A BARRHEAD businesswoman has slammed a national marketing company after claiming it left her thousands of pounds out of pocket, with zero return for her money.

Language tutor Lynne Wilson spent almost £2,000 with Yell.com in the hope it would generate extra clients – but she did not receive a single enquiry.

Her complaint is being supported by East Renfrewshire MP Kirsten Oswald, who has raised her case at the UK Parliament through an Early Day Motion which called on trading standards officers across the UK to work together to progress complaints against the firm.

Lynne, who teaches French and German, told the Barrhead News: “I have suffered a significant loss because of this company’s practices, which have resulted in me being locked into a long-term contract that delivers no benefits.”

While looking into the way the company operates, Lynne found a Facebook page called ‘I Hate Yell.com’ where thousands of other people had raised similar complaints.

She added: “Something needs to be done to help the thousands of self-employed people and small businesses across the UK who are losing out at the hands of this company.”

Ms Oswald said a report by Danny Richman, one of the ‘I Hate Yell’ administrators, highlights major worries about the company’s sales practices and claims made by its representatives in order to gain new customers.

The report also details the findings of a survey of 2,400 Yell customers, with almost all of those who took part reporting that they received few or no customer enquiries as a result of using the service.

Ms Oswald said: “When Lynne approached me, I was struck by the obvious injustice in the way she had been treated by Yell.com.

“This company is living off the well-established reputation of Yellow Pages as a source of information about local businesses. Unfortunately, it is not living up to that reputation.

“Lynne’s experience demands answers from the company.”

However, Yell has defended the way it operates.

A spokesperson told the Barrhead News the company had investigated Lynne’s allegations but did not accept them.

“Ms Oswald’s Early Day Motion calls for Yell to co-operate with Trading Standards,” said the spokesperson. “We have pointed out to Ms Oswald that we were already doing this.”