YP.com

Where do I begin? The company I worked for has been based out of Houston for over 30 years. About a year and a half ago, we decided to expand the business, opening up offices in Austin and Dallas. We thought YP.com would be a nice tool to market our expansion. Ha! Boy, were we wrong! We signed a year contract with the top of the line ads in each city, paying almost $4,000 a month. It seemed from day one we had problems. It started with YP.com taking over a month to make our ads public. After we were finally up and running, we had to make several small changes here and there (phone numbers, fax numbers, etc). These small corrections took weeks to get done. There were times we weren't able to get a hold of our representative for several weeks at a time.

About six months down the line, we moved the Austin office to another location. I contacted YP.com to let them know that we would be needing to update our ads with the correct location. They told me it was no problem and they would fax over a sheet with the new address. The rep told me I simply needed to initial the document saying that this was the correct new address and the changes would be made ASAP. I received a very blurry fax in almost microscopic type. However, I was able to tell the address was correct. So, I initialed the document and faxed it back. Come to find out, this document had contained a line at the very bottom stating that we were going to renew all three of our listings for another year. At this point, we had already decided signing a contract with them had been a big mistake but we were willing to pay for the rest of the year like we had agreed in our contract.

First off, I am not the business owner. I have no authority whatsoever to make this type of decision. Second, I was tricked into signing a document that I didn't know I was signing. After weeks of fighting back and forth, threatening lawsuits, etc., we were able to get them to agree to let us out of the renewed contract I apparently signed. The owner of the business made it clear that no one was authorized to make any decisions regarding contract renewal from that point on. They stated this was not a problem and even offered to come out to the Houston office and shoot a complimentary video and attach it to our ads. I was then faxed a document stating that there would be a video free of charge added to all three of our ads. I signed the document and faxed it back.

A few months later, we received a bill in the mail stating that we had renewed our YP.com contract for another year. Here we go again! Apparently, even though this video was free, adding a video automatically renews the contract for a year. Once again, even if we had been told this, which we hadn't, I have no authority to extend a contract for the business. I immediately contacted customer service. Of course, no one wanted to help me. I finally got the number for filing complaints. I called to file my complaint and the representative told me that I could not file a complaint because our business has an internal problem because she had signed document in front of her stating that we are renewing. Once again, after a week or so of fighting, we got the matter straightened out.

Our contract ended in February of this year but our ads were still left online and apparently going to stay there until we sent in a written notice that we would like to cancel our ad. I thought we had signed up for a year contract? After a year, they send you to month to month without notifying you. So now, we are stuck having to pay the March bill for almost $4000. Wow.

Some of my unauthorized personal were lied to and swindled into a contract with yp.com. Shortly thereafter, calls come in from YP stating that my company owes them $600. They are threatening to sell the contract to a collections agency and have informed me all three of the large credit ratings groups will be notified. Everything about them is shady. I'm fighting them like ** right now and it's a complete waste of time and energy. I hate them. It is completely unbelievable that YP.com conducts "business" in this manner. Despicable.

I wanted to review a carwash that was taking money from the community. Not only did Yp.com not present the review, but when I challenged them to correct it with their feedback option, nothing happened. The review is still not included, and I can't find a way to unsubscribe to their harassing emails, which I specifically asked them to stop.

So, I wrote a negative review against a business listed on yp.com, and it was there for a week or so. After that, it's gone and it no longer allows to write another review for that business. Do they intentionally delete reviews?

Yp.com met with my clients, Yankee Fireplace in Middleton, Ma to set up a six month internet advertising program. This program was supposed to virally spread my client's website and increase phone calls and visits to their website.

Many things were promised in this meeting but nothing has happened. All the while, my client dutifully paid their monthly invoices even though Miss Ahearn stated that they were having "internal communication problems" between departments which were supposed to work on the promised delivery.

My client finally refused to pay the invoices, both they and I, their advertising agency, have repeatedly contacted Miss Ahearn and her superiors {Rob **} with absolutely no response from anyone. Now, yp.com is dunning my client and affecting their credit rating! All we want is some communication! Please help by calling me at **. Thank you.

