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Dex Media review: fraudulent contracts! 55

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12:00 am EDT
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I agree with this complaint 100%! We had the exact same thing happen to us. Dex Media told us that we had agreed to an auto renewal of our advertisement in some portion of a sales agreement that they we never saw much less agreed to. No one from Dex even Tried to contact us to see if we wanted to renew our ad, they just put it in again and billed us. I have refused to pay and they are now in the process of sending our account into collections which will damage our credit rating.
I have been told that the best course of action is to file a complaint with the Attorney General of the state that you were victimized in. I am in Oregon and so I will be filing with them immediately.

Is there anyone else who has had this problem? Dex Media needs to quit taking advantage of small business!

Oct 05, 2016 1:30 pm EDT
Dex Media customer support contacts
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2200 West Airfield Drive, P.O. Box 619810, DFW Airport, Dallas, TX, 75261, US

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I'm sorry to hear of the issue that you've outlined and would love to look into this matter for you and see if we can work toward a resolution. Please contact us via email at Social@dexmedia.com providing your business name/address, and preferred contact number for prompt follow up. Thank you, Ed!
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55 comments
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Susan-J
, US
Jul 23, 2017 11:20 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We have had the same problem with Dex Media. They say we signed a contract on which we could not adjust the budget, something we had always been able to do in the past. The worst part is that we have had almost zero results in the past year so we're paying more for much poorer performance. We had no idea that we were signing a contract that would not allow us to adjust our budget. And we've never even seen the contract! I thought the sales rep was acting awfully evasive when I asked to have a copy of the contract sent to me. I am filing a complaint with our State Attorney General's office.
In addition when a new sales rep came to talk to us about this year's advertising I complained to him about this and asked what he could do for us as far as issuing a credit he was very rude and obnoxious and blamed me for the poor performance. We went around in circles about the issue until I told him I wasn't discussing any new advertising until the existing issue was resolved. At that point he abruptly jumped up and ran out of our house, almost letting our dog out, and then sped off down the street like a rocket. All Dex has done is say it's not like him to behave like that.

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Salsas
, US
Sep 30, 2016 10:44 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Dex Media is a complete SCAM. I cancelled over the phone and they still billed me invoices they claim that they do auto renewal my account.
NEW SMALL BUSINESS stay away from DEX SCAM.

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DR. Goldenson
, US
Mar 23, 2016 4:47 pm EDT

Bill went from 33.75 to over 60.00 without notice or new contract signed. Previous increases were .25 cents over the years. Tried unsuccessfully to reach Dex Media last month but message said high volume of calls received due to billing errors. Paid regular amount to avoid late fee and another bill came for more money. Went online and read horrible negative comments from others experiencing same situation. Please remedy quickly as this is very upsetting. Thank you kindly.
Dr. Rick Goldenson
[protected]

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Nate33321
, US
Mar 04, 2016 1:58 am EST

100% agree with the above, no letter sent to me to renew contract, no call from anyone, no nothing i called into dispute center today, there was 85 calls ahead of me, after 5 minutes waiting on the phone the system refreshed and told me there was 85 calls ahead of me. Now lets do the math here, if i have been waiting 5 minutes and there are still 85 calls ahead of me that means that most likely each calls going to take at least 5 minutes. 85 x 5 minutes per call (minimum) would be 7 hour wait. They are only open 8 hours and 45 minutes out of the day monday - friday. But they are open 24/7 to open new accounts or to do more adds for you. How is this type of business even allowed? They make it so hard to dispute anything and waste so much of peoples time that i bet most just say forget it, and pay up. Well I am not, we can go to court over this before i pay them anymore money, company is a ripoff posting over 300 million dollar profits from jan - q3 in 2015 and they can't hire more than 2 people to answer the phones at the dispute center? Does anyone else see a problem with this?

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chris penguin
, US
Jan 25, 2016 4:44 pm EST

I own a handyman business and was quoted from the sales rep I had 3 month a agreement to give them time to get me on the front page of Google. I called back after 3 months now they said It was on recording that I had to cancel within the 3 months not after. First I remember specifically asking the sales rep if it was during or after 3 months, . he said it takes time to get me on the front page so 90 days would be the time frame he needed to do his work. sure enough nothing happened never on the front page. So I call to cancel and now they are switching the game on me saying that I had to cancel within the 3 months and now that I didnt im locked in for another 9 months. I am Going to BBB next, complaintsboard, yelp, scam report etc. I will not pay this scamming company my money.

T. Brooks Web Design LLC
T. Brooks Web Design LLC
, US
Jan 11, 2016 5:24 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

You CAN cancel your Dex Media contract, but you'll have to do some legwork and take some protective measures BEFORE you talk to them...

