OYP Group Complaint
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Yellow pages scam - Yellow Pages listing
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| - Plattsburgh, NY |
I recently got called by a company that said it wanted to
update my "Yellow Pages" listing. I should not have talked
to them as I did not recognize their number or name on my caller ID, but I wasn't thinking clearly, and I went ahead
and told him my new info and questioned whether this was
the same listing as we've had before, since I've had a lot
of calls updating phone book info just lately. He said it was just the same as our prior listing and that one payment of 399.95 would cover two years. I agreed , thinking that I was OK, ing a local listing for the Yellow Pages. When I received the bill, it was obviously not from the Yellow Pages, since the logo was close, but not the same. I called the local yellow pages and a guy told me that this OYP Group was not affiliated with them and to not pay the bill.
I called back the number on the "bill" to tell them I would
not be paying since I was mislead, and they said that my
unpaid bill would be sent to a collection agency.
I hope someone will tell this story to prevent any one from paying for this bogus listing.I'm sure they publish a book somewhere, but it's not the "Yellow Pages" they make you think it is. Read Next Complaint >>
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Reader Comments:
Posted by davidf15x on 12/08/2007
I was also scammed by this outfit. I doubt there is an actual book and it is a pure scam. There was never any mention of the actual book or a description of the listing. I told them to go away and prove that they were legit with something in writing verifying the ad. Instead, ,they called back a week later, asked my assistant to simply verify the address and when they asked for a credit card, my assistant refused, unsure of the legitimacy of the caller-- they said they would send a bill. When the bill came, it was from OYP group and we told them no way we could pay. They said the bill was legit, we agreed to the ad by refusing to protest the sending of the invoice in advance.
They pressured my assistant for payment, I phoned him to say we would never pay for something never ordered and he said the book was already published, and we agreed to the ad by not telling them twice (only once) to go to hell.
When I called him back he refused to acknowledge that he was running a scam. I gave them the phone number of my lawyer and he said he would pressure the lawyer for money. He is bluffing and it is all fraud.
If some angry law firm does not take this enterprise down, perhaps some governmental agency would be interested.
Posted by collections.davis on 12/14/2007
Missouri and Idaho state's attys have issued injunctions against them. Karl Garon' is the companies president. They are also known as Thompson Publishing and are on the top 3 Better Business Bureau's BAD GUY LIST. The address they use on the fake invoice is a Mailboxes etc. Here's their REAL ADDRESS.
705 Bourget Ste's 203 (they're in 104
Posted by lindarlove on 12/14/2007
These people just tried to perpetrate this scam on my church. We refused to pay and have a call in to the Attorney General's Office.
Posted by barbara.mayo on 01/18/2008
My story is identical. I'm new to this department and received the phone call. I verified my address and they said they'd send the bill. I asked my boss afterwards and he said that we didn't advertise in the yellow pages, but to disregard the invoice when it arrived. The invoice never did arrive, but the harrassing phone calls have begun - and are quite harrassing at that.
Posted by linda-mbs on 01/18/2008
Ditto. Same thing happening in Texas. Noticed it was a scam when I got their $399.95 invoice. Mailed it back to them canceling the request and they will not take "no" for an answer. They dont even try to prove they are legit--but want your monies. After 2 months of this crap, I thought they had gone away but no- got another harrassing call yesterday and they are NOW a 3rd party collection agency working with the attorney general , HA! - but they can never give out any physical addresses (for them OR the atty gen)!!! and now they are threatening me personally to pay the bill....already filed complaint w/ NY BBB since that is the address on their invoice-which is only a cash drop box for payments. Wish someone could help and would bust this group. Be sure to take their names,dates and times of each harrassing call.
Posted by gabe3 on 01/21/2008
We are having the same problem. Today I got a call from a Tom Garrette who claims to be from a collection agency. He demanded payment and threatened legal action. I told him we aren't paying, and eventually had to hang up on him. He called 5 more times in the next few minutes, while I had another customer on the line. we hung up every time because we had a client. These folks are unreal.
