January 11, 2006

There is a third phone book entering the local market. Echo Pages will be publishing a directory for the Teller County and Ute Pass region in early April.

The two-year-old company is offering an almost unbeatable deal - free advertising in the yellow pages.

Echo Pages president Mike Sego said if you advertised in the 2004-2005 Ute Pass Gold Book or have proof of purchasing an ad in the unproduced 2005-2006 Gold Book, Echo Pages will provide the same size ad for free.

Sego said his company has offered free ads before in a similar situation in Parker.

'We want to make things right and clean things up," he said. "People have the perception of being cheated. We don't want them to have bad feelings for the industry."

Has this non-sales technique worked?

"No one has told us no," Sego said. "People have said they appreciate it."

He said people are leery and this is a good way to build trust.

Echo Pages is relying on its free advertising offer to get people interested in its phone book and build some loyalty. But, it is the actual book Sego believes will keep people coming back to Echo Pages.

"In every market we are in, no one can touch our quality," he said. "We build the right product, one people can use."

Sego said Echo Pages has been looking at this area for a while to produce a phone book. When they heard about the lateness of the Gold Book, they put the process into motion.

"We needed to speed things up," he said.

Echo Pages has 14 phone books, including ones in Parker, Littleton, Castle Rock and Trinidad. It is a member of the Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau. It recently joined the Colorado Springs BBB and the Greater Woodland Park Chamber of
Commerce.

Sego, as well as other sales reps, will be in the area until the end of January. To place an ad or for more information call (719) 302-5575. Echo Pages can be contacted on-line at www.echopages com.

Echo Pages is also looking for cover art for the phone book. Local artists can e-mail submitted art in a digital format to coverart@echopages.com. For more information call (719) 302-5575.

Alex Ackerman of MacVan said its phone book, MacVan 1 Source, is still coming out this summer. To advertise or for more information call 337-2234.

Melody LeGrant, Desert Bloom owner, said the Ute Pass Gold Book would be distributed in November, then before Christmas. The Gold Book is more than six months late and has not been delivered. Desert Bloom's phone number, as well as LeGrant's
personal cell phone number have been temporarily disconnected. Efforts by Courier staff to contact LeGrant have failed.

A representative of the Colorado Springs Better Business Bureau said LeGrant sent the BBB an e-mail Dec. 22 stating the Gold Book was at the printer and would still he produced.

Detective, Sgt. Jim Halloran of the Woodland Park Police Department said he has opened an investigation into the Gold Book situation, but it is in the preliminary stages. Because of the expected numerous complaints, Halloran asks people to wait as he is working on a procedure for anyone involved in this case to file formal complaints with the WPPD. This procedure should be announced next week.

In the meantime, he said he will be in contact with the district attorney's office, which is also taking complaints. No criminal charges have been filed.

To make formal complaints to the district attorney's office contact the Economic Crime Division at 520-6002.

By Joel Quevillon

SOURCE: Ute Pass Courier