step takes place. I want to ask you all about what we discussed before.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Hi Paul,
Great to hear from you and that there seems to be progress. Fingers cross for your work.
J
August 21st, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Well ATT just can’t take the hint that they’re not getting a dime from me: Here it is more than halfway through August and today they send me one email for the entire month of July’s activity–was suppose to be EVERY day. Whadever. I’ve been told that they have cancelled me—finally. $345 bill– and for calls I didn’t even answer–oh and one call from 3,000 miles away–which they billed me for. “Potential sale” me a—.
August 27th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Well my contract is up this month. I paid for 2000 clicks for the year and only recieved 605. What They owe me 1432 clicks. Yeasteday I recieve a call that they are canceling my account. Does this mean I will get screwed for the balance? Or should I contact an attourney to get a refund?
Randall
August 27th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Hi Randall,
I guess it depends on how much an attorney would cost you versus how much the 1432 clicks is worth in terms of a refund. And assuming you have documentation to prove that you only received 605. What a pain….
August 27th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Hi Randall (and everyone), I’m sorry to see that this continues to happen to good business people who are trying to earn an honest living and advertise for their businesses. It might be worth an hour of an attorney’s time to see what your options are!
August 31st, 2009 at 1:31 am
Hello my name is John and I’m in the same situation as everyone else. I’m a new small business owner, I signed on to the clicks program based on the promises of the rep. He promised top placement, 100+ clicks a month, all the keywords I could ever want, detailed ads to my specifications… and so much more! I questioned him, I told him I could not afford to do this if he wasn’t 200% sure he could do what he promised, he begged me to sign the next day and I did despite my better judgment. I could KICK myself. I immediately noticed things were wrong. Ads wrong, the ads were showing up on suspicious sites, sometimes the sites would disappear completely or look similar and come in multiples. None of the promises the rep made could not be kept, the rep lied! Now he’s missing… won’t call me back. Even the District manager won’t return calls. I’ve been tracking them for months and I’ve compiled months and months of tracking. No one would help me or acknowledge my findings. Thank goodness for this blog! I have stopped making payments and I’ve filed complaints with the FCC, FTC, BBB and the Attorney General, basically I have filed complaints anywhere and ever that I can to get help with this matter. I know my rights and I’m not going to let this happen quietly. I’m hopeful that there will be some positive resolution.
If you want to find out what your rights are and you have any questions you should seek legal counsel, don’t wait. I have personally sought legal counsel from an excellent Seattle Law firm. They have advised me of my RIGHTS and I would urge you all do to the same. If you have any questions please contact:
Website: http://www.kellerrohrback.com
Mike Woerner
Phone: 206.623.1900, email: mwoerner@kellerrohrback.com
August 31st, 2009 at 10:35 am
To my blog readers,
Please know that I can’t verify the claims of anyone posting comments on this blog – I’ve approved the comment posted by “John” above, but I wanted to also leave a comment that folks who respond to people who are representing themselves as attorneys or as participating in lawsuits need to be verified by you before you give them any personal information. I approve comments that seem to add to this conversation, but I can’t verify that anyone’s claims are actually true, and if you contact someone who has posted on this article, please use your best judgment.
August 31st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I have spoken to Paul Perkins at Lynch Lawyers.com who has a class-action suit in the works of which I’m a Named Plaintiff.
Paul, seeing as you were first attorney to join this discussion would you like to bring us up-to-speed?
August 31st, 2009 at 6:31 pm
HELLO EVERYONE
Will have big news in a week or so. We are already filed in New Jersey. There is more to come! We are already starting the class action fight in court.
I will update when the other news breaks…
October 14th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Jill and Stephen,
Your experience with Yellowpages.com is unfortunate and rings true in so many ways. As a former Account Manager for Yellowpages.com, I can tell you that there is incompetence up and down the ladder of the organization. The sales people are poorly trained on the search engine products and the optimization people are rank amateurs. These are print phone book folk masquerading as search engine optimization experts.
