03/25/09 - a "Bernadette Klein" called for my doctor, Dr. Gale Cooney. Ms. Klein wanted me to "tell Dr. Cooney to call me, please at this number when he gets done with his current patient." Anyone who knows Dr. Cooney knows that SHE is a SHE, and not a "him". So i typed in number the woman left with me and voici! here i am - and they have called MANY TIMES in the past 2 days. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Had a call go directly to voicemail on my cell phone from Dakota Associates.  My cell # is listed in the yellow pages for my business, so I have my voicemail screen calls.  The lady who called was GLORIA BAILEY and she sounded very perky, but she did not state her business, so I used the internet to research this 800 number and here I sit reading all of this stuff.  Got to 800notes.com to get even more accounts of people who have delt with Dakota and Associates.  Needless to say, I won't bother calling her back now that  what's written indicates a "phone book cover advertising" scam.  How can people work for such businesses?  It confounds me...

just got the call, sounded to good to be true. my husband talked to him and said it didn't sound right. did a web search and found this. glad i did. thankyou for helping me avoid being scammed. gave me to 1-800-634-1353 to call back on.

I always see a red flag when you feel like you have to captalize your message!
That is like screaming at people in writing.
Second you didn't give your name so you porobably work for the Scammers!

LOL, Thats funny Chris. Because Diane actually had that line in our training class for D & D. It was a rebutle stating that "The phone book cover ads work just like little billboard ads. The more people see your ad, the better it works for you. Not everyone will say I saw your ad on a phone book cover, but that doesn't mean its not working. Its all about name recognition.....blah blah blah". Look, people, the deal is the phone book covers work. Period. It's a matter of getting people to use the covers. And even if the covers did not work, the radio, tv, or both WOULD. If you are unsure of whether they are really giving you the airtime, then ask to see the contract. I bet its signed by the GM/Director of the station. Your rep would be happy to show you this information for piece of mind. And since people still use the phone book because its easier than logging into your computer or spending $1.50 for 411 (1-800-goog-411 sucks!!!) it makes it relevant. But just watch who you do business with. Liz from Dakota and D & D are actually legit. But i worked for a company called Ad Pro and ADI and they were very shaky. Both by the way are now out of business. Happy Huntin my fellow vinyl slingers !!!

I would like to introduce my self my name is Chris Arnette an employee of Dakota and Associates, Inc. (Dakota) for the past five years and a former employee of D & D Advertising Enterprise (D & D) for the previous five years. Each company produces vinyl phone book covers all over the continental United States custom fitted for telephone directories in a number of cities (350 to 500) on an annual basis.

I?ve worked in this industry for ten years and was released from D & D shortly after they lost a lawsuit with Dakota for unfair business practices. The owner of Dakota (who is also a former employee of D & D) decided to open her own company, which is an individual right of citizens in the United States (free enterprise), and D & D tried using the court system to put Dakota out of business. It didn?t work Dakota won the judgment and a monetary compensation for their troubles.

Nepotism was the reason for my departure from D & D. One of the owners of D & D put their son in my position as compensation for being apart of the lawsuit. (he opened a satellite company for D & D called D&E Enterprises requiring him to quit his job at a local banking institute). D & D created me a position in the new art department giving me a set number of covers to layout (4 exclaiming that number would pay my salary) only to revise that number (6) a fifty percent increase at a later date. Stating, ?I would have to produce that number or they will have to let me go? after questioning their earlier statement of 4 covers paying my salary, they claimed they miscalculated (it took them 8 months to realize this). How do you give a loyal employee who never missed a day of work or never came in late and worked week ends when needed, an option like that. I took the later option.

I was then offered a job at Dakota a week later. I took the job. I?ve never missed a day of work here in the past five years either.

At Dakota and Associates, Inc my job is primarily the Marketing Coordinator. Basically, I set up our distribution with a local realtor for the cities we produce the vinyl phone book covers for.  I offer the realtor a free ad on our cover in exchange for the distribution. In some cities I trade with a local radio station or group of stations to promote our cover and to mention our advertisers company name in the promotion as a sponsor and / or a distribution point of the covers. In the cities in which we are unable to get a trade, we purchase some cable spots on one or more of the news stations (primarily but some times other networks as well) in which we have produced a thirty second commercial promoting our covers, while the voice over is describing our product the advertisers have their ad reproduced from the covers reformatted to fit 1/4th the screen in which they share with three of the other advertisers. Each group of four will be shown on the screen from five to ten seconds (which depends on the number of advertisers that are featured on the cover).

