The-internet-yellowpages.com called to "verify" an order that had been previously placed. They told the co-owner of the business that fielded that call that they just needed to "verify" the information on this order. Thinking that a legitimate order had been placed by one of the other owners the co-owner answered yes to a few questions such as:
Is your address still...
Is your phone number still...
Are you an owner or authorized manager...
You understand that this order will bill at...
You understand that this order is for...
A few months later a gentleman called from The-internet-yellowpages.com claiming that our invoice was past due and needed to be paid in full. I (another owner) was unaware of any previously placed order so I disputed it. At that point they played a recording of the conversation the other owner had with them verifying the "previously placed" order. I told the gentleman that it didn't matter what the other owner had verified. If there was no order previously placed, then his verification was for nothing. He was never asked to place an order, or if he was interested in their services. He was only asked for verification.
At that point in the conversation the employee of The-internet-yellowpages.com became quite heated with me stating that this would go to collections and that our business credit would be damaged. He demanded some sort of payment, even if it wasn't in full. He was willing to settle the account for pennies on the dollar. He just needed something to keep it from becoming bad debt. At that point I became even more suspicious, because very few companies will attempt to settle debt for nothing during their first collections call. He would only take a payment over the phone, and it was obvious he was just trying to swindle whatever he could out of us.
I told him he could mark this as a fraudulent order and that these sales tactics were very unethical. I told him we would not pay for any order, as we never placed an order with his company. He continued to argue with me stating that if we didn't pay he would go after the co-owner that verified this order personally. Knowing that was just a threat I hung up on him.
Months passed and no letters came, no phone calls, no problems. Just today, however, that changed. I received a rather polite call from another employee stating he was the last person who reviewed these accounts before they went to collections. At first I didn't recall the debt, so I asked him to please send us an invoice and/or contract so that I could verify what it was I was about to pay. He said he could not produce that, as he was only able to settle the account. If he gave us an invoice it would be for more than what he was going to settle for. I told him I didn't care what we settled for, I still needed an invoice to verify the debt. Then he told me he would send me a generic invoice dated today with a certain amount on it that would be $125 less than what we had initially "ordered". I told him that I needed to see an original invoice, not one he made up. He said he couldn't provide that. I then pressed further to ask for a signed contract. He stated that they had phone authorization on a secured line for this order. I told him that what they had was a verification of a previously placed order that was never placed. At that point he sounded rattled, and began trying to make things up and talk quickly. I simply hung up on him.
I called YellowBook (whose registered logo looks suspicisouly like The-internet-yellowpages.com logo... Hmmm... Trademark lawsuit?) YellowBook checked our business account that we set up for local phone book advertising. It made no reference to any The-internet-yellowpages.com order or account.in fact, the representative knew of no such service offered by YellowBook.
After investigating this company it is apparent that several other companies and individuals have been scammed by their devious sales methods. It is best to avoid them at all costs. If you want to do real advertising, make sure you call your local YellowBook and speak directly with a representative. The representative will visit you and have you sign a contract with your information on it. That is a legitimate advertising purchase. Avoid all else!
Aaron
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
U.S.A.
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