Comments on: Idearc Media’s New Way to Screw Yellow Pages Advertisers http://www.thedeets.com/2009/12/04/idearc-medias-new-way-to-screw-yellow-pages-advertisers/ Consistently against torture. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:36:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Laurie http://www.thedeets.com/2009/12/04/idearc-medias-new-way-to-screw-yellow-pages-advertisers/#comment-18489 Laurie Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:26:20 +0000 http://www.thedeets.com/?p=5868#comment-18489 After doing business for over 20 years and owning 3 companies I am now down to the most basic listing in the yellow pages for two reasons. I think is a dying form or advertising, mostly used by older clients/customers and second the tactics Idearc Media is now using to force you to renew your ad. Last week I was contacted by a sales rep and I was busy therefore my secretary took a message. I returned the phone call 3 times only to get a voice mail machine over the next few days. The following week I received a certified letter stating that I had 5 days to respond or my ad would be automatically renewed for the $1200 rate. divided into 12 payments and added to your monthly phone bill. That is the customer service I get. No thanks! I mailed a certified letter back and canceled my advertising. After doing business for over 20 years and owning 3 companies I am now down to the most basic listing in the yellow pages for two reasons. I think is a dying form or advertising, mostly used by older clients/customers and second the tactics Idearc Media is now using to force you to renew your ad. Last week I was contacted by a sales rep and I was busy therefore my secretary took a message. I returned the phone call 3 times only to get a voice mail machine over the next few days. The following week I received a certified letter stating that I had 5 days to respond or my ad would be automatically renewed for the $1200 rate. divided into 12 payments and added to your monthly phone bill.

That is the customer service I get. No thanks! I mailed a certified letter back and canceled my advertising.

]]> By: Maike Stewart http://www.thedeets.com/2009/12/04/idearc-medias-new-way-to-screw-yellow-pages-advertisers/#comment-18077 Maike Stewart Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:48:14 +0000 http://www.thedeets.com/?p=5868#comment-18077 The comments above...very funny. Folks forget that I started with Verizon YP 3 months post High School. 10 yrs later, I left. The company is antiquated like the products it offers. My Mom was also a sales rep.... my step father...my brother...and countless friends who I still consider family. There is some mewrit and truth behind my disgruntled former employee rants. I love how folks claim to be search marketing experts. www.yellowpageguru.com dates back many years. It contained the latest on local seo from 2003. I was told repeatedly to be careful what info I shared. I also shared many new ideas....more so than 99% of the companies advertising consultants. I also won 3 President's Awards....something that has not been replicated by my peers. The comments above…very funny. Folks forget that I started with Verizon YP 3 months post High School. 10 yrs later, I left. The company is antiquated like the products it offers. My Mom was also a sales rep…. my step father…my brother…and countless friends who I still consider family. There is some mewrit and truth behind my disgruntled former employee rants. I love how folks claim to be search marketing experts. http://www.yellowpageguru.com dates back many years. It contained the latest on local seo from 2003. I was told repeatedly to be careful what info I shared. I also shared many new ideas….more so than 99% of the companies advertising consultants. I also won 3 President’s Awards….something that has not been replicated by my peers.

]]> By: Ida Quit http://www.thedeets.com/2009/12/04/idearc-medias-new-way-to-screw-yellow-pages-advertisers/#comment-17085 Ida Quit Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:10:20 +0000 http://www.thedeets.com/?p=5868#comment-17085 As a current employee ( or should I say Indentured Servant), I'd like to ask Klien if he, like his sales fore, took a 25% involuntary pay cut in 2009. Was this money used to pay for his egotisical, narcissistic in-house TV show where he has actually been captured on camera throwing candy corn at these same employees who were unfortunare to be forced tonsit in the audience? Or did it help Sandy pay for her husband's ad? Or pay for Debbie-the-trophy-wife's Neiman card? However you cut it, we're gettin screwed. Bush League, even by Texas standards. As a current employee ( or should I say Indentured Servant), I’d like to ask Klien if he, like his sales fore, took a 25% involuntary pay cut in 2009. Was this money used to pay for his egotisical, narcissistic in-house TV show where he has actually been captured on camera throwing candy corn at these same employees who were unfortunare to be forced tonsit in the audience? Or did it help Sandy pay for her husband’s ad? Or pay for Debbie-the-trophy-wife’s Neiman card? However you cut it, we’re gettin screwed.
Bush League, even by Texas standards.

]]> By: Supermedia’s New Business Priorities | The Deets http://www.thedeets.com/2009/12/04/idearc-medias-new-way-to-screw-yellow-pages-advertisers/#comment-17079 Supermedia’s New Business Priorities | The Deets Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:17:28 +0000 http://www.thedeets.com/?p=5868#comment-17079 [...] Joe is trying to convince me to use print yellow pages for local business information, the company he apparently works for seems to see a future for itself in other markets. Idearc [...] [...] Joe is trying to convince me to use print yellow pages for local business information, the company he apparently works for seems to see a future for itself in other markets. Idearc [...]

]]> By: Ed Kohler http://www.thedeets.com/2009/12/04/idearc-medias-new-way-to-screw-yellow-pages-advertisers/#comment-17076 Ed Kohler Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:01:56 +0000 http://www.thedeets.com/?p=5868#comment-17076 @joe, you're right that that stuff isn't rocket science. It's just business. Companies who are better at it make more money. Back to print yellow pages, at some point, do you think the number of people who use books may become small enough that it's no longer justfiable to print and distribute books to those people? It sounds like you have plenty of excellent talking points worked out against print YP alternatives, and imagine they work will with many customers. However, I wonder how well they work with businesses who've had success in new advertising mediums? I agree that local search is far from a solved problem today, but there are some really brilliant people working on solving that problem within a fast growing industry, so I'm not particularly concerned about that. I just ran a spot check for the term plumber together with my zip code and found a mix of known local companies and some national brands, which feels pretty good. I can then click to see reviews of the plumbers so choose them based on something other than the size of their ad or alphabetically. And I'm seeing companies that are truly nearby rather than on the other side of a large metro area. To me, that's a better user experience than print, but I may be the exception. @joe, you’re right that that stuff isn’t rocket science. It’s just business. Companies who are better at it make more money.

Back to print yellow pages, at some point, do you think the number of people who use books may become small enough that it’s no longer justfiable to print and distribute books to those people?

It sounds like you have plenty of excellent talking points worked out against print YP alternatives, and imagine they work will with many customers. However, I wonder how well they work with businesses who’ve had success in new advertising mediums?

I agree that local search is far from a solved problem today, but there are some really brilliant people working on solving that problem within a fast growing industry, so I’m not particularly concerned about that. I just ran a spot check for the term plumber together with my zip code and found a mix of known local companies and some national brands, which feels pretty good. I can then click to see reviews of the plumbers so choose them based on something other than the size of their ad or alphabetically. And I’m seeing companies that are truly nearby rather than on the other side of a large metro area. To me, that’s a better user experience than print, but I may be the exception.

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