Verizon review: Free trial scam! 49

We have the same problem. We sent the notice of cancellation and they claim they never received it. We've been fighting with them for some time. But the bill just keeps coming with the increase about. We were promised great returns. We have not made one dime off the advertisement.

I've been scammed! That's why I searched and found this complaint site. Can't we do something collectively? Like send a letter of complaint to the company?

File complaint with Attorney General of Texas, Consumer protection division. (Texas is state where Idearc HQ is located) Then file complaint with FTC. Forms are available on respective web sites. The more complaints filed the better chance of action taken against them.

ALSO if demands of payment for something you did not request are sent to you in the mail file a mail fraud complaint with the USPS, also available on their web site. The more complaints filed this way the better chance of stopping them.

I have been frustrating and fighting with Verizon Super Pages and Idearc Media since Oct. 2004. Installing my business phone supposedly gave me free internet listing( I didn't even have a computer then). My first bill sid "This is not an invoice"-I immediately called and concelled when they said I would be charged. Then every month for the next 3 years, I got invoices marked "This is not an invoice"-Every time I called-they said disregard-the bills are artomatic until ...so I disregarded them. Any way, I tried for hours and hours aevery couple of monthes to call someone or get a name tao write to. impossible: then I gest a call from a collector! Ane now frustrating lestters and calls from a new collector company. Help. I have kept records of invoicses and phonecalls, names addresses and responsed. Tsellme what to do? Any suggesstions. I worked hard to have good credit. My business ended this year(Art gallery and Frame).l All my advertising was done with a local paper for trade of sservicses. I might go to small claims court if I find my credit is wrecked. Diane

Has been 11 months and I still trying to cancel my account with IDEARC MEDIA. They refuse to cancel my account and keep charging me.

Now they sent me a letter saying that I am going to collection.
I paid full the first month DEC 08/2006 and DEC 11/2006 I called the sales person, customer service and sales director, they keep transferring me and they say they don't understand why my service wasn't been canceled, next month another bill and an e-mail saying that "per MY request my account has been upgraded".

The sales person WILLY BONG does not work there anymore and I can't cancel my service, now I canceled my credit card and the bills still coming. I am very tired of this. I sent so many e-mails and called people to cancel this service that I got NOTHING in return not even a single call or e-mail. No business at all!
IDEARC is a very bad idea!

I (dumb) believed there was a free listing two years ago. A sales person called and talked me into a trial pay per click on my add. She said I could cancel at any time. After my credit card got charged for 3 months and I got no results from the add, I cancelled the service. I cancelled it by email, by mail, and by phone. They continued to charge me. I cancelled over and over. They continued to steal from my credit card. So, I cancelled the credit card. Then they sent bills to me by mail. They all said "This is not an invoice" so I ignored them. Then they sent a letter threatening me with a collection service that would wreck my credit rating. I called and begged them to leave me alone. They said if I just sent one final check that that would be the end of it. So I did, just to make the whole thing go away. Guess what? They are still sending me notices and threatening me. They should be ashamed. They are frauds, lairs, and bullies.

I requested twice to the telemarketers to non renew my advertisement, as I am retired. These requests were way in advance of the new directory being published. Guess what? The new book came out and my ad was in it and I called on two occasions after that to complain and it is like talking to the wall. They both just repeated that it was up to me to cancel the ad before it "automatically renewed". There was no notice at all and the two telemarketers that called to sell me more advertising as in every other year in the past, were told in no uncertain terms that I am retired and do not sell insurance any more. You can bet that everyone that calls (if any) will be told this story and that they should throw the directory in the trash.

Totally agree. I was scammed. I am suing them in Small Claims court after a BBB complaint (which is a sham org for BIG business to rinse their dirty laundry) did nothing and they blind-sided me with a collection. I paid them off, now I'm suing them for the balance.

Advise, gather ALL docs then seek the help of your local Small Claims Court. Most have an adviser to help you. Don't let them get you rip-off.

If anyone has some HELPFUL ADVISE I'd love to take a look!