On Monday October 5, 2009 Rebecca R., a representative of YP Business Info, called me regarding an unpaid invoice# for an advertisement I supposedly placed with her company on July 30, 2009. On July 30, 2009 I received a call from an advertising company regarding an outstanding invoice. I advised them that the person who does billing is on vacation, but they can mail or fax the invoice and I will forward it to the appropriate person. They asked me to verify my mailing address and my position in the company.

On October 5, 2009 when Ms. R. called, she stated that I had placed an order on July 30, 2009, and she played a recording of me supposedly ordering the advertisement. But it was actually me verifying my mailing information. The recording didn't state that I was authorizing the advertisement, nor the date the advertisement will take effect.

The representative only advised me that I had 30 days to pay the invoice. I asked Ms. R. to play the full conversation, but she stated that calls are recorded randomly. I never authorized YP Business Info. to list my company, and I never even heard of them before. Ms. R. was unable to explain what type of advertisement it was, and when I questioned how would prospective clients find the advertisement, she explained that they would have to go to YPBUSINESSINFO.COM website then enter my company name. I explained to Mr. R. that this sounds like a scam, and I would never advertise with a company that doesn't even categorize the business listings. I further asked her to remove my company from their list, cancel this fake and fraudulently obtained advertisement and stop calling me.

The company is now pressuring me to pay a bill for a service which I did not authorize and are threatening legal action if the bill is not paid. Any purported service provided by the company was obtained fraudulently and I request that you look into this matter as I believe that this is not the only complaint against this company regarding the actions herein.

On 6-3-2009 I checked my bank account and noticed a charge of $735.56 was taken by LiveDeal. I ended the contract in early January 2009 in writing. I called them and they said they would refund the amount, but as of 6-5-2009 it is still not in. My bank said that LiveDeal only sent a soft copy to them. They need a hard copy to post the refund. If the money is not back in my bank by 6-5-2009, I will not be able to buy food and pay auto insurance that is due on 6-7-09 without having a negative balance in my bank account.

I received a phone call from a man with YP Media in regards to updating our information with them. I believe this was in December 2008. From the start of the phone conversation, I told him that I was not authorized to make any decisions regarding our businesss advertising or payments. He then pursued to verify our location and phone number. Once this was complete, I then repeated to him that I was not authorized to make sales or payment decisions for the company. He stated to me that this was not holding me to any invoicing decisions. He asked if he could fax the information over and I stated that was okay. He then said that he needed to connect me to a processing department and put me on hold.

On multiple occasions I told him I was not authorized to do payments or invoicing and he continued to push. I was on the phone with him for at least 15 minutes and in the process missed several calls for the Ranch. I was very frustrated with the man and that is why I hung up the phone. Within 10 minutes a lady from their processing department called back to continue the phone conversation. I re-iterated to her that I do not have the authority for any invoicing or payments. She stated that this was not committing me to a contract of any kind. She started recording the conversation to verify the information. Now I was very frustrated that no one was listening to me and I just wanted to get her off the phone so I answered her questions in a very short manner. We shortly received a fax for an invoice in my name through YP Media.

I then went on their website and emailed them from their restating all that I had said prior. The fax gave me a phone number to call, but I was tired of dealing with these people on the phone. They had been very harassing and pushing. So I sent an email from their website stating that I did not sign up for any contract as I expressed on the phone I am not authorized to do that through my company. I figured it was handled and didnt want to concern myself with that. A couple weeks later we receive another fax. The owner spoke to me about it when it came back through. I explained all of the above to her as well.

Tuesday, 2/24 I receive a phone call from a different man with YP media shortly after 9am. Right from the start he was very rude. He did a conference call where we were both listening to the recording of the verbal contract that I apparently made with them. Per what was recorded it looked like I did sign up for their advertising. I went through the whole thing with him as well. I express how harassing all the people was that I dealt with. I also stated to him as I had to all the ones prior that I AM NOT AUTHORIZED to make decisions regarding the companys advertising or invoicing. Not one of the people that I dealt with would listen to me!

