As you know every once and a while I will jump on here and include some information about business, just recently I posted a more personal look into one of my business’s in my “Extreme Tan and Smoothies June Recap” article. That was really the first time we have ever exposed any type of business data for Extreme Tan and Smoothies, especially since it is a privatley owned company.
Most of my business related articles feature a business tip of some sort or maybe a look inside one of the ways we saved money in one of our own business’s. Being a business owner in today’s world with the current economic times you are constantly forced to look for new ways to generate revenue as well as reduce costs in order to stay competative.
Another huge challenge for business owners is keeping a brand in the public eye while still trying to navigate the crappy economy, and doing it without spending a fortune.
There are all kinds of different ways to advertise your business and keep the name out there without spending a fortune, there are also plenty of advertising area’s that seem inexpensive and for good reason, lack of results.
In a little over a years time I have written about numerous forms of advertising on my site, in addition to the many local area business’s that I review as well. Advertising is by far my favorite thing to do, I love starting ad campaigns from the ground up, and figuring the potential cost and profit of doing such ad campaigns. My palms sweat just thinking about putting a special on a Clear Channel Billboard from Mikey B, no really they do.
Anyway, before this post gets way out of hand the main reason for this article is to take a moment and review the experiences I have had with YellowBook.com and our advertising with them over the last few months.
Extreme Tan and Smoothies Yellow Book.com Ad
When we first opened Extreme Tan and Smoothies we had a paid advertisment in the actual Yellow Book that was delivered to all of the local homes in the area, this was about five years ago and let’s just say that ad campaign was hardly worth it. A few months ago while we were in the height of our season and agressivley advertising we had a YellowBook.com representative come into the office pushing advertising in the online version of Yellow Book.com
My initial answer was of course absolutley not, especially after my first experience with them and how they have continued billing that is a major pain in the ass to get them to stop. After talking with the representative he assured me that the deal we signed would allow us to break out of it and cancel at any time, this sparked my intrest because I rarely ever sign contracts.
We decided to buy the top spot on all searches in the specific counties that we wanted the ad to appear when people plugged in a search on Yellow Book.com, I figured it would have to return some excellent results with a placement like that. Our spots continued to run through out the entire tanning season as well as the entire limousine season, we have yet to have any customer mention those ad spots for either business.
Now I will say that one of the hardest things to track when it comes to advertising is advertising placed in the Yellow Pages or any place that doesn’t offer some sort of redemption, like a coupon to make tracking easier. The spots ran for enough time that had the advertisment made that much of an impact we would have heard about it, this ad campaign was very much like the ad campaign we ran five years ago.
In addition to the poor return on investment from advertising with Yellow Book and Yellow Book.com over the years, there is also the billing practices that they follow that are honestly in my opinion, a complete joke. Just yesterday I watched Michele waste another phone call to Yellow Book to try and get an answer as to why we were still be charged for advertising, even though Michele has called to cancel the advertising on at least four previous occassions.
I wouldn’t doubt it for a second if there were a higher level representative in touch about this issue, the issue would probably have been solved a long time ago. The reality is that at some point we will just charge back the continued charges of something like $249 a month and be done with it, which honestly can’t be a great thing for Yellow Book.
Can someone explain to me how a massive company like Yellow Book thinks that not canceling billing upon request will actually be good for future oppratunties? I know one thing is for sure, Yellow Book will not be getting any future advertising dollars from any business we currently have or any future business we may go into, and you can bet there is no chance I will be referring anyone to use Yellow Book or any other phone book company for that matter.
Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on this, especially if you are a small business owner and have had your own experience with Yellow Book.com or Yellow Book yellow pages. If you enjoyed this article please consider following me on Twitter or take a second to subscribe to my rss feed, it’s free!
UPDATE:
I received a message at 4:30pm today from a representative of Yellow Book.com, I have returned the phone call and am awaiting a return call. As I have always said, in the event that someone from one of the companies I write about actually takes the time to resolve the problem, I will be more than happy to write an update along with the resolution.
Please keep in mind that ComCast resolved a complaint issue that a guest posted here on my blog, most of the other companies like ASD would rather walk away, let’s see what happens.
UPDATED 7.31.2009
Yellow Book Customer Service FAIL – a hysterical look at the cast of chracters in the comments below, most of which work directly for Yellow Book from their Regional Office in King of Prussia Penssylvania, this is a video.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=93327c13-2019-402f-991c-481a27e156d3)
Anthony @ Jumpness (15)
SafariDave (9)
Bojan (7)
{ 1 trackback }
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
We don’t advertise our business in the YellowBook or YellowBook.com, but I am a member of our local Chamber of Commerce and I discuss advertising with the members all the time, as we offer ad opportunities on our community blog. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that both the book and the online version are not getting any type of return anymore compared to the days before the Internet.
As for me, I cannot remember the last time I opened the phone book, as it is much easier to do a Google search.
Doug Dillard´s last blog ..5 Best Bribes to Build Your Subscriber List
[Reply]
I wasn’t sure where you were going with this about 2/3rds of the way through, but I’m sure glad you said it sucked, because we just passed on an opportunity to advertise with them. we figured it wasn’t cracked up to what it was suppose to be, but I’m glad I got a little affirmation tonight, thanks!
