Yell.com customer websites - awfull

qw3rt7

Ok, so i have a client with a small local business, who has a website with me.
They also advertise with yell.com and have through some misunderstanding been given a yell.com generated website (with its own .co.uk domain, NOT just a page on yell.com). I say given, because they were billed for it, then complained they had never asked for it in the 1st place, and got refunded.

However, when searching for the company name, the 'new' website is in the search results, some way down the page under the correct website, but visible none the less.

Its absolute rubbish, with poor grammar and a nonsense home page that appears to be based on a completely different service, but with the correct company details!
To be honest it looks like a spammy 'made for adsense' type site, minus the adverts!

The phone number supplied is also some kind of redirect (presumably for tracking) that unfortunately redirects to the clients home number, so would not get answered!

Now I have told my client to ask Yell in no uncertain terms to either delete the dam thing or redirect it to the correct website, but i think he should really be entitled to some form of compensation (i hate saying that, im not some money grabber honest!) as he could have easily lost customers who called and didnt get a reply, plus just being associated with this rubbish is in some way damaging.

Has anyone else had experience with yell.com websites?

Edit. Worth mentioning that the new domain name contains his company name, but is registered to yell.com ltd, so the whole practice is pretty unethical.

brandguru

Realise this post is almost a couple of weeks ago but there have been no replies. I too have seen many poor looking websites, and will soon be launching my own local business advertising packages which are more informative, attractive and benefical.

I would suggest asking Yell to transfer the domain to you/your client via Nominet (www.nominet.org.uk) as soon as possible, stating the fact that you would be seeking compensation if it is not done. This will change the legal ownership of the domain name and you can then edit the DNS settings so it no longer points to the old website, and redirect it yourself to the correct one (this will swiftly remove it from Google).

Failing this, you can submit a DRS case (Dispute Resolution Service) free of charge against Yell using Nominet's online service at the link below which will go into mediation. From what I remember, Yell will have a couple of weeks to respond, and if they don't respond then it is (again, as far as I remember) £200 to obtain a summary decision from an independent expert.

http://www.nominet.org.uk/disputes/drs/help/

As the domain name contains your client's company name, it should not be difficult to prove the fact that it was registered in 'bad faith' and it will be handed over. You could then always pursue to claim this £200 back.

Hope this helps, good luck.