Yodle

I signed up for Yodle last year, for a 1 year contract. (wish I could've exited sooner but was LOCKED in) I had high hopes for Yodle. After they took my money and got everything set up (adversite, dashboard, etc)... I never heard from them again unless I had a problem. I needed to call them and always spoke with different people every time and they were always "Script reading", like talking to a robot. No one knew what the hell was going on. The things they promised never happened. I mostly received "Leads" from other marketing companies selling ads, seo services, website services, wrong numbers, etc. The ADVERSITE they make for you is a generic template they plug in and the design is terrible. They cram in as many keywords as possible and don't connect with human beings trying to find out what your company is about. Trying to have changes to your adversite is annoying and must be done by them (takes several days and they usually don't get it right). They provide SEO for THEIR website url. If you ever discontinue service, everything is LOST. They will not actually help YOUR website if you have one. The review process they use is generic and carries little weight. They list you on over 50 directories which are FREE and you can list yourself on most of them for $0. I even signed up to try their adwords placement. Budgeting $300-$500 per month. I never knew how this money was spent. It would just disappear every month. I wish i had spent 30 minutes learning how to do it myself on google. I did receive a FEW leads, so this was not a complete loss, but seemed completely misleading from all those wonderful video testimonies you see on their website. YEAH RIGHT.

If you are an "Old timer" and know nothing about the internet and have NO website or internet presence going on, Yodle might be great for you. They really simplify stuff, put things in one place, and can provide you with a BASIC online presence, which you will over pay for.

However, there are TONS of better, FREE options available for people who are willing to learn.

Like many others on this site, my experience with Yodle began and ended with the initial sales call. The salesman (Mark Lee) had initially contacted me about growing a part of my business that is barely relevant to my business model (photography). I offer it as some clients using my main services (academic editing and ghostwriting) need access to professional quality photography for publications. I do occasionally shoot a wedding or event but it is not even a service that I really advertise (even on my website). Mark was belligerent and unyielding, not able to help me understand how Yodle could integrate their services into the larger scheme of my business. Every time I tried to move the focus to the larger picture (business integration) he returned to the photography only. During one of the interminable videos (seemingly staffed by paid shills) he discovered that Yodle could not really help me with the larger integration aspect of my advertising interest. Yodle does not have a category for academic editors, ghostwriters, and trade editors.

I was actually still interested in trying their service, even though they did not seem to be able to improve the integration elements between various aspects of my services, as a slight growth in the photography aspect would get me out of the office more often, until Mark simply began scheduling me for the next step before I had agreed to use their services. I do not do business with a company that is trying to get my credit card information before I have agreed to their services.

The salesman (Mark Lee) was uninterested in helping me understand the actual advantage that their business would give me, and every time I asked specific questions related to online services that my primary business simply would not use, he redirected to the photography element. He was not willing or able to address my concerns or my uncertainties.

This company is probably okay if you are primarily trying to get local clients and do not offer white-collar type professional services. I would stay away from them.

I had never heard of Yodle & decided to listen to learn what it was about. I spent half my afternoon on a couple different calls with a sales person. I had a client I needed to take care of, and the sales person did not want to let me off the phone to take care of business, as he "had to finish this now!" I told him I couldn't talk right then and he finally agreed to call me back (lesson learned, I should have just ended the conversation there!) He called back, that call lasted way over an hour. Finally when we get down to the price, I realized there was no way my small business would be able to do anything at this time. He then came down on price, still too high. I told him there was no way I was making a decision of that type of expense right then & there without weighing the costs & thinking about it. I was basically told I had to do it right then. Pressure sales turn me off & I told him so. He then went on to basically insult me, my business website (which I told him we are working on redeveloping it), asked why I thought I was listening to the sales presentation if I didn't intend to sign up. He predicted "my business will be the same in a year, I'll be doing the same thing, and after listening to a few more presentations from other companies, would do nothing different". He knows nothing about me, my business, or how I make decisions! His methods were ridiculous... I felt like I was dealing with a juvenile who wasn't getting his way! After the frustration of being kept on the phone so long when I had business to take care of, and the way he treated me at the end of the call, I would not recommend taking any time to listen to a presentation! Very rude!

I'm going to write a honest review about this company. When I signed up I signed with Outrank in Austin Texas come to find out they for reasons unknown sold out to Yodle. When I was with Outrank they were outstanding just great excellent and amazing customer service I miss Chuck and Elizabeth, Brian, Brandon these people put me on they map helped me become successful. Then came Yodle its been a nightmare on Elm street since our business just went down from there for a while they did OK when they had young people and young minds. Nothing against elderly people but some jobs the elderly shouldn't do ladies and gentleman! When I am elderly let me work at Walmart I'm good with that. We were paying 2000. 00 a month for ads come to find out THEY WEREN'T EVEN RUNNING THEM! They lied about our SEO come to find out they don't even specialize in search Engine optimization at all. They are a ads based company. WE ALMOST LOST OUR BUSINESS OUR EMPLOYEES QUIT BECAUSE WE COULDN'T PAY THEM all because Yodle failed us miserably. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY AT ALL PERIOD!