As a web designer and SEO company, I work with mostly small businesses, particularly contractors, landscapers, etc. Many small business owners I talk to have tried Dex Media at some point. Not one person has had anything good to say about Dex. It's the same complaints every time: Lack of communication, billing errors, website errors, and basically paying through the nose for "services" that simply aren't working. And don't get me started on the underhanded "good cop, bad cop" sales tactics that their commissioned salespeople play. Some of the things that these guys promise are ludicrous, just to get a signature so they get their commission. For the most part, Dex websites are not search engine friendly due to all the "junk code" behind the website. Many times the sites are lacking SEO, or if there's any, it's incorrect or set up improperly. Worse, some of the SEO methods they use on their sites (out of sheer ignorance, not on purpose) can get the site penalized by search engines. And don't even get me started on their "pay-per-click" program; that itself takes a few pages.

So what is a business owner to do if they're stuck in a Dex Media contract? Well, from all the small business owners I've talked to in the past few years, you actually CAN get out of your contract. You'll have to do a bit of legwork though, and prove that you didn't get what you paid for. That means keeping track of who called through their special phone numbers, and analyzing your Google Analytics reports. You can see where those visits to your website from your PPC ad are really coming from, and you may be shocked. I've spoken to quite a few small business owners who successfully cancelled their contracts and got most or at least some of their money refunded.

But if Dex Media does allow you to cancel your contract, then what? Now you have no website, much of your online marketing goes bye-bye, and they may still own your domain name, Google Places listing, and company Facebook page. Once Dex Media gets their hooks in, it's difficult to get out! So now what? Well, before you request your cancellation and refund, you need to take some protective measures. You may need to hire a new web designer/online marketing person to help you with this. First, copy all the content from your Dex Media website, including text, photos, and videos (select all text, copy, and paste into a Notepad or Microsoft Word doc, and right-click on each photo and save it). Then get the domain name back from Dex Media. They can continue to host your website, but you should always be the legal registrant and admin contact for your domain name. Then request that they transfer ownership of your Google Places listing to you; your Google Places listing is VERY important, and if you don't own it, you can't ever update it, and chances of getting it back later are almost zero. Then have them make you an admin of your company Facebook page; again, this is important, as you'll never get it back later and will have to start from scratch. Once you've successfully taken these protective measures, then it's time to get a new website built, ideally by a smaller company where you can actually talk to the same person every time you call. When the new website is published using the old Dex Media domain name, that will effectively replace the Dex site, so the transition will be seamless and you won't be left without a website. NOW you can start your cancellation and refund discussions with Dex Media, since they will no longer have anything left to hold over your head.

I hope this information has been helpful! Thanks, Teri Brooks, T. Brooks Web Design LLC. Please contact me if you have any questions; I can't post my phone or website address here, so just Google me!

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SportsCourt716
, US
Nov 23, 2015 3:13 pm EST

Even with tracked written certified cancellation, auto renew keeps charging credit card. They refuse to stop and had to file complaints with Chase. Still pending

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appraiser2many
Poplar Bluff, US
Feb 25, 2015 4:04 pm EST

This place is a complete rip off. They do not respond to your emails. They over bill...meaning, they say they are doing 15 hours worth of work on your site but they actually only do about 2. They have a ridiculous contract. I just fired them and will file a dispute with my credit card company. DO NOT HIRE THESE PEOPLE!

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naturalway
Middle River, US
Jan 15, 2015 9:52 am EST

Same thing is happening here. I was told several times they would give me proof of the voice recording and send me an invoice/contract as proof - NOTHING - this has been going on for approximately a year with different people calling every now and then. Today I received a call from the "Collections Department" he said he would fax me over a copy of everything and get back with me in 5 or 10 minutes to make sure I received it...NOTHING - it has now been 1 hour. I shall see if anything does ever show up - but he is saying that we are "RED FLAGGED" and he needs to know how we will pay - and that the original invoice was $750 and now over $1, 000.00 due to not paying it...well I keep asking for proof and receive NOTHING. SCAM

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Rhonda Pools
Azle, US
Jul 18, 2014 3:29 pm EDT

I got a call about a year ago from Dex Media. The man talked up his company and it sounded good. He was one heck of a salesman! However, I just run the office so I told him I would have to run it by the boss and get back to him with for sure yes or no. I called back a few days later and told them the boss had said no and wee were not interested. That should have been it ! About 2 months later I receive a bill from them. I call them again and tell them, I did not agree to anything, I called and told y'all no, We Are Not Interested but thank you for the opportunity. They then tell me it had been cancelled. I received other bills and called to make sure it had been cancelled and they told me to disregard them, so I did. Now a year has past and I got a letter from a collection agency for over $200.00! So, I called them again...this time they tell me that they cancelled my automatic renewal?! I am so livid! I will not be paying someone for a service that was never rendered much less put to use. How can they get away with this?