Posted by cuzpr on 01/22/2008
I got the same call yesterday from Dan Martin. I've read a lot about these guys at this point. I told him that I was onto his scam, and that I knew he was in Canada (he verbally spelled the letter "z" as "zed"). I told him that I wasn't paying, and he said that I was leagally binded into this contract, and that my bill was 250 days past due. He said that today only, he could reduce it to $350, even though he shouldn't, as long as I pay by credit card. I asked him which law he was referring to. He stated that it was the Federal Trade Commission law 44A-504A, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and that it stated that any verbal agreement made for under $500 was a legally binding contract and that he had a recording of me agreeing to these charges. He said that if I waited one more day, the charges would be sent to a third-party collections agency, and that the fees would go up to over $3500. He said that the U.S. government would now be involved and that my furniture and pets would be repossessed. I have also put in a complaint with the BBB of Buffalo, NY. Somebody needs to take out these clowns. Terribly annoying!
Posted by bluebonnetherbfarm on 01/24/2008
I am in Texas and was also scammed by these people. They called and said that they had talked to my boss (they called her by name) and she had authorized the advertisement but she had not had time to verify our information. So I verified the address that they gave me and so forth. I, later found out that it was a scam and called them. I complained, but apparently you have to tell them that you are calling to complain, because it isn't a legal complaint until you do. I was called today by a collectiona agency threatening to get the money from me personally if the company didn't pay it. They said our credit score will be damaged if we did not work out a payment plan with her. We have contacted our attorney and hopefully he can straighten things out. It really made my day.
Posted by shawnee on 01/28/2008
A gentleman claiming to be a representative of the state of Nevada called claiming that I owed a bill that was falsely represented, but the guy would not stop calling he called the office around 30 times or more in a fifteen minute to twenty minute time span. He was asked after the first call to stop calling after the fifth or six call it was mentioned about harassment and that he needs to stop calling this number, but would not stop calling and threatened to call all day long he had nothing better to do. His name is David Smyth of the OYP group of what I believe to be a fraudulent company out of new york. That tricks people into verifying the address and phone number of the company that I work at and I did then all of a sudden a bill is mentioned at the end of the conversation which I am not authorized to approve and was hung up on before explanation. He did not comply to the fair debt law after being asked not to call any more he continued to call.
Posted by salonsi on 01/31/2008
I was totally scammed by this company, the only difference was that I paid!!They asked me to confirm info, and not paying attention b/c I was actually working hard for my $$$ I confirmed the info that they had. Well thats all it takes. They didnt tell me about the 399.95 for the ad they just asked if I was the authorized person to make decisions well IM THE BOSS, so I said yes. Well thats when your scammed into buying whatever it is that I still have not received!!
I have contacted the bbb and fed.t trade comm. but now what? Now I know what they try to do si I just hang up. But I would like something to be done just dont know what I can do!!
Posted by redangeldoll on 03/19/2008
Can we do a class action suit against the company?
Posted by stitesa on 04/08/2008
I was called in september and asked to verify the information and renew a listing. I was misled over the phone with too much information and what sounded like an outsourced sales call. I was harassed by phone months later having not received an invoiced whatsoever. I requested an invoice and proof of services that were being purchased and still have not seen any type of invoice. I was called today by someone who assumed the identity of someone working with FTC violations. He said he would send an invoice but had a meeting so he would pass it to his secretary and I could call him back. I got a call 10 minutes later from a different "collector" who gave me the same extension as the previous caller. John Gates and Peter Blake can be reacher @ 888-401-3777 xt 1416. Be careful trying to reach Peter Blake though he is extremely busy. Apparently he is in court handling collections 3 times a week. He probably should be behind bars somewhere.
Posted by crabbhvac on 04/10/2008
Same thing with us, except that one of the guys that used to work for us answered the phone and he thought that he was helping, by giving them the updated info.
Well after contacting the BBB they said that this group was from Canada and that they are spamming everyone. That they don't have a leg to stand on. They are not an legitimate business at all.