I would advise everyone to run when these thiefs crowd the doorway of your business and don’t believe anything that they say. They are being driven by a quota and they will say anything to get you to sign up. The devil is in the details of the addendums.
You are better off learning as much as you can about Google Adwords and doing it yourself. I also don’t trust Yahoo because they are too close to the Yellowpages.com and AT&T folk. They try to keep Google on edge by kissing up with Yahoo and MSN.
It’s sick and no small, medium or large business deserves this kind of abuse.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Hello Bernie,
I have been the victim of this same scheme and I have been trying very hard to seek some justice for myself and the many others that have fallen into this.I contacted the BBB and the AG and as as result At&T Appeals dept. called to resolve the issue and then they too did nothing. They acted so involved and conerned and in the end nothing to help me. Bernie, if you are no longer working for AT&T and If you have a moment I would really like to speak with you. My name is Bana and I can be reached via email at banae@msn.com I would really appreciate your time.
I also wanted shout out to Jeff Ordway and Paul Perkins to find out how things were going with the class action lawsuit.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:02 am
I don’t know where we stand. Paul should be able to us. Paul?
October 21st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Have been exploring online advertising for several months, and I must say, that YellowPages.com seems like a major scam, designed to soak money out of advertisers, with little return on investment. And without exception, every single person I’ve talked to on the phone, or e-mailed, has been either a weirdo, or a slick salesman type (who avoids tough questions like a slick politician). And it’s not just pay-for-click plans. Their display ad system is equally designed to squeeze more money out of you.
And I concur that Google is amazingly good. You are in control of it, can make changes instantly, get detailed analyses of what’s going on, etc.. That’s not to say it’s flawless. I noticed a $3.00 click on a food website, for a product that had absolutely nothing to do with food. Regardless, I’m still very pleased with it, and even with the Food-site click, the fact that you can limit the location of the web surfers, means that the clickee was within range of our business, and therefore a potential customer, however unlikely.
Bottom line: Forget about YellowPages.com (and Superpages.com — one is AT&T, the other is Verizon). They’re a waste of money, and the people working there are scam artists. Internet-savvy web surfers use Google to find stuff, anyway.
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:52 am
Hello everyone!
Just a quick update – we are moving forward and things are going well – we are receiving new information from new plaintiffs all the time. We are limited in what we can post online, but people are welcome to call and ask questions. 800.656.9529.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
Paul please email me with a personal update on my particular situation.
Anyone else is also welcome to email me at: earthwerksguy@gmail.com
October 24th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Paul, I know you monitor this board regularly yet I still haven’t heard back from you. I must say there is cause for concern that you won’t take my calls at your office, return my calls or answer my emails so i’m assuming it’s best to reach you here. I surely hope this isn’t an indication of your firm’s quality of service. Don’t keep me hanging. If we have deal or not let me know now.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Hi Jeff,
You’re saying you tried to call Paul at 800.656.9529 and he hasn’t returned your calls? How many times have you called?
October 24th, 2009 at 11:20 am
I called him from his supposed office number that he originally called me from. Couldn’t get past his secretary the first time, second time which wa about two weeks ago I demanded to speak to him. Before that he would not respond to my emails and still hasn’t. When I did speak to him he was arrogant and unaplogetical—-as if he’s above a courtesy call or email—- about why 1. Hasn’t replied 2. he hasn’t got deal signed with even though he was to send an agreement the next day. He wanted me to jump through hoops to “call back every two weeks to see” where his people are! I’m his supposed client-to-be, not his freaking babysitter. He just doesn’t follow through and seemingly just doesn’t care how potential clients see how he doesn’t do business. He said he’s a junior partner; I wonder if his senior partners condon his inaction and mishandling what could be a multimillion dollar settlement.
