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Like most people, I can be susceptible to the hard-sell. That's how I got involved in ATT Advertising. I had a free Yellow Pages listing on http://www.yellowpages.com/, and got a call on that fateful afternoon, about 6 months ago. When the salesman told me that I could expect a 70% conversion, I immediatley knew that he was full of it, or didn't know what he was talking about. I had been considering an ad in the printed Yellow Pages, and I guess that was what ultimately lead to my descision. That and some very relentless telemarketing chops. I did insist on the six month contract, even though I could have had a whopping $2/month discount by going for the 12 month contract. About a month later I got a call from a gentleman who said he was getting phone calls from people looking for my business. We had similar phone numbers, and someone had obviously made a typo. He was, however, unable to get AT&T advertising to make the correction. I called, and after some very confused and confusing conversations, things got straightened out. Six months, and no additional business later, I called the AT&T Advertising phone number I had been given, to cancel my listing. All I got was a message telling me that the voicemail box was full and that I should call back later. Big red flag, but things weren't as bad as they seemed. I did have another number for billing, and calling that number got me a real person. As I had expected, the records showed I had signed up for the 12 month contract. Luckily they couldn't find the recording of the original conversation to prove I had signed up for 12 months, and they gave me the benefit of the doubt. For the final cancellation, I was transferred to another salesperson, who tried to talk me into signing up again. When it was apparent that I knew something about Internet advertising and promotion, she gave up and cancelled my account. AT&T Internet advertising is obviously geared towards small business people who don't know much about Internet promotion, but know the AT&T Yellow Pages name. I could talk about ethics, but the bottom line is that their service is not worth the money. Look into Google Adwords or Microsoft Ad Center for a better dollar value.
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