[Reply]
I will through away the yellow book because it is a waste of paper. You can find the information from friends and online. Thanks Greg Ellison
Greg Ellison´s last blog ..The money is in your program, product, or mailing list
[Reply]
Greg – you say, “I will through away the yellow book because it is a waste of paper. You can find the information from friends and online.” When was the last time you had an urgent need (like a pipe burst, water all over the floor @ 3 am) that you decided to ring up Billy Bob and ask him for his favorite plumber? It’s people like you that put the current administration in the White House, and how’s that approval rating looking today. Yellow Book USA is here to stay (we’re all hard working Americans). Please remember to recycle that book you’re going to throw away, because we wouldn’t want your people to think you stopped going green. You could always surf to Yellowbook.com to find a recycler!
[Reply]
If Google is cracking down on paid links, as they say they are, wouldn’t the Yellowbook.com links count against you anyways? A bad deal all the way around IMO.
[Reply]
@Doug Dillard being involved in the Chamber of Commerce is a great way to hear others experiences with their advertising and marketing ventures.
@Tyler Yeah I mean who knows maybe there are people out there having great results with their Yellow Book, Yellow Book.com or Yellow Pages advertising, my experience is otherwise.
I have yet to actually talk to anyone (besides a Yellow Book sales rep) that has had anything good to say about any form of Yellow pages or Yellow Book advertising. I bet Lawyers do great with it.
@Greg Ellison we don’t throw our books away but I can tell you that over the past 5 years I have touched them a total of 5 times, every time a new book is delivered I throw the old unused one out and replace it with the new one until the following year when I repeat the process.
[Reply]
@The Russian…… this should be pretty funny, there is nothing that cracks me up more than when someone with some silly ass political opinion jumps into a discussion (which has nothing to do with politics btw) and runs their mouth.
I am truly sorry that you have a problem with President Obama, perhaps you might consider aiming your frustration at one of the Government websites or a website where someone that actually gives a shit about your opinion might actually listen, trust me no one here gives a shit about your opinion. As hysterical as it might be.
If you were such a fine example of a wonderful associate of Yellow Book.com perhaps you could have taken a moment to actually address what was said? Maybe address the shitty billing practices that I brought up? Nah of course not, that’s the Yellow Book way, ignore it, keep charging and hopefully it will go away. Pathetic.
As for the Plumber at 3 oclock in the morning, I honestly hope that you don’t seriously believe that Yellow Book is the only answer to that problem. I can find a plumber or anything else I need online in seconds, without flipping through 10000 pages of cheap paper and ink hoping I find what Im looking for.
In regards to jumping on Yellow Book.com to find a place to recycle my USELESS Yellow Book’s, sorry I will use a service like Angie’s List.com makes finding reliable service providers a snap.
I also hope that you return and hopefully take a moment to explain how there is any connection between throwing out your useless phone book and a US President being elected into the White House, it’s pretty fascinating to me how you managed to connect the two in your mind. It’s hysterical too, but certainly intriguing.
I don’t think that anyone was questioning Yellow Book’s current or future existence, nor do I think that anyone was assuming there were not hard working American’s behind the book, all though with a name like “The Russian” you certainly make people wonder wtf your all about.
Oh and for the record, “my people” can think whatever the hell they want, I throw the book right in the trash when it’s time to replace it with the new closet place holder.
I appreciate you taking the time to write such a informative comment that really shows how you stand behind your product and value your customers opinions. You certainly have a new approach to resolving issues and showing others why they should use your product, just not sure it will work.
[Reply]
Everyone I have talked to who has ever been a customer of Yellow Book had a similar story. A lot of businesses are realizing the shift to online searching for local services rather than flipping through the book, and they are also realizing significant savings through online advertising over print advertising with Yellow Book. The only time I might use the book is if my internet went down or if I was in one of those phone booths that provide the book for you. I do wish you would recycle, though.
[Reply]
I had two yellow books delivered to my house yesterday. I’m bringing them to be recycled this weekend. I don’t think it’ll be long before there’s no paper version and I don’t see the online version lasting much longer either. There sites are difficult to navigate and provide little information. I’d much rather use the local business results on google. Not only do I get the address and phone number, but I get directions, reviews and a link to their website.
Mike´s last blog ..Daily Shot Of Coffee Giveaway
[Reply]
proir to investing your advertising dollars on a IYP (internet yellowpage) ask to see a report on the number of hits or impressions your potential search engine result pages receives. Regarding the billing problem, call Uniondale, NY and ask for the CEO, Joe Walsh. Lastly, Extreme John, this is the first time to your site. Your response to Russian is ironic. You rip him for going on a political comment and not staying focused to your comments, yet u go on a major dialog on your agenda. Somewhat of a contradiction.
Oh just remembered, any President of this country who takes the time to call a police department stupid over a sensitive race issue, is truly lacking in common sense.
[Reply]
@Sam to be honest the recycling part was my way of saying fu, the fact is I am not even the one who changes the books out.
@Mike the shift has been and will continue to be towards the internet and results obtained by larger trusted brands that just supply better results. You worded it perfectly, not that The Russian would understand that.
@Spats ummmm you addressed me with Extreme John which means that you know this is my blog, my website, my place to say and do whatever I decide to do.
