Everything From A Through Y
When the new GTE White Pages arrived recently, sharp-eyed residents in northern Orange County and Long Beach noticed something was missing: about half the Z listings.
Alerted to the alphabetical disorder, GTE Directories Corp. is mailing 358,000 households six-page supplements, reprinting the complete Z section from Z-Axis International to Zywiciel.
“It was a system error,” said Fran Bangert, GTE Directories’ marketing communications manager. “Our goal is to make sure our customers have a complete directory.”
The glitch affected only the Long Beach and the Cerritos/Lakewood/Long Beach phone books, she said. But the books include listings for and are distributed to several Orange County cities as well: Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, La Palma, Surfside, Rossmoor and portions of Huntington Beach.
The goof occurred when GTE’s computer tried to merge listings from two directories into a comprehensive, Long Beach-area list, Bangert said.
Listings for A through Y came out fine.
But about two weeks after the updated 1999-2000 books were sent out, a handful of customers called to report their listings had been zapped.
Robert Zawrotny checked his listing to make sure GTE had followed his request to remove his home address from the listing, only to find he was missing altogether.
“I thought, ‘Gee, what the heck’s going on over there?’ ” he said. “I’m not hurting from it--not that many people look me up--but it’s ridiculous.”
Zed Records, a Long Beach perennial for 25 years, found out secondhand that it had been accidentally dropped.
“I don’t peruse the White Pages regularly,” said Shaan Obney, Zed’s principal buyer. “It’s no big deal. Most people find us through word of mouth, not by looking us up.”
Bangert declined to specify how much the supplemental mailing cost, saying only, “It was the right thing to do.”
GTE is sending the supplement out over a six- to eight-week period, attending to residents in alphabetical order. That puts the Zs last, of course.
“I haven’t gotten it yet,” Zawrotny said.
Customers who do not receive the additional section within the next 10 days should call (800) 222-7398.