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Sunnyside WA
Sunnyside, US
Jun 11, 2014 4:17 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

The Dex company did the same to my business, I have a cancel confirmation number, the names of the people I spoke with on the telephone along with dates and times, I have a letter written to the company stating the "John H "is a terrible employee. Do NOT renew my ad
I have now found they are pursing collection on us.
Since all of this the DEX company no longer list our business in the WHITE PAGES...
Sunnyside Wa

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Ria T
Clayton, US
May 22, 2014 1:09 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We are web developers for more than 10 years. In our opinion DEX Media is a predatory company that targets new business owners who are inexperienced in the digital arena. We recently were contracted to create and SEO a new website for a client that had signed up with them to have his website created more than 2 years ago and was very unhappy with the quality of work they provided and his anemic search engine rankings. After we had developed him a new professional site we contacted them to obtain his URL (www web Address) information so we could redirect to the new and much improved site. It turned out that though they claim they "Manage" the URL for you they actually register the URL in their name, making them the "Owner" of the domain name. This is a very unethical way to register URL names and shunned upon in this industry. The domain name should always be registered in the clients name with the web development/web hosting company listed as an 'Administrator" . By conducting business this way they make it very difficult to leave. They refuse to release the name and offer no buyout option! A domain name is typically less than $20 annually so it seems the sole purpose for setting it up this way is to hold you hostage for the duration of your contract . From what I have read it is extremely difficult to cancel with them. In essence they are holding your business domain name hostage and in order to get a new website you would need to purchase a completely new Domain name which can have some significant costs to business owners...New business cards, brochures, flyers, billboards, and any marketing material and advertisements would have inaccurate web address information and it could be costly to replace everything! Not to mention the loss of business you can suffer. There websites are below industry standards and in my opinion I would stay away from having them handle your website or digital needs. Our client now needs a new Facebook URL address and page, to set up a new Google Plus account, etc...they maintain control over everything and are unwilling to even offer a buyout option! Not worth the headache for a website that does not represent your business in a professional manner and does not drive any web traffic to your business! Any serious business owner that is interested in growing their business should stay far away...You pay for what you get!

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AdamS88
Minneapolis, US
Jun 21, 2013 4:30 pm EDT

I work for an online marketing firm and I'm amazed at the amount of businesses who still pay Dex for their lies/inferior product.

If a business wants to be in the phone book, thats completely fine. Just make sure you don't get their bogus online program bundled in. They float your money between DexKnows.com and Google/Yahoo/Bing. Their agenda is to put your budget towards DexKnows.com because it's their own website and they make 100% profit from it. What they don't mention is that according to Google Trends (which is non-biased and accurate), DexKnows.com has received the LEAST amount of traffic is has ever received in 4 years! No one goes to DexKnows.com anymore! Everyone goes to Google!

I've met with hundreds of business owners who would rather work with me for their online marketing but get a line of BS from their Dex rep when they try to opt out of their digital portion. Dex threatens to keep businesses out of the book or charge them more if they don't also use their online product. Seriously? And for some reason, a lot of business owners comply...it's sad.

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NMO
Thornton, US
May 23, 2013 4:53 pm EDT

Our Dex package worked fine with our first rep. He was very responsive and we got what we were promised. His name is Keegan (Colorado rep) and got promoted because he was actually good at his job.

THAT ALL CHANGED WHEN WE MOVED AND WERE FORCED TO GO TO ANOTHER REP. From then on our online advertising was constantly down - we even have emails stating that there was a problem. Supposedly it was fixed, but we were still constantly at the bottom of the list, getting 90% solicitations and immediate hangups when we answered the phone, even though we had doubled our advertising. They are now trying to charge us over $9K in 2012 for calls that we are not getting. We had our lawyers contact them to dispute their charges and was told by their lawyers that their only obligation to us is to put us on the internet. They have no guarantee for the number of calls or what their reps promise you - even though their reps will show you pages of advertising saying that people in our industry get "X" number of calls every month. THEY ARE A TOTAL SCAM. Please be forewarned small business owners...anyone paying more than you will automatically get on the top of the list everytime. Dex won't work with you, you will get transferred a dozen times trying to resolve your issues, and even after you get a supposed "resolution" to your problem (we were promised a 1.5 month refund of our advertising dollars) it will not happen. Their lawyers will also tell you that you don't have a leg to stand on, and that they are appalled by your claims. PLEASE, PLEASE, save yourself the grief and anxiety and find a more reputable company. There are many out there. I suggest getting a reference from someone who uses another advertising medium that actually produces results. On a more positive note, any reviews customers submit to Dex about your business are still online, so you get the organic advertising, even if you are not paying them. Thankfully, I have not been subject to their auto-renewal policy, and I did not sign up for automatic withdrawls from our bank account. Good Luck!