This man had me on the phone for over 45 minutes. I asked him where was the recording of the prior phone calls? He said that they were not recorded and he had no record of the email that I sent. He demanded payment for the services and I again told him I was not able to do that. I got very irate and upset with this man. During this time he had me on the phone over this I was missing very valuable clients phone calls. That also upsets me. He asked If I went into a department store and wanted to buy a jacket, but didnt pay for it they wouldnt let me take the jacket. I stated that this is clearly not the same thing. I did not want the services and was pushed and harassed by their staff.

I said that the only person who could do anything with our buisnesss advertising wouldnt be in until Friday (2/27). He said that he would call back then at 10 am and talk to [her]. I hung up the phone. The same man called 2/27 and spoke to [her]. He threatened to send it through legal avenues if it wasnt paid. She asked to have it sit through until Monday so she could investigate this further. He was very rude with her as well.

This is when we started looking to what we could do and I found this site. If there is nothing I can do regarding this specific case, can you please help me so that this doesnt happen again? This has been a very frustrating situation from my point of view and it is completely unfair what they are doing. Any help that you can provide me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

It has caused the owner and myself several hours of labor to deal with them on the phone. Numerous client's phone calls were missed and neglected due to this. It caused lots of emotional headache and stress.

I was talked into signing up for a YP Internet advertising program on a one year basis with a 3 month trial period. I cancelled it during the 2nd month of trial period by faxing a letter to them as specified in the agreement. In Jan this year they charged my account for $396.00 even though I had cancelled IAW the agreement. THey will not return phone calls or emails. I've filed dispute with Mastercard.

Loss of $396.00 plus the original $450 I paid them. This is a total ripoff and fraud scheme. I'm very frustrated, but learned my lesson the hard way. YP.COM is a total scam. BEWARE!

Similar to the other contributors, YP.com offered me one month free. I called and cancelled the service after one month. They started sending me invoices. I called after 2 invoices telling them I had cancelled the service. They said they had no record of the cancellation. I wrote to them cancelling the service. I continued to get more invoices so I called them again. They stated that I never cancelled. I am not sure how to stop this situation. I am in the process of writing them again stating that I cancelled the service. I see that they have now changed their name to LiveDeal Inc. It is very annoying and worrisome relative to credit rating. I imagine those documenting their experience with YP.com is just the tip of the iceberg.

At this point the only economic damage is the outstanding invoices and potential impact on my credit rating.

Since I have been in business, reps from YP.com have been contacting me. They used to go by a different name. Everytime they contact you they try to sound like they are just verifying information in their database is correct. They slowly lead you into accepting a paid on-line advertising package.

I was leary right form the get go with them, and the next few times I talked with them I always told them I was not interested, and made sure that they could not twist my words in any way. I was very clear that they were not to charge me for anything but if they wanted to post my FREE ad that was fine.

After the first few calls I started recognizing their phone number and also recognized their tactics right off the bat. So, when someone would call and say, Hi, I am so and so from.... I would cut them off and say, Hi so and so. Have a great day.

So, a couple days ago I get a bill for $79.90 showing a past due amount of $39.95. I immediately called them up and was very upset. I told them they were not authorized to do this and told them that they will remove the bill and cancel the service immediately or I will contact my attorneys. She informed me that one of my employees had, in fact, authorized the charges. I told her she was out of her mind and that she better have a recording of it. So, she proceeded to play back a recording of my employee answering pre-recorded questions. You could hear that he was confused, and the lady had to keep interrupting to answer questions for him. One of the final answers was my employee agreeing that he was 18 years of age and authorized to make the necessary updates. They then played a long recording of how he had just agreed to a $39.95/month ad package and asked if he understood. I again heard my employees voice say yes. However, he has no recollection of the final recording asking him if he understood, and from looking at previous posts on the internet other people don't either.

It's obvious that this company is splicing words together and suckering people into doing things they don't want to do. I turned right around and informed the yp.com lady that my employee doesn't have any authorization to sign me up or bind me into any contract and told her that she wasn't getting any money and that she is going to cancel the account and remove the charges or I would contact my attorneys. She was more than happy to remove the charges and cancel the account and gave me a cancellation number. I then verified again that all accounts had been cancelled and that there would be no more bills. She confirmed.

Its bad enough they are using dirty tactics to trick you into signing up for something you don't want. But, they also all have bad english that makes it even harder to understand what they are telling you or asking you.

