NEW COMPACT YELLOW PAGES ," ripppoff "

[bazza007]

Hi to all advertisers like myself who are DISSAPOINTED AND ANGRY AT THE WAY YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS LOOK IN NEW COMPACT DIRECTORY,,on recieving the new compact directory was very dissapointed at how my adds look IT WAS INFACT A CUSTOMER WHO TOLD ME HOW BAD IT LOOKED , WICH FROM MY POINT OF VIEWMADE IT EVEN WORSE ,,BASICLY I WANT RESPONSES IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY

,,i have spent over £3000 this year on advertising and if the adds fall in the center of the book ,ie the spine you effectively cant see a third of the advertisement ,I HAVE COMPLAINED AND WRITTEN TO THE CEO AT YELL,ONLY TO BE FOBBED OFF AND TOLD YOU STILL HAVE TO PAY BECAUSE YOU SIGHNED A CONTRACT,,i have spoken to 14 other advertisers about this problem and 11 of them feel the same way ,i may also seek a solicitors advice about this problem ,,the problem did not exist in the old book because it was bigger and the weight held the pages open ,,I WANT RESPONSES IF OTHER ADVERTISERS ARE NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS ,,I HAVE BEEN A YELLOW PAGES CUSTOMER FOR 23 YEARS AND NO PROBLEMS,BUT NOW THEY TURN AROUND AND TREAT CUSTOMERS LIKE THIS ,?

THIS COUD BE THE BIGGSET THING TO HIT YELLOW PAGES FOR YEARS ,,NOT HAPPY ,,CONTACT ME IF YOU FEEL THE SAME
"reply to thread as im new and am not allowed to post email"

 

[E Storey]

I am beginning to think there should be a "complaints about yell" section of the forum!

 

[bazza007]

yes their shoud be ,,they are terrible

 

[the locksmith]

Yup ... after 19 years of advertising with yellow pages, I eventually pulled the pin this year. They have consistently made no effort whatsoever to show any sort of loyalty reward. I genuinely trade as "A1" .... think I was on page 7 or 8 of the locksmiths classification last year. All they are interested in is getting money out of you and the big service companies who can afford to spend a lot get up to the front of the classification. It makes no difference if you have been advertising with them for years.

I think the new version of the book was what swung it ... for exactly the reasons bazza has mentioned.

You will need a chuffing magnifying glass to read some of the adverts !

..... and most people don't bother looking in YP now ... straight to Google

 

[Matt1959]

cant wait to see my copy! luckily for them i only have a bold lie entry costing £120pa. If I had a display and it displayed as you say i'd go mental. I would suspect that the mmajority of advertsiers have no idea this years edition is small size. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of any challenges

 

[MASSEY]

cant wait to see my copy! luckily for them i only have a bold lie entry costing £120pa. If I had a display and it displayed as you say i'd go mental. I would suspect that the mmajority of advertsiers have no idea this years edition is small size. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of any challenges

But do you think you will see a profit on your £120?

Its probably ideal for you as you offer a niche service from what i gather.

 

[Matt1959]

yeh thats what I was saying. the 120 ad is ok for me and i will see a fair return. if i'd had a display ad it would have cost me a few hundred but it would have been compromised it seems by perhaps being on the page fold??

anyway i know what yells line will be - cos its small it'll go through lettrboxes and more people will see the ads because of that

 

[mids_biz_guy]

i have this year stopped any new adverts with yellow pages, they then promised me the world with google (said no thanks!)

On our current contract a basement conversion in oxford the new compact YP arrived this week, my first though when i looked in the basement and loft classification was "christ glad i didnt waste my money" the ads look out of proportion against the spine. In some respects the size is ok to chuck in the kitchen draw if you need it but i think this is just another nail in the yellow pages coffin

 

[bazza007]

Thank You For Your Comments

 

[gibby]

They can be a real pain if they mess up your ad

A few years back we bought another biz & needed to change the details to the ads. We sent in writing the changes & they were confirmed but when the book came out they fobbed us off saying it would not hurt business - although they had missed out a vital phone number.

If you havn't paid them then don't. Cancel any DD's set up.
You need to decide what you think the ad is worth & offer that plus look at any lost business etc.

If they don't agree just ask them to take it to the county court to decide on. Make sure you stick to this.

The mistake we made was getting a solicitor involved as thier charges worked out higher than the actual bill.

Even though we never paid the bill they did come back to us a year later for us to advertise again.

We havn't used yellow pages at all for some years now & not picked one up for some time.
We did have one delivered to the house some months back & it went in the bin as it was waterlogged due to being left out in the rain all day.
I just wonder how many others went the same way.

