Complaint Review: Idearc Media / Superpages.com

On September 23, 2008, I received a phone call from a sales rep for Verizon's Superpages. As the owner of a new online business, I was interested in discussing what the company might be able to offer my fledgling business, but I was very clear that I was not capitalized sufficiently to commit to any long-term or expensive contracts unless and until the company could show me tangible results. The sales rep assured me that Idearc Media / Superpages would be able to refer lots of traffic to my website and, if the advertising did not pay for itself, I could opt-out at any time.

As she explained it to me, since this is not print advertising like the traditional yellow pages, it would be a simple matter with withdraw from the program at any time. She even offered to "throw in two free months" with this "starter package." Even as the Superpages and I were getting started, I learned that those "two free months" were at the END of a year's advertising, not at the beginning, but I dismissed this as only somewhat misleading.

However, during the first month of advertising, I saw NO increase in traffic from the advertising with Superpages. By their own records, my online ad got two (2) "clicks" to my site. I paid the agreed $86 for that month, but promptly asked to opt-out of future advertising. At this point, I was told that there was NO OPT-OUT feature to the "starter package" that I had purchased. I was committed for a full-year of advertising regardless of the performance of the company, even though I had specifically explained to the sales rep that I didn't want a long-term commitment on my limited budget.

I have contacted the company repeatedly to ask that they terminate this account, but no one knows anything about any opt-out feature. They are immovable that I MUST honor twelve months of the contract, even though this is not what we had initially agreed, and regardless of my requests to opt out.

Ann
Higginson, Arkansas
U.S.A.