I signed on with Verizon in December of 03 for web hosting. I again signed contracts in 12/04 and 12/05. In early Jan. 06 I knew I had had enough of Verizon and was anxiously awaiting the end of 2006 when my contract was up so I could sign on with a new web host. When my contract finally ended in 12/06 I tried to contact my Verizon rep to inform him I wished to terminate services with Verizon. My rep never returned my numerous phone calls. I then notified Verizon customer service and spent endless hours on the phone on numerous occasions trying to close my account. Customer Service repeatedly promised to close my account and contact my rep but never did anything. My website was transferred to another hosting company in Feb 06 and Verizon just kept billing me. I continued to receive bills for 5 months. I was on the phone to these idiots every month and nothing ever got resolved. Then, “out of the blue” in June of 2007 I received a check from Verizon for $148 for “credit on my account.” Then in October 07 the bills started again.

I now have my lawyer working on the situation and just found out that my Verizon Rep is claiming I gave my consent during phone call with him in July of 06 to renew my contract for another year. Verizon claims that if a customer agrees by phone to renew a contract then the contract is binding. This of course is an out and out lie. First of all I never spoke to my rep in July 07 and secondly, there is no way I would have asked to renew my contract because I was already totally fed up & disgusted with Verizon. Their employees seem to hide their total incompetence with a sickening sort of politeness to the customer….and their phony slogan: “At Verizon, we never stop working for you!” What a crock! Whenever I wanted anything done on my web site they’d either promise to do it and not do it right; not do it at all, or, they would total screw things up. (But I won’t go into that dimension of my dissatisfaction any further for now). I am, to put it mildly…enraged. Oh, and by the way, when I was under contract with these crooks I always paid my bills in a timely manner.

If anyone feel so inspired to connect with me in regards to your experience with Verizon I would be thrilled to hear from you and find out what might have worked for you. If nothing has worked yet, we can at least commiserate with each other! My lawyer is working on this and I’m also planning to contact the FTC, Department of Consumer Affairs and Attorney General’s Office in my state which is NY.

Good luck to all of you on your dilemmas with this Crooked Evil Corporation.

Idearc employee who’s job is on the chopping block! Customers are not the only people being screwed by Idearc. Recently over half the graphic artists that Idearc employs in Pennsylvania will be let go in a forced layoff. The lost jobs will now be new jobs to folks in India! Who in India will be buying your products or services advertised in the Verizon Super pages?

Idearc upper management choose to blatantly squander investor dollars on redundant internet startup’s as Idearc investors watch announcements like. InfoSpace, Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a special cash distribution of $9.00 per share, or approximately $300 million. This follows the completion of the sale of its online directory business to Idearc Inc. (NYSE:IAR) for $225 million in cash. Idearc stock value has dropped 50% in the last three months, gee I wonder how come?

It’s very clear that Idearc Upper management is out of touch with it customers, investors, and employees, and is using the revenue from the print side of the house to fund an internet venture that is clearly a train wreck, based on lies and deception!

Idearc business practices should be investigated!

I am the executive director of a non-profit agency and I am having the same problems with Idearc. They have told me that I agreed to advertising with them, they have scammed me by saying that I agreed over the phone to their contract. There is no way that I would ever agree to double my price to advertise in Verizon! I am so upset, they keep charging me interest and calling our phone number constantly berating my staff. I am furious! I plan on filing with the attorney general and consumer protection. I asked them for an address to cancel and they told me that they are unable to give me that information! Give me a break!

Very Very unhappy with Idearc Media. How a company can be aloud to take such advantage of people is beyond me.I never ever agreed to any advertising with this company what so ever and continue to be billed every month for something I didn't want.I like to know if there is away for all unhappy customers to get together on the web and go after these scam artists.If there is away to bombard these people with complaints I would more than interested to know.

I too am in the battle with Idearc. The salesman told me that my ad would be up in a few days and on the front page listings but not at the top. The ad didn't show up during the trial period. I called and the operator said they "hadn't built my site yet." I then sent them written (fax, mail, and email) and of course verbally requested them to cancel my contract for non-performance. Their contract stated that they did not have to publish my advertising until they did publish it, which would make the contract unenforceable until publishing. That night, AFTER my e-mail and fax, their company sent an e-mail at 4 a.m. saying the site was now up and running. They keep sending bills with each balance hundreds higher in spite of my attorney sending them a cease and desist letter. Please let's all band together in a class action suit.

WHY DONT WE ALL GET TOGETHER IN A CLASS ACTION LITIGATION AGAINST VERIZON FOR FOLENIOUS IMPROPER CUSTOMER SERVICES.SUE FOR DAMAGES.DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTACT THEM FOR CANCELLATION "IDEARC"(COMBINED LITIGATION AGAINST VERIZON) .

