Progressive Business Publications’s earns a 3.7-star rating from 38 reviews, showing that the majority of customers are satisfied with educational materials and services.
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fraud and cheating
Company information:
Progressive Business Publications
370 Technology Drive
Malvern, Pennsylvania
United States
They called me and told me that they will send 2 free letters and then you can cancel if you don't like our publication. I looked for a phone # to call for cancelling before my second letter but didn't find any. They they sent me an invoice for $299 even though I didn't wish to continue. I am sending them a letter to cancel. But this should really be stopped. This is a total fraud and nuisance. Why is government not shutting them down?
false invoice
We received a call from International Credit Recovery for a subscription that was never ordered. The invoice was faxed to our office and shows a past due balance of $299.00. Noone in our office ordered this subscription.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
If you get a invoice from Progressive Business Publications all you have to do is e-mail... jthomas@pbp.com
Stop the bogus subscription. Keep the email and invoice as evidence.
Also send a copy of the invoice to the Malvern Police Dept and BBB.
fraudulent invoice
This company sent us a bogus invoice for a bogus publication called "Administrative Professional Update" that no-one at our office has ever heard of or would EVER (!) be interested in. Needless to say, no-one has ordered or approved this publication, either (especially the employee named on the invoice), which by-the-way would have had to be authorized by myself in the first place.
Looking at the other posts in this forum, it is clear that this is the way this company operates and -sadly- nothing is really being done about it. Shady business practices like these need to be stopped! I am sick of ### backs!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Constantly getting mail from these people. Either invoices and sometimes stupid flyers. We do not know where they come from and no one subscribed to them, yet they do not understand the word "CANCEL" nor do they understand the phrase "WE DO NOT WANT YOUR BUSINESS" because they keep making new accounts in our name and sending us the same crap and new invoices. If you ever have anything to do with the be prepared for a lot of junk mail that you will have to pay for to send back, because if you don't they will charge you for them, is what it says according to the paperwork. They state to return to cancel. Haven't seen that happen yet as we are recieving the crap from them still.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
So if you are having problems with PBP. Obviously, an employee within your company talked to them, agreed to the "free of charge, subscription with the right of cancellation" other wise...they wouldn't be coming in the mail to you, nor would they have proof of the person's name, address, and also their Month and Day of their birth. Apparently...the companies need to pay a little more attention..during phone calls and understand what they are agreeing to! Nothing is free. The first two issues are...we say it "free of charge"...hello...how much clearer can the saying be?
subscription plan
Free Trial Issues turned into having a collection agency calling my place of business daily demanding payment. Stay away from them. Invoices were returned marked cancel. No phone number or email on invoices to cancel with. Stay away. 9
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
failure to cancel account after repeated requests
I have repeatedly tried to cancel accounts and continue to receive publications that are always returned. Now two bills have been received regarding subscription renewals to items I don't want! I have emailed, called and written this company multiple times in the past 6 months with no answer and complete failure to just delete the account. I refuse all publications and return all bills with CANCELED hoping they will get the deal. But they don't.
Progressive Business Publications is a horrible company for customer service and publications. I don't recommend them to anyone.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
If you get a invoice from Progressive Business Publications all you have to do is e-mail... jthomas@pbp.com
Stop the bogus subscription. Keep the email and invoice as evidence.
Also send a copy of the invoice to the Malvern Police Dept and BBB.
unauthorized subscriptions
This company states that as an employee at a long term care company in SC, I ordered 16 magazines for managers and supervisors. I do not remember ordering these magazines. I am no longer with this particular company and now I am being asked to pay a bill for 691.20. This is fraudulent to say the least. I would have to have gotten corporate approval for this.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
If you get a invoice from Progressive Business Publications all you have to do is e-mail... jthomas@pbp.com
Stop the bogus subscription. Keep the email and invoice as evidence.
Also send a copy of the invoice to the Malvern Police Dept and BBB.
invoice
I looked for this company online and read all the complaints. I called co to complain also when they brought up the order i found it had been cancelled already. I had started a trial and sent the invoice back, received another publication and saw red! I figured i would threaten them as the internet says works, but it was not necessary. I asked them why the complaints? They dont understand, but it is mostly people like me, who instead of calling them, write complaints and assume they messed up. I recommend you call them first then complain if you still feel it neccessary, most complaints are invalid, and even the bbb complaints, if you actually check them, have been unfounded and resolved.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I just received an invoice from Progressive Business Publications stating it was the 2nd notice and that payment was overdue for some bogus publication I had never heard of. I have never spoken to anyone from this company, nor have I ever ordered anything from them. I never even received the 1st invoice! This company is a scam, and don't bother calling them because you'll just end up getting in an argument with some rude telemarketer more or less calling you a liar. I can't believe that places like this are allowed to operate under any magnitude...where's the better business bureau when you actually need them!