If it gets me sued, my problem, my fault. If I say I hate something and someone doesn’t like it, no sweat my fault. One thing to never forget when visiting my site, is that it’s my site and I will address things however I feel like addressing them.
Fact remains some sweaty sack jumps on here and wants to turn a discussion about MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH YELLOWBOOK.COM into a Political discussion, at that point I can respond with whatever trashy ass nasty ass crap that I so choose, regardless who likes it and who doesn’t.
I respect and understand the fact that this is your first time here and I respect and appreciate you pointing me in a direction that will put me in contact with someone at Yellow Book. I really do, thank you.
In regards to the Police dept situation with Obama and his statements, no shit and thanks for pointing out the obvious.
I DID NOT VOTE, and I did not vote because I hated every single lieing asshole that was running for President so before you or The Russian wants to bring up Obama or anything else political, you should probably do your homework and realize, I say whatever the fu%k I want, whenever the fu$k I want and it has nothing to do with your opinion about Obama or anything political period.
It still cracks me up that people that hate abortion and people that hate Obama decide to comment here and always make it about their political agenda, seriously people you look like fuc$in morons.
[Reply]
I just wanted to say hi, I’m sorry your experience with YellowBook sucked, I’m glad spats pointed you in the right direction, I always recommend having any communications like that, with any company, in writing just to cya. As far as the Russian, he is definitely not helping the situation. YB.com isn’t for every business, and with current tracking it makes it easy for a sales rep with a conscience (yes, there are a few of us) to help clients make the RIGHT decision, even if it is to not do business with us. It sounds like your experience, both times, was crappy, and for that I apologize. I’m not here to tell you we are right for you or your businesses, clearly we’re not. I just didn’t want some of the other people on here who say they are a part of YB to be the only voice on here from them.
Good luck!
[Reply]
I live in an apartment complex so I don’t have to worry who to call at 3 am. When I say throw it away I can also mean I throw it away in the blue recycling bin provided by OCRRA.
Yellowbook and the website doesn’t do anything for me.
Greg Ellison´s last blog ..Do you use Intext Advertising on your website or Blog?
[Reply]
Never trust someone named “The Russian”. He probably works for the Verizon Yellow Pages or Super Page or whatever it’s called today!
[Reply]
I normally do not respond to any of these but this was too crazy. The internet is still a very vast adventure. Google & yahoo still do not give great local results. The chambers are great and there are varying formas of advertsising that really work including referrals and word of mouth. The bottom line is that yellow pages are still very viable whether it is Yellowbook or the others. As far as your statement that you can not track your results- you seem pretty intelligent… a simple RCF # can be inserted into any advertising including yellowpages and online yellowpages. This gives you the exact amount of calls that come to you, the times, how long the calls were and tracking informnation to follow up. As far as a contract, what surprises you? Why do I have to pay a yearly membership to the CHAMBER each year. I can not get a refund on that. Gym fees, air conditioning contracts etc…
You sound like Nancy Pelossi- it must be good for you and only you and f___ everyone else. Just look at her Starkist bill. Anyway, if the yellowpages did not work then people would not be in it. I used to own a restaurant and I receieved many take out orders from it as I tracked. As far as online, you need to be in a lot of places including with them. Check out Comscore, almost 17 million unique visitors per month (unique-meaning not the same person going in twice- so unlike others that count all visits I would want to be where they are different people going into the site) Google & yahoo are great too but you have to localize your ads. Stop bashing and start supporting your fellow americans. Not eveyone is a geek sitting in front of a computer all day. Good luck with your business and I would reccommend tracking all your forms of advertising. If the company does not offer it then I would not buy it.
[Reply]
Jeremy Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
@Ike,
Ike is correct regarding the RCF (remote call forwarding) numbers. They forward to your normal business line and are only published on advertisements you wish to track. Yellowbook provides these for free in most cases and you can also opt in for call recording allowing all calls to that phone number to be recorded to monitor employee performance as well as return on investment.
[Reply]
Hi, I must admit that the popularity of these negative blogs is quite troublesome, though something tells me government regulations will cease these types of behaviors soon enough. There are a few points that need to be made, the first of which was mentioned above with the ability to track results from your print yellowbook investment and your yellowbook.com investment. I will leave it up to everyone who reads this blog to draw their own conclusions as to your motives. My guess is that you fell on hard times, like many before you, and yellowbook happens to be your target to get out of another bill that is contributing to you living beyond your means. Secondly, there are proven value results presented to every customer as to how many people LOCALLY are visiting yellowbook.com and looking for a particular business or service. Additionally Yellowbook is partnerd with Google, Yahoo and all of their major sites. Thank you for the compliment that Google knows what they are doing, clearly if they sought out one of the largest and most profitable sale’s forces in the nation to help them gain local information on their sites through yellowbook.com. Anyone that is smart enough to run a business should be smart enough to realize that yellow page directories are printed once per year, hence the 12 month contract. You receive the benefit of the print ad on the streets, though you don’t want to pay for it; comical at best! The ignorant behavior that goes along with blogging on a topic that you have not divulged all motives or aspects to is irresponsible and self-serving. I do remember you cursing a blogger out because you did remind him that this is your blog and you can say whatever you want so my next message is to all the people who read this blog, stop and think for a moment about the motives behind these types of discussions. I would be willing to bet that yellowbook is not the first company nor will it be the last that ExtremeJohn doesn’t pay, ridicules and irresponsibly mentions on his site. Misery LOVES company
[Reply]
@Fascinated thank you for taking the time to comment and share your side I greatly appreciate it. I agree guys like The Russian hardly make matters better.