HOW ABOUT CONTACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL U.S.A. NOT TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL GOVERNMENT

http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm CONTACT GOV FTC

I am having the same problem. We have tried to cancel this 5 times. Once in Feb 07, and then I called in October 07 and was told to cancel in writing. So I faxed a letter of cancellation of our account twice. Once in October 07 and again in November 07. Then last week I e-mailed them to make sure that it was canceled and told them about the previous steps I took to cancel the account.

Someone from Idearc wrote back and told me that someone was looking into my account and that they would get back to me. I still have not heard anything and don't think I will be hearing anything. Now, I just got off the phone with someone who was very rude to me. She told me she saw the notes where I requested the account to be canceled back in Feb and Oct, but it's still not canceled. There were no notes about the faxing of my cancellation letters. She told me there was nothing she could do. She said that I need to cancel before May 08 before the books come out. I told her that I have tried to cancel. What else could I do? She said she couldn't help me and she would not give me her full name either. In one of my letters I even asked that someone e-mail me to confirm that they did receive my cancellation letters. What kind of a scam is Idearc running? Has anyone been able to cancel their account with success? Can anyone give me advice? I am desperate.

Tina

e-mail the President - Kathy Harless (she may or may not use her middle initial , try both )~

kathy.j.harless@idearc.com or kathy.harless@idearc.com

Make sure to include your Idearc account number or business telephone number & how you can be contacted.

Also, send registered letters to local sales office requesting cancellation. All cancellations must be in writing 10 days prior to the directory closing date.

FYI ~ all paid advertising MUST be authorized one of three ways - Customer signature required on all advertising over $400.00 per month. Under $400, either signature or a third party verification w/you the owner on the line. If paid advertisers are unable to be reached & a certified letter was sent to you, Idearc can renew your advertising if you do not respond within the alloted time.

You can demand to speak to management & request proof & validation of your sig, 3rd party verification or the certified letter. All paperwork is required to be doc imaged. Get in touch with the General Sales Manager of your local office or the Exec VP & voice your complaint. They will listen & take care of your issues.

I hope this helps... a former employee

First off i never signed up for anything just ended up with a $566 hold on my checking acct and it now became a charge for $66 which both my debit cards have since been canceled which means i have to wait 7-10 business days to get cards again and the charge went through again... i don't have a webpage or any advertising and am currently unemployed yet my bank says they don't know who it was that charged me and how... how is this possible since they have to be sending the money electronically somehow don't they... and it eventually ends up somewhere... at some merchant

I figure they charge 1000's of people and hope at least half don't notice... nice scam...

another unhappy customer... I get charged almost $700 a month and i get nothing out of it. I cant cancel either for another year. i want to die! these people are total scam artist.

They are a scam and are taking avantage of businesses that are just starting. Of course you want to help boost your business with a company as Verizon, but what they advertise is not what they offer. I believe that your best bet is to start with filing a complaint with the better business bureau just like I did. Then going after them collectively with an attorney. This will capture there attention and seek a refund for you paid and compensation for fraudulant advetisement. I am being harassed by a collections agency and verizon refuses to negotiate. They want money in full for a service they failed to render.

I too have been scammed by Superpages.com. They get you to sign up with a low monthly fee, about $30. They charged me for an entire month before they ever even put up my listing. Then the bills started coming in $65, $78, $93 it just got crazy. I called my rep and made a big deal. Ultimately they said "the contract is cancelled" I paid all those bills and now they recently (a year after I closed the account) started having a computerized voice call me at all hours saying that I needed to call Idearc Media. I never heard of Idearc so I ignored the calls for a while. Then it was driving me nuts and using my cell phone minutes so I called back and left a message saying "stop calling me" then a live person called me the next day and can you believe those ### are trying to send me to collection saying I owe them even more money. SCAM SCAM SCAM Don't fall for it.

Truth:

File online with your state attorney general, the state attorney general of texas, and the better business bureau. they then will cancel your account. keep email to verify.

There is no free "trial version"! The contract is 12 month period! This is also verified through a 3rd party to make sure you understand the terms! So... where you listening at all?

The Idearc nightmare continues even when I'm awake! The substance of their auto renewal is section 29 from their old "fine print" contract. I've included the text below. The point is Idearc didn't attempt to contact me. When Verizon handled my account Josiah Pruiksma @ [protected] Ex. 1322, josiah.t.pruiksma@verizon.com, would call me every year to see if we wanted to make any changes in our ad. Then I would receive a proof to sign off.

