A local doctor contacted Eyewitness News because he was suspicious about a phone book company pushing it's services on his office. Doctor Ali Agha has been practicing in Bakersfield for 23 years and believes The OYP Group could be running a potential scam against unsuspecting clients. Eyewitness News went to the doctor to find out what happened and uncovered similar complaints in the same building. The OYP Group offers a directory service like the Yellow Pages. We couldn't find a phone book but they do have an on-line guide. Regardless, Doctor Agha says he never wanted or requested a listing with the company, and neither did other people we spoke with who told us before they knew it they were being slapped with a bill.
Doctor Ali Agha says calls from the OYP Group started earlier this month, they were persistent he said, trying to get him to join their directory. But Doctor Agha says he continued to refuse their service.
He says, "All three times I told them I have my advertising in our local Yellow Pages, AT&T and thank you very much i don't need it." Then last week, Agha's Medical Assistant, Jessica Guzman, told the doctor the same company was threatening to send their bill to collections if they didn't pay up. OYP says Guzman authorized the service. Guzman says she never approved anything, just answered yes to simple questions verifying their address and phone number. She says the collections agent told her "somebody needs to pay it, I don't care if it's you or the doctor, it needs to be paid." Dr. Agha says he is confident in his staff. He says they know they are not allowed to authorize anything, they are not even allowed to call in prescriptions. Still, OYP says they have a recording of the conversation to prove Guzman approved the sale. Agha says the recording sounded funny, almost dubbed. We called the OYP Group several times, we were told to call on Thursday, but our contact was never available. We tried again on Friday but no one could answer our questions.
Dr. Agha isn't the only one complaining. Since May of this year there have been 472 unresolved complaints filed nationwide against the OYP Group. So many that OYP has received and unsatisfactory rating.
Tina Hobbs works next door at another doctors office, she says when OYP called her they also demanded payment after they had her confirm the name and address of her office. She says told them their ad was free and that she didn't have to pay. Hobbs says after the OYP employee began arguing with her hung up and hasn't heard from them since. Doctor Agha also doesn't plan on hearing from them again, he says miraculously, they've dropped the charges and canceled the invoice. When we were in his office he showed the fax and told us "This came only one hour ago, I expect when you had called that was the result of your actions."
Doctor Agha says the Better Business Bureau suggested that he contact the Bakersfield Police Department and the District Attorney's Office. We will keep an eye on this company and let you know what happens.