Fact is we have tried all kinds of different forms of marketing, not every form is for everyone. I don’t want people to think I am bashing Yellow Book or that I hate Yellow Book, I just think the business practices in regards to cancellation and billing need some attention.
@Greg happy to see that you are recycling that’s good news
@The Chechen haha not that I don’t trust him, just more or less think that throwing political crap into a post like this is dumb, shows the true agenda.
@Ike first off thanks for commenting, second of all thanks for throwing some more useless political names into the mix, and thanks for making this something about bashing American’s when it’s not.
I appreciate your coupon tracking suggestions, we have software that tracks it, not every business does.
As I said before the Yellow Book is not great for me, your results or others results may vary and as you can see by the comments in this post there are plenty of people that find Yellow Book to be useless. Oh and those people aren’t the people working for Yellow Book or people even advertising in it, those are people saying that as much as you think Google and Yahoo don’t cut it, they evidently must provide a decent service if people prefer to use it.
As far as whats best for me and f___ everyone else, ummm in the event you didn’t notice I wrote this article about MY specific experiences with Yellow Book on two different occasions, so since it has to do with MY business and I am the one writing about MY experiences, yeah f___ everyone else when it comes to contracts. You don’t have to like it or respect it, but you also aren’t responsible for any of it either.
Haha and lastly your comment about “not everyone is a geek that sits in front of a computer all day”, not exactly sure who your aiming that comment at but I am willing to guess that you don’t have a clue about anyone in the comment fields here, or me for that specific matter.
Don’t let efficiency and hard work ethic fool you just because it might come at the end of a keyboard, or because people working on a computer have an art that you don’t. Remember “Support your fellow American’s”? Or does that not count when it comes to people that work on computers or as you put it “Computer Geeks”? Classic.
Your last sentence says something about a company not offering it than you won’t buy it or something like that, what are you talking about?
Oh yeah real quick, in the event you think I am bashing as opposed to sharing my personal and professional experiences on my blog than your sadly mistaken and should probably read through it again.
One last thing on supporting my fellow American’s since somehow supporting or not supporting Yellow Book MUST be the only possible way to show your support for fellow Americans right?
I guess employing hundreds of American’s over the last 10 years wouldn’t show my support for American’s, especially if I had a couple of bad experiences with Yellow Book.
[Reply]
Ike Reply:
October 28th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Bottom line- track your results with all advertising. Stop bashing companies that have good policies and are trying to adapt their business to the ever changing business climate.
If you employ 100 people for 10 years then you should be the first to know that writing something negative about a company only hurts it’s employees. I bet if you were honest enough to publish your companies name on here someone would be able to find something negative or wrong that you have done over 10 years. I wonder how that would effect your business.
I applaud you if you do own a company and employ 100 people. Thanks and keep up the fight. Small business is being attacked daily. Not to be political but I too owned a small business for 10 years. It was hard to keep up with the taxes, codes, regulations, and everyother form of control over my business.
As for your comment about YB, just a quick 30 second search I just did showed that they sell websites, SEM with Google/Yahoo, do direct mail, online YP, and the print YP. It seems they are trying to keep up with the times.
[Reply]
Extreme John (4090 comments.) Reply:
October 28th, 2009 at 10:49 am
@Ike, I honestly can’t take you seriously if your going to say something like “If you were honest enough publish your companies name”…
Before you write such a lenghty response trying to justify Yellow Book and how fabulous they are you should at least take time to read the entire post, maybe look around and than realize. I have BOTH of my company names VERY CLEARLY displayed here.
Thank you for the input.
[Reply]
@Yellowbook Fan ahh there’s nothing better than when a cheer leader jumps on here and wants to tout how great something is and backs it up with….. nothing.
You did a lot of ASSuming in your article, and had you read the entire article you would realize that actually Yellow Book has been paid and still continues to be paid. You probably should have asked or maybe read the details before commenting.
In regards to the “PRINTED” yellow page directories, umm no shit. Did you miss the part where I mentioned that this ad campaign was for YELLOWBOOK.COM not the printed Yellow Book, it spun into the printed Yellow Book discussion due to The Russian, since it’s clear you didn’t read the entire article or follow it very closely I guess it’s safe to say you didn’t read all the comments either.
As far as divulging all of my motives I did it in a way that was not meant to bash Yellow Book.com, however here I will divulge the facts for you here along with the motives that way you don’t have to scroll back up and read.
1) My personal experiences on two seperate occassions with Yellow Book were a joke.
2) The customer service at local levels based on MY EXPERIENCES with them (not yours of course), was also a joke.
3) Moving forward I will choose to use MY advertising dollars in an area that has a better return on the investment.
Did that help?
Oh yeah and if you want to continue down the assuming path that I just simply don’t want to pay Yellow Book.com, consider this.