October 24th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Hi Jeff,
Ugh. This is certainly not good feedback. I’m hoping that Paul, if he indeed is working on this case, will take your comments to heart. I don’t know what else to say except that I’m disappointed. Has anyone else on this blog tried to contact Paul?
October 24th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
hello everyone, we are filed in New Jersey right now. The document was filed in Bergen County if anyone needs to check. I am always available 800-656-9529. I am sorry that Jeff felt put off. I have contacted him directly by email. I have to wait to hear from others involved in the case, I am not the sole decision maker. We are doing everything, to the extent permitted by law to help people. We can only help the people that have retained us. We apologize for the inconvenience, but sometimes these things move slowly. Anyone can call me at anytime.
October 24th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Hi Paul,
Can you provide a link to the case filing?
October 24th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
hey everyone – we are doing the best we can – if anyone needs me they can always reach me in the office – my apologies if we have been unavailable – I will talk to the staff about it Monday. We are here to help as much as we are able.
Bergen is not online, the docket # is L-3316-09 – it was removed to the district of Newark. I will try to get a link to the amended.
October 24th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I sent Jill the removal documents for the action.
October 24th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Hi folks,
Paul has emailed me some legal documents, and while I’m not an attorney, it certainly looks to me as if his firm is indeed working on this case. So from what he sent to me, it looks as if this is a legitimate action. I can’t share the actual document publicly, but wanted to let you know that you really should call Paul.
October 24th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Hi Jill and Everyone,
I saw the recent postings and I can completely understand that the waiting game is not fun. However, on a positive note, I wanted to further validate the work that Paul Perkins is doing. First of all, I want to thank Paul for being available for us. (I appreciate your help!) I recently spoke with Paul in great length and he was extremely informative about the current status of the case. He was very professional and incredibly considerate. I literally called the office and within seconds he was on the phone and gave his utmost attention to details of my situation.
I would urge everyone to call him. This is very important and we all need to work together. The only thing I caution is that people should not expect immediate results. Please be patient and do not let your frustrations get the best of you. The legal system is complicated and the process involves many steps. We should all appreciate the opportunity that Paul Perkins presents. This case has some serious potential so let us all work togther.
October 24th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Hi Bana,
Thanks very much for this comment, it looks like Paul is the guy to contact on this topic and I’m very glad your experience was positive.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:28 am
Paul Perkins,
I’d like to add the class action lawsuit(s) to the Wikipedia page on YellowPages.com, but need a reference to something official. I’ve Googled “lawsuit yellowpages.com” and “yellowpages.com new jersey lawsuit” and a few others, but can’t find anything. Can you provide a link to something in the New Jersey court system, referencing the case?
November 1st, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Hey Don – give me a call and lets talk about it! I will be in all day tomorrow – Thanks for your help!!
P 800.656.9529
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I am an attorney in New Jersey who has had a terrible experience with ATT YP.com. All lies and incompetence. Even after canceling my contract at end of a year with no results and BS clicks, they have continued to charge my credit card, claiming that they thought I had renewed! Was getting ready to file suit, eventually seeking class action status until I found this site today. Will contact Paul Perkins to add my name and efforts if needed.
December 8th, 2009 at 5:40 am
My company aggregates pending class action investigations and lawsuits into one central database. http://www.classadvocate.com. I have read through this string of comments, and thought I would try and help by posting this fact pattern on Class Advocate. The exact link is below. Please feel free to send me comments to better articulate your concerns. If the law firms involved would like to send me the complaint, I would also be happy to link over to them and modify the fact pattern on Class Advocate to address the complaint’s specific allegations.
Good luck
http://www.classadvocate.com//classaction.php?id=1564
BTW, Your blog is great! You seem to address some practical, everyday problems and issues we smaller companies face everyday. Thanks.
December 28th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I want to join a class action lawsuit against AT&T yellow pages advertising.
How can I do that?
If you have any information please write to me.
December 28th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Hey Moni! Hey everyone – if Moni is Monica from CA – it was nice speaking to you – if not, Moni feel free to call me at 800.656.9529.