Completely agree with the person commenting here as there is NO telephone number on any of the invoices these people send out! I received a telephone call today telling me I ordered this coding publication however we don't even have coders here in our office nor do we need any publications that discuss such issues! The lady caller insisted that I placed the order and when I told her I have looked for a phone number on the invoice to call and discuss the bill, she simply told me that there have been e-mails sent to me as well. I told her I never received any e-mails but I will contact my company IT department to search the e-mail address she gave to me. I doubt there will be any messages ever received. This company is a scam and although I am surprised to see so many complaints, I am glad people can take the time to make a public complaint so others are aware as well. I will contact the legal entities noted above to further lodge a formal complaint against their fraudulent practices!
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
You can not call If There Is No Phone Number on the Fake invoice!
I received a call from Lynn Gregory informing me that I have a invoice due for $237.12 since Oct 2010. I asked her what it was for. She said I accepted a free trial back in September and didn't opt of receiving publications after the 30 day trial. I told her no one told me that I had to do that. I accepted the trial because telemarketers would not stop calling me and they assured me I wouldn't get billed and if I like the service then I would pay for it. I told her I was NOT going to pay for anything especially since I did not receive anything, not one publication! She said it wasn't "her fault" and I needed to check with whoever handles the mail. She then proceeded to ask me for my title and was very rude by telling me to "admit" that I signed up for it and to just pay it. Very unprofessional. Obviously its a scam and its sad that they have to get business by sending invoices in hopes that someone will pay for it.
bogus invoice
The compoany Progressive Business Publication sent my employer company an invoice claiming that I ordered a one year subscriptiono to the Internet & Marketing Report. I did not order this. My employer company does not subscribe for publications. In trying to contact Progressive Business Publications I went online to search for their phone contact since it was not shown in the invoice. The Google search also gave a Progress Business Publication Scam site which I reviewed the compl;aints contained therein. I now understand the invoice is a scam. I will be reporting it to the BBB and fax Progressive Business Publication that we would not be making payment and that we have lodged a complain to the BBB and submitted a complaint to the Progressive Business Publication Scam web site.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
We received one of those invoices that stated we subscribed to the Progressive Business Publications - Selling Advantage. We did not make any such subscription. We have no intention of paying the invoice.
They will need to provide written evidence that any such subscription was placed. We want the signatures. We filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov. I hope more people will follow our lead and file complaints with the FTC.
If there are enough complaints against this company the FTC will take legal action. These people need to be stopped. With the economy in such a bad place right now, any additional burden to a struggling company's finances could mean more lay-offs or the complete shut down of businesses.
This type of unethical business just makes our economic/individual recovery and survival more difficult. How many more people do they have to put on unemployment?
invoice scam
Got a letter call from ICR collection agency stating that we owed $299 for an accounts payable publication we did not authorize shipment of. Was told if we paid $130 they would cancel the rest and not charge more. To keep our credit clean we gave our visa # to pay the $130. We were given the name of the employee who supposedly authorized it by giving her birthday. It sounded fishy, but this employee was at Mayo clinic battling skull cancer (not an exaggeration) so we let it go. When this employee came back to work, she had a copy of the original invoice that she had mailed back to the company with a big X through it, having written on it "did not order". I called progressive to notify them of the situation and they had me fax it to them. A few days later, I spoke with Cynthia Thomas who was nice at first and eluded to the fact that she did us a favor by reducing the original $299 to $130. When I asked her to reverse the $130 since we had documentation showing that we did not want the publication, she started getting a little more defensive and said she would not reverse it since that invoice was not sent back within 30 days (which it was, but we couldn't prove). I told her that this is a huge scam and that there are complaints all over the internet about this company. She said she didn't care what people were saying about her on the internet. At that point she was becoming belligerent, so I told her forget it, that I would just do a chargeback on the VISA. She responded by saying, "Fine, if you do a chargeback, I'll "come at you for the whole $299", and hung up on me. Wow, what business savvy!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Did you get the charge reversed from Visa? Have the same situation and just told our MasterCard company to dispute the charge. Waiting for a response from PBP and hoping to have our $237 back. Was not lucky enough to be offered a lower rate. Just a sad scam of a company.