I have got a call every day this week with them wanting to update my listing and since they are trying to update the address that I have at home, I know that it is them. I asked them where their webpage is so that I can take a look at the listing that they are trying to UPDATE. ha. They have hung up the phone on me every time.
But when I told them that I had turned it over to the BBB, they have not sent me another bill.
Gosh I HATE it when there are people out there doing this to good people.
Glad that we have a place to vent...
Posted by jsbphogan on 04/15/2008
Most of these stories are pretty similar to mine. The initial call I received was in September '07. As of yesterday, I am still receiving phone calls. I actually paid $199 on my own personal credit card (and told them I would pay an additional $100 - before the bill went to over $500!) because they led me to believe that this would affect my companies credit. After I started researching the company I was furious. I called and explained it to my credit card company and the agreed that it was misrepresentation, I cancelled the card (because I don't trust OYP group w/ this #) and I have disputed the charge. I received a call 3/3/08 from Angela Whitte from the Credit assessment Division who told me this has been reported to small claims court - Judge Walsh in Westchester Cty and gave me a court case #. I can't believe they are still pursuing this! I have wasted so much time and energy on this! Complained to BBB, Phonebusters of Canada, FTC ...
They are unbelievable!
Posted by redangeldoll on 04/15/2008
If you used your credit card turn it in as a fraudulant charge that you never received the services I did and VISA is arguing with them not me
Posted by drtoni99 on 04/28/2008
I am a small dental office and they keep calling me. I actually am getting really worried as tehy said that I am going tohave to go to court and now my bill is from $400 to $700 can anyone help?
my email is drtoni99@yahoo.co.uk
Posted by californiangel on 04/29/2008
Me Too. Hate these people and their inability to realize that they've been caught and need to give up. I've been dealing with them since September or so of 2007. They have made threats that a bailif was going to show up at my business and serve me papers for the lawsuit. They have said they will send/fax emails and never have. They have threatened my company's credit as well as my own personal credit (I was assured by the FTC that they CAN NOT do that). If anyone from OYP is reading this give it the hell up and put your efforts into something positive, Karma is real and it'll get you! For everyone else, ignore them or if you are bored argue with those jerks and give them hell and tell them all the facts about their b.s. company.
Posted by castilefinance on 05/07/2008
"Posted by drtoni99 on 04/28/2008
I am a small dental office and they keep calling me. I actually am getting really worried as tehy said that I am going tohave to go to court and now my bill is from $400 to $700 can anyone help?"
DO NOT PAY!!! There is nothing they can do to you. These people are idiots. They have been threatening to sue me for 9 months now. Their threats are totally bogus and their accusations ridiculous. Just laugh at them.
Posted by quality on 05/22/2008
i am kind of glad i caught on to them up front, i was tipped off when they told me they were going to send an invoice being in the aerospace machine shops for awhile i wondered why someone would call to say they were going to send an invoice when in practice if someone does a service for you invoices comes without a phone call so i started pressing him for information. luckly i was right next to my computer at the time. so i told them i was going to look them up on the internet instead of using the web address he gave me i used the search bar on yahoo where i got this address, i started reading him your comments he listened to me for awhile after i started reading the second comment he hung up on me. hopefully he will not call me again. knowing i know that there a scam. thank you very much
Posted by Tipsandphlips on 05/31/2008
It is amazing how identical all of these stories are. If everyone has complained to the BBB , the FTC and the Attorney General why are they still in business??? My husband was in the middle of a hectic schedule and verified the address and that he was the owner. He asked them to send an invoice so he could have it for his records. Two months later we started getting harrassing calls from OYP.When I called 888-401-3777 they said a girl named Robin spoke to him , had a taped conversaton ..half of which is missing and auth for the renewll ???? James Wayne ext: 1498 was the OYP agent and when I told him I did not want their service and would be willing to pay for a cancelation fee.. they told me it was too late that it had already gone into the the OYP book already and it was on-line. When I asked when the book would come out he told me in February , I was talking to him in October ..cant you stop the presses ??? and delete our name out of the web-site computer ??? It is done everyday, why cant you ? Then when it seemed that I would