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adc rockwalls
Tacoma, US
Jun 28, 2012 10:01 am EDT

They auto renewed me even after I talked to a sales rep to not renew. Then again they auto renewed me so I called them up and they acted as if they never got the message. It has been so long ago like 4 years when I signed up that I dont remember even signing the auto renew. So I just didn't pay the bill after the end of the year. I just kept getting bill after bill but at least they didn't renew it again lol. So to for sure to get them not to renew is to not pay for 4 months. Now I got collections bugging me but what the hey. My credit is already messed up I told them. The part that upsets me the most is that I canceled this service over the phone twice and they said they would but now I am hearing that they need a letter. So if you do cancel of have any conversation with one of theses sails persons, get a tape recorder and tell them that this is being recorded .

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screw88
joints, US
Apr 01, 2012 12:26 am EDT

Dex is the WORST COMPANY EVERYONE !The first year I signed up for a small on line contract.They accidentally forgot to place my AD in the city I worked in.We lost business because people couldnt find my location. We recieved no compensation.By the second year once again they SCREWED ME up and didnt place my NEW business which was actual new store location properly. We lost business and recieved No compensation at all.The third year they came into my store ..2 men dressed in suits with briefcases.They sold me a new contract promising I would get alot of work. We didnt and never heard from them again- DEX scams and we wont pay. DEX took the life out of our business with false hope and milked thousands of dollars we couldnt spend with no returns. SCREW YOU DEX! YOU LIED AND CHARGED US TO COMPETE WITH VIRTUAL COMPANIES ON LINE THAT APPEARED ABOVE MY PAID LISTING...WHAT A JOKE!

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Door guy
Des, US
Feb 29, 2012 5:57 pm EST

I'm thrilled to hear all the complaints about Dex Media!
Now I know that all the fraud that Dex Media has committed against my business over the past 12 years is not just my experience. I am a garage door company that has been working to pay Dex Media since 2002. I can say that I am currently a multimillion dollar gross business that is on the verge of bankruptcy due to Dex overcharging for their products, lying about their books usage, having multiple phone books for one small area that only needs one book in order to force you to spend more to reach all your potential customers, sharing confidential customer information between reps in order to sell more advertising, changing heading rules to appease certain customers, offering certain products to some customers but not others creating unfair business, and charging one customer one thing then your competitor a different rate. They tell you that your rates are half what the real rate is to make you feel all warm and cozy about the deal they gave you then when you want to drop your program to a smaller ad the next year because they sucked your business dry and you can't afford it anymore they tell you all your incentive money will go away and you will have to pay full rate for the smaller ad which comes out to the same rate. So in other words once you spend big money they force you to continue to spend that same amount or your screwed and wont be in the book at all. Dex knows that my business is a service business and needs the phone book still to get business so they take advantage of that the best they can. The list goes on and on and I have experienced it all!
They are crooks that will do whatever they can to suck money out of you and make you feel important as a client. Then the minute you turn your back they are doing whatever they can to screw you over by offering better products and deals to your competition. It's all a big scam game where they play their reps and customers against each other to generate as much revenue as they can for themselves without any concern for their clients well being. They say they want you to be successful and partner with you and if your not successful they wont be, blah blah blah. These are all sales tactics the sales reps are taught to pull the big sheet over your eyes while they are stabbing you in the back!
Every year they show me their usage figures and claim it hasn't gone down figures. These usage figures are shown on ### charts done by this third party company they use which I'm convinced is in bed with Dex to deceive their customers that their book is still being used. That's the big argument with them about usage when I tell them their full of it. They say " well we don't figure the usage ourselves we have a third party company do it". Yeah I bet they do! They are being paid off to generate false documents to show their customers and potential customers in order to sell their products and triple what any other phone book charges. I have done my own usage tests this year and I average 4 calls a day out of a program that costs me over $15k per month. That means that every day $500.00 goes straight to Dex which translates to $125.00 per call on average! The amount paid per lead with advertising on a national average for my type business is under $25.00!
I cannot believe the Feds have not brought these crooks to justice for the crimes they commit all over the United States against small business's that don't have anymore money to sue considering Dex already stole it all. Forget the Attorney General and the BBB, It's time to get the FBI involved and I'm ready to lead the parade to bring this big corporate scam company down. If you have been a victim of Dex Media please contact your personal attorney and the local FBI agent. If you have a solid case your attorney should take it on contingency and if not find one that will.