I fell into the yp.com scam. A yp.com rep called me this morning to see if I was going to pay the $79.90 invoice. I was confused...hung up...the did some research. I found a bunch of lawsuits and judgements against Yp.com. I called them. Here's what I said. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I've done a bunch of research and found that you've been sued many times in the last few years for your business practices. The hard way is you tell me who my attorney contacts (a bluff). And, I submit a complaint to my state's attorney general and the Nevada attorney general (the truth).

The easy was is that you cancel this $79.90 invoice and cancel my account. She did, immediately. When you mention 'attorney general', these companies listen. I call this scam till forbid with a twist. Till forbid means they just charge you for something until you forbid them from doing it. Very popular with the Internet Marketing crowd. The twist is this crazy recording process they make you go through. Which, I seriously doubt would hold up in any court. Anyway, that's my story.

I was contacted repeatedly over several months by Mike about advertising my carpet cleaning business. We talked about his new baby, he was constantly saying how this would help my business be found on the internet -- now I do not see my business listing in the categories we discussed.

In early October I agreed to a special package for $100/mo for so many clicks/impressions and told it would take 30 days to become live. When I found one listing for my company, it is buried in hundreds of others with a blank photo spot, carelessly entered info (capitals not right) and no link to my website. I was supposed to be in the top 3 up to $100 worth each month. They guaranteed about 25 visitors to be sent to me each month.

$200 and a lot of time wasted.

YP called me to verify a free listing they had on me. I was very leery at first but they spouted out a lot of information about my business so I figured I might as well make sure the info was correct since it would be online anyways. Everything they had was correct, and I did not give them any new information. Then the woman told me about their service of $39.95 a month and I repeated numerous times that I was not interested in any service that would cost me money.

Then they had me answer a series of recorded questions and I once again verified the information that they had on file. The last question I verified was that I was at least 18 and had authorization to make changes to the account. I said, yup. Well lo and behold a few months later I get a bill from this company for 39.95. I initially ignored it thinking it was a scam to get me to sign up. A month later I get another bill saying I am now past due on my payments and I owe $79.90.

At this point I call to discuss the situation. After arguing with the woman on the phone for several minutes, she said she could play back a recording of me agreeing to the charges. She played back the recording of those series of questions. I could hear my voice answering each question and I remembered the whole conversation. Until the end when there was a very long monologue stating that I understood that I would be charged $39.95 a month for their services. Then my voice saying, yup. I know for a fact I never would have agreed to this as I am very leery of anybody trying to sell me something and would never agree to a verbal contract with someone calling me on the phone.

I really believe that they spliced in several contract sentences into that recording. I argued with the woman some more and made a lot of demands and threats and she finally agreed to remove the charges. We'll see if it actually happens.

They cancelled my invoices and told me that they would not send anymore. They told me that they had a technical problem with retreiving the recording. They gave me a cancellation number discontinued the service with no arrears or future charges and asked me to disregard any or the invoices on hand.

Do not know as of now and hope that they are not sending these to people in Texas. I hope the authorities know of these issues if present in Texas as previously in other states where YP.Com had to settle. I would not like any attorney to contact me as I am really a busy person.

A rep from YP.Com called our company and convinced an employee who doesn't usually answer the phone to sign the company up for an Internet Advertising Package. This employee was just a drafter and did not understand what she was agreeing to, nor realize that she had even signed up for anything. She was under the impression she was just verifying our company information that YP.Com already had.

YP.Com said that we had to pay a 3 months invoice before we could cancel the account/service. This amount was $119.85. When we questioned the invoice, we were told there was a recording; but I don't think we heard the entire start to finish phone call. I managed to settle the account for $79.90, the past due balance; and YP.Com will fax us the cancellation, and receipt of notification. They also tried diligently to convince me to keep the service, and/or to continue it when I clearly stated several times that we did not order the service, nor did we want or need it.

YP contacted me and told me their services were free, and got me to record my voice assenting. When I realized the girl I spoke with was not giving me a straight answer about it being free, I tried to get her to cancel it. She continued to give me her script and would not speak to me honestly. Finally, she agreed and hung up.