have to pay I asked them what typwe of service they offered , they told me it was a B to B account , what is that I asked , they told me it was a Business to Business account and that the public would not have access to this record. Why would a small busines want to be in a B to B account only, these are hard times and I cant afford this service. When I asked to speak to his supervisor he gave me another number 1-888-401-3840 and answered that phone number after I dialed it.. did I dial the right number , I should be speaking to your supervisor ??? When I told them I could not pay the 399.95 , they offered me a one day deal for 249.95 , I told them I could not pay that today , but would be willing to pay that the following Friday. Mike Zones EXT :1702 then told me that it was a one day shot only and it would go back up to the original 506.70 ( 399.95 with late payments). When I asked them to e-mail me the invoice to prove they were legit ... it never came. I then said just mail the invoice to the address or fax it to me. After 2 weeks I called again because I had not recived anything and they said it had been sent out on a specific date. I said send it again,it is my right to see what I am paying for . I never received anything ,but the calls kept coming. I was so harrassed to the point where I paid half.... and asked to send me an invoive proving that I made a payment and what I owed. That never came either , but 2 months later Mike called agian and said that I now owed the balance plus a late fee because I did not pay by the 5th of the month. When I told him that I never received any e-mail, fax, mail from them proving that I had paid it ,he said he would resend the invoice and wave the late fee the. I did receive it by fax onlythe next day...This is where we are at now... I have paid half... they are still calling and now are threatening to take us to court.. Please help what can I do there does not seem to be any protection from these guys , when do they give up ???? My husband was mislead , I paid half and I told them I have reported them to the BBB and FTC , does anbody have any other suggestions aboout this OYP Group scam.?
Other names I have talked to: Theo Decherd , Michael Wilder , John Gates , Chris Michelle , Richard Harris Ext: 1701
Phone # 's 1-866-207-5911 , 1-800-219-2715,
Caryn from FL,
05/31/08
Posted by castlefinance on 06/03/2008
tipsandphlips, do not pay anything. Beg them to sue you so this can be cleared up. They will not. Tell them you are onto them and have researched them on the computer and that you will never, ever pay them. Tell them they are fools. They will continue to call for awhile. Just laugh at them. They will eventually stop when they realize you will not pay them.
Posted by boomersusa on 06/25/2008
We had the same thing happen. After they the phone call we thought about this and called back in ten minutes to tell them we did not want the service.They conveniently cannot find a record of that call . They have been calling and harrassing us at work and now at home as our home no is on the tape for emergencies .They called 4 times today .We are calling our lawyer as we cannot take it any more .I told them not to call any more ,They did not listen .
Posted by oboereeds on 07/02/2008
I just got one of these calls and when the rep said it'd be 459.00 one time fee and said "don't bill me I don't want it" and she hung up. I hope that will be enough, but from the sound of it, it doesn't look like it. I'm glad I found this forum so that I know what to do if the harassing calls start. What a nuisance!
Posted by ShirleyOllar8 on 08/24/2008
I have been dealing with this issue with OYP for 2 years. I work for a small church that runs ads for our Wedding Chapel. After trying to cancel ad for 2 years due to not getting any response from the ad, I finally found this Web Site. In checking back thru the church records, it appears they have taken advantage of us at least 3 times. When they would threaten to send the bill to collection agency, our Pastor would pay because he didn't want to cause the church to have a bad reputation. Now I know I can ignore them and have resorted to yelling at them to finally get them off our back. Would be nice to know if we could ever get the money back we have sent them. What a shame tht someone would take advantage of a church. Bad enough to do it to any business.
MEMO: Be aware of other calls. I received one this week from someone using the name "American Yellow Pages", using the same tactics.
Posted by bedoy7 on 09/26/2008
I was taken by these ppl yesterday. I was very busy at work when I took this call and now boy do I regret it. I'm afraid of what will happen! I just started this job and they sure made it sound like they were just updating our listing, I had no idea until after I was off the call that the company I work for was not in the yellow pages. I feel like such a fool. As soon as I get an "invoice" I will be contacting the BBB of Texas and the Attorney General. I'm so glad I found this site so I at least know what to say to these ppl when they start harrassing us. Geez, I hope I dont get fired over this one!