We changed the name of our business in the spring of 2007. The Idearc crooks took over Verizon during our transition and no contact was ever made, no letter ever sent for renewal. They just ran the old ad with the old name and copy. Our business was refreshed and the old ad didn't represent us at all, it was completely worthless.

Our position is that their lack of compliance to their automatic renewal guidelines render it null and void. Here it is, I hope this helps: SECTION 29: AUTOMATIC RENEWAL: PUBLISHER WILL ATTEMPT TO CONTACT ME PRIOR TO THE NEXT ISSUE OF EACH DIRECTORY ON THE COVER OF THIS APPLICATION. IF PUBLISHER CANNOT REACH ME, IT WILL SEND A LETTER TO ME ADVISING ME THAT UNLESS I CONTACT PUBLISHER IN WRITING BY THE DATE SPECIFIED IN THE LETTER MY ADVERTISING APPLICATION WILL BE RENEWED FOR THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE DIRECTORIES LISTED IN THE LETTER. I AGREE TO PAY PUBLISHER FOR PUBLISHING MY ADVERTISING AT THE THEN CURRENT RATESS DESCRIBED IN THE LETTER, UNLESS I NOTIFY PUBLISHER IN WRITING BY THE DATE SPECIFIED IN THE LETTER...

I signed up for a small ad in Southern CA yellow pages three years ago. Idearc kept renewing the ad, (based on an automatic renewal clause that I was never informed of) even though I never talked to a rep, and have never seen or signed a contract. A year ago I talked to a person at Idearc and told them I wanted to cancel. I assumed that my request was taken care of. I continued to receive bills. When I called again a few months later, I was told that the book was already out, so would have to pay for the coming year. I refused to pay for the advertising, and am now being pursued by a collection agency. This company uses very deceptive business practices and I don't recommend using their services. Unfortunately, there isn't an alternative if you want your ad in a Verizon book.

seek justice by filing a complaint with the better business bureau and the state attorney general.

They scammed our business and then tried to bill our company for 2 different names and accounts for the same thing at the same address. Then they never applied bill payments that cleared our bank account from their company. When you call to resolve the issue you can't get through for 30- 60 minutes and when you do noone is willing to help resolve the problem.

With us it was Idearc renewing our "contract" without any notification - even though our phone number was disconnected. Their ONE-SIDED contract basically says you have to notify them in writing of cancellation, but if THEY choose not to renew YOU, than they don't have to say jack [censored] to YOU at all! (section 29) - I am forwarding a copy of this to our Attorney General among other places.

ALSO, if you do a search into Idearc TX HQ on BBB, you'll notice BBB has preemptively pasted the automatic renewal clause on it's Idearc entry. I mentioned this in my letter - about how in the hell BBB felt compelled to proactively post this if they hadn't been SWARMED by people who got bamboozled.

I absolutely agree on their shady practices, and encourage EVERYONE to complain to all the relevant agencies: BBB, FTC, State AG's. The more complaints on file, the better. I typed one letter that will be mailed to all 3 entities with Idearc c/c'd.

As an ex-employee of a CLEC Telecom, I can say Verizon used to screw people right and left with their listings. I think that's why they privatized the listings facet - to avoid further liability and PUC accountability. They are every bit the ### that Idearc is.

DO NOT TRUST EITHER OF THEM!

Yeah they scammed me too. Sold me on a pay per phone campaign and turns out they only do pay per click now and did not even inform me of that. WOW! These people have already scammed me out of $500.00 and dropped my website stats from 85% success to 13% success by clicks in a month. And i just got an e-mail from these blood sucking leeches wanting me to increase my budget to $500.00 a month.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE! I will be filing a compaint with BBB as well as participating in a class action law suite. There is much much more to this. I just spent an hour typing it all out and my computer crashed.

I wish I would have read this board earlier. I've been advertising with superpages for years. I recently was scammed by Idearc. I was told my advertising was changing but I was grandfathered in at $15 a month. My first month bill was $795. I was told my sales rep is the only one who can change and cancel my advertising but she refuses to return calls. I will be canceling my credit card and all my yellow page print advertising. I am just starting the dispute processand will post any helpful info.