We will have an announcement in the next few weeks, I will let everyone know. I have to wait until everything is public record.
Everyone feel free to call me at 800.656.9529. I usually get back to everyone same day, if not within 24 hours.
THANK YOU!
December 29th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Moni,
I am happy to share with you our investigation, Moni, but I need to know how to contact you.
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:26 am
I currently work for the company, and the employees are treated just as bad as the clients I am supposed to be selling. I have always prided myself on being an ethical salesman, and would never want someone to buy something from me that does not have value. I think I am going to have to resign, because I cannot be associated with a company that only cares about its bottomline, and does not care how it gets there. Most people in the office will tell business owners anything and everything to get them to sign, but I always tried to approach it from a different view. I am, and will be a very successful salesman, however AT&T does not deserve someone of my caliber peddling their terrible products. Hell our cellphones do not even work in most areas. Good luck everyone with your lawsuits.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:39 pm
I was suckered into a pay per call contract with the at&t yellow pages. I really wish I would not have done this. I have not received even 1 legitimate lead from the ads. Most of the calls are from telemarketers out of state and I’m being charged from $23.00 to $70.00 a call. I feel they were not at all honest with me when we talked about the ad. I was promised that my ads would look professional and that I would get to see the proofs before they went to print. Well… I did not get the opportunity to see the proofs, the ads look terrible, they got my business name and address wrong, they listed it in way too many catagories and I’m getting bogus calls because of it. I’m even getting calls for other business and being charged. I paid the first month , but I refuse to give these jerks another time. They, are now calling me 2 times a day asking for payment. What can I do??
February 4th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Craig,
Your complaint is the first I have heard relating to the pay per call contracts. Any chance you can share more specifics like the number of telephone calls, why you believe they are telemarketers, what was the extent of AT&T’s misplacing your ad. Here is the link to what we are working on, but again either via this link or on this board, I would enjoy learning more.
http://www.classadvocate.com//classaction.php?id=1564
February 4th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
George,
I would say on average,I receive a few calls a week. They are often from out of state numbers that are calling trying to sell me leads or something. Im a contractor so companies want you to sign up with them to get you work all the time.
When I was initially contacted by the at and t rep, they said they had a special program that you had to qualify for that allowed you to have very large display ads without the upfront cost. The were suppose to target my most profitable customers by designing the ads to look very high end. Also, they were to have a few large ads in a few categories in the phone book and online. The selling point was that if you sell a $20,000.00 job, wouldn’t you be happy to pay a $50 for that lead. It sounded good in principal.
Here’s the problem. They listed my ad in the phone book in about 30 sections in everything from home repair to remodeling to decks. Online they listed the in about 12 different categories. I did not want to pay for calls in all those categories. It does not make any sense to pay $22 – $70 for a call to do a $100 job right. I called the reps and they said they were very clear on how it was going to be. They were not. I was rushed through the whole sales pitch and told that they would contact me if my business qualified for the program. They never contact me, I just started getting bills.
Also, I was promised to be able to look over proofs of the ads. Well, that never happened either. They did not use my business logo which I have had for several years and they even got my business name wrong in every ad. (My Company is Grimm Construction and they listed it as Grimm Maintenance)
I have many more complaints about them from poor customer service to questionable business practices and I don’t know what to do.
I don’t want my credit to be ruined by these creeps, but I refuse to pay for this service. I don’t want their leads, I just want out. Any advice?
February 9th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Contact Paul Perkins, He has answered all my questions, concerns and phone calls. If you feel you have been ripped off or taken advantage of, Just call him.
(800) 656-9529 OR paulperkins@lynchlawyers.com
Cindy
February 25th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
UPDATE!!!
We have filed in California and New Jersey. We are fighting in New Jersey right now on motions. I need everyone’s help to put information together. We will be sending out an email to people over the next few weeks with questions. It would help if people could fill them out.