fraudulant invoice
This company sent the company that I work for an invoice for $299.00 for a safety newsletter. They used my name as the person that order it, funny thing is that the invoice date was during a week that I was on vacation. When I called them to question why we were being billed they were very rude and argued with me over the issue. It's a scam, don't pay these people anything.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
progressive business is a fraud they call over a year ago and ask my name how many employs worked with us and to speak with our HR and when i told them we did not have HR department they ended the call...now there sending an invoice for$299.00
for a 12 month HR news letter... that we never received...and there threatening to send to collections ...We have reported them to BBB...and i was not the first or last.DO NOT PAY they are SCAMS
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
free offer/no obligations/invoice sent
Received a call from a rep at Progressive Business Publications offering a free trial subscription to The Selling Advantage newsletter, to be sent twice a month. I informed the rep that my company was small and had no interest in their offer. The rep said that they would send one copy and call me back to see if there was any interest after reading the publication. I informed the rep that it was a waste of time and that there would be no interest.
We then received three issues and then an invoice. I am sending back a copy of the invoice, marked "Invalid. Never Ordered", along with a letter and a copy of this posting.
Hopefully this will work but based on the other posts, it will not and legal action or a call to the Better Business Bureau will be necessary.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
SENT UNWANTED NEWSLETTER THAT WERE NOT ORDERED AND CONTINUE TO BILL FOR THEM.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
I worked at the Meadville office it is scripted but it does say free trial if not find useful can cancel by writing cancel on the invoice or cancel on the website.BEWARE IF YOU QUIT BETTER CALL MAIN OFFICE FOR CHECK IF YOU WANT IT, So far I'm still trying to get mine. ANd Jenn is a lying sneeky big mouthed _itch, and you will freeze it is cold in thier office have to punch out to go to bathroom or get a drink,
Apparently...the companies need to pay a little more attention..during phone calls and understand what they are agreeing to! Nothing is free. The first two issues are...we say it "free of charge"...hello...how much clearer can the saying be?
I am an employee at the Meadville, PA branch - I take a great deal of pride in my position and company. This is now my 3rd time returning to this company, just shows how great of a place it is to work. PBP is an amazing company to work for, they are for HONEST and CARING. All employees at PBP take alot of pride in the service we give to our customers. I first want to explain (again) how the process works, since many of you seem to have a problem listening and comprehending information. PBP puts alot of time in effort into the training of their reps, not only for their benefit but the benefit of our customers - current and future. All of our calls are scripted (approved by many business law professionals), a rep goes off script it is possible that their employment is terminated. The most important section of the script is the Invoice and Offer section, which states " that after receving your 2nd issue you WILL receive an invoice, if you find the publication invaulable you write cancel on the invoice and send it back" Very simple instructions I would say. Our reps never say they will call back to check. Secondly, We ask if you feel it can fit into your budget... If at anytime during the conversation we sense hesitation we DO NOT place the order. Never once during the conversation do we say it is a free trial... YOU purchased a subscription with the option to cancel!
I would like to say I am sorry for any inconvience your lack of comprehension may have caused you. I assure you our reps only have the best interest of your company in mind, just as they do for the 200, 000+ customers we currently have had for the past 20years including all Fortune 1000 companies... I guess take it as a lesson learned... LISTEN AND PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL!
fraudulent invoice & submission to collections
We were billed for a subscription that was not ordered by our company or anyone working for our company. Progressive Business Publications then submitted the alleged charge to a collection company, International Credit Recovery, Inc. "Sam" at International Credit Recovery stated that since the vendor had verified the birthdate of the alleged person ordering the subscription, the order was valid. When informed that we were not paying the bill, she said that they would process the claim. I'm going to submit a complaint about International Credit Recovery as well.
They are still at it. Just this week they called and threatened to release the unpaid invoice to some credit report
The woman was very friendly but seriously concerned about no payment and having to release to some credit reporting agency.
How can this be allowed as a business practice? Trick people into agreeing to try something for free. I have never understood. The responsibility should be on them to contact you to see if you want to continue with the subscription at a fee.- not the other way around.
Its a scam! it may be a barely legal scam but its a scam.
How can anyone actually wale up in the morning and work for a company like this?
Really!
I am receiving telephone calls for payment of $299.00 for publications I never ordered.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
Lol. He is my cousin lmao
If you get a invoice from Progressive Business Publications all you have to do is e-mail... jthomas@pbp.com
Stop the bogus subscription. Keep the email and invoice as evidence.
Also send a copy of the invoice to the Malvern Police Dept and BBB.
SCAM JUST HAPPENED TO ME! Exact same thing.