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Dex One Ex. Claims
Bristol, US
Jan 03, 2012 5:28 pm EST

Please contact the Dex One claims manager listed on the BBB website and they will be happy to assist you.

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dex is a rip off
, Yugoslavia
Dec 28, 2011 8:20 am EST

DEX is trhe biggest rip off!
They are billing my company $ 900.00 a month for Advertising. We recieved 0 calls from so called Dex customers.WE ASK OUR CUSTOMERS.Alot of our customers are from Yelp and of course Google.
Dex wont let us out of a ontract after signing the first month .Currently we are trying to milk our company dry to the bone. My Dex sales rep called me back only after a month. I told him I do not want to go forward with this contract. He would look into it but did not retun my calls and now we get bills for 900.00 per month.
STAY CLEAR OF DEX

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Ex.Complaint Dex One
Cary, US
Aug 02, 2011 8:58 pm EDT

You should call their claims manager. They have one listed on the BBB website.

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joesmoeblue
Maple Lake, US
Jul 12, 2011 1:33 am EDT

I did some advertising with dex with their online white pages. I met up with my rep because I had received only 2 calls in a 5 month period when I was supposed to be getting 10-20 a month. When I had previously met up with her we had discussed some additional adverstising that I really wasn't interested in. She said I should just sign the contract so if I did decide to go with it we wouldn't have to meet up again. She promised up and down that she wouldn't turn it in unless I confirmed over the phone that I wanted it. So when we met up I told her I didn't want it and she agreed that it was probably the right choice. Then I get a call down the road a few months later that I've been assigned a new rep. We met up and were discussing my business and my advertising needs...the usual stuff. He then tells me I have an add in their hard book. I told him no he must be mistaken but then he pulls out the add and shows me. I told him that my old rep must have accidently sent it in. Then I tell him that I made it crystal clear that the add wasn't supposed to be put in and my rep promised me she wouldn't turn it in unless she contacted me and I told her to...besides when we had last met up I told her I didn't want it. I tried contacting her and she wouldn't return my call. Talk about feeling guilty, these people befriend you to make a sale then they turn around and stab you in the back. My new rep spoke with her and she told him she wasn't going to call me back...for what reason I don't know but I'm thinking because she knows she scammed me. I called the Dex customer service and told them what happened and they said they would get back to me. Well they never did and they continue to send me bills for it. I'm very disappointed in the professionalism of this company. If they think I'm paying for a service I didn't want they have another guess coming. I wouldn't trust this company even though the results can be ok at times but their dishonesty erases what good things they do.

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W R Howland
Rio Rancho, US
May 15, 2011 4:06 am EDT

I pulled my full page display ads in three headings and replaced them with in column listings for 2010. The same year an unlicensed imposter shows up in the Dex book using my company name and a cell phone number in a large display ad. The imposter screens his calls with voice mail and never calls me back. Dex won’t tell me who the imposter is. I’m convinced a Dex representative told the imposter that we were reducing our ads to listings and that by running a large display ad he could fool people into calling him thinking they were calling us. We have been in business for 25 years and we have thousands of loyal customers. Many people have told us they thought they were calling us and never got a call back or got bad service from a fly by night imposter. Dex claims no responsibility but they could have prevented this by simply checking their own client records or the State licensing web site. I seriously doubt it would have happened if we had kept our $12, 000.00 a month display ads instead of cutting back more than 90%. I intend to sue Dex and subpoena the rep who sold the ad to the imposter. After 25 years I doubt any local Dex rep in our area doesn’t know who we are. I owe Dex a lot of money since I stopped paying off the display ads after this started. They keep adding 1.5% per month to the total. Dex is responsible for the actions of their employees and their actions caused us severe hardship far exceeding my dept to them. I offered to settle with them for what I originally owed but they are greedy and want to screw me regardless of what they did. I think Dex sucks and the sooner the internet puts them out of business the better.