Please email me at paulperkins@lynchlawyers.com if you would like to be on the list to receive updates and questions about the class action.
our class certification motion is presently scheduled for February of 2011.
THANK YOU JILL FOR DOING THIS!!!!
February 26th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Hi Paul….you’re really doing all the work, glad to help provide a place.
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:05 am
Be sure to send me the email for California, Thanks.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:20 am
Yes, me also. Earthwerksguy@gmail.com
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Hi All,
I just got off the phone with friend who still works for AT&T Advertising. Yesterday she received a long email from corporate saying that they were being sued at yellowpages.com for non disclosure of terms & conditions in addition to other things. The lead plaintiff in the case is Amanda Herman and the suit was filed in January in San Diego.
I also read this week that Google is pulling the plug on the big Google Adwords resellers, including AT&T, ReachLocal, Dex etc. Apparently Google does not like the fact that these big resellers put a 100% or more markup on the Google products.
I am so glad I took the early retirement.
April 22nd, 2010 at 5:03 pm
HI – I am so GLAD that I found all of you! Unfortunately, my husband fell for the sweet words the salesman used on him. I wish our Pay per call was $11-$17, but ours are $29 per call. We live in Northern Alabama and we receive calls for work in areas like Ohio, Tenn, Penn and a whole lot of other places. I’ve been trying for 3 months to turn this service off, but to no avail. I’ve been given 2 different address to send a certified letter too get my service cancelled, and I’m still waiting for some kind of information from that, but I still haven’t heard a response.
Every time I call customer service – they tell me to talk to Bobby Hollice – and for weeks, I was given different response times back. When I filed the complaint, it was a week, then 2, then 4, then 4-6 and now it is 8-10. I called today and found out that he has tried to call me but couldn’t reach me and closed out my claim. I returned the call and asked to speak to him and was told I’d have to start the whole process over. Spoke to someone in collections who reviewed my account and asked if he had tried to contact me via email because I had left that as the best way to contact me. I said no.
She was kind enough to send an email to him and his supervisor – now, I am waiting on what is to happen next.
I have changed my phone number and they still bill me, telling me that is what the contract states and I will continue to be responsible for that.
I’m so frustrated at the lack of professionalism that they show.
When I talk to customer service they constantly tell me that they are not surprised about my complaints and that they have such a back log, that all I can do is wait.
I feel everyone’s pain and wished very strongly that my hubby never signed with them.
April 22nd, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Con’t I just want information on how to get away from them – so if anyone could help me, I’d really appreciate it. If I pay them what they are asking – my company would become bankrupt!!! We’ve already sunk everything we have into this – and without yellowpages (with our changed number) we are starting to see a horizon. I’m scared that we are going to lose everything because of how they are going to try and get there money. But, I don’t want to be apart of any service anymore!
Thanks for letting me b….!
August 30th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
I had this service for about 4 months without a single call. I stopped paying and they sent me to collections. I have since written a letter to the collections company explaining the problem. I stopped paying after about the 5th month. I actually had a couple of reps visit me who tried to sell me additional services. Thanks for the sounding board.
Larry
Note: I am in the telecommunications business and am ashamed by YP being a semi related business.
August 30th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Yellowpages.com is a complete scam and a fraudulent product sold by salespeople who are under extreme pressure to sell in order to maintain their jobs. All sales people are under pressures to sell, but taking advantage of small business people and overselling the capability of an online yellow pages add and limited search capabilities is often time beyond the pale. if they don’t get you with an online listing, they hit you with a search engine marketing (SEO) package, or pay per click or direct mail or any number of new products. New products are designed to cover for the slumbing legacy products that are dying a certain death.
Stay away from Yellowpages.com and tell others to do the same.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:02 am
Well I am glad I found you all before I signed up. They must be working their way from the outside of America to the inside I live in Indiana and just received my call yesterday 08/30/2010 to sign up. Thanks for saving me from AT&T PPC.