Complaint Review: Business Yellow Pages

On 10/10/13, we received a call from Alyssa Clark claiming to call from a collection agency to collect a past due bill on behalf of Business Yellow Pages.  She said it was a past due invoice for online business advertising.  Alyssa played a recording of a phone conversation with one of my co-workers which was supposed to be verbal agreement to this purchase.  The conversation was pieced, I could hear the irritation in my coworker’s voice, and the flow of the conversation didn’t make sense.  I asked Alyssa to fax a copy of the invoice so I could check further into her claim. 

Alyssa faxed a past due invoice for a "priority online business listing" in the amount of $649.99 plus interest charges for 3 months non-payment and administrative fees for a total due of $719.68.  I spoke with my coworker and we pulled our advertising file to check for any supporting documentation.  We found my coworker’s original note from the conversation on 6/10/13 at 11:00 a.m. where she declined the service and requested a cancellation number.  The cancellation number my coworker was given is the invoice number on the past due invoice faxed from Alyssa. 

Our common practice for advertising is to receive a copy of the proposed advertisement in advance.  Once approved, we put our agreement in writing, including pricing and dates of service.  We do not have a proposed advertisement.  We do not have agreed upon pricing.  We do not have a contract term for the services.  We have a handwritten note with a cancellation number (which was conveniently not included in the recorded conversation).

I contacted this company twice via the email listed on their invoice and requested a copy of the listing, as well as the pricing agreement and term.  I have yet to receive a response to my emails; however, they do continue to harass us by phone and faxed invoices which, of course, include additional interest charges.