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wantasolution
, US
Mar 31, 2011 4:00 pm EDT

I finally got a reply from the DAs office in Arapahoe County, CO, where Dex's main office is. Here's what he said:

We receive several complaints each year about auto-renewal contracts. While I personally would never sign an auto renewal agreement, they are legal. In the eyes of the law, the consumer must take responsibility for understanding any legal agreement that he/she signs. Failure to read or understand the terms of a contract is not an acceptable defense against that contract. I know the amount of "legalese" in even simple agreements is almost overwhelming, but until the legislature either bans auto-renewal agreements or declares that consumers are not responsible for what they sign, I know of no way (short of negotiation) out of this situation. Be sure that you notify Dex in writing that you are cancelling this contract and that you send that notice registered or certified mail, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED. Then you will have proof that they were notified and if they auto renew again you will have evidence you can use in court.

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wantasolution
, US
Mar 03, 2011 10:55 pm EST

C'mon people... let's turn this into a forum where we can formulate a plan! Any ideas? Obviously, the auto-renew policy is the root of our dispute. I'm sure it was the INTENT of each of us to cancel our service. We just didn't follow their procedure, which apparently is spelled out in their terms of service.

I have a $200 bill from DEX that I tried to dispute. I did not renew my ad. Had I known about the auto-renew clause in the terms of service, I certainly would have answered the call from the DEX sales person. But because I didn't want to renew, I didn't answer the phone or call back. I assumed my contract would end, just like all the other phone books do it. I didn't read the terms of service, nor have I ever even seen one. I know it's my responsibility to find it and read it, but c'mon, who does that? This is a phone book ad! I assumed that DEX would be honest in their business dealings and that there wouldn't be any "gotcha" [censor] terms in their service agreement. I can see the point that their making as far as protecting their customers, but I don't think that is their INTENT in putting the clause in there. I believe it is their INTENT to keep customers in their books when they can't get a hold of them, or when their customers decide to leave them.

I considered small claims court, but DEX doesn't owe me any money, so I can't do that. I'm also not going to pay $150/hr. for an attorney to dispute a $200 bill in court. Will the auto-renew clause stand up in court? Does anyone have any lawyer friends that can provide their candid assessment, or provide us with a course of action? I assume DEX is watching this thread, so I also expect them to add their legal 2 cents (though we may not be able to tell if they're with DEX by their post!)

Here's what I want: for DEX to forgive the balance on my account, and to report back to the credit bureaus that my account is in good standing and that my account was never past due, and to remove all past due entries in my credit report. I do not seek damages.

What are the chances that we can formulate a plan to, at the very least, get DEX to do this?

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Equuleus79
Dickinson, US
Mar 03, 2011 6:19 pm EST

Dex media is a fraud! I tried their services. They then sent me a renewal contract upon which I wrote in large letters across the entire thing CANCEL. I returned the renewal form. They did not cancel it and proceeded to send me bills. I refused to pay the bills. I wrote them numerous letters explaining that their salesman do not follow instructions. I called them several times and every time I was referred to a different phone number and department. Then they tried to collect through a collection agency. I have explained it on two different occasions with two different collection agents. The last time I told them I would counter sue if they tried to collect on this fraudulent contract. I even sent them a bill for all of the time I wasted trying to clear up this matter. Here's the most ridiculous part, after numerous letters and phones calls telling them I canceled their contract, they still list my business in their rotten phone book. Go figure. They are complete joke and unbelievably mismanaged.

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Dex Guy 2
, US
Mar 02, 2011 3:27 pm EST

The Dex auto renew clause is not some fine print matter. Every contract comes with a terms of agreement page and on that page is the auto renew clause. Like all other topics on that page, it is in nice, big, bold letters to call your attention to it. The passage is not a long one, either. Reading the terms of agreement is not some mire of words that takes an hour to go through.

It is not Dex's fault if the client fails to read the contract, or listen to the contract be read to them, before signing/agreeing to it.

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LWilliams83
, US
Jan 18, 2011 11:36 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

And Dex Guy, how is it that you can supposedly accept a contract agreement by word over the phone but not end one? Protecting the customers? You guys make me sick to my stomach.

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LWilliams83
, US
Jan 18, 2011 10:17 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Dex contacted our small business months ago about advertisement and after several phone calls and e-mails, we decided not to do it. Haven't heard a lot of good about them. They called last week for our address to give us some "information" about their company and ads. Today, I pulled a bill from them out of my mailbox for 2 months worth of advertising! We had no idea! We called and they said there was a verbal agreement. Biggest load of bull I've heard in a long time. There never was any sort of agreement. And they had the wrong mailing address in a DIFFERENT state. On top of the wrong ss # and mother's maiden name which I guess they use to verify. So, the employee who we supposedly gave verbal permission to just made everything up. They said it's up to us to prove we didn't enter into it and ask for a copy of my birth certificate. Hahaha. Yeah right. I told them I wanted visual proof because it's their burden to prove. All they had was 2 "acknowledgment" letters? No idea what that is or what it proves but we never received them b/c they made up our address! Bunch of liars. I told them I wouldn't stop until it was resolved and also filed a complaint with the BBB. I won't let them get away with this FRAUD that they are committing. What an illegal company.

