Regional Yellow Pages Unscrupulous & deceptive telemarketing tactics devised to bully, intimidate & extort money from small business owners for unauthorized services. Knoxville, Tennessee

Yellow Pages unscrupulous business pitch.  I got a call from a YP representative wishing to confirm that my service listing was being cancelled; I said I was not aware of the listing & did not want their service. The rep then said they would transfer me to their supervisor. The supervisor said he would cancel the listing but would like that to update my company information for a complimentary listing. They asked me numerous questions confirming my address & phone number & basic business services offered. Most of these questions I answered yes They recorded my Yes answers & months later tried to use it as proof that I authorized charges.

The next series of calls I got from this company-several months after the first call, the YP representatives said they were from the "pre-legal" dept. & if I paid my delinquent account now they would not send me to collections or sue me. During one of the calls, I told the YP rep I did not authorize any charges for a listing with them, he quickly replayed the recording where I answered yes to confirming my phone, mailing address & business address. I told theYP rep the recording doesnt have me agreeing to subscribe to their service listing, the rep said the recording is proof & is considered a legal contract& that I am legally obligated to pay them--if I refused to pay they would sue me- which would double the amount of debt owed them. The representatives were intimidating & threatening legal action, I felt bullied, harassed by their calls to my business & pressured by their tactics.

The last call I received from YP, the rep said he would give me a break if I agreed to pay in full today, by reducing the $600.00 debt to $430.00, but only if I paid today. I asked if they could send an invoice, they said they had been sending invoices for months, which I never received & their delinquent account process was beyond giving me any more time to review charges and if I didnt pay legal action would begin immediately. I reluctantly agreed to pay them, which they recorded, I gave them my credit card information & they gave me a confirmation number & I hung up. Thirty minutes later they called back & said the charge was denied & I needed to contact the card company & authorize the charges. I am so relieved my credit card denied the charges but unsure what action to take at this point. .I researched this company on internet & found many complaints against their extortion tactics.