Today I got an invoice and a call from a man asking us to pay our bill. The man played back the vocal recording of me, and asked me if I had gotten a cancellation number, which of course I hadn't, because the first girl had practically hung up on me. When I accused them of being dishonest, he kept telling me I consented and that wasn't dishonest. He refused to work with me or help me at all. When I asked them to cancel us now, he refused to do it unless we first paid the bill.

Having to pay the bill, plus late fees of over $100.

YP.com charged my phone bill for $41.95 a month for 5 months before discovered. They claim that the charges were authorized by an employee of my company. They use ILD teleservices as their billing front. What a scam. My employee claims they did said this was a free service. My employee would not authorize a charge without my consent.

I just looked at my phone bill and there is a charge for $39.95 for online advertising. I did not ever talk to this company and have no contract with them for advertising. I do not know how they can do this with no contract of any kind. I have looked into this company and it appears that they have a history of this type of deceptive practice and have many lawsuits against them. At least 33 states have prevailed in a suit last year against them. My billing statment shows ILD Teleservices as the biller. Further investigation tells me that this is for YP.COM.

This company needs to be put out of business. Here is a quote from a newsline Yellow Pages Web site YP.com will pay more than $2 million in restitution to 33 states to settle charges that it deceptively marketed online advertising packages, California attorney general Bill Lockyer announced last week.

According to Lockyer's office, YP.com marketed its Internet ad packages via direct mail using activation checks that ranged from $3.25 to $3.50. By depositing the checks, recipients activated accounts and agreed to pay monthly fees for the listing services, a statement from Lockyer's office said.

YP.Com added $27.50 charge onto my Verizon home phone bill - (973) 366-8380 - for Web Maintain. This bill was dated 3-13-07. I sent a letter to Ivan Seidenberg, the CEO of Verizon, and his staff got the charges removed. I must give Verizon kudos for their excellent support! I then wrote to YP.Com (by Certified Letter) and explained that I did not authorize this charge. I received a letter back from Stephen Echols of YP.Com which says that this charge was a mistake and that the web maintain service billing should have been charged to Schroeder Publishing in Ledgewood, NJ. The YP.Com letter said that Schroeder Publishing recently requested this service. Joe Schroeder, the President of Schroeder Publishing, did have my current phone number, but that was FOUR YEARS AGO. I called Joe Schroeder and asked him about YP.Com.. Joe said that he had no knoweldge of this company, and that he never authorized or signed up for any service from this company. I therefore have a letter from YP.Com where I have caught them in a lie.

I also filed a complaint with the FCC, and received a response which said that cramming does not fall under their jurisdiction. However the FCC has a webpage, where people can file cramming complaints! The FCC response also referred me to the FTC. I filed a complaint with the FTC and received a response that said that the FTC does not usually get involved with individual complaints. Therefore these two government agencies are doing nothing to correct this problem. I also filed a mail fraud charge with the US Postal Service.

In addition, I filed complaints with the Consumer Affairs Divisions of New Jerser (where I live), Nevada (where Yp.Com has offices) and Arizone (where YP.Com has their corporate headquarters.

I know that cramming is a big problem, which is probably costing unwary consumers millions of dollars per year. But I have't found any evidence (yet) that any government agency is actively going after these cramming companies.

I was billed for services that I had nothing to do with. I don't even know who YP.com is. I didn't get any information or make any long-distance calls to them. I want it taken off of my phone bill immediately and re-imbursed for the last 2 months at $41.15 each month. Thank you, Lyn Brewer

This company, yp.com, sent us a check on 1/8/03 in the amount of 3.17. They did not explain what the check was for. We deposited the check into our business account. YP.com then signed us up for an internet advertising package online. They sent us an invoice 12/4/04 in the amount of 137.75 for 5 months of internet advertsing, 29.95 per month. We have not paid this invoice because we do not feel we expressly agreed to this internet advertising service and further believe the method they used to sign us up is deceitful.

They have recently sent us another invoice in the amount of 29.95 along with a form asking for our banking information for each billing.

Our checking account has been debited and we have had to spend a good deal of time communicating with YP.Com and losing valuable billable hours.