Complaint Review: YellowBook - Cedar Rapids Iowa

I also work for Yellowbook (and have for over 8 years) and I need to call into question this complaint. I won't throw a blanket over all businesses and the owners like the complainer does above as a company with 5K+ employees like YB can be tarnished by 1 person making some bad choices or by being lazy. The same applies to a small or medium business. 

In my experience however I come across clients who have made similar complaints and when you go back and look at the facts, call logs and emails you find fault on both ends. Websites are developed based on customer input and we encourage custom photos to be supplied by the customer to avoid generic stock photos. Did you provide custom photos? Did you request your rep take photos for you? Websites are also proofed via email with clear guidelines stating the website will be live within X amount of time unless we hear otherwise. 

Did you not receive the proofing email? Did you respond with your changes? Did you take any time whatsoever to provide content for said website? Did we reserve the domain name (www.yourbusiness.com) for you or were we transfering from an existing one? 

In my experience the reason that a website doesn't go live is usually a hold up on the customers end (domain transfers, stating they want custom art that they never send, etc.) 

What about the bundled YB.com listings and print ads? Did you opt for the free tracking number with call recording to measure performance? How did it perform? Do you check your results? Did you not review the 12 contract that clearly states in itemized fashion everything included for the monthly price? PDF copies are emailed within 48 hours of signing and print copies are available upon request.

Bottom line calling a large company "thieves" is irresponsible and inaccurate. I'm not a thief and have also tried to provide excellent service to clients with products that bring value. I have made 100's businesses tons of more revenue that I have billed out. 

I currently work for Yellowbook and have been employed for over 10 years now. I run into your type of complaint with my own clients and have to say that most of them are able to get value from the services they purchase. That being said, I feel the need to put a reality check in this rebuttal. Clients hate to deal with advertising PERIOD!! We might as well be from th IRS when we contact our clients. Most of time our clients have unrealistic expectations from their advertising/marketing. The basic rule is that there are streams of potential customers looking for your goods and services. My  job is to put a line out in that stream for you, Mr. Customer, with bait on it that says "pick my line to nibble on rather than my competitors". Yellowbook does it as one of the best and affordable companies out there. Most of our competitors have either filed for bankrupcy or are OOB by now. If you feel that $750/year is out of wack for a website, you have a lot to learn. The fact that you say it took 11 months to get your site straightened out makes NO sense at all. You, your rep. or both of you were not doing something right.  Your website was part of a bundle and it was free as stated. The website went live for free before you even had to start paying for the bundle itself. You never mentioned that in your complaint. You were paying for a print ad in the local yellowpages and the website came free right? You are complaining about something you got for free right? Unbelievable. Unrealistic expectations. You guys are always angry that you feel the need to have to advertise. You're right. You do. Thanks to competition, you are not the only providers for your services out there. Marketing makes sure you get your share of it. That is not free just like your services. Why don't you learn to work with the reps. and marketing companies who are responsible for those leads.