In March 2009 i was visited by a sales rep from BT named Roy Savage. We discussed advertising for my business (painter and decorator). I told him i was unhappy with the results from yellow pages and yell.com. He gave me a good price for an half page coloured advert in the phone directory and i accepted. Then came the online advertising pitch. He told me BT web clicks would guarantee x amount "genuine leads" every month for a fixed price. He led me to believe these would be physical contacts ie phone calls and emails. He enquired how many enquiries i would like each month and when i said i was unsure he recommended that i go for 80 per month. Now i thought that was overkill as my conversion rate is roughly 30% or higher. However, i trusted his judgement and thought i had got not only online exposure for my website on google but guaranteed 80 genuine leads per month or. and this is the best bit, my money back. I couldn't lose. It sounded too good to be true.

The campaign went live in july. Yes it took them 3 months to arrange. The cost of each lead was £1 so i was paying £80 per month and around the same for the phone directory. Because i was taking both i received a huge discount according to Roy. Now these "leads" come in the form of web clicks. When someone clicks on my website that is considered a lead or contact and costs £1. To date i have received 283 web clicks at a cost of £283.00. How many conversions to sales have i had? None. How many emails and phone calls have i had? None. When i contacted BT to express my concern i was told, "but your getting the clicks".
There is something fishy going on here. If 283 people have visited my website and remember i am a painter and decorator so there are no items to buy, then why have i not received any enquiries for free estimates for painting and decorating work?

I have cancelled my direct debit to BT and informed them i no longer require their services. They told me they would pursue me for the money owed. What else can i do?
Can you help?

Regards
Paul D. Shapero