I work at progressive and you all should know were not out to get anyone we try and help companies with everyday problems and ill have u know I make easily fifteen an hour every two weeks maybe if u had half a brain you would understand that the companies complaining about false invoices are the companies who have employees to scared to admit they signed up for a subscription with the right of cancellation or just can't grasp that its so easy to stop the service with no charge I spell it out c a n c e l wow people
I work for this place too, and unlike Bish up there, I am not beaming with pride because I know the company is a big, fat scam. I agree fully - this place employs shady business practices and they hire people who are too dumb to know it's a scam or who have too many felonies on their criminal record to be hired elsewhere. I only work here because there is nowhere else to work where I live and I cannot afford to move away...and I'm not proud to say I do. But here are some of this company's greatest hits and how they get their claws into you:
1. Will NOT speak to the highest authority at a company. They will seek out managers with less of an impact than an owner, president, CEO, CFO, etc. They want the customer service managers, the QAQC managers, service managers, and so forth. Even if someone in such a position is not authorized to agree to a subscription, they will be asked, "Well, surely your boss values your opinion, right? Would you recommend (thing) for the budget if you found it valuable?"
2. When reading from their script, sales reps are encouraged to talk at light speed. Fast-talking sales tactics are used because they have worked for years, unfortunately. Employees are especially encouraged to not only rush through the invoice and cost part of the script, but to say it in an apathetic tone. If they put emphasis on important words like "invoice" and "cost" and dollar amounts, this will make the manager realize this is not as free as they thought and not agree to the sale.
3. All calls with managers are recorded. This means if you call and say you never authorized anything, they will whip out the tape where the sales rep is talking to whoever they sold to and how they are agreeing to the sale. The final page of the script has to be read in full, verbatim, and ends with "have a good day" or what not. This makes the sale official. Even if you refuse to give them your email, fax number or birth date (or fake ones), the sale will still go through.
4. They've sold to big companies that have the budget to lose a few hundred bucks a year, but they also come down on small businesses, schools, hospitals, non-profit organizations.
5. Operators and secretaries are told the bare minimum about the nature of the call. In fact, reps are encouraged to lie to them. Is Mr. Whoever expecting your call? Of course he is! Is this a sales call? No ma'am (or sir), it's a business call. We are also told we have to talk like we need to urgently speak to the targeted manager, as if there's an emergency and we need them now now now. Also, reps may or may not say they are from Progressive Business Publications - they may say they are from somewhere else like GWJ or some other abbreviation for the newsletter they are touting. Because a lot of people are familiar with Progressive's business practices and immediately say "no" when they hear the name, reps have to get around that by saying they are from the name of the newsletter.
6. Hanging up or telling your secretary/operator to tell us you are not interested will get your number listed as a "call back."
7. About twice a month, an individual office will rotate publications. This means their do-not-call lists get reset. So if the manager tells them they do not want Credit Crap Digest and to take the number off their call list, the company will call again soon enough and push Work Safety: Don't Get Sued! on you. There is absolutely no escape once they have your number in their grasp. Obviously the publication names I listed are not real, either. But the subject matter mentioned in the titles are ones covered by this company.
8. Reps cannot take one "no" as an answer. First no warrants a response of, "Can I ask if you feel you won't find this newsletter valuable?" If you say, "no" again, you will hear one of a few rebuttals to common refusal reasons ("Not interested", "No time to read", "Don't want to deal with an invoice", etc.) These are also scripted. You say "no" again and you get offered a free email with company details. Not sure if this has a cost or is spam mail or not.
And the employees get treated like crap too. They don't want you deviating from their precious script in the least because, hey, that script lines their wallets, so why should the reps say anything else? The company is always running ads in the paper saying things like, "Come work for us and make up to $20 an hour!" Yeah, sounds like a sweet deal but they leave out the part where it's basically impossible to make that much. If you don't meet a very high sales quota every single day until the end of time itself, you make minimum wage. No benefits, no overtime. And if you don't get a decent amount of sales each day, you deviate from the script, you are heard saying, "Please" or you dare utter you think the company is a scam, you will hear about it.
The best advice I can give is to just keep saying "no." Make sure everyone in your place of work knows the company's name so no one authorizes anything. This may not stop a newsletter from coming since they do have your address and could easily send it anyway, but it will definitely help a little. But honestly, try not to hate on the reps too much. They are only peons who do what they are told; hate the company itself. I've personally had some people get very angry on calls, but they were obviously mad at the company and were polite to me.