Posted by jennblais on 09/26/2008
I'm in the same boat as everyone else,i received a call from a "Josh" from The American Yellow Pages telling me that if i didin't pay the amount owed, they would turn my name into a third party collections and by the time they were done with me that "i would not be able to buy a pack of gum." This people are rude and idiotic.
Posted by ShirleyOllar8 on 10/13/2008
After posting my first story on this site 8/24/08 I have received another call 10/13/08. Referred to himself as Brian Wilson, Ph. # 866-827-8724, I asked to speak to his supervisor. That person referred to himself as Daniel Glover. I was suspicious of it being the same person, just changing his voice. Do they ever stop. He said they would be sending it to a third party collection agency. I told them to go ahead, send it wherever they like. I have noticed they ususally have a different ph. # each time they call. Very frustrating and time consuming.
Posted by californiangel on 10/22/2008
Yup, they are at it again. I thought the phone calls had stopped since I hadn't heard from them in several months, guess I was wrong. I have informed my staff to simply hang up on them and not say a word, OYP can waste their time and efforts on this but my store is done!
Posted by carolynoshaughnessy on 11/04/2008
We had this same experience with our company. They are deceptive and shouldn't be allowed to do business. They are in Nevada now b/c of the rules that do not apply to them there. Yellow Pages directory should sue this company for impersonating them.
Posted by ninjapjessica on 01/20/2009
I have the same guy calling the bussiness i work at. he can barely speak english. with the oyp group it is the same crap different day. he calls here everyday monday - friday 9:30am on the dot. He keeps on asking to leave a message for the owner. i repeatly say that he has and if there is nothing different from the last one then he can not leave a another on. haha. he gets really mad. oh well. but it is just annoying b/c you cant win. if u hang up on him then he will call back 5-10more times and if he leaves a message then tomorrow he will still want to leave the same message. =/ they drive me crazy. but he wasn't happy today when he told me that he was recording me and i told him that i have recorded every conversation we have had. lol.
=D
Posted by lauren11885 on 01/29/2009
This pretty much happend to me twice now. I work at a global corporation and they called me saying they needed to update their file. So I told them the information they needed like address phone number etc. Then they said I needed to go through an automated attendant to finish up the info. The first time this happened they asked for the last 4 digits of my social security number. I stop the woman right there and said I will not give that out(since she sat on the phone with me while I gave the information to the auomated attendant). She got nervous and went on the to next question which asked if I agreed to pay $39.95. I told her no and she got even more nervous and ended up disconnecting the call. Then just today I got another call from a man asking for the same information. I told him what happened to me last time and he repeatedly told me that I would not be charged and I wouldn't have to give my social. Sure enough, a couple questions in, he starts talking over the attendant so I can't understand what either one of them is saying. I told him that I can't hear because he is talking. Again he talks but this time I can here him say they are just confirming that I am over 18years old, but I also here the attendant saying "say yes if you agree to pay $39.95". I told him that I heard them say something about being charged and asked him no to talk at all so I can hear what they are saying. He immediately hung up the phone. If I get anymore of these phone calls, I will be writing down the phone number and reporting the call. And if they call again, I will be asking for the manager to see if they will give me any information to take them down. I am so pissed off that these companies think that they can get away with this. I almost hope I get another call.
