[House Buddies]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone has had any similar problem or any legal knowledge!

in 2003 I booked £20,000 worth of advertising with yellow pages, we quickly decided that it would not be cost effective so we cancelled the ad and decided to go for an advert for £4500 instead.

yellow pages cancelled part of the ad but not all of it - the reps mistake who is no longer there!

for 3 years I have been chased by yell.com, Tenon and now salisbury recovery (part of Tenon who i believe also part of Yell.com.

I have paid £3000 off the advert for £4500 and stopped paying as they would not agree on what had happened. As I said earlier this has gone on since 2003! I recieve phone calls each week and letters, some of the calls are very abrupt which upsets my wife. I have explained what happened to them at leaset 20 times by phone and by letter and have asked for a meeting but they ignore this or I dont hear anything for a month then they start again.

I thought I had made a breakthrough when a month ago they admitted on the phone that Yell had seemed to have made a mistake and that they would accept the £4500 was all that owed, I asked for this in writting which they did but they will not deduct the £3000 that I have already paid off the total!

This morning I received yet another letter (always arrive on a Friday) to say they now want £9500 and unless they receive payment in 7 days they will take e to court and bankrupt me and freeze my accounts. they also said they would take my home (which is rented!)

I have not been to my solicitirs because of the cost involved - has this happened to anyone or does anyone have any advise this has started to depress me now what do I do just let them take me to court and have to defend myself? help is needed please.

Thank you

carl

[House Buddies]

dont know what happened to the subject title - PC keyboard is playing up now??? all happening today

[jamesjames]

Hi Carl, I am really sorry to hear this as this sort of thing is very upsetting and very stressfull. You must keep all your correspondence from them in a file and put the letters back and forth in date order so you know where you are! you allso need to log each call and what was said, trying not to get into a slanging match with them always getting the full name of the person before you enter into a conversation. You really do need to get a solicitor aswell. I would personally write to them immediately putting down your side of the story and tell them that they are harrasing you and your wife and if they do not stop sending you letters and telephoning you you will apply for an ASBO (anti social behaviour order) but do speek to a solicitor, choose one and telephone them up and explain the situation they will usually give you some free advise to be going on with.

Regards
James

[House Buddies]

Thanks


I will call one today, I had better its gone to far now, dont you think if they were going to take it to court they would have done 2 years ago?

[homenclean]

Why not contact trading standards or citizens advice, these big companies dont like it when theses organisations get involved, you could also try the advertising standards authority who may help you out.

Throw everything that is available to you at them, tell them you are going to write to your local paper, they hate bed press bad for business!

Also some solicitors will offer a free or low cost consultation to discuss your options, look it up in yellow pages.

I would refuse to discuss the situation on the phone and only enter into written correspondance so that you always have a record of what is been said.

The best piece off advice i can give you is dont let the numptys grind you down, you have to deal with it but be firm and dont give an inch, pay what you consider to be due and then if they want to take you to court they have to prove that you are in the wrong, tell them you will be happy to meet them in court as they have declined your offer off a face to face meeting to iron out this matter, the judge wont look on this favorably.

yours john

[vangaurd]

dont worry mate if they had any intention of taking you to court they would have done it by now?
write and tell them your wife is getting very distressed by there attitude
and if she takes ill you will hold them responsible
that should stop all this hassle good luck mate hope it all works out.

[craigp]

take it to small claims court, you dont need solicitor. they'll soon drop it.i recently did this, trust me they will NOT want to go to court.

[Ken Wainwright]

Carl

If you're a member of the NCCA, use the free Legal Helpline.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Glynn]

Did you sign an agreement with them ?
How long after the booking was it you amended it ?, was it within 14 days ?

[Dave_Lee]

Back in the first year I started  as a CC, I booked a YP ad, in plenty of time. However the ad did not appear. YP seem very disorganised as I suspect all manner of people deal with a situation with gross lack of records and continuety. They kept sending me invoices and demands for months before they finally got the message. The following year when the rep called and I explained I had lost business due to the ad not appearing, she persuaded me to book a double size ad on the understanding that YP would only invoice me for the smaller one as compensation for their error. Well. youve guessed it, they invoiced me for the full larger ad. After months of wrangling (The rep had been posted to another area and could not be contacted apparently!?) they agreed a 20% reduction. As I was naive business wise in those days I accepted just to get them off my back.
I would send them an offer by recorded delivery, explain you live in rented accomodation and that the whole affair is affecting both you and your wifes health and explain that monthly instalments of ££s is the most you could afford. Of course you will not be able to advertise again in YP until its sorted out, but would you want to?
All the best.
Dave.

[Phil Marlor]

Did you sign an agreement with them ?
How long after the booking was it you amended it ?, was it within 14 days ?

Glynn,

A post without the word "Hydramaster" mentioned!

Phil

[House Buddies]

Hi

Thank you for all the replies, I am sitting down to write a response to them and have booked a solicitor for next week.

Thank you

Carl