Complaint Review: Union Tel - Brunswick Maine

It all started in July when I received a call from the Yellow Pages Nationwide. The representative (spanish/mexican accent)wanted to update their address and number information for the yellow page listings. I thought I would hear what she had to say, sense my business listing has been wrong for 2 years.

I provide the information asked, address, numbers, etc. Then she said to hold, I was going to be switch to a confirmation representative. Some guy picked up and asked if I was who I say I was, and that this conversation would be recorded for quality control purposes. I said "Yeah, sure." He asked pretty much the same questions the first rep. asked. Then he said, "Do you authorize an invoice for 399.95 dollars to be sent to you."

My business partner was beside me and I told him, "These guys are trying to charge us 400 dollars for updating the yellow page listing." I replied to the rep, "The lady I talked to at first didn't say anything about 400 dollars." So he redirected me to the first rep. She apologized for the misunderstanding, and proceeded to tell me about a 2 year business listing and a complementary business listing in their book.

My business partner listened in. We agreed that this service was not needed, its only two of us running a small shop. So I say "No thanks" to the rep. Of course she tries to push it, and responded with a "No." then hung up.

In September, during the hurricane, got a bill from Union Tel for 399.95 dollars. So I called Union Tel, and asked about the bill. She pretty much only told me what was listed on the bill. So I asked in what book? Publication? She says its in a national listing. Then she immediatly asked if I wanted to hear the confirmation recording.

I hear the same guy as I heard from the verification part, he asked if my name was so-and-so. I hear "myself" saying "Yeah." to every question asked. And every "Yeah" I said had a lot of static. Then the Union Tel rep. came back on and asked me if the recording answered my questions. I didn't now how to react, it sounded like me, but I know the conversation didn't go like that. So me and my business partner decided to hold off on the bill to see how Union Tel will react. Also filed an inquiry on the BBB on Union Tel. Which revealed one complaint already.

Well, on November 10, we got a fax from Union Tel. Another invoice for the 399.95. But this time, there are differences between the invoices, on the original bill, the Fed Tax Id was not listed, but it is now. The Invoice, and due dates were different now. And no invoice date given on the return stub.

So my business partner tried calling Union Tel. Instead we get a Spanish Answering Service. We finally reach Union Tel on the 12th.

So we questioned the bill again. And the rep. pretty much said the same thing, and played the audio tape again. But this time, it has me saying "Yes" quickly, for each question asked. And also it has me saying my name instead of the verification rep. confirming each part of my name. Then towards the end the guy asked if would be ok to send the 399.95 bill from Union Tel, then abruptly ends, no confirmation from "me".

We flat out told the Union Tel rep. that the tape was "bogus". She immediatly retaliated with "No it's not!" and stated that the recordings are saved on the internet. Oh my god! Anyone could have obtained the recordings! Then we asked about the recording she played for me in Sept., and she denied ever playing it to me.

So she said the we could not have our listing in the directory until we pay first. So we asked to just cancel it then, it was not authorized, and the listing hasn't been printed yet. The rep. says that we have to pay, because the directory has already been printed with our listing. What BS, she just said that the listing won't be listed until we pay first!

Then she went into offering 1/2 off, $200 for one year listing. We declined, we want this thing canceled. She wouldn't budge on dropping the bill. So we pushed harder and threatened to report to the BBB or FTC, or other complaint organization.

She flipped out and wondered why we would do something like that. Duh! We told her about the BBB report, 1 complaint, and she responded with, We only have that because people like you don't pay! Well, the conversation esculated to threatening to get attornies involved, then she says to go ahead, and make sure we get the attoney to call her on a Thursday at 2pm. ???

From what I gather, Union Tel has been in business for 18 months, and the rep. stated she has been in telemarketing for 4 years. Perhaps the source of this problem is with Yellow Pages Nationwide, however I called them and they say they never called me. Go figure.

Future updates likely.

Jeremy

Suffolk, Virginia
U.S.A.

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