Yellow book printed, in their 2007 edition of the Decatur Illinois phone book, my cell phone under the government section. The listing the printed it under was the Macon County Emergency Management and Disaster agency (ESDA). On Thursday November 30 Central Illinois suffered a crippling ice storm creating a state wide disaster. Due to my cell phone number being printed under our local listing for ESDA I received somewhere between 150 and 200 phone calls from people who had trees fall in their houses or were out of power, or had power lines down in their yard to soup kitchens and churches asking if they should open their doors to help feed people that did not have any way to make food for them selves.
To say the least it was a frustrating weekend. I suffer from a condition called post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Having to take those calls and listen to the people on the other end in hysteria, and in need of help just aggravated my condition. I wasn't able to sleep much at all because of the aggravation of this condition and because the phone would not stop ringing.
I run a business using that phone ling and have had the number for better than five years now and could not simply shut the phone off because I would loose business.
On Monday December 4th I called Yellow book and got a customer service rep. I informed the rep of the mistake and what I had been through. He apologized for the mistake and told me that they would not print it in next year's phone book. He asked me if there was anything else they could do for me and I told him yes Yellow Book can reimburse me for my phone usage that I would be charged.
He told me that in the book there was a disclaimer stating that Yellow book is not responsible for the number that they print and could not be held accountable for the mistake. I told him that I had already spoke to an attorney and the attorney told me that they would say that and that because I am not a customer of theirs, because my number is a cell phone number and they are unlisted at this point, the disclaimer does not apply to this case.
Again the rep. Blew me off and told me there was nothing that they could do about it and to have a nice day. I called my local new media to have them run a post that the ESDA number was the wrong number in the book and to give them the right number. My local news paper decided to help and wanted to run a front page story on the situation. The reporter called Yellow Book and got another rep. And that rep. Blew her off the same as they did me. The reporter informed the rep. That she was a reporter and that she would be running a front page story on the situation and that if Yellow book would like to change their mind about helping they could call her and gave them her number.
The reporter got a call back from the seignior manager of PR Sherry Walters 15 minutes later. Ms. Walters told the reporter We want to remedy this for him and for the people calling emergency management. We'll do whatever we can to help. Yellow book offered to pay both cell phone bills involved in this situation and also told me to come up with a number for all other expenses and hassle this put me through.
I added up the expenses and such and called the attorney back to see based on what I had already what I should ask for. He told me 3 times the total expenses. I though about what he told me and undershot it by a lot wanting to be fair to Yellow book. The break down of the offer I sent them is as follows.
Phone usage, bill, change of number, loss of service contract, and purchase of new one year contract - $683.75
Change of business number, estimated loss of business, and cost of redoing advertising due to new number, replacement of; business cards, invoices, letter head, signs, and vehicle stickers - $4380
Aggravation of a current condition, professional assistance with condition, ongoing stress and frustration, lost sleep - $2750
Total of this list and offer - $7813.75
If I followed my attorney's advice the total would be $20,471.25. I gave Yellow book the settlement offer on December 13th and it is now December 19th and I have yet to hear anything from Yellow book. I am going to call Yellow book back today and ask them where we stand on this settlement.
I informed them that I had already spoke to an attorney for advice and I hope they are under the understanding that if this amount is rejected the attorney is going to take them to court. He says it is an open and shut case, they admitted guilt to the new paper and the paper printed their statement. He also informed me that if he is hired to handle it that number will begin to grow very fast for his fees and time on the case. I will keep this updated as to what is happening with this situation. I really hope Yellow Book does the right thing here.
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