G

 

[bazza007]

Thanks for your comments guys ,,very intresting keep em coming ,,ive been calling advertisers in the center of yell compact book today also ,,no one i speak to is happy about this ,but i am happy that other advertisers feel the same way ,,,,,its a shame they are trained so stuborn in the customer service dept at yell ,it makes me luagh how they tell me about the customer survey ,they say most peaple prefer it to the old book ,yell prefers it because it was obviuosly cheaper for them to produce ,,its a pity they did not warn the advertisers that you will only have a third of your add visible if you land in center of book ,,,and the peaple looking for your buiseness will haveto manipulate the book in order to see your tel no clearly ,,im a plumber ,,the last thing a customer will do is start pulling the book and leaning down heavily on it to see the add more clearly ,,,
THE BOOKS BEEN OUT SINCE AUGUST NOW ,,NO ENQUIRES FROM NEW COMPACT BOOK,,,IF YOU END UP IN MIDLE OF BOOK ,,ITS SO OBVIOUS THIS IS A MASSIVE PROBLEM ,WHEN THE CUSTOMERS ARE TELLING YOU ITS BAD ,ITS BAD .

 

[bazza007]

THE LOCKSMITH IS EXACTLY CORRECT IN WHAT HE IS SAYING ALSO,,NO LOYALTY,I NOTICE THAT ALSO ,THE BIG SERVICE COMPANYS ARE ALSO AT THE FRONT OF THE CLASSIFICATION ,ALTHO THE REP WHO SELLS YOU THE PRODUCT TELLS YOU IT DONT MAKE NO DIFFERENCE WHAT YOU SPEND ,ITS OF NO BENEFIT IT WONT GET YOU NEAR THE FRONT ,,SO IF THAT THE CASE HOW COME THE SAME OLD COMPANY LANDS ON THE FRONT PAGES OF CLASSIFICATION YEAR AFTER YEAR?,,ARE WE BEING TOLD LIES BY YELLOW PAGES ?....HAS THE YELLOW PAGES JUST BECOME A LOTTERY AFTER ALL A LOT OF ADVERTISERS PUT 6 AAAAAA INFRONT OF THEIR BUISENESS NAME AND HOPE TO WIN YEAR AFTER YEAR ,WHAT A RIDICULOUS SYSTEM ,,I DO INFACT BELIEVE IN GETING WHAT YOU PAY FOR ,SO WHY DONT THEY CHARGE A PREMIUM FOR GETING NEAR FRONTTHAT WAY ADVERTISERS WOUD EITHER PAY OR NOT? ,OH NEARLY FORGOT THEY DO DONT THEY,RE BIG SPENDERS SERVICE COMPANYS ETC ,,ARE THEY REALY ALLOWED TO TRADE IN THIS WAY ,,,,?

 

[DotNetWebs]

... and most people don't bother looking in YP now ... straight to Google

I agree

My Yellow Pages doesn't even make it past my front door - it goes straight in the recycle bin.

Most people I know do the same.

Regards

Dotty

 

[Merchant UK]

Problem with yellow pages is you sign up to a contract, but you don't get to see your finished ad for months and by that time the cooling period has ended.

However you can extend this period upto 6 months if they don't supply you with what was initially agreed.

As they made the YP smaller the finished size of the ads are smaller than what you ordered so they are in breach of contract if they didn't inform you and get your permission to cointinue with the smaller size.

Di you know the ad was going into a smaller book??? and your add was getting smaller as a result??

 

[bazza007]

yea i knew it was geting smaller ,altho i did not see the actual size of book when sighning as rep did not hhave one to view,,but my main argument here is that if you end up in a certain place in the book ,ie left hand page center ,,that the adds arent in proportion to the other adds ,,in other words you arnt realy geting what you paid for .to me this is a problem they did not foresee ,,and i have spoken to many advertisers who feel the same,,they are not happy ,,

thanks so much for your input ,,bazza

 

[Merchant UK]

bazza,

What you need to do is get as many advertisers as you can that are not happy with their ads and make up some sort of action group. Then when you have a few decent (although angry) advertisors on board go to see a Solicitor which specialises in Contracts and ask them if their is any way you can get out of the contract, and get refunds etc...

Ploblem with this is that there was a lot said verbally, but the contract remains the same, it really does pay to get everything in writing and if they start rabbiting about stuff that not in the contract, then you don't want to listen.

Personally, I think large companies make their contracts so hard to understand for the average man in the street and with some 50,000 words which you need a magifiying glass to read it, just how many of us actually read all the contract before signing.

 

[gibby]

You could also try trading standards.
If they get several complaints they will investigate, so try to get anyone who is not happy to contact them

G

 

[bazza007]

Talking To A Solicitor Now ,may Be Taking Action On This,,,thansk For All Your Replys ,,

 

[Merchant UK]

Talking To A Solicitor Now ,may Be Taking Action On This,,,thansk For All Your Replys ,,

let us know how you got on

 

[bazza007]

had lots of replys to emails that ive sent out to buisenes,s ABOUT THE NEW COMPACT YELLOW PAGES,,on some of the adds the tel no,s are hardly visible ,advertisers are realy not happy about this ,i got my copy of bt phonebook this morning ,,what a diference ,in my view its a bit untested but its LOOKS so much better than the compact yellow pages ,,i realy do hope that bt steal this market away from the compact yellow pages book ,,

 

[garden-company]