It says in the script you recieve the first 2 free issues free of charge and on the 3rd issue you will recieve an invoice. I does say free. You have a right to cancel after the first 2 issues it will be no cost to you to try the first 2 issues. How can you lie on to all these people. I only worked there a week. I hated it, because you have to keep calling people that are not interested. The calls go to phone numbers that don't even exist. Places are closed Good Friday. They still make phone calls. They keep the ad in the paper and keep on hiring, if its that good of a job why do they keep the ad in the paper and tease people there is an actual job there? Or you would keep your emplyees. It sounds good it till you try it out. I am still waiting for a paycheck. Companys like this have to go. In these times people can not afford to pay charity to such a company. If the stuff is that good why use telemarking, why not a normal subsciption like any other magazine. Thats all it is, it the people like they will buy it. Some stuff is very interesting, but some we all ready know about already. Apparently, you dont go by your dumb letters anyhow, or you woulod be THE Fortune magazine its self.
BishPBT you obviouly must be the one behind this scam. You are probably the scammer who is trying to make all this look so legit. You sound like a ### your self. Such a great company to work for...give me a break QQ
fraud/malfeasance
This morning I received an invoice from Progressive Business Publications for a subscription to "Foundation & Corporate Funding Advantage" that I never ordered. The invoice was in the amount of $240.00 and stated that I should have received two (2) issues to date. I have never received anything and again that I never ordered anything. I called them and spoke to a very loud "customer service" person (Genese) who was able to provide my birth date and stated that this proves that I ordered their product. Just as I was going to ask for an email confirmation that they had canceled my order and that I owed nothing, she hung up. Because we are a small not-for-profit, and, as I am the have the Director, the responsibility to clear this matter falls on me. I am routing all information to the Attorney General for the State of Pennsylvania where the "company" is headquartered. I encourage you to do the same.
Incidentally, Progressive Business Publications is located in Chester County. You may need this information when you talk to the Attorney General's Complaint Division.
If the (800) number does not get you through, then call [protected].
Call the Attorney General for the State of Pennsylvania. It is important that people start fighting back and let's get these crooks put away! The toll-free telephone # for the Consumer Affairs Division is: [protected]
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
The same thing just happened to us. However when I called the number provided, they did take us off their list.
Same story- claimed they spoke to me, claimed we received 2 issues (which never showed up) and send a bill for $240.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
bogus subscriptions
Been fighting with PBP since November 2008 regarding a $299 unpaid invoice for an unsolicited and never received publication called "What's Working in Human Resources". Regularly we receive faxes and menacing phone calls from Cynthia Thomas at International Credit Recovery, Inc. The last time she called she said all conversations are recorded so I asked her to play back the conversation we allegedly had about me ordering this publication. She said they already recorded over it. Cynthia Thomas of International Credit Recovery swears I ordered the item because after all "they have0 my date of birth". Well anyone with a half brain knows no one will ask for a date of birth and anyone with half a brain would never give out that information when ordering an item. Second it was the wrong date! The last time Cynthia called she asked if I was the President or Owner of the company. Although I'm in upper management I told her I was just a peon answering the phones every day. She totally was taken back! The phone calls and faxes claiming I owe them $299 have stopped for now so I think I found the answer to get them to stop! We also reported them to the BBB and Missouri Attorney General's office.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
Thank you! We have had the same experience.
invoiced for something not authorized
This company called an employee here under the guise of doing a survey and then started billing us for a Quality Managers Alert magazine that we either never received -or- was thrown out when the mail was received because we don't pay our employees to sit around and read magazines -- they're here to work.
We get scam mail daily and I throw out the unopened scam mail as I am aware, in our small company, of any subscriptions and/or advertising that are authorized here, so I know which ones are legitimate and which ones are not.
We don't even know what this magazine looks like and they want us to pay for it? I don't think so. They have now turned this over to International Credit Recovery Inc. to try to collect. I will issue complaints wherever I can on this company and their scam artists.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I too have now been contacted by a collections agent regarding junk mail I threw out as business mail spam. This is a scam. Of note is that businesses getting this invoice should check with all emloyees that receive mail. In my case I own a small company and see the inbound mail and invoices. PBP tried to send the Managers Alert newsletter to our director of operations (me) as an employee and the invoices to an Accounts Payable Dept at our company address. This is also me. Funny thing was that the invoices started at 3rd Notice and was already past due. Did the USPS somehow loose the first 2 invoces and then the 3rd got thru? Nah, I don't think so and since I see all inbound mail I know the first invoice was number 3. I think this type of practice should be turned over to a BBB for filing.
Funny - I had a lady call and offered this FREE TRIAL for CFO & Controller Alert newsletter. I advised her that we did not want to receive this publication, but she insisted that we take a look at it. She continued to talk her talk even after I had told her several times NO.
