USDirectory.com is a scam.
I went to a local business owner (business initials “K.C”) and she almost got scammed by a company that promised to put her company on the internet, get listed with various search engines and create a web site for her.
US Directory says that they’ll “put you in Directory Internet Yellow Pages, Superpages, Switchboard, MSN, and Area Guides.” and “Create a Promo website”. It’s a scam. First, there is no such thing as “Directory Internet Yellow Pages” or “Area Guides”. Yes, they capitalized them in their letter to her.
The business owner had signed up for their services about 90 days prior to my visit. I went online and checked to see if her rank on various websites had been increased. Nothing. Nada. Niet. Nuffum. The search for USDirectory’s footprint was made easier because they misspelled her company’s name in the letter. While it’s true that she got a listing on USDirectory.com’s website with a little heart next to her company’s name, (spelled incorrectly), there was no sign of her company anywhere else on the internet.
The Dallas, TX Better Business Bureau has an alert about USDirectory.com, saying it’s a scam
http://www.dallas.bbb.org/news_20061115a.html
————————————————–
Phony Directory Callers Targeting Businesses
Watch out for this scheme against business. The BBB in Fresno reports that businesses there have been receiving calls from USdirectory.com, also known as Directory Billing LLC. The callers say they would like to verify the business’ address and phone number for the Yellow Pages. Then the business receives a notice that their service is activated as a “Preferred Merchant of Directory Billing Internet Yellow Pages,” at a cost of $49.95 a month, bill through the local phone company. The company is based in Boca Raton, FL, and the BBB in West Palm Beach reports USdirectory.com has an unsatisfactory record due to unanswered complaints and a pattern of responding slowly to complaints.
————————————————–
They had a 90 day money back guarantee that amazingly, they honored when she called and canceled her service.
January 10th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Please contact me about this scam as soon as possible. Thank you.
January 11th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I sent an email to Cowboy. They wrote back something like “Oh, never mind, you’re right.”
February 29th, 2008 at 8:29 am
you are a retard.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:03 am
Lee
Keep up the good work
When you hit a nerve scammers will get upset. I have been called much worst than a retard, but such replies confirm that you are
doing much good.
Your servant
Frank Thomas
Modesto, Ca.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Solid legal proof that USDirectory.com is a scam:
March 10th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I hope this page has helped protect at least a few people. I’m happy to note that this post shows up on the first page of a Google search looking for “USDirectory.com”
May 26th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Yep. I was just scammed by USDirectory.com too. I signed up my business website with them as they claimed all you have mentioned above: “put you in Directory Internet Yellow Pages, Superpages, Switchboard, MSN, and Area Guides.” + Yahoo! for $29.95/mo. I thought this was a great deal because my business was new and I had not yet signed up with all the major search engines yet and didn’t know when I would have time to do this myself. After I was listed, I found that you had to put in the EXACT name of my business for it to appear, and it would only appear on Yahoo! over on the far left side of the page. Basically, it was worthless. When I called to cancell my subscription, they indeed cancelled it but only after charging me for another month. I told them that I didn’t want to pay for something I would not receive so either keep me on the books until my subscription runs out or give me my money back. They would do neither. Onto the Washington State Attorney General and any local news outlets that will listen.
May 28th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I think US Directory is a cool service if you know how to use it, if you want to really expose your business, just use the websites that they give you
May 28th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
“Someone”, since it’s already been shown legally that USDirectory.com is a scam, you will have to offer a little evidence to convince anyone they are not a scam.
Please do tell.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:59 am
What other evidence do you want?? take a look at the people that DO USE the service, they take the time to place pictures and to place coupons, it’s worthy, what happens is that people are ignorant that the categories that they place in are for easy search but people are not that patient to customize it or anything.
Stop critizising the service, just because you didn’t like it doesn’t mean that you have to make other people think the same way you do.
And I haven’t heard not even in the news that this service is LEGALLY a scam.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Someone,
>take a look at the people that DO USE the service
I haven’t found any happy customers yet. If you have, please mention them here.
>I haven’t heard not even in the news that this service is LEGALLY a scam.
Read comment #5 above. You will find proof from the Pennsylvania Attorney General that this service is LEGALLY a scam.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:39 am
What do you know have you called each and every single person that has the service, if you have, get yourself a girlfriend!!!
And that legal statement could be as fake as you.
Any payed attorney could have done that for you and you just placed it there, that’s not a proof to me.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Someone writes:
>Any payed attorney could have done that for you and you just placed it
>there, that’s not a proof to me.
Umm. Follow the links. And get a job where you aren’t trying to scam people.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:32 am
The Idaho BBB (Better Business Bureau) writes on their website about USDirectory.com…
June 4th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Why don’t you get a better job, besides I’m not a telemarketer but my sister is and I know how hard she works.
