Fitness centre hit again with 'gay' tag

Ray Parker. Photo / Greg Bowker

A South Auckland fitness centre owner believes he knows who is responsible for forking out $2700 on a bogus phone book listing labelling his business as being for gay people to work out.

The first fake advertisement for Ray Parker's fitness centre in Papakura appeared in the Yellow Pages published in March.

Now the claim that the business is a "homosexual gym" appears in the white pages section of the new 2007-2008 Manukau and Papakura local directory, which was released this month.

The listing appears immediately below Mr Parker's correct listing.

Mr Parker said the original fraudulent ad was apparently not deleted from the Yellow Pages Group's computer.

He said that after that ad appeared, a Yellow Pages sales rep phoned him eight times trying to pressure him into paying to advertise in the Manukau-Papakura directory, which he refused to do.

He said someone had paid $2700 for the original ad in an apparent bid to damage his business. He had an idea who it was but would not name them.

Mr Parker said his gym was in a mall and staff acted as "pseudo security guards" for the town centre. "And there are a lot of people who don't like us because we've thrown them out."

He said he was worried the bogus ad would deter some would-be customers who might think the gym was exclusively for gays and lesbians.

Yellow Pages Group corporate communications manager Wendy Rayman said once the company found out about the bogus ad and listing it retracted all the paid-for advertising.

But the free listing in the white pages slipped through. "It was an absolute error on our part that this one actually slipped through because it's ... a free listing. It's no excuse; we should have pulled it. We have apologised to Mr Parker and we are working with him."

Mr Parker said he would like the company to pay for advertising elsewhere to undo the damage the bogus listings had caused his business.

- NZPA