I was given this website by a client of Dakota who was given my home phone number by some one anonymously bashing (slandering) me. It?s a shame that some one can slander the company I work for and me with out saying who they are. My home address and phone number isn?t associated with Dakota. When I see information like this on the website. I can only assume that it is a former employee of Dakota. or a rival company slandering me. My personal information including my full name isn?t given with any correspondence associated with Dakota and Associates. Inc. this information would only be supplied by some one associated with me on a personal level (former employer or ex-coworker).

Every since I?ve worked in this industry the sales people float from company to company or produce the covers from their home (called Kitchen Covers in the industry). People leave the company for various reasons like any other profession. But most of them leave on bad terms. Most of the sales people I?ve worked with at both companies and some several times at each one. I guess the grass is only greener for a short time. Some people feel they were wronged by the company but like any company we have policies that people have to adhere to. Others are actively recruited by the competition. Most the time one doesn?t know that another has a grudge with them until that person finds an avenue like this website to harm them.

I would like to ad some perspective to put these complaints. We produce 350 to 500 covers every year (the economy being the determining factor). 25 to 30 advertisers take advantage of our promotion in every city. If you were to take the worst-case scenario of 350 covers produced in a year, there would be 8,750 clients a year. We probably only have 5% to 10% of the businesses we contact take advantage of the opportunity to be in our promotion. That?s an incredible amount of businesses we contact on a daily basis. We contact tens of thousands of businesses phone numbers every year. On this website you only have a handful of complaints associated with our phone number. While reading through the complaints I find that some of the content suspicious at best. Some of the complaints describe me as the sales person, which I am obviously not. I haven?t sold adverting in nearly eight years. It seems that some one from D & D is using this website and our phone number to discredit us and defend themselves.

Regarding the complaint associated with returned phone calls. We by nature are on the phone from the time we get to work and the time we leave. If you are trying to reach the person trying to reach you we often play phone tag with each other all day long. How is not reaching some one specifically be a scam? In no way do we associate ourselves with any phone book company we are an independent company producing a vinyl phone book covers (used as a service directory of sorts) which features businesses exclusively The only type of their kind (one realtor, one insurance agency, one home builder etc.) It?s passed out as a free item to the public. Like any type of advertising no one can guarantee we will get your company any extra business and most the time people won?t say I came in because they saw your name on the phone book covers. Like wise they probably wouldn?t say I saw your name on the park bench, billboard, and company vehicle either. Most the time people call you because they recognize your company name and most likely it?s because of all those thing you?ve done over the days, weeks, months and years that made your name recognizable through you effective or seemingly ineffective advertising program.

Thank you for the opportunity to set the record straight.

Chris Arnette
Marketing Coordinator
Dakota and Associates, Inc.

I've done business with this company for over 5 years now, and have no compliants.  I have actually seen my commercials on television, and was quite pleased.  The return on my investment into my company has been very rewarding. I will continue to do business with dakota and associates in the future.

12/30/09 Now I'm upset! They tried to deliver the Phone book covers to my place of Business.Unable to... So they came to my home ! My husband went to door, & excepted the envelope!! No returning mailing address , and they even had the you know what to put a big money sign next to the name of MY BUSINESS $!!!!!. All it says is "Dakota" I put a stop the money so I haven't paid them. I'm not going to open it up. I guess i will just play this out as long as I have to. I'm not paying for this SCAM!!

I also had a call from Cindy Davis 12/21/09. My fee was $199.00, Then reduced to $ 175.00. For being a new business. I was convinced to do it, she even new things I had recently done and the ad I had just purchased.I thought about it later  ,, and found this !! I felt so stupid for fallen for it ! Cindy Davis also called me the next day (12/22/09) twice,I put a stop on the $175.00 I know thats why she called.Not sure if I need to return the phone call and let her know I have caught on, or at least think it is a scam as of right now I'm just not answering the the calls. Oh I'm in Tn.

we are not a scam pleas give me a call here at
800 634 1353 ext 221 and tell me why we are a scam and i can show you any proof you need that we are a great company to help buisness.