And besides, if I ever find a job I bet it will be better than yours cuz I hope I won’t spend a lot of my time hanging on the internet instead of getting myself a date Mr. Montgomery Burns!!!!!
June 4th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Ah, so your sister works for USDirectory. You might suggest to your sister that she get a job where she isn’t trying to scam people.
I will let the rest of your comment stand as it’s own testament.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
STUPID ASS!!!
June 4th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Heh.
June 10th, 2008 at 7:29 am
I work for USdirectory.com and have done so since early 2006. What was at issue with the AG offices related to a direct mail campaign that used a $3.25 check sent o business owners, along with propmotional material, allow customers to sign up for the service in this fashion. This was one of many marketing channels used for the service and the company in 2004, before using this channel, researched this to make sure this was FTC compliant and the offer was worded that way. We examined various Bank of America and Citibank offers and worded ours similarly. The AG did not say this was illegal, nor a scam, nor have they done much to the major banks with the same offer. Regardless - this offer was discontinued in early 2006 as it was minimal, less than 1/10 of 1/10th a percent in effectiveness.
Since 2005 USDirectory.com has done a great deal to offer a highly effective and value conscious flat fee Internet Yellow Page product with a PayPerClick component on competitive websites. For one of 2 price points, our custoemrs, and yes there are many, and all have an initial 90 day money back refund policy, where we spend part of the budget on Superpages, Switchboard, and Google and Yahoo for a link for their 5 page mini-site or enhanced profile , or their heading in their city to bring traffic to their sites. Each and every custoemr is sent a welcome kit with log on information where the customer can activate the mini-site, add keywords to help find their business in our search engine, and pick up to 6 categories or headings for their businesses.
Without even adding the PPC component - this offer is one of the most, if not the most, competitively priced offers for a local search product. Our monthly uniques are well into the 7 figures, each custoemr can login to their account and see their traffic, and we work with our competitors to offer a great product.
Certainly, no one wants to have issues with the AG, and when you look at the cost of fighting a case where you have letters of opinion as well as FTC rulings on your side, but would have legal bills larger than the settlement offered, you have to make a business decision. Again, this was a fine on a marketing channel that was stopped in the beginning of 2006 because so many customers refused the offer.
BBB complaints need to be receieved to respond. We have a great many customers, and yes, a few did complain. Most of the complaints to the BBB were from people that were not customers, but did not like the check mailer.We have tried to do right by the custoemr since we created this product. We have made mistakes along the way as does any business, ours was a national business, so we have made national mistakes, but we have adjusted, and as achild grows, so have we with this business. I would enourage any of you to activate an account and try the service. There is a 90 day cancellation and full refund policy. If we don’t deliver the value and more, please call us and let us know. Our number is on the website and we offer 24/7 customer service.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Customer Service Manager,
I suppose in my initial post I conflated 2 issues. The first is that my customer had paid to register themselves on USDirectory.com with your “Directory Internet Yellow Pages” and “Area Guides” etc. This registration seemed completely ineffective. See my original post above. The second issue was with the activation checks. Yes, they are different issues but the two together paint a picture.
If you can address that first issue, you’d be doing well. The issue is that a customer that paid for your service didn’t get any additional telephone calls or internet presence that I could find. If you like, I can tell you the initials of the business “K.C.” offline and we can go from there. You can reach me directly at Lee at Lee dat org.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Have any of you asked if this is search submission or local search submission… If it is local search submission you are all screaming at usdirectory.com for nothing. Oh, and there are only a couple of companies in the US that do local search submission, and most yellow pages companies use them. It takes roughly 15 - 30 days for local.google.com and all the other local directories to suck the information over to update their directories. So you should do your due diligence before you jump all over this company for your ignorance of search and local search submission to the Internet. Stop thinking it is 1998 and start thinking like todays user.
June 16th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Jack, I performed “due diligence”. Please read my post and the followup comments and then comment. Can you tell me what “local search submission” is and how USDirectory might do it? I searched local.google.com and K.C. hadn’t been mentioned there after 90 days of subscribing to their “service”.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:57 am
Lee, U still have in ur mind that US directory is a scam??
July 21st, 2008 at 9:25 am
Montana, yes, it is obviously a scam. Did you read this post and the followups?
Feh, I am closing comments on this post. None of the supposed defenders of USDirectory.com from above have responded. It is pointless to repeatedly respond to, “Sure, their service is expensive and completely ineffective but do you -know- it is a scam?”.
Dear reader, if you are considering giving USDirectory.com money, I recommend you read this post and the followups first. You will find nothing good said about them here.