Yell Meeting 24 Nov 2008
On 24 Nov 2008, a 3 hour meeting was held in Lichfield at the initiation of Yell to enable dialogue with a small group of the advertisers. Present at the meeting were:
Christian Wells, then Head of Legal & Compliance at Yell
David Case, Head of Publishing & Distribution at Yell
Debbie Hayward, Customer Liaison Manager for CEO John Condron
Peter Rand, a Director of Link Direct (Company contracted by Yell to distribute the Directories in Lichfield)
Advertisers present were Blossom Financially, Beautiful Gardens (representing that company and also South Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry members) , Curborough Hall Farm Shop, Oggy’s Novelty Cakes, and Christine Rapley.
The Mayor’s Secretary, who is an employee of Lichfield City Council – also attended and took Notes of the meeting.
A Power Point presentation was given by Peter Rand of Link Direct (Distribution Company contracted by Yell for the Lichfield door to door distribution) in which he gave incorrect dates for the distribution. Dates that Yell’s Head of Distribution agreed with at that time – but which they later corrected. Both Link Direct and Yell claimed that the distribution figure of 19528, had been achieved as stated on the Certificate provided by the sub-contractor.
They explained that this figure was the Post Office Address File (PAF) figure, equating to the total number of existing addresses (all homes & businesses) for the designated 5 post codes. At the same time they said that could not deliver to all addresses for various reasons. This very precise figure of 19528 is the figure quoted in correspondence to any advertiser who had previously contacted Yell with any query or complaint about the distribution. It exceeds the minimum circulation figure contracted by 1928. Yet to the knowledge of Advertisers in the Action Group, not a single advertiser in the 5 postcodes received a directory.
Following a Powerpoint Presentation to the advertisers by Peter Rand, a Director of Link Direct – the advertisers Action Group gave a Presentation based on their own surveys and investigation.