TO ANYONE CONSIDERING DOING BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY: PLEASE VIEW THEIR BBB.ORG REPORT.  F, AS IN FAILURE TO DO WHAT THEY SAY. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM IN EVERY ASPECT OF THE WORD. PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS BUSINESS IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.

marketing company folks who cannot spell.  Makes one really confident about the services they are supposed to be purchasing.

(in reference to all the employees of this company)

i work at the company and i can honestly say we do everything we say we aregoing to do most people on this sights are deadbeats who just wants something for free or is are competion. so grow up pay your bills and if any one thinks they didnt get everthing they was supposed to please call me ill let you know the dates and times your ad was on tv because we keep are signed afadavits fron your local cable companys

william miller

Well these people are still up to their old games this year! They gave me same pitch, along with saying affiliate with yellowpages. When lady came by for check, it was only then did I find out NOT  with yellowpages. I gave lady reluctantly, but as soon as she left look this company up here and at bbb. At this point, I realized I had been scammed and immediately called bank and put stop payment on check. I then called each of the cable stations advertising along with charter cable (only cable company here at time) to verify and they said no. After this I notified everyone on the phone book cover trying to help prevent anyone who hadn't paid yet not too!!! I think in the end only 2 others had not paid. They did the same. 6 weeks later lady calls from this company saying that my nsf check would hault the bradcasting of ad. At that time I told her the check had been stopped, when I tried to verify, found out they were a scam. She then asks me to hold so she could provide a number with cable company they have contract with. I held for 15 mins and hung up. I haven't heard from her since.....THEY ARE TOTAL LYING THIEVES!!!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS BOGGUS COMPANY!!!!

She asked to speak to the owner of the co.--a dead giveaway that they don't know me, my name, or have any relationship with me. Female caller is a sales rep. from Dakota & Assoc., an advertising co. in Cincinnati, Ohio that 'dials for dollars' from prosepct lists. They sell vinyl phone book cover ads, etc.

Per the Better Business Bureau: This co. has failed to respond to 16 complaints filed against it. The BBB has ID'd a pattern of complaints. Consumers have stated that the co. uses hi-pressure sales tactics in their sales presentations. The customer is required to pay in advance for the ad but isn't entitled to see an ad proof, even when requested by the customer. Complaints have also stated that promised TV ads never aired.

Ms. Elizabeth Rogers, President
Dakota & Associates
1251 Kemper Meadow Drive, Suite 400
Cincinnati, Ohio 45240-1765
-OR-
8626 Winton Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45231

Email:dakotagraphics2@aol.com
Website: www.dakotaandassoc.com

Phones:
800-634-1353
513-728-4522
513-522-2013
513-728-4534

Had a call go directly to voicemail on my cell phone from Dakota Associates.  My cell # is listed in the yellow pages for my business, so I have my voicemail screen calls.  The lady who called was GLORIA BAILEY and she sounded very perky, but she did not state her business, so I used the internet to research this 800 number and here I sit reading all of this stuff.  Needless to say, I won't bother calling her back now that  what's written on here indicates a scam.  How can people work for such businesses?  It confounds me...

Got hung up once I said we were a corporation. They look to take adventure of small business.

Oh and the phony attempts at "happy customers" above are pathetic.

http://www.whois.net/whois/dakotaandassoc.com   You can't even see who owns their web site, why would you want to hide that info, no one else does this, you would only hide if you didn't want to be found

Had A Call from sales guy with phone covers, TV advertising etc pitch, tried to get my CC Number. I said no send me an invoice and I want to see the print proof so I may approve, was told the Denver rep would come to my office to collect check and have me approve proof. They have called me almost back to back for weeks wanting money for something I did not approve and with no contract. They mailed me about 5 covers, what a tacky low budget looking piece of junk. The guy threatend me (Don Davis) and told me to watch my Credit score plummet when he's done with me, Nasty piece of work !!!! Total scammers, I told him to go for it, can't wait to serve them for harrasment, just waiting for collections to call, I'm kind of excited

Wow. I wish I would have found this information a year ago. I did the covers last year and of course never got ANY response from our ad. I guess if they aren't actually being distributed, that would make sense. I'm usually smarter than this and do my research. They just called today... couldn't understand the name on the message, so i googled the phone number and here I am. This is really unfortunate.