Now I'm receiving an invoice for $299.99. What's up with that. Another scam?
fraud
We are a small non-profit. Katy from Progressive Business Publications called a part-time employee with no authorization to approve $240 subscribtions and reported that because Katy had her birthdate, she now owed her the balance for a subscription to a publication called "Foundations and Corporate Funding Advantages." When we called Katy to tell her we were reading how this was a fraudulent claim on-line, she said "i'm very aware of what they are saying." As executive director, I approve all invoices and receive all mail. We have never received this report and if we have received fake invoices, it looked fake enough for me to trash them without opening.
We will be reporting this to the better business bureau also.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
In November, I was contacted about a free trial. No obligation. I politely declined and said that I already had too many things to read, and that I wasn't interested. The rep said, I understand. Thank you for your time. Just to verify that we spoke and so I can take you off the mailing list can I have your month and day of birth. I said ok. Thought it was done.
Started getting the publication in the mail called "the selling advantage, " along with past due invoices. We imagined that they were invoicing us and thought it would go unnoticed and get paid. Well, that is not the case. We would not pay for something we did not want or need. Finally, come March 2012, we get a call from the International Credit Recovery collection agency, stating we had an unpaid balance that would be reported to the credit bureaus. Irate! We got in contact with PBP and after the run around. I finally get a manager Nikki Shimmel. She says that if we just pay $74.10 to cover invoicing, publication, and mail costs, it will clear us from collections and that we would not be bother. Fine! We did. I even got an email stating that we had been cleared. Now June 2012. Katie from ICR 720.320.6262 is calling saying that we owe for another subscription called the Internet Marketing Report. Saying we have been being invoiced since December. Well, I have never seen these invoices. She can't even produce a sound bite where I agreed to the subscription that costs $299. I THINK NOT. This is a complete scam and seriously something needs to be done about it. It is unacceptable that they have been able to operate this long. After we hung up on Katie, saying we will not pay. She called back 3 minutes later stating that we would have the option, like last time to settle. NOPE.. not again. They already got $74.10 more than they deserved. What's even worse is that time they stole from me!
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
I messaged one of the news companies in NY to take this out in the open. Watch out International Credit Recovery. They will be knocking on your door shortly. Attorney general will follow.
If you get a invoice from Progressive Business Publications all you have to do is e-mail... jthomas@pbp.com
Stop the bogus subscription. Keep the email and invoice as evidence.
Also send a copy of the invoice to the Malvern Police Dept and BBB.
awful company
It all begins when you start receiving invoices for $240 for a business newsletter to which you did not subscribe. You will get several invoices over a period of months. Then you will start getting telephone calls from a 'collection agency.' The telephone number of the person representing herself as a collection agency is [protected], an area code in south-central New York. When you ask for proof that you subscribed to the newsletter, you are told that you gave your birth date as confirmation. Of course, birth dates are easy to come by and many people have them on their Facebook accounts.
I do not know why the government has not shut down this operation. This is the second time they have fraudulently tried to pry money out of me. They tried it before about eight or ten years ago.
Because the invoices are sent to businesses and addressed to 'Accounts Payable, ' my guess is that oftentimes the invoices are paid by some clerk who thinks that someone in the organization actually did subscribe to the publication.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
AREN'T YOU JUST THE CUTEST LITTLE THING THIS SIDE OF SATAN'S YOUNGEST SON...HOW ABOUT THIS FOR CONVERSING, MY ETHICALLY DEPRIVED CYBER ### CONTACT...BITE MY HAIRY ###!
AS TO YOUR MEALY MOUTH AND FECKLESS DISCLAIMER ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT, YOUR LYING AND UTTERLY MISLEADING ADS AND YOUR RIDICULOUS TERMS AND CONDITIONS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHOVE THEM WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE, BEGINNING ANYTIME YOU ARE IN THE PROPER POSITION!
OR NOT...YOUR CALL!
YOUR AD WAS EXPLICIT AND SPECIFIC TO RISK FREE REVIEW OF A PRODUCT.
BUT DID YOUR PRODUCT DO ANYTHING AT ALL TO ASSIST ME IN MY FRUSTRATION? NO!
DID YOUR PRODUCT CAUSE ME GREAT ADDITIONAL FRUSTRATION? YES!
DID YOUR PRODUCT AND ADS MAKE ME FEEL STUPID AND GULLIBLE? YES!
ARE YOU ALL JUST ### SUCKING GUTTER SLUTS WHO SHOULD BE SWEPT INTO THE NEAREST SEWER PIT TO MOLD AND ROT UNTIL THE END OF TIME?
HELL YES!
YOU SIMPLY SCAMMED ME AND WENT YOUR MERRY THIEVING WAY.
BURN IN HELL YOU HUMAN REJECT!
OTHER THAN THIS, YOUR PRODUCT IS SIMPLY WONDERFUL!
