YellScam.org

Yell sold advertising in an A5 sized local Directory called Your Town to businesses in numerous towns in 2007 and 2008. The directories were a trial product by Yell and were attractive as an advertising proposition for a number of reasons. The directories were to be distributed door to door to designated postcodes. The directory was attractively produced, and advertisers were told it was to be a companion to the Yellow Pages. A sort of local Yellow Pages that would last a full year and could be referred to by householders and businesses. Some advertisers parted with quite large sums of money, which has not been refunded in full except in a few cases.

The towns included Lichfield, Cannock and Stafford in the West Midlands -  several towns in the outer London area, and one or two in Northern Ireland.
I run one of the businesses which placed an advert in the Lichfield directory which was supposed to have been distributed door to door to a minimum circulation figure of 17600 in 5 desgnated postcodes. The contact that I had from two Yell sales people informed me that it would go to every household and most business addresses would also receive a copy. I was also told that businesses above a certain size would receive up to 5 directories.

The Lichfield distribution was supposed to have taken place in March 2008. I did not receive a directory and my address and am in the postcode area. I contacted Yell in May 2008. I explained that I was one of the advertisers, and had not received a copy. The customer service assistant could not initially find anything on the computer to confirm distribution had taken place.

She went away to consult with a colleague and then apologised that I had not received a copy, and assured me that I must have been “missed off the list”. I had a strange feeling about what I was being told, and asked whether I ought therefore to find that my neighbours had received the directory. Back came the answer “Yes, of course. If they are in the postcode area.”  My copy arrived in the post a few days later.

I started asking a few neighbours. No one I asked had received a Your Town Directory. Then a while later another advertiser called me and asked whether I had received a directory. This advertiser had contacted over 30 of the advertisers, and none of them had received a copy – many said that no one they had asked had received a Directory.

I cancelled my remaining direct debits and asked for proof of distribution. I had discovered that a substantial number of local business advertisers were in dispute with Yell over the apparent lack of distribution.  An action group was formed and a  letter of complaint was sent to Yell CEO John Condron and copies went out to various Business organisations and to the local MP Michael Fabricant. A letter was sent to the Direct Marketing Association, and they forwarded it to the newly created Direct Marketing Commission. The DMC is a recently created Self-regulatory body for the  Marketing and Door to Door Industry.

Yell responded by denying any problem with the distribution and insisted that the Certificate provided by sub-c0ntractor Link Direct was proof of distribution. They at some point referred to the verification method of random telephone back-checking.   How strange that none of the advertisers, who had by now started a questionnaire and survey could find anyone who had received a directory door to door. It was evident that the only directories that the advertisers received were  a result of  complaint to Yell – they were sent by post.

Yell’s Your Town Standard Conditions (Contract) with their advertisers stated quite clearly:

14.1 As  far as is reasonably possible, Your Town Directories are distributed free of charge to all addresses in the local area as appropriate to the geographic area the directory relates to.

The Mayor’s Secretary spent a morning phoning all City Councillors. Not a single Councillor had received a Your Town. Staff at the Lichfield City Council were also asked, and again no-one could be found who had received one to their door.

Due to the fact that so many businesses had put their names to the complaint to the Direct Marketing Commission, Yell eventually made a “goodwill gesture”. This did not amount to a full refund unless there had been an error in the minimum circulation figure on individual contracts. In one or two cases the circulation figure had not been filled in by the Yell Sales person.

Yell insisted that the 17600 minimum circulation figure had been achieved and in fact they claimed 19528 had gone out door to door in this small city. Their industry standard back check verification of about 1200 calls, resulted in a 51% positive. No mention of any other local directories was made in the script – only Yellow Pages and Yell Your Town. “Look Local” always has a yellow cover, and went out for distribution around about the same time as the alleged distribution of Your Town. Local advertisers in the action group were not convinced by the back check.  Details were provided by Yell  to the action group, who analysed the figures and roads very carefully against their own surveys.

Odd that Yell found positives in the road that the Mayor lives in, but he did not get one!  Also odd that they count the positive total with no account of all the negatives. So in a road where there were allegedly 8 positives but 24 negative responses only the positives counted and nothing was made of the non receipt.

The DMC took about 8 months to reach an outcome of a complaint that was lodged and completed by January 2009. Their initial verdict in a letter dated 4 June 2009 upheld only one Breach of the DMA Code 3.22.  “Members must ensure that they do nothing that could damage the public image of direct marketing or the Association”.

This feeble outcome was responded to by the Action Group and an appeal made in June to the DMC Commissioner Mr John Bridgeman CBE TD DL . Mr Bridgeman requested a short meeting with some of the advertisers and this took place on 6 August in Lichfield.

Interestingly the DMC has referred to the complaint on its website as being one complaint – conveniently underplaying by counting a collective complaint by 50+ businesses as just one complaint.

Most customers who do not receive the goods, expect a full refund or a replacement article/s. In a manner of speaking – the advertisers did not get the benefit of the “goods”.  Surely a full refund is merited in such a case.

The Action Group were not at all happy that only one Breach was found, and are still – almost 5 months after the complaint to the DMC, and 3 months after the Appeal to the DMC Appeals Commissioner – waiting for an outcome.

This information appears on this website because it will catalogue a let down by Yell to a large number of advertisers.

More detailed  information concerning the Lichfield Advertisers complaint will appear in due course.  Copies of the complaint and the replies from the Direct Marketing Commission will be placed on this website in due course – along with the Appeal outcome when it eventually materialises.