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C.R. Hall, owner of Hall's Culligan Water Conditioning in Wichita, says he can't believe it.
SBC Communications Inc. delayed publishing a new phone book and charged him for an extra month of having his ad in the yellow pages of the old phone book.
He says he's not planning to pay the bill.
"I just can't imagine where they have the right or ability to get someone to pay more than what they contracted for," Hall says. "They're acting like it's our responsibility if they can't get the new book out."
'Common practice'
Hall says he discovered the extra charges when he received his monthly bill for yellow page advertising from TMP Worldwide, a New York-based company that handles yellow page and other advertising for Hall and Culligan Water franchise owners across the nation. The extra charges amounted to $957.60, or an additional one-twelfth of Hall's annual yellow pages expenditures, for advertising in the Southwestern Bell 2001-2002 phone book.
Company officials at Southwestern Bell say such extensions are not uncommon.
"We extended the book to 13 months to better get in line with our printing," says Glenn Watson, general manager of Southwestern Bell yellow pages in Wichita. "We have over 800 books in 13 states,...