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xvespamarkx
Iowa City, US
Dec 28, 2010 11:55 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My business is going through the same thing. They sent me a letter asking if I wanted to renew. I did not, so I didn't send anything back. Just like magazine subscriptions and everything else you sign up for a year at a time. Now I am getting billed for another year, which is of course more expensive than last year. If I did sign a contract how ever many years ago that said they could pull this stuff, it must have been in some pretty fine print and definitely not explained to me by the salesman. I already filed a complaint with my state attorney general and have been spreading the word to every business owner I know.

And to Dex Guy: You claim that they are doing this to "protect the customers". Sounds like how the banks claim to be protecting customers when they let you withdraw money from your account when you don't have enough, then charge you $35 for the privilege. You would be protecting the customers if you included the following wording on the bills, "If you want to cancel your contract, you need to contact us in writing. Failure to respond will be interpreted as a renewal request." But you don't because you don't care. This is your business practice because some suit in some office crunched the numbers and found that this would make x amount of extra dollars, and it would cost x amount of dollars to fight the lawsuits, and the bottom line is they would come out on top. Money over people. Just like the YellowBook guys that I was fighting with last year over the same garbage and eventually won. All national advertising firms I have dealt with are scam artists, obsessed with fine print and sneaky tactics. No one cares about people anymore, just dollar signs.

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fisherdank
, US
Oct 23, 2010 5:58 pm EDT
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they called and told me if i dont get back to them befor such and such date that i would miss the deadline, i assumed that by not responding that i would not be placed in the phone book! now they want 3000 bucks and i didnt wana be in there!

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fitright
, US
Oct 08, 2010 5:16 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have had the same problem with Dex Media auto-renewing a contract that I had asked to be canceled. So after many fustrating phone calls including one that said no one could help me because they were all in a customer service seminar for the day, what a joke, they agreed that I did have an email that I had to send to them again saying I did not want to renew my contract. So I thought this would take care of it. Oh no, now they are calling me everyday saying I owe them a different amount of money everytime. I have asked repeatedly to get copies of all of my bills to see what adjustments were made to correct the issue of auto-renewing. Of course they say they have been mailing them to me, but I have not seen one come in the mail for at least six months. I have asked to get copies of them emailed to me, but of course no one in that department is able to take care of that for me. I signed up to get my bills online a long time before I had this problem with Dex Media, but for some mysterious reason as soon as I was having this auto-renewal issue I was locked out of my online access to my bills. I have submitted a complaint to the Attorney General's office in my state, but of course Dex Media would not respond to my complaint. I am very interested in any kind of legal action that would affect Dex Media. I can not believe how hard small business owners have to work only to be taken advantage of by big business who think they are above the law.

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Tony_Fellis
Port Orchard, US
Sep 07, 2010 12:42 pm EDT

Dex asked if they could do auto pay from my bank account for the monthly payments.
They Dex then took over $1600.00 out of my account without my permission. I did say they could take out the monthly billing not the entire amount!
This caused me to bounce many checks even checks the to local government.
What a mess and fee's not to mention the time i spent trying to get it straight.
Dex said they would refund, send by overnite but never did a thing.
I called over twenty times and told them to cancle my ad.
I got my bank to take back the money after over 90 days.
They refuse to pay any costs incurred by me and now sent to collections. I would love to join a law suit! They are crooks.

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sman840
Boulder, US
Aug 11, 2010 11:24 pm EDT

Dex sucks - if they [censor] with you call your state's attorney general for fraud and a violation of your state's fair business practices act or consumer protection act - AND, DO NOT ADVERTISE WITH THIS PIECE-OF-[censor] COMPANY

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amt123
denver, US
Mar 13, 2010 11:25 pm EST

DO NOT AD WITH DEX ! SMALL BUSINESSES BEWARE! These people are full of it!. I had these A-holes fax me a copy of my agreement to auto renew- they faxed me a page with my signature and 2 additional pages of agreement (Which up to this point I had never seen)- that do state auto renew- LOSERS! I was never given a copy of "page-2" and "page-3". UNFORTUNATELY, I have learned the hard way that you can never trust some companies to be forthright about a deal or agreement. I will send out the written/notorized/delivery confirmation requests for cancellation . And hope for the best. DO NOTY TRUST THIS COMPANY. I have paid for an advertisement that I never intended on renewing - NOT BECAUSE I DIDNT SEE THE FINE PRINT, BUT BECAUSE THE CONTRACT I SIGNED "PAGE ONE" LOCKED ME INTO ALL THREE PAGES- ABSOLUTE ###!