Clear Channel Outdoor – 20 Billboards per month – PAID IN FULL
Wild 98.7 – Paid in Full
America’s Favorite Coupon Book – Paid in Full
I can go on and on, overall we use something in the area of 15 different companies to advertise with. As any good business owner would know, you don’t keep crappy ad providers or companies that you feel have poor customer service or a poor return on your investment.
As for you having a big problem with these “Negative Blogs” of course you do, because the truth hurts and the thought of people speaking their mind pisses you off, too bad.
Your statement about negative blogs is just another peek into how little you know in regards to what your talking about, take a look around the blog before you write things that make you look silly. I have almost 1000 posts here, less than 10% are rants and less than 10% of that number are actually negative towards any specific business at all.
Hope I helped with some of your confusion. Hey real quick, your name doesn’t happen to be Terry does it? haha
[Reply]
Ike Reply:
October 28th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Easy to say these are paid in full- Where are your billboards? Oh- “as you say” good thing you are not in the yellow pages or online with them- That will help with your billbord ROI.
You drive by a billboard- how many times do you write down the Ph #? Where will most people go to find the ad they saw on the billboard???? to the yellowpages print or online….
[Reply]
@Yellowbook Fan one last thing, I suggest you spend some time reading through http://www.extremejohn.com and take a look at the hundreds of companies and small business’s that I write positive articles about… FOR FREE.
Still a “Negative Blog”?
Not convinced read through the titles of the first 5 pages of articles, there are TWO rants about business’s out of 50 articles, TWO.
This article is pretty negative too
http://www.extremejohn.com/advertising-insight-vehicle-wraps-radio-print-and-billboard/
Nasty bad ass negative blogger me writes about 14 different business’s that we work with, NONE OF WHICH PAID ME to mention them.
[Reply]
WOW ExtremeJohn, I got your panties in a bunch didn’t I….HAHA the more you come at me, the less you will post useless comments about businesses trying to provide quality leads to local communities. I will admit I’m surprised with your evident intelligence that you choose to invest in such costly lead sources, yellowpages and IYP’s still deliver the lowest cost per lead. I do believe I cited facts throughout the blog, perhaps it is you who should read more thoroughly. I do understand your anger, I just don’t condone your method of venting. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.
[Reply]
@Yellowbook Fan haha nah your seeing my softer, lighter, sweeter gentle side. If anything you made me smile, and actually chuckle a little, keep commenting you would be surprised how quick I can whip up an article while responding to funny claims on my blog, you would be surprised at my efficiency.
There is no question that the cost per advertising on Yellow Book.com is extremely inexpensive in comparison to the others, but doing the math is important.
$250 a month with $0 return still = $0 return
$5500 on a couple of Billboards is certainly more money than Yellow Book.com, but your failing to consider the drive volume and the return on that investment, I make that back in two weeks time, certainly not a big fat $0.
If I weren’t making the money back on the Billboards it would also have a return of $0 and I would still share my experience here regardless if it got you hot or not, it’s honestly too bad since your not the one paying for it.
Life is full of options and choices, I have the option to throw my money out the window with Yellow Book.com and I have the right to choose not to throw my money out the window at YellowBook.com, and unless you either work for the company or your name is Natalie or Terry than I don’t see why you should give a rats ass. Thats the reality of it.
As for you not condoning my method of addressing the issue, I don’t condone the fact that 90% of the stuff you write is based on assumptions, but hey who gives a damn right?
You have your way of addressing things, and that’s your way, regardless of how out of context I think your initial opinion was, it’s still your opinion and the way you choose to present yourself to people.
I also have that same right, regardless if you condone it or hate it, either way I could care less if you like how I choose to address the things that go on in my daily life.
And if for nothing else at least recognize unlike you, I actually addressed the things you assumed. I will just ASSume that you have an apology for your “Negative Blog” comments since it’s very clear you were talking out of your ass about a blog you know nothing about.
[Reply]
Hi John,
There are so many opportunities to market online for free that I would never consider Yellow Book.
I was wondering if you were using Google Analytics to track your traffic. It would have shown if you had any traffic from this site… As for the Yellow Book Fan it is most likely a YB sales rep… Calling your blog negative because you stated your experience seems rather odd to me… Keep up the great work.
Boris @ Scratch My Back Marketing´s last blog ..Scratch My Back Marketing Explained
[Reply]
As a former employee and customer of Yellow Book I feel the pain of this person. Yellow Book, though helpful to some of its clients in delivering leads, has a horrible infrastructure that is based on “Getting money now and worry about the customer service later.” My advise is to write a certified letter to cancel, keep the certified receipt and quit paying the bill. They are horrible business people and the certified letter will CYA. Internet Yellow Pages are widely used, but when you are dealing with the “Largest Independent Publisher of Print and internet Yellow Pages” who is actually ranked almost dead last against all publishers of print and internet yellow pages, well the old saying of “You get what you paid for” comes to mind. There is a reason they are 50-85% cheaper than the other companies out there. They dont have the traffic to their site and their books are not used.
Good luck.
[Reply]
Extreme John (4090 comments.) Reply:
July 27th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
@JustAJoe thank you for taking the time to write a lengthy comment with some excellent tips in regards to communicating with Yellow Book.com about my advertising.
