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Bonnie
February 25, 2009
Scam and cheating
My business had a contract with Dex Media for one year for which we paid through our Qwest phone bill. I received a phone call asking about renewing and told them I must speak to my husband/partner. They then called back and we told them NO, we do not want any more advertising with them, just the free, basic listing.
When I received my current phone bill, there is a charge for Dex Media Online for twice the cost as last year. I phoned them immediately and told them I had spoken to rep. and did not want any more advertising. They denied I had spoken to them the second time about denying future ad. and said it was too late, our ad renewed and I had to pay for the full year.
I tried calling their claims number, the rep I spoke to, etc. They said we had to pay and if we didn't, they would submit us to collections.
I have tried and not been able to resolve this. We are a small business that is trying to survive without paying for extra advertising that we don't need. Dex says when you call them that the call may be recorded, but when I asked for them to look this up, they only have 'notes' about the first call.
I have reported them to the Better Business Bureau for which they have an 'F' rating. Please, do not do business with them.
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November 23, 2008
Be careful before signing up for a Quest Dex Phone book add
Be careful before signing up for a Quest Dex Phone book add, they will try to trick you into signing up for a lifetime agreement which is difficult to get out of.
As owner of AAA Computer Repair, I am reporting that Quest Dex used trickery to enter our company into a lifetime agreement of charges. A Quest Dex Representative, Wallace, called us and talked us into having a phone book add in the Dex phone book. He came to our location and signed us up in a package deal for advertising in the 2008 Quest Dex phone book, claiming that we would get a lot better deal with the package, which included internet advertising. Quest Dex is no longer supplying a phone book for 2009 in Lincoln NE, yet a year later, we received another bill on 10/9/08 from Dex in the amount of $240.00 for internet advertising from 9/26/08 to 9/25/09.
We never signed up for any advertising with Dex for 2009, so I called them to remove the internet advertising of our company. I talked to Bernadine, AND THEY REFUSED! They said that by having a signing phone book package deal, it entered our company into a lifetime agreement of online advertising that they would not cancel. They were then were nice enough to e-mail me their “Terms of Agreement”, full of small print legal work.
Why this is fraudulent in nature:
1) This is called black hat sales trick & ‘Gotcha’ fine print.
2) The contract signed clearly states, “Contract start date: 9/20/07/Contract End Date: 9/19/08” under “Internet Products”. For the paperwork signed to say the contract ends will end at 9/19/08 and then for a separate “terms of agreement” to contradict that, makes the contract fraudulent.
3) Being that all we wanted was a phone book add, when it says, “I have received a copy of and read the Dex Media, Inc terms of agreement”, the signer is under the impression that the sheet of paper he is signing is the terms of agreement, not some other unknown document that was hidden from the signer.
4) The Dex salesman did not inform us that we were signing a lifetime contract, but to the contrary told us we were signing for a 1 year phone book add.
5) The Dex salesman did not give us, ask us to read, or even inform us that a separate “terms of agreement” document existed.
6) From my understanding, a legal document is only applicable if both parties sign it. The Dex salesman did NOT sign it, or date it.
7) Unlike a phone book add, our add in DexOnline can be removed at any time. By locking us in for a year, and not allowing us to cancel, shows their product to be a ‘Gotcha” tactic, instead of something that has value.
8) All legitimate service companies (AOL, Time Warner, Windstream, ) allow cancellation over the phone. Quest Dex will bill me every year for the rest of my life unless I write up and mail them a legal document to some PO. Box in Illinois. They won’t even cancel the online add for 2010, 2011, 2012, ect over the phone. They sent a representative here to talk us into their lifetime contract, they should send a representative back for cancellation.
9) Quest Dex has an F rating with Better Business Bureau. Web page (Denver office): http://denver.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=33&bbb=0885&firm=15159
Company involved in fraudulent activity:
Quest Dex
3190 S. Vaughn Wy. 6 South
Aurora, CO 80014
(303)658-8000
800-422-1234
(866)782-6401
Company reporting the activity:
AAA Computer Repair
3720 Vine St.
Lincoln NE 68503
(402)466-8158
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