I haven't signed a contract with Verizon for many, many years, yet they continue to auto-renew every year without contacting me. It is difficult to keep track of these deadlines on my own, you know? I've wanted out for years. Is it even legal for them to do this? Can I make them produce a copy of my contract before sending it to collections? This is awful! (by the way, I've been on hold waiting for a "representative for 40 minutes)

Our company too, has been billed by these Scammer slobs IDEARC MEDIA after numerous attempts to Cancel our Account for bad service well over a year ago. I am going to Write the Texas Attorney General. ALSO, and the FTC anyone interested in there Service BEWARE you will be very disappointed! I am also going to write Verizon for getting into bed with this company.

As I am reading this board I now understand that I will have to take further steps as suggested to put an end to this Idearc scam problem. I too have tried for the last 4 months to cancel my account with no luck. The last rep I spoke to said that my account was going to be reviewed because the recording during the so-called sale seemed like there was some discrepancies in the what I was being offered - "the free trial period!" I never agreed to advertising and never agreed to any contract arrangements for monthly advertising. As I have read from everyone else, I never received a call back and this month again another bill arrived with late charges added. I have tried every month from the first to cancel them in writing, phone calls and it has been ignored. I will be writing to the Attorney General, the FTC and Consumer Complaints too.

Superpages Idearc sent a letter [protected] they are going chapter 11 bankruptcy.

We sent a letter 3 weeks ago, via signature confirmation, of our ad cancellation. We can't get a response and the web page shows the ad still active. It costs a fortune, almost $500 month. We proved half a year ago they used "click" keywords that had nothing to do with our company. The bills went down for one month then went way up again. We never had any work from all those so called clicks. I hope they crash and burn, lying leeches. Check your keywords, that's where they rip you off. Unless you need a huge write of for taxes with absolutly no return...
NEVER TRUST SUPERPAGES!
NEVER TRUST SUPERPAGES!
NEVER TRUST SUPERPAGES!

I filed a civil claim against Idearc Media LLC/Jennifer L. Swann. The case number is SC11C0013202 It would be nice if you could send a letter to Justice of the Peace Precinct 1, Place 1, Judge Dale Gorczynski, 7300 N. Shepherd, room 138, Houston, Texas [protected] and give your experiences with this company and their tactics. I have gone to his court before and know he will read the letters and have an understanding on the complaints.

Thanks, Patrick David Rawls www.patrickhomeassembly.com

I have also been screwed by IDEARC. I signed up and the lady who sold me the program indicated that the charges were done by clicks, no monthly charges and that I would be placed in to upper tier of our services. I also indicated to her that I had a minimum allowance of $200 a month. The company that does my website hosting gives me all the statistics of how many clicks are done to my website. According to my website host, there were hardly any clicks on the website on January and February and March of 2009. But according to IDEARC, there are thousands of clicks, they are LIARS. They are sending me a bill of $2600, which is now in collections. I refuse to pay it! I also called to complain and show them their mistakes and they refuse to listen to me. They have ruined my credit and I just don't know what to do. I'm glad their going BANKRUPT; they deserve it after scamming so many stockholders and small business owners. Maybe they are related to Bernie Murdoff. Does anyone have any suggestions? Its hard enough that that small business owners are suffering through this hard Economic turmoil, we just don't need scam artists like IDEARC to hurt us even more.

We are never pleased when one of our clients is unhappy. Please give me the opportunity to review your issue. I promise someone will get back to you within 48 hours with an update. Please provide me with the following information and email back to me at: customerservice@Idearc.com

Your Full Name and Title:

Business Name:

Business Telephone Number:

State in which your Business resides:

Your Contact Number:

Best time to call you:

E-mail address:

Brief Complaint Description:

I just found a plain envelope from a Collection Agency in my mail, on behalf of a bill to Idearc. To my knowledge, I've never done business with them. But they have thousands of dollars of advertising I supposedly signed up for. B.S. I don't do any advertising. I run my own dozen websites--I don't need their lame help. This article is the first one to tie the name Verizon into the picture. Back in the 90's I did put some yellow pages ads into a local Verizon/GTE Yellow Pages. Never got a dime of business from it, paid it off that year and haven't done business with them since. I know they are a dying company, but I didn't think even they would stoop so low as to commit fraud. Those ###.

OK thank you all for your information they called my company but after talking to there sales rep it seemed like they were trying to sell me too hard... After reading what all of you wrote I will not be doing business with them