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Another year, another stack of print spam phone books in a plastic bag from Dex.
This year had a new wrinkle. Dex delivered three books that I requested not to receive AND a door hanging acknowledging that I did not want to receive the books.
Yes, that is correct. They delivered a door hanger telling me that I’ve opted out of phone books while delivering phone books that I’ve opted-out of receiving.
I also received a phone call from Dex calling to verify that I did NOT receive books from them, as I had requested. Sadly, I had to tell them that their delivery team failed in their effort to NOT deliver their print spam to my door. They did offer to come pick up the books that I previously told them I did not want.
So, by opting-out of Dex phone book deliveries, I ended up with even more waste on my doorstep than had I not opted-out. I get to deal with phone calls from them where I spend my time helping verify their incompetence. And additional fuel will be wasted retrieving the books they never should have delivered to me in the first place.
Is this a case of things having to get worse before they get better? While Dex clearly failed in this case, they do appear to be making an effort to create an opt-out system. Something that the Yellow Pages industry claims it already has in place, but, in practice, it’s disappointing.
Better luck next year, Dex.
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I have a chimney fire-starter for my coals and since I don’t subscribe to the Strib any longer, the sheets from my spanky new phone book are just perfect fuel for getting my grill ready.
Thanks, Dex!
Maybe they said…”You know what will get this guy really ticked off, another delivery mu ha ha ha ha”
That sounds more exciting and sinister that they would deliver on purpose rather than out of incompetence.
Patrick, I think you’re onto something there.
I may have commented to this effect before, but my opt out did work. I got the door hanger and the phone call, but no books.
I saw some guy delivering yellowpages the other day with a hand spray painted sign on the back of his trailer recommending we fellow drivers yield to his slow ass moving self. I was tempted to slam in to the back of him/yell out the window, but did neither. I also drove by a line of abandoned phone books in the burbs this week, and received 3 on our front porch (though I’m on the ‘opt out’ list) last month. When are people going to stop this insanity?
This is ridiculous, Ed. Last month both my house and the foreclosed house next door again got phone book spammed for the second year in a row. I know we both think physical spam should be illegal, but surely littering on foreclosed properties must be against some type of code.
I got mine today. They should at least have the kindness of delivering them back by my garage where I place the recycling. Does anyone know the opt-out phone number?
[...] spam myself here. Sarah said you have to opt-out every year, so I’ll probably end up like Ed with an opt-out notice AND the books next year. Grreat. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Top 10 Reasons You Should Be My [...]
All of these books end up in a land fill or recycled sooner or later. Most people don’t use a phone book to look for anything anymore. The only reason Dex delivers phone books to every house/business is to hood-wink their advertisers in thinking all of us will be using this outdated obsolete tool. 90% of us consider it littering and our public servants just turn a blind eye. Some law firm should initiate a class action suit against DEX for unauthorized deliveries or littering. Instead of raising taxes King County could fine DEX $500 for every unauthorized delivered book or enforce our existing littering laws $1,000.00 per incident.
There’s a national do-not-call number. One number to call for all telemarkers. Yet to stop these directories from being delivered (and thrown directly in the recycle bin), you have to contact EACH company that delivers to you. Good luck. And when you do find each company, good luck trying to find the Opt Out page on their web page. DEX in particular wins the award for making it nearly impossible to find.
Love the class action lawsuit idea. Seriously, count me in if you’re a lawyer and you want to do this: xkep@yahoo.com.
@Dave, while finding the opt-out numbers for each directory company is a pain, and finding time to call each company (they don’t seem to offer any form of online opt-out option), the even bigger pain is that YP companies seem incompetent at actually abiding by the lists they maintain. For example, I’ve received yet another set of Yellowbook and Dex’s books this year, after opting out of both two years ago. They really don’t seem to care to listen to people who are asking for no more books.