Sorry to see so many people like myself, unhappy with the new yellow pages format. Customer services are adamant we were fully informed and agreed to the new sized advert; but there phone salesperson kept referring to sample adverts in the old style book; we therefor thourght, small book, same size adverts, no bulking out of content.
We were discussing a larger advert in the old style, but they would not accept our artwork, and we refused to pay their art department for reproducing work already done; we therefor stayed with the old advert.
The new book has brought no work to us since publication. They are now demanding full payment and breach of contract ; we are dragging our heals over payment. I have considered reducing this by a third, but even that seems to much.
Lets make their life a misery:

 

[Itechlink]

I also have an advert with yellow pages and spent a lot of money with them over the years, this new compact yeloow pages what a load of rubbish. I was told there will be a new compact size book this year but not once did they say the size of the advert will shrink ..... I contacted them today and spoke to a girl there who said they ASSUMED that people would relise that the adverts would be smaller? Is assume a legal word for such a contract, I think not, I will be cancelling my ad with them for next year and also cancelling my monthly DD, let them take me to court and I will fight it, we as businesses surely cant be treated this way. I am also in the process of building a blog concerning this so the more business that leave negative comments the better. Lets build a case against Yell.

Neil

 

[oliverbanks]

Totally agree, and although I'm a big fan of directories, I think Yell have definately let down their customers here.

 

[Nick73]

Hello..

I totally agree with you regarding the YELL.COM and Yellow pages advertising. I took out a package for the first time in June 2010 for around £1650. This included YELL.COM ad and an ad in the book. However the sales guy did not explain that the book was going to be smaller version I was shocked when I received it in the post. I had no idea that the ad I had agreed was for the main Yellow Pages book either the paperwork system is rather confusing! All the other tradesmans ads were very small you could hardly read some of the text! I strongly feel that we ought to get a campaign going against YELL. The other thing as well, we have only had 2 enquiries from YELL but there figures they have state that we have had nearly 60 enquiries through the phone number that they print in the Ad in the book, the phone hasn't rung at all we always have an answerphone on and if people really want to contact you then normally they leave a message or call your mobile. Where and how do they generate these figures? I have wriiten and emailed them but they say that their figures are correct...I wish I had never signed up with them. Then they sent a debt collectors after me for cancelling my direct debit!! I have been forced to pay them more money for the time being but I am not happy with the service at all. WHat can we do to stand up for our rights here?

 

[Nick73]

I totally agree

 

[serasan]

Have a look at Yell.com's share price. You will see it is at an all time low, Yell is over.

Google make more revenue than ITV now.

I used to run a business back in the 80's and Yellow Pages as it was then was a must.

Now I don't use yell.com and all my efforts go towards Google.

Yellow Pages used to rule the world, but I'm afraid it it Google now, yell.com is the Woolworth's of advertising

 

[MASSEY]

I remember seeing that yell is in massive financial debt. I don't think we will see the end of yell for a good few years yet, they still have a big customer base.

 

[serasan]

They only have the customers that are not net savey, or with businesses that deal with non net users. Remember over 70% of the population use Google now.

You can't stay still in business, you either move forward or go bust!

 

[Barnes s b welder]

Hi to all advertisers like myself who are DISSAPOINTED AND ANGRY AT THE WAY YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS LOOK IN NEW COMPACT DIRECTORY,,on recieving the new compact directory was very dissapointed at how my adds look IT WAS INFACT A CUSTOMER WHO TOLD ME HOW BAD IT LOOKED , WICH FROM MY POINT OF VIEWMADE IT EVEN WORSE ,,BASICLY I WANT RESPONSES IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY

,,i have spent over £3000 this year on advertising and if the adds fall in the center of the book ,ie the spine you effectively cant see a third of the advertisement ,I HAVE COMPLAINED AND WRITTEN TO THE CEO AT YELL,ONLY TO BE FOBBED OFF AND TOLD YOU STILL HAVE TO PAY BECAUSE YOU SIGHNED A CONTRACT,,i have spoken to 14 other advertisers about this problem and 11 of them feel the same way ,i may also seek a solicitors advice about this problem ,,the problem did not exist in the old book because it was bigger and the weight held the pages open ,,I WANT RESPONSES IF OTHER ADVERTISERS ARE NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS ,,I HAVE BEEN A YELLOW PAGES CUSTOMER FOR 23 YEARS AND NO PROBLEMS,BUT NOW THEY TURN AROUND AND TREAT CUSTOMERS LIKE THIS ,?

THIS COUD BE THE BIGGSET THING TO HIT YELLOW PAGES FOR YEARS ,,NOT HAPPY ,,CONTACT ME IF YOU FEEL THE SAME
"reply to thread as im new and am not allowed to post email"

BAD BEWARE OFF YELLOW PAGES ,CHECK YOUR BANKS ACCOUNT, THEY MENT TO BE TAKING UNDER £50 a month they took that plus £330 this month the £48 plus £150 the next day. have to keep ringing them and getting it paid back. if i didnt check my back account i would never of know, BEWARE, HAS THIS HAPPENED TO ANYONE ELSE. from BARNES S B WELDER