Yesterday I posted a review about my experience with Yodle. It was titled "Give them a rating of minus 5". I received a reply from a Yodle rep that said blah blah blah we have a lot of happy customers. Here' my reply:
Jessica,
Because I read many reviews of Yodle before I posted my review I knew I would be hearing from you. Looks like you have a full time job answering poor reviews. It also appears you copy and paste most of your replies that you have made to other reviews. My review was just telling my experience. I agreed to a 3 month start up and that is my fault for not digging deeper on Yodle. However this week my AMEX was charged almost $1,800. I have called the *******321 phone number twice this week to discuss the charge and I have talked to two different people that said someone would be contacting me. I have yet to be contacted by anyone from Yodle about this charge. I do not want this service any longer. I can not handle the stupid phone calls I receive. During my first month I called Yodle and spoke to a John Gauntt to let that department know my Yodle account is giving me calls from people not even close to the home building industry. John said they would change the filter. It never got better but I checked my leads anyway. After about a few weeks I gave up and never checked again. I never received a lead or phone call that would have anything to increase my business. If you say you have happy customers that's great for Yodle. However, I will never recommend Yodle's services. I will also do everything I can to post my review to other sites to let other people know how Yodle's service was for me. I also will share with all the members of the Houston Builders Association and the National Builders Association my experience with the Yodle product. I also filed a complaint to the New York Better Business Bureau. Looks like I'm not the first to file a complaint about Yodle with this BBB. Could you cancel the charge to my AMEX or have someone call me back?

I had to tell the salesman, "No" at least 20 times and I couldn't get off the phone. I should have been rude, because after my first, No, the rep continued to badger me and tell me how bad I will be and that I will fail. $249/month is a bit steep. Claiming the pricing of others in which he claimed he knew his competition and how much they charged, well I looked online just for fun, he was way wrong. He inflated the numbers (shocker) to say how great his price was. He was going to waive the $495 setup fee. I told him No still and he "spoke to a manager" and could now offer $199/month. You would have to agree to a 6 month term, in which I told him to spend $1200 for a service I wasn't sure of, the results, Yodle name, but I should have just been rude back to the rep and hung up on him. He continued and continued, instead of a quick call, it was 45 mins. He wouldn't take no for a n answer, he tried to hard close me. Assume the close. YOU NEED BETTER BUSINESS PRACTICES! I AM SO GLAD I SAID NO. BECAUSE YOU'RE A COMPANY TO MAKE THE SALE, ONCE I SIGN, YOU OFFER NO SERVICE OR DISAPPEAR AND IM LEFT HIGH AND DRY. I WOULD BE STUCK TO A $1200 SERVICE FOR NOTHING.
NO THANK YOU!

After the salesman explained to me how the system works I said wait a minute I don't want to generate phone calls I run a web based business. There's no need to call me, I don't want phone calls, I want everything to be handled through the web and email. He said no problem that's something you can discuss with your marketing supervisor (LIE #1). We can design our website to go through yours. The marketing supervisor said we can't do that. I explained that the salesman assured me it could be done and that if it can't I'd need a refund. He said a manager would contact me within 24 hours (LIE #2). No one called. I called back and was told a manager would call me but hadn't. They said oh your account is still being reviewed but that a manager would contact me. I said when, he said within 24 hours (LIE #3). A day later I called back and said I was told a manager would call me and I hadn't received a call. She said oh the manager that was supposed to call you was out sick but someone will call you. I ask for the third time when would I be called by a manager, she said I don't know. My opinion is that the salesmen are paid on commission and will tell you anything to get you to sign up. Then you're thrown to the marketing guys. They're nice but don't like it anymore than anyone else so they throw you to the managers, who have zero accountability and don't have to do anything. I'm guessing management is the best spot at this business. If you have a web based business and you want to keep it that way, their service is worthless. Mom and Pop businesses or businesses that are dumb enough to use Groupon would likely benefit from using these liers.

Much better than any other time speaking with many differnt people wasable to understand him would like to speake with him again in the future

Aside from trying to call billing dept a few times and no answer, (finally answered) yodle has been exactly what weve been looking for. However we are new to the system and still have a ways to go until were fully integrated and able to utilize all of yodles tools.

My experience thus far has been, Yodle has friendly reps that are genuinely interested in making sure your business is doing well with there system.

There website is extremely user friendly, and easy to navigate. The marketing tools that they are creating for business to utilize i believe are 2nd to none. Ie email marketing tools, and the customer management tools, i especially like.

I look forward to getting fully integrated with there system very soon, and hope to have many years of success with yodle.

*One other side note is that we recognized how important a company like yodle is from the beginning esp to a small business like ours because of the simple fact that they will make it very easy for us to transition from a basic online presence, and a basic customer marketing / management system to a much more modern and streamlined system by enhancing who we are all together.

Also liked the fact that they didnt make false promises and tell us we shd expect results the same week or nxt day type of scenario. It was a building process that would take time but once were fullh integrated we could really expect good results.

*We also refered 1 fellow cleaner to yodle as well.

Thanks yodle keep up the good work!

Hydrasteam