Being a small business owner and locksmith, I rely on local people and business to support my business. Many of them use the Internet to find local businesses to use. So when I decided to look into paid advertising on Yahoo! Local, I was pleased to see an "Enhanced" listing is only $9.95 per month, which certainly seems reasonable. While I waited the customary one week before my listing was published (I figured they were checking addresses, phone numbers, etc for accuracy to prevent spammers) I decided to browse the listings again.
WOW. What did I find? I found two different locksmiths at the same address! I saw locksmiths using addresses that belonged to Pizza Hut, Churches, a Dentist and even more. Then it hit me. The locksmith industry is plagued by scammers with little or no skill that charge HUGE, ridiculous fees. And now they OWN Yahoo! Local. They claim 1000's of addresses all over a metro area, making it APPEAR LIKE THEY ARE VERY CLOSE TO YOU and will be able to service you quickly, however, they often take an hour or more to respond despite promises to the contrary. With all the FALSE INFORMATION in YAHOO! LOCAL, finding an actual LOCAL business is like finding a needle in a haystack! They should call it Yahoo! Spam.
I am not sure what Yahoo! does for one week, I typed all the information in, but they apparently DO NOT CONFIRM THE ACCURACY OF ANY OF THE DATA! So when you go search Yahoo! Local, don't be surprised when your town of 10,000 appears to have 1000 locksmiths! Yahoo! Local is steering YOU right into the arms of the SCAMMERS!
These scammers have been caught charging $250+ to open a car door! These scammers are good at computers, websites and getting their listings on the top, but they will MAKE YOU PAY! Here is a recent case handled by the State Attorney General - Basad Gets Fined! And the schoolchildren danced!
This is where Google and Bing! do much better for their searchers. They send a card to the address with a secret code. To get a listing with that address, you need to enter the code, proving you at least got mail at that address. At least you have a fighting chance to find a good locksmith.
Yahoo! has been in steady decline since the early 2000's and they seem to do little to regain the TRUST of their searchers/customers. So feel free to list any bogus business you would like on Yahoo! Somebody is gonna get hurt over Yahoo!'s negligence, their complicity will eventually end them up in court.