BY THE WAY, HAVE I CALLED YOU A NUMNUTS YET? NO...LET ME CORRECT THAT...NUMNUTS!
IN WHICH PRISON DID YOU CONCOCT THIS ELABORATE MARKETING SCAM SCHEME?
YOU ARE ALL PATHETIC LOSERS WHO NEED A FEW YEARS ON A REMOTE AND DESERTED ISLAND WHERE YOU WOULD COME TO LEARN THE FINE ART OF MAN LOVE AND ALL ITS ASSOCIATED NATURAL WONDERS.
MAY YOUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND YOUR MISLEADING AND FALSE ADVERTISING GIVE YOU A LONG TERM CASE OF TERMINALLY PAINFUL CONSTIPATION!
I HOPE THAT I HAVE MADE MYSELF CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOUR CRIMINAL BRAIN TO COMPREHEND!
YOU AND YOURS COLLECTIVELY SUCK!
Progressive Business Publications is not a scam company. The company has been in operation for a lot of years! When the Sales Reps contact the businesses "offering" 2 FREE OF CHARGE, issues of the current newsletters...they make it CLEAR, they are FREE OF CHARGE, the FIRST two are only free, they explain to the customer STRAIGHT out, during the second issue, you will be receiving a invoice, if the services are not up to par and the newsletter has not been beneficial you need to "write cancel" on the invoice and mail it back. Or if you decide to continue with the newsletter service it is...299 say for 23 issues. Which come out twice a month, all except one month...December. It's clear as day. I don't understand where everyone states that..they are not aware of invoices. The very last part of the conversation tells you what you need to do with the invoice if you decide to cancel or continue. The day.month birth. confirms the "subscription with a right of cancellation"... to confirm who the sales rep talked to and for quality control! Also, all calls are taped!
So if you are having problems with PBP. Obviously, an employee within your company talked to them, agreed to the "free of charge, subscription with the right of cancellation" other wise...they wouldn't be coming in the mail to you, nor would they have proof of the person's name, address, and also their Month and Day of their birth. Apparently...the companies need to pay a little more attention..during phone calls and understand what they are agreeing to! Nothing is free. The first two issues are...we say it "free of charge"...hello...how much clearer can the saying be?
company sent invoices for free publication
Telemarketer called to see fi they could send some free issues of CFO & Controller Alert to see what I thought. I agreed to them sending two "risk-free" issues. I received one newsletter and then two invoices billing me for $299. The invoiced thanked me for ordering a year's subscrption. I never agreed to ordering the newsletter. I never even got the two newsletters to review. This company is not reputable. I suggest not doing business withe them.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I also agree with the original complaint - CFO & Controller Alert is a SCAM! They strong arm you into accepting a free trial which ends up costing $299. I never signed up for it, yet they were still able to say I agreed to it by not returning the first copy that was sent to me. If you deal with them be prepared to get harassing calls from a collection agency trying to force you to pay $299 or risk your good credit rating.!
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
I echo the original complaint -CFO & Controller Alert is not reputable and trys to collect for subscriptions that you never signed up for or approved. If you deal with them be prepared to get harrassing calls from a collection agency trying to force you to pay $299 or else!
I strongly disagree with the dissatisfaction of the CFO & Controller Alert. I tried out their "Risk-Free" issues, and I loved them so much, I bought a year's subscription. The newsletter not only saved me time, it gave me ideas to boost my cash-flow and control my spending. I strongly recommend checking it out for free! -Dan Mellas, CFO
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Progressive Business Publications phone numbers+1 (800) 220-5000+1 (800) 220-5000Click up if you have successfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (800) 220-5000 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have successfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (800) 220-5000 phone number Click down if you have unsuccessfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (800) 220-5000 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (800) 220-5000 phone number+1 (610) 695-8600+1 (610) 695-8600Click up if you have successfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (610) 695-8600 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have successfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (610) 695-8600 phone number Click down if you have unsuccessfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (610) 695-8600 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (610) 695-8600 phone numberHead Office+1 (570) 628-5939+1 (570) 628-5939Click up if you have successfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (570) 628-5939 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have successfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (570) 628-5939 phone number Click down if you have unsuccessfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (570) 628-5939 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached Progressive Business Publications by calling +1 (570) 628-5939 phone numberPottsville, PA
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Progressive Business Publications emailscustomer_service@pbp.com100%Confidence score: 100%Support
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Progressive Business Publications address370 Technology Dr., Malvern, Pennsylvania, 19355, United States
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Checked and verified by Michael This contact information is personally checked and verified by the ComplaintsBoard representative. Learn moreJun 13, 2024
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It all begins when you start receiving invoices for $240 for a business newsletter to which you did not subscribe. You will get several invoices over a period of months. Then you will start getting telephone calls from a 'collection agency.' The telephone number of the person representing herself as a collection agency is [protected], an area code in south-central New York. When you ask for proof that you subscribed to the newsletter, you are told that you gave your birth date as confirmation. Of course, birth dates are easy to come by and many people have them on their Facebook accounts.