Guy named Mike Owens called about doing vinyl covers and promised me a 2x3 ad on the vinyl cover plus all the TV advertising for $150. All he needed was my credit card number. I didn't even have to design the ad for him. They would do everything. I told him I'd call him back in 20 minutes. That was an hour ago! I researched them and was happy when my instincts served me well. It's a scam. They're good. They're really good. The sad part is that the victims who fall for it will be people who are not internet savvy that don't research. I appreciate the information all of you have provided. Thank you.

We just had our AT&T ad started and we have been getting calls from them.  Our ads with AT&T are on a pay-per-call basis so I am thankful I hung up on them before I had to pay for this call.  Thanks for posting info about this company.  

P.S.  If these are all disgruntled employees posting info about Dakota & Assoc. then they seriously need to work on decreasing their employee turn-over.  FYI I am not a disgruntled ex-employee of this company.  I am a small business owner in Branson, MO.  

Thanks to everyone else for saving me a lot of time and money!

i was just wondering if u ever recieved that refund. thanks, because they called me and my drywall buisness today. but i felted like it was a scam just by the phone call. and i checked out there website and there was nothing to it, thanks

Its apparent that u are an employee of d and d trying to make a comment in favor of your company because you accidently put wee always do what we say were gonna do oops on your part

I am an employee of this company and i just wanted to note that these remarks made are from disgruntel former employees  and are just mad that they are no longer employeed here. This is a marketing company that promotes local businesses through television and phone book  covers if anyone would like any more details they are more than welcome to contact me at 1800-634-1353 ext 202

I small building contractor and I recv'd call from Dakta and Assoc.  A Joe Dent.  He claimed to be under contract with Remax Reality of the Greater Williamsburg Area.  He left the number 1-800-634-1353 ext 223.  Wanted us to call back regarding Contracting work with Remax. I am not returning the call, due to the unproffessional message left on the machine.  I just didn't make sense.  After researching , I am not returning the call

Have received several calls from this company asking for "owner". Rep was extremely rude & would not disclose any information. She informed me that the owner of our company needed to return her call "TODAY". Very hateful & unprofessional. Rep claimed to be calling regarding AT&T directory...sounds like a bunch of !%$# to me !! Also - I agree with Ryan about the posts that are all in caps...seems to me like someone from the company is trying to invalidate all of the rest of the posts.

my girlfriend was called by cindy davis who convinced her to purchase an add with them at a discounted rate because she only had "5 days" left to find a photographer for the cover. I researched the company and this was the very first page i found. I called back and left two messages before i finally got a hold of Cindy Davis on my 3rd call. I told her about this page, that her company is a scam and told her i wanted her to cancel the order. She was very defensive/hostile and very unprofessional. She then told me that she would cancel our order and refund us but that it's going to be hard because the cover is printing in "2 hours." What happened to the 5 days???
I can't say for sure that this is a scam, but it definately looks like one. I do know for sure that these people are very unprofessional. I'll repost in a few days to let you know whether we got that refund.

I get daily calls with no message from 513-728-4534, which I traced to Cincinnati. I just ignored them until today, when someone named Cindy Davis of Dakota & Associates (barely audible in message) left an actual message with the 100-634-1353 number. Either way, when I've tried calling the two numbers, I get the same answering service- who claim to not have a clue who these people are.  Now that I found this site, and see that others have had issues with these people, I will refrain from answering when they call and will not call them back.

"Jason" called saying that he is with Yellowbook and wanted me to advertise on his book cover and get free TV ads and a bunch of other nonsense, politely told him I wasn't interested and we had already done our ads through Yellowbook for the year and after the fourth time I told him we weren't interested he slammed the phone down in my ear.

Obviously a bunch of scammers.