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VarReseller
Mesa, US
Dec 18, 2009 11:50 pm EST

Dex is still trying the same shoddy sales tactics in late December 2009 as well. We also had a paid ad for one year, they called and tried to sign us up for another year, we said "No Thanks" since our business was down and very few calls had actually come in from our Dex ad during the previous 12 months (we always asked how the customer found us).

Dex claimed that we would have to fill out more paperwork to stop the automatic yearly re-billing of our ad even though we had already told them "No Thanks" on several occasions (when they called wanting to re-do our ad from the previous year). They promised to send over the paperwork they claimed they needed to cancel their so-called "automatic yearly ad re-bill" but never did.

Now they are trying to claim that after several months of telling them "No Thanks" we called them and changed our minds (we never called them and certainly didn't change our mind about not renewing any advertising with them) and want $1, 000 for an ad we never authorized.

They also claim that they have "notes" in their file authorizing the ad placement, yet can't produce a single authorization, or a purchase order, or a tape of the conversation where we authorized any re-run of our original ad.

Dex has become a scam of the worst kind. Small businesses are much better off advertising their wares or services using Google or other search engines.

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Isabel2009
Denver, US
Nov 25, 2009 1:04 pm EST

I believe there would be because as you said... there is not such 10 pages contract that they say and if all the people get together and sign off their complaints and we all go the Supreme Court to bring business ethics and how the contract should be reviewed and go over to the flaws that the consumers and the customers go through... Do you understand what I mean, As a constitutional law student, I am working on it...

I will make a big case out of this... because I would like to figure out where they are getting this comfort to screw people around like there will be no justice ever...

Every criminals gets caught up eventually, RIGHT?

LET' GET TOGETHER FRIENDS, IF WE GONE THROUGH SUCH EXPERIENCES, IT IS OUR JOB TO PREVENT THIS FOR THE FUTURE AND NOT TO REPEAT ITSELF AGAIN...

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Isabel2009
Denver, US
Nov 24, 2009 12:38 am EST

Yes, my friend, I am preparing a LAW-SUIT THAT PREPARED AS GOOD AS IT STATES HOW UNETHICAL DEX-MEDIA WORKS, and I am trying to put people to get together who is ready to stop Dex Media's endless comfort and believe that they will never be nailed down and they can go as far as it can! just because they think they can do it...

They are forgetting that people are online every day to figure out to put their add way cheaper than what Dex Media is offering... That's why they are resigning people who do not renew their adds but Dex Media does it anyway and bill them easily and report them in the collection agents.

I am not only going to be bringing this to peoples attention who can support me with my law-suit action, I will also be bringing the attention to collection agencies, and the SUPREME COURT, because only through SUPREME COURT, every single aspects of advertising can be re-observed and flaws and incentives can be reviewed, so you can write me back if you like with your supports and concerns about this to me at: canim_kizim2002@yahoo.com.

thanks

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homeimprovementwhores.com
Portland, OR, US
Oct 07, 2009 10:52 pm EDT

Just laugh at them when they (the collection agencies) call. I have been charging them $150.00 per call. Make up your own silly bill and rules as to why they owe you forever and send them a bill. Have fun with it.

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Dex hater
, US
Oct 02, 2009 7:11 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My company was billed by Dex for a ad that was not placed by anyone here. They claim they have a voice recording but when you ask them to play it they cant find it. They also intalled my company ad that we did not place into a catagory that has nothing to do with the products we sell. and yet they expect me to pay for this ad? Dex is one of the largest conartists out there. We have Embarq as a phone provider who said our phone book ads are to be free. Dex is their phone book provider so how can they charge me even if there is an ad. Which we did not, will not, and never have done any advertising. We do not want to be in the phonebook as we are not open to the public. So tell me again Dex why do I owe you anything for a ad I did not place, do not want, and wasnt in the correct catagory?
I think someone in our government needs to take down this corrupt company. Dex is a thief.

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PaulI
Olympia, US
Sep 28, 2009 7:04 pm EDT

Dex has done this also to me. I sent in notice of cancelation they say they never got it. Next thing I know I am getting a bill in the mail to pay. Then I call to dispute this and Tena from Dex tells me they have already ruled that I am at fault. I replied that I would like to talk to a manager and she refused to let me. Then i asked about abritration and she said she is the final decission, I commentented that she can't as the abritrator a third party needs to do that. My response from Tena was they have final say. I would like to hear if a class action lawsuit is in the works.