Posted by just.sway on 02/18/2009
These people called me at my job yesterday. I work at a bank and had a ton of people to service so I pretty much mindlessly answered the call. I "verified" the address and phone number of the place. They asked for my name and the month and day of my birthdate. I did not mistakenly give them my year, thank god. I'm already paranoid as my name is quite unique but I don't think they can do much with just my month and day of birth. I put fraud alerts on all three credit agencies. Aside from personal, I work at a highly reputable organization which services 5000 employees in three states. If they target just our location, I notified my colleages to tell them we are taking them to corporate and that they can talk to security about any "past due" fees that we owe and are going to throw away any invoices and NOT call. It seems that if we call it will only make things worse when they call later and say that we never called in the first place. Of course, we will notify corporate first and let them know that this is a scam and corporate will stop them in their tracks. I have worked for my job for about 6 months and have not received phone calls like this before, which is why I took the call. But now I am aware of this. Any call that solicitates information saying that you released, say that you do not have authorization to do so just in case something comes back to haunt. If they say it's okay, tell them that you will transfer them over to a corporate offical in security. Also if they call back and say they have a recording of your phone call and want to play it for you, tell them it's not necessary and that your phone calls have been recorded on YOUR end for quality assurance since you are a "new employee". That would possibly stop them dead in their tracks.
Posted by jjp on 03/03/2009
We are also victims of this scam. They called the restaurant during a busy night to verify some information from a hostess walking around with a phone trying to seat people. The bill came. When I called to deny that anything was ordered they played a recording of her order for the Online Yellow Pages Ad. I informed them that there was no order and that I was aware of the scam. Now today a year later Chantal called from 1-877-312-8684 Extension 229 to inform me that I better pay or they are going to hurt me and my business in a big way. This balony should be illegal. I don't understand why it has gone on for so many years. They must end up getting some businesses to pay. Thank God for sites like this where "potential" victims can support each other
Posted by DaveHertle2002 on 04/20/2009
I received a call wanting to update my "yellow pages ad" The caller used my spouse's name and title. The caller id came back to Norbanks Sailing in NC.
I let him talk for awhile, then told him we we were not in the yellow pages. He said we were a business and were in the yellow pages automatically. I told him I knew the local yellow pages and we were not in it. Besides, we were on the "Do Not call list"
The Caller ID came back to (252) 261-2739, Norbanks Sailing, 1314 Duck Rd, Kitty Hawk, NC 27949. I called the number from another line and it came back disconnected.
This telemarketers are spoofing Caller ID and telephone numbers to get past their fraudulent practices. Watch Out!
Posted by calderdairy on 05/04/2009
Oh my goodness, I am so glad I found this site. I had the same kind of experience with the people from the American Yellow pages. I too shall wait for an invoice and follow up with the better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce.
They were very rude and claimed that we had agreed to this ad they were running for two years for us at a cost of $900. They claimed that this was our second payment they were confirming. I checked in the computer and we had never sent them a first payment! Beware of the American Yellow Pages, they are not the real thing.
Posted by jablonskif on 06/17/2009
I just tell them I don't have time for this and hang up.
Posted by kitchener on 01/05/2010
How do I get these people (identifying themselves as "Online Yellow Pages") to stop harassing me? I have told them repeatedly to stop calling me, and that they are in violation of Do Not Call.
Use of the U.S. Mail to perpetrate any kind of a crime or scam is a felony (not legal advice, I am not a lawyer). Here is where to report suspected misuse of the U.S. Mail. https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx The drop-down menu has a category for "False Bill or Notice" and a subheading for "Classified ad." Furthermore,
"U.S. Postal Inspectors investigate any crime in which the U.S. Mail is used to further a scheme--whether it originated in the mail, by telephone, or on the Internet. The use of the U.S. Mail is what makes it mail fraud." In other words, even if the scam is initiated by a phone call, the instant the perpetrator uses the U.S. Mail to perpetrate it, he is guilty of a Federal crime.
"This telemarketers are spoofing Caller ID and telephone numbers to get past their fraudulent practices. Watch Out!" Yes, that is why I have not had success in reporting them for a Do Not Call violation.
Posted by italianwife3 on 04/23/2010
These people are harrassing me and my husband as well. We own our own business and yes they do spoof telephone numbers as I have confronted them and each time they hang up on me. If someone has gotten a bill from these people please list what the actual phone numbers to this company are and if any addresses are listed so that way we may have some point of contact to be able to report them to some kind of authority to try and stop them. Every time they call its from a different phone number and it's never their actual number ... always a spoofed phone number.
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