YellScam.org

On 14 December 2009, three of the complaining advertisers in  Lichfield Yell Your Town: Beautiful Gardens, Kip McGrath Education Centre and Christine Rapley received an email from Caroline Roberts, Director of the DMC:

“Dear all,

I will be writing to you all formally to advise you of the DMC’s final adjudication on your complaint against Yell Limited – but I thought you would like to see this as soon as possible electronically.

The DMC have reconsidered their original ruling, following the report of the Independent Appeals Commissioner, John Bridgeman – his report and their conclusions are attached.  This represents the final stage of the process.  A report of the complaint, appeal and adjudication will now be published on the DMC website.

I am sorry that this has taken such a time to resolve but I hope you will agree that your complaint has been given the most serious and thorough consideration by the Commission and by the Appeals Commissioner.  Your patience has been appreciated…….”

No follow up formal letter was received by any of the 3 advertisers. The DMC claim that 3 letters were sent out in December.

The Report of the complaint, appeal and adjudication has yet to appear on the DMC Website – some 14 plus weeks on from the final outcome.  Apparently the DMC are  awaiting legal advice on the exact wording to use. The process has taken an unreasonably long time to resolve.  It would also seem that the DMC do not employ legal advisers capable of dealing with what ought to be a relatively easy task in a timely manner.  Yell failed to fulfil their contractual obligation. However, the Appeals Commissioner has found no evidence that Yell has damaged the public image of the Direct Marketing Association, or of the Marketing industry. The advertisers are members of the public dependent upon that industry to promote their businesses. They were let down.   The whole process of complaint both to Yell and to the DMC has taken many months. Almost 2 years down the road we are still waiting for a published acknowledgment of this story.   It has only been possible to obtain a halfway reasonable response from the DMC by continual pressure. In the words of one dissatisfied advertiser/ complainant “the Direct Marketing Commission appears to be more of a lap dog than a watchdog”.

We’ve added a new page to our site detailing a problem that many advertisers have found when advertising in the ‘Your Town’ Directory by Yell.

You can find more information here.