After receiving the phone call on Friday around 4:30pm from Yellow Book and returning that call I am still waiting for a return call now, something else I mentioned in this article that all of the Yellow Books lovers continue to miss. Yellow Book.com has been called numerous times in the past few months and has not returned one single phone call, not the wonderful sales rep that they claim to have changed up (like they said occurs every month), not sure wtf I would want a new sales rep every month for and I can’t imagine that’s even remotely close to true, chances are it was just some employee being a J.A.
[Reply]
I own a tan shop in southern ohio and I choose to advertise in the Print yellow book and online yellowbook. I track my customers very closley and use a number in my ads that tracks my phone calls from each advertising source i use. I don’t understand 0 results. I could understand low or poor results but 0. It seems that you have a conflict of Interest with that yellow page company. The way that I choose advertising is simple. Use companies that have been around for a while, companies that are willing to show me results, new types of advertising that are proven such as Google or social networking avenues work for me. I spent app. 1,200 last year with yellowbook and I have gained about 11 new customers from that medium. Looking at future projections of referals and repeat business from them I made about $1,500 profit on my advertsing with them.
Maybe you overspent or your ads were designed poorly, i’m not sure. I do know that it works for me and many of my business friends use yellowpages to advertise. I do agree that Google is awesome and a great tool to find infromation about local business. Yellowpages is just another source for opportunities. And in busniess opportunities are worth money. My business is smaller than yours and it seems you are more successful than me but you are cutting your self short by not having some type of representation in the phone books. I do realize that 70% of americans have online access. That means that 30% does not. So app. 90 million americans do not have an option of using Google or online. I just like to advertise in places that I am sure people go to. Here is some examples of my adverting expenditures.
Facebook—- Free
My space—–Free
Twitter——-Free
Website——$360 per year
Search engine marketing(self serviced)—–$1600 per year
newspaper—$2000 per year
billboards—–$2800 per year (very pricey)
2 different yellow page companies——$2000 per year
local sponserships and micc.. $1500 per year
Radio—-$3,600 per year
Please be diverse in your advertsing and don’t cut someone out if you have an agenda (it will only hurt your business in the long run) as a possible customer reading this blog I would find your language offensive and choose not to do business with you.(just me personally) and yes the billing these guys do take a Phd to understand.
Good honest blog
[Reply]
Extreme John (4090 comments.) Reply:
July 27th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
@Yolanda I am sure there are people that have excellent results with Yellow Book, I have never doubted that and nor have I ever said that I doubt that anyone can see results with Yellow Book. Also please keep in mind you are referring to the printed version of Yellow Book, I am referring to the online version of Yellow Book.com which is where we most recently tested some advertising.
As far as cutting someone out for an “Agenda”, please re-read my article carefully. I am cutting them out because the results vs cost are just not worth it, regardless of how big or small that advertising package might be. I would rather cut out Yellow Book.com at $2500 a year and use that same $2500 towards a few Billboards in our heaviest months, which will easily generate better returns on my investment.
As for my language that is your choice just as it is the choice of any potential customers that might come through my blog, however I would like for you to consider this:
I would never go on someone’s blog and take the time to explain my results in a very informative way, only to follow it up with short jabs and personal attacks about the blogger that wrote the article, voicing his experience in the same way you choose to voice yours.
You might claim that Billboards and Radio are too expensive, than say Yellow Book is great, am I not to consider that an “agenda” as well? I have spent millions advertising over the past 10 years and have tried just about every single form of advertising you can think of, right down to advertising on a UFC fighters shorts during a live PPV event. To say that I tried a form of advertising such as Yellow Book.com and did not enjoy my overall results and call it an agenda is ridiculous, just as ridiculous as the last person that said it.
If Yellow Book.com was the only advertising median that we choose and I wasn’t happy with it and had nothing to compare my results to, THAN I would say go ahead and call it an “agenda” or whatever else you want. If you fail to understand that someone like myself that has advertised just about everywhere is going to find results or a lack there of somewhere along the way, not every advertising median works for every business or business owner, as for my business’s I can name probably three places we stay away from when it comes to advertising. Yes, 3. I have worked with 100’s and don’t care for this one, so be it no one has to like it or dislike it.
I think it’s excellent that you have continued success in your Yellow Book (printed) advertising and wish you continued success.
[Reply]
In user point of view. I don’t even use yellow book to find something. In my neighborhood, The yellow book is out without any one touching it. Sometimes I use Yellow book as step to reach higher wardrobe. Seriously, I use google map to find address.
Ruri@Free article submission´s last blog ..How to Lose Man Boobs – 6 Top Tips
[Reply]
Hello ExtremeJohn it’s me again…. I have to start our relationship with honesty, you amuse me! Why?! Because you have a clear point to make, however you do so in such a negative and combative fashion, your point is lost. I appreciate your American-given right to invest where you would like, track your results how you would like, and comment on WHATEVER you like. With that being said, I believe I made myself perfectly clear and cited several examples of yellowbook.com successes. No my name is neither of which you spoke, but I can reveal that I do in fact have alterior motives. Those being, to give all of the people making advertising decisions the opportunity to read some positive feedback, such as over 16.8 million unique visits to yellowbook.com every 30 days is reported by comscore the leading tracker of IYP’s nationwide. Unique being your IP address is NOT counted more than once in a 30 day period. I also want to ask you HOW DO YOU TRACK BILLBOARDS and let’s be honest name the last purchase you personally made (PLEASE HONESTY) from a billboard. Most reading this will probably stop and think to themselves…HMMM point well taken. Now, the same people who stop and read this, I guarantee will have somehow, someway, bought because of an IYP or print yellow pages. My theory is this, you, like so many others, did not pay attention during your sales call and your expectations were unrealistic and when the sales rep tried to answer your questions, or tried to offer REAL tracking of your results, you refused or you stated “I track everything myself”. Not getting even 1 client from advertising even in the world of direct mail that has a ridiculously low return rate of 1% is crazy at best…. I’d love to keep going!!!!!!!!
