TheBuzz Erika Engle

Disappeared digits distress directory division

Ironic, as 590 AM is one of the radio frequencies on which Michael W. Perry and Larry Price are heard.

The recently delivered Paradise Pages directories compete against directories by Hawaiian Telcom and other companies for advertising, user loyalty and coupon redemption.

Paradise Pages told a reader that "lots of businesses who have 59 numbers aren't in the book."

In her office, "the situation is even worse. They printed my boss's private home number instead of our office number."

According to Hawaiian Telcom, its next directory is slated to have 3,089 business listings in the 590, 591, 592, 593, 595, 596, 597 and 599 exchanges. Its directory business was sold late last year to Colorado-based Local Insight Media.

Paradise Pages was purchased from local founder David Akina and his partners by New York-based Yellow Book USA Inc. last year.

Akina forwarded Star-Bulletin inquiries to the mainland and Yellow Book did not directly respond. Instead, it relayed short, written replies through its public relations firm that left most reporter's questions unanswered, including how many listings might have been omitted; whether other numbers were omitted; and how the private listing was published in place of the office number.

Yellow Book thanked the Star-Bulletin for bringing the matter to its attention.

"We are in the process of investigating what triggered the possible omission of some phone numbers in the 2008-2009 Oahu Paradise Yellow Pages directory," the company said.

"We pride ourselves on the accuracy and quality of our ... directories and apologize for any inconvenience," thanking the paper again "for alerting us to the error."

The company refers listing seekers to its Web site, as the investigation will "take time."

TheBuzz checked both Paradise Pages directories for numbers known to begin with 59 and confirmed several omissions.

Among them, A Tom Moffatt Production Inc. is in the Hawaiian Telcom white pages under "m," but is in neither of the Paradise Page books.

"Thanks for the tip," Moffatt said.

Hawaii Baptist Academy does appear in Paradise's white pages, with its name in larger, bold print with several bolded numbers including 59 numbers. "Numbers that are bold-faced in the white pages are advertisers of Paradise Pages," Yellow Book said.

KHON-TV does not appear in either Paradise Pages book, which is "disturbing," to Joe McNamara, president and general manager.

"As is the case with any business, the more resources people have to find your business, the better for your business, so it's a good thing that we have the Internet and more than one telephone directory as resources. Needless to say, this revelation is disturbing to us," he said.