Yell.com

[publicityheaven]

To save typing the story again, see my Yell.com experience on my blog: http://www.publicityheaven.com/blog/

I'm not knocking Yell.com as a service - it works well for some people - I'm knocking the "get you in the room and lock the door" mentality.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I'm knocking the "get you in the room and lock the door" mentality.

I'm not sure if I agree with your complaints.

A 12 month contract is a 12 month contract.

Surely when you agreed to that you understood that, if your ad wasn't turning a profit, you'd still have to pay for the rest of the year?

Steve

 

[publicityheaven]

Oh absolutely, I knew exactly what I was signing up for.

But if a customer rings to say they are so dissatisfied they are cancelling, there is surely a better answer than "you can't, you're in a contract" ?

 

[Arhiann]

Reed's response was even more amusing to a similar situation. "It's because your ad is too small", they said. "Spend another grand and it will all be alright".

 

[directmarketingadvice]

But if a customer rings to say they are so dissatisfied they are cancelling, there is surely a better answer than "you can't, you're in a contract" ?

It's not the way I run my business, but if it's the terms & conditions, it's the terms and conditions.

You bought a year's worth of ads, and it was non-refundable.

Right now Yell.com offer the option of advertising for £2 a day and you can cancel any time after the first month.

The 12 month option works out as less than £1 a day, but you're locked in for the year.

Did you have these options when you signed up?

If so, wasn't it just a case of sacrificing flexibility for a better rate?

And, if that's what you did, do you really feel you should be given the discount AND the flexibility just because your ad isn't turning a buck?

Steve

 

[publicityheaven]

No, I don't think those options were available.

And I believe Yell should do whatever it takes to satisfy me. My lifetime value as a customer depends on it.

 

[Dawg]

My lifetime value as a customer depends on it.

Is it possible that Yell sees your lifetime value diminished towards zero by your demands, and to use the words of our Prime Minister, is "not bovvered"?

 

[publicityheaven]

Probably!

:->

 

[Eighty20]

I think the thing that is frustrating to Paul is that Yell are taking a 'terms is terms' (as Steve implied) approach. However, terms are not cast in stone, and any company has the right to flex from their standard terms. Terms are there primarily to protect them against customers 'ripping them off'.

Yell are perceived by many as a 'high pressure sale' company and appear to lack the ability to offer flexibility to disatisfied customers.

Maybe they feel they are too big for consumer power to impact them!

Stephen

 

[stugster]

Why should there be flexibility? Yell offer a service, and are fulfilling that service. Yell can't be held accountable for the fact the advert isn't getting the returns expected. Were they realistic expectations? Is the advert good enough? Maybe people just don't want the service/product?

I can't see myself how that's Yell's fault!

 

[indy]

This is one of those no win situations, probably for all concerned. Yell pay theirs sales people a commission and also one one the highest basic salaries in the business. That means when its sold it stays sold. The problem is that Paul will never darken their door step again and will not be recommending them to anyone. So in the long term Yell.com will suffer some loss (do they care?)
I'm with Paul why can they not move some of the way to meet him on this and save a lot of bad feeling. Could it be they are too big or is that you can't get to the right people. Very frustrating and ultimatley costly.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

any company has the right to flex from their standard terms.

True.

However, to want to renegotiate the terms of the agreement, wouldn't there need to be some exchange of value between the 2 parties?

As Dawg said, Yell may feel that, whategver they do, there's no future value in the relationship.

In which case, what's Paul offering them in return for their lost advertising revenue?

As Stugster said, Yell have delivered their side of the bargain and should expect to keep their fee.

Whether this was true before, Yell currently offer the option of taking ads out on a short term basis, so anyone who doesn't want to be locked in can choose that option and they'll never have this problem.

However, with the 12 month commitment working out at under half the daily cost, I wonder how many new advertisers will just take a gamble on an untested ad?

Steve

 

[Hayles]

I think they need to be more flexible when something just isn't - or won't - work. We had a huge problem getting them to cancel our link - considering the business had closed due to fire I think they should have been far more understanding.

They never offered us a 'trial' originally - nor in the recent meeting we had with their rep.

H

 

[directmarketingadvice]

They never offered us a 'trial' originally - nor in the recent meeting we had with their rep.

Well, the prices and options are on their site for anyone to see:

http://www.yelldirect.com/priorityadvert/home.html

Steve

 

[LankyMac]

Hi Guys,

I have a lot of friends who work for Yell and have previously worked for a rival directory company in the past myself and to be honest their job is to create customers. The management don't care that their renewal rate is poor as the majority of businesses who start find it necessary to advertise in their books and online. The fact that their online system works for only 4% of their customers means absolutely nothing to them as a large amount of customers either don't bother monitoring the response or go out of business. They also rely on the fact that a lot of people think it is a necessary requirement to be in the book year on year (I have personally spoken with people like this and cannot understand it).

Yell.com simply doesn't work and they charge a fortune for it. The two major rivals they have have at least formed major partnerships to get their customers found in better places. BT has partnered with Yahoo and Thomson Local have partnered with loads of search engines including Google (Adwords), MSN, Tiscali, Blueyonder and loads more.

The same applies to both these companies in regards to 12 months contracts but they value their customers a lot more and would try their very best to satisfy an unhappy customer for the sake of a renewal.

 

[Rapid Dave]

In my experience, they simply don't care, once they have your money. Their only response is that "you need a bigger ad". They aren't bothered if one person doesn't renew, if NO-ONE renewed they may feel differently...