[Reply]
Extreme John (4090 comments.) Reply:
July 29th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
@Yellowbook Fan As much as I wish this relationship had the spark to keep going, it doesn’t.
Well who am I kidding, sure it does. You see I am going to write a new post and I am going to address you and all of your questions in one shot, certainly getting you to crawl back into your cubicle until the next time you want to act like a child.
Coming soon.
[Reply]
So very disturbed by all this hoopla over freaking YellowBook. My two quick points–just about the medium itself, not about the poor service you had John.
1. definitely can’t remember the last time I opened the print copy, even though they seem to send me a new one like, every 6months. They currently reside on top of my cabinets in my kitchen to help raise my knickknacks up for viewing
I do have the newest a really small local one in my closet, but never once thought to look at it.
2. Even when it comes to looking for #s and info online, Let’s say I google “Sarasota Plumbers” or “sarasota Chinese Food” I rarely bother with Yellow or Super or whatever pages. I usually go with the results given on top, with the fun map! Because then I know where it is, I get instant reviews, phone # is right there and it sends me right to the company’s website where I can get my menus or services or whatever else I need.
I’m sure that some people are still successful with advertising though YellowBook but…… right now there are so many other mediums to choose from with higher returns (and as some commentors alreday mentions—some mediums are free!).
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in
PS–I like your rants! I think it’s really useful to the public! People should know when there are bad experiences to help them make informed decisions!
Stiletto Sports Jen´s last blog ..Must Have Yankees Father’s Day Gifts
[Reply]
I’m very much looking forward to your new “post”. Though I’m not sure why you called my behavior “childlike”… I do believe it was in fact yourself that reminded me that blogs are a way to tell the truth and if I didn’t like it too bad. I just took your advice John and please don’t spoil my fun by ASSuming that I crawled out of a cubicle….Looking forward to an adult chat soon.
[Reply]
Extreme John (4090 comments.) Reply:
August 4th, 2009 at 2:43 am
@Yellow Book Fan hahah you might very well go down as one of the dumbest “non-cubicle” people I have ever not met in my life, you should probably read the article like I have been saying since you made your first skewed comment. Had you read the article and followed up with what was actually going on your dumb ass would have seen that this article has two updates.
1) Mentions that someone from Yellowbook has been in touch with me and well the second one, the second one exposes you for the piece of trash employee that you are for Yellow Book…
2) http://www.extremejohn.com/yellow-book-customer-service-fail/
Take a look at what some of your peers have to say, and the next time you want to have “an adult conversation” you should probably work on being an adult first. Jackass, here’s your article that was posted last Friday. A pathetic Yellow Book employee sitting at the corporate office and writing nasty blog comments to customers that have legitimate customer service concerns, hahaha I hope they weld your ass to the front of the Yellow Book regional offices and let your fellow HARD WORKING associates take shots at your useless ass as they walk in to work each day. Here’s the link one more time “Yellow Book Fan” hahaha http://www.extremejohn.com/yellow-book-customer-service-fail/ since it was so hard for you to see the first time around.
[Reply]
@Yellow Book Fan I see you took a little bit of time in the nice summer air of Pennsylvania to reply to this thread but why not comment in the new thread that told everyone who you really are?
[Reply]
Yellowbook works! It keeps my laptop at eye level and it also keeps my 5 kids happy! It’s their coloring book. It also makes my husband that does plumbing jobs feel important since he put his picture in the ad. It gets dilivered to tha whole city, like if he was famous or someting… and he doesn’t even have a license! Driving or contractors!
[Reply]
Extreme John (4090 comments.) Reply:
August 10th, 2009 at 8:41 am
@The Mexican haha thank you for the morning chuckle, see there are great uses for the Yellow Book
[Reply]
I’m so glad I found this. I was just about to pump more $ into the yellow book pit.
[Reply]
You are absolutely correct!! OOps you outed me, I work for Yellowbook. That doesn’t mean your sensational accusations about me lying and making studies up to prove my point is legitimate. Everything that I cited was sourced from outside companies with no relation to yellowbook, a bit more work on your part would make this so much more enjoyable. Here’s how I see it, I got your panties in a whad as previously mentioned, and you took it upon yourself to look up a few IP addreses…Big Deal. If you went a step further you would realize that EVERYONE that is employed by Yellowbook has an IP address out of KOP, that’s our headquaters. One more point worth mentioning, why is what I wrote so compelling to you that you wish me to have consequences by the company that I am defending. Also, I am a female, but I wouldn’t expect a sexist individual like yourself to have ASSumed that…. I would hope by now that you realize what you are good at and what you are not good at and leave the important intellectual stuff up to the pros…. Have a great week!
