This post is not related to I.T. but i feel i need to warn all business owners.
I feel it prudent to advise all business owners about advertising with Yell.com or Hibu (their trading company).
A couple of months ago, i placed a paid advert with Yell.com to have my company listed under computer services in Leeds. I duly provided all relevant details, a credit check was carried out and my listing was created. I was assured of great things including monitored phone calls, increased website activity and sales.
I today checked my listing and noticed that a competitor has also paid for a listing with Yell.com and used my trading name. This is known as “passing off” and is a civil offence. I called Yell.com, believing they would remove the listing. However, i have now found another side to Yell.com. They don’t care and their attitude is “not our problem”.
After several phone calls, i was informed that they are not responsible for the accuracy of an advert and will affectively accept a paid listing under any company name. This means that once you have paid for a listing, your competitor can easily also pay for a listing (and we are only talking £20 per month), and use your company name. Yell.com will do absolutely nothing and let them get away with it without any understanding of the damage caused to your company.
Needless to say, PC Repair Leeds has now removed all adverts and association with Yell.com. Any listing you see on their site with the name PC Repair Leeds is bogus and should be reported.
This loophole in Yell.com’s account setup needs to be closed and the more people who complain, the sooner this will happen. Before you advertise with Yell.com, just take a moment to think what damage can be caused by a company who has little interest in ethics or the law.