[Reply]
Honestly at this point you can comment and throw all the stones you want to throw, no one respects you, no one believes you and you made yourself look like a complete moron. Something that has nothing to do with being a male or a female, and yeah I am sexist you got me haha. Thats why 95% of my associates are FEMALE, who should have done a little more homework?
Fact remains your tactics and customer service abilities are pathetic and if you keep playing your cards right you might stick around long enough to get yourself fired, of course you would probably blame me for that too.
I hope that one day when you grow up and you see what real pro’s are you’ll be much more careful about posing as a “Russian”, or an actual business owner that has done business with Yellow Book, your an idiot… again, regardless if your a male or a female, your a world class idiot.
As far as realizing everyone that works for Yellow Book has a Yellow Book IP address that points to the headquarters, your actually wrong. Do some more homework and realize (like you said) who the pro’s are, as a matter of fact the other Yellow Book moron I called out is local to me with a LOCAL Yellow Book IP, so maybe the fact is that you are some corporate office trash bag that has nothing better to do than comment on people’s blogs all day.
Let me ask you this (I wouldn’t expect a true, honest or even valid answer), but I will ask it anyway.
At any point did it cross your mind that perhaps, just maybe…… You should have used the same energy you used to be a moronic, lieing, misleading, pathetic idiot to maybe try and actually resolve the issue? Seriously, did you consider that maybe offering some knowledge, some advice some intelligence or some of that “PRO” knowledge (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha) you have and maybe turn a crappy situation into a good one?
Actually let’s make it two questions.
Why are you so afraid of commenting in the post that shows everyone just how much of a “Pro” you are or just how excellent you are at what you do? You can avoid it, there are thousands of people that know the truth and when it comes down to it Yellow Book can thank you their lovely Yellow Book FAN for it.
I should have done another video blog responding to this so you could clearly see that the last thing your capable of is getting my panties in a bunch, I think it’s funny. I mean isn’t it? It’s always funny when someone outs themselves and portrays themselves in a position that is a complete lie, there’s no reason to have my panties in a bunch over that, it’s funny.
So cute you are.
[Reply]
Wow, I can’t believe Yellowbook Fan actually came back. Any company representative that speaks like that to a customer, acts to misrepresent himself and uses language like that makes me run far away from ever advertising wit them.
Mike´s last blog ..What I’m Drinking – Jamin Java From Marley Coffee
[Reply]
opportunities…not oppratunities. “Can someone explain to me how a massive company like Yellow Book thinks that not canceling billing upon request will actually be good for future oppratunties?” Sorry bout your luck!
Of course with every national advertising company you will have angry customers who are never satisfied.
Online advertising and print advertising is a completely different game. Yellowbook works not only with yellowbook.com profiles but creates websites, videos and web campaigns that directly impact the SEO and SEM of a business. If you are truly looking for good results from online advertising, then yellowbook is a VERY affordable alternative for small and medium sized businesses that can’t afford to hire a boutique marketing firm to create and host a website for them-while paying close attention to the site’s SEO.
YB has created thousands of websites since the product has launched in April of 2009. These sites WILL NOT have crazy flash intros and pretty music in the background. Why? because Google ignores this. But these sites will be written by trained web content writers and have professional design that will not take away from what is important–your business and services.
Instead of talking about the facts, start looking at the bottom of websites to see who created the site. When you search Google for your next car wash, landscaper, dentist, etc..the top search results is where you will most likely go. Yellowbook can tell you it is their goal to get your business up there in the organic search results and also offer the Pay Per Click option ( links seen on the right side when searching ). Now it can take up to 5 months for Google to recognize a new site on the internet, and there will be tough competition, but you can be rest assured that for a fraction of the price that a marketing firm would charge you, you are getting the same work done by trained and certified web specialists at Yellowbook.
[Reply]
Fact remains your tactics and customer service abilities are pathetic and if you keep playing your cards right you might stick around long enough to get yourself fired, of course you would probably blame me for that too.
[Reply]
Extreme John (4090 comments.) Reply:
February 13th, 2010 at 11:20 am
@dentists in bromley, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, I would have to agree with you then again I am a little one sided in this matter
[Reply]
Imagine my stumbling across your Blog about Yellowbook having just gotten off the phone with two representatives trying to get them to answer questions as to why they wouldn’t cancel my account. “I’m sorry, but you did sign a contract.” Are you serious? This is the best you’ve got??? It was repeated to me probably five times.
If I call my cable company and ask them to close my account, it’s done — no conflict or questions. The issue with Yellowbook is that all these people will be out of jobs soon (and the big guys know it), so they have to lock unwilling/unsatisfied business owners/managers into contracts that are of no benefit to them. I’m so angry I could spit!!
I don’t see how negative public comments about Yellowbook can bode well for the company’s prospective clients. It’s not like I consumed a dinner and now I’m reluctant to pay for it. DO NOT do business with Yellowbook unless you’re willing to pay for a service in which you’re displeased or no longer want.
[Reply]
Extreme John (4090 comments.) Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 11:03 am
@eCharleen, it’s great to see someone else that had a crappy experience with Yellow Book come forward and say something about it. It’s especially nice that unlike the FAKE YB supporters that posted in here (AKA YB Employees), your real.
[Reply]