I do not know why the government has not shut down this operation. This is the second time they have fraudulently tried to pry money out of me. They tried it before about eight or ten years ago.
Because the invoices are sent to businesses and addressed to 'Accounts Payable, ' my guess is that oftentimes the invoices are paid by some clerk who thinks that someone in the organization actually did subscribe to the publication.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
Please send your complaints about fraudulent conduct regarding International Credit Recovery Inc. and Progressive Business Publications to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, E consumer .gov, the Better Business Bureau, and/or your local General Attorney's office.
I just received one of these here in Ohio. My owner got it and gave me a nasty memo with it stating that I shouldn't be ordering this crap and it will come out of my paycheck.
I didn't order it. What a scam. This may actually work out (for someone), but me for me.
I do recall getting a call about 4 or 5 months ago, from a male asking if I was a manager at my company. He asked to confirm the name of it (as he spoke it first to me), then asked if I was truly who I said I was by giving out my month and day of birth (which I wisely replied falsely). Then a click (he hung up on me). VERY suspect! I do recall worrying about it for a while as I checked on my bank accounts and 401K etc. Nothing ever happened. Perhaps I did start getting more email newsletters from various sources that I continually delete. Who knows where these come from, as I do subscribe to others? But now this shows up. $299.00 bill. Now what? I assure you that I did not order this.
They are play one employee source against another (or the sly telemarketer did)! Perhaps they know only the last half of the conversation gets recorded, so he skipped to there and started recording?
hmmmmmm.
KATCAL, you hit the nail right on the head. It is absolutely true that these people seek out lower-level management to sell to rather than the president, owner, CEO, CFO, or anyone else who has absolute power. Unless it's a business with only two or three people, in which case, the owner is who they talk to. They know the highest level of management won't have time to listen, or will have no interest in the areas being covered in the newsletters, so the company peddles their crap to the credit managers, customer service managers, quality managers, safety managers, marketing managers, HR managers, and so forth.
The script is written to tiptoe around the truth, but without outright lying. Basically, using words to make it sound like their stuff is free, and then being totally blasé when they get to the part about the invoice and the cost. I used to work there, and we were specifically instructed to not "make a big deal" out of the invoice or the $500+ subscription fee because then the people we were selling to would wise up and refuse the sale. We had to really play up the whole, "It's free! It's free! It's free to try! No charge if you just cancel it!" thing, but the fun part is that you don't get the invoice with which to cancel until after the free trial period is over.
And they have no shame in who they target...non-profit organizations, one-man businesses, funeral homes, hospitals, small colleges, people in the midst of a budget freeze. They will sell to anyone.
This company is a joke. They can not get an individual or organization to legitimately subscribe or purchase their product so they obtain "approval" through trickery. They also appear to purposely target a lower level staff person who may be more susceptible to their scam. I will never pay their illigitimate invoice.
Well let me begin by saying I am a former employee of Progressive Business Publications (just one of our many...many rip off names) I walked out today, I have never done that before in my life...but I am very proud of my decision. Along with me I took several tapes, scripts and other training materials they try to shove down our throats to teach us how to make our next big sale. This company is ripping me off as an employee last week I did not pick up my paycheck on payday.(FRIDAY) On Tuesday when i ask for it my boss told me its her responsibility to mail unclaimed checks back to corporate. There is no human being in the payroll dept. just a voicemail in which i have been leaving messages in for 6 days now. I have read several complaints online about other employees having the same issue...where its sent back voided and they make you go through hell to get your check AND then they deduct a service fee...WELL they are messin with the wrong girl...I made so many sales for this company and was promised the big bucks ...only to be paid NOTHING! Oh and yes there are people with the company who are actually being paid (maybe lol) to come into places like this and post WONDERFUL things about the company. This guy is obviously one of them because he quoted our script in his statement...way to go dumb ###! Let me add that if you dont pay your invoice it will NEVER affect your credit! The collection agency that calls is just another division of the company...all they do is call and call...they are a joke! If anyone who was ripped off by this company wants to contact me for further information feel free to jolettaluciano @ yahoo . com...I am ashamed that I even took part in this operation and will do whatever it takes to get my money out of this company. I have paid for childcare, transportation and work clothing only to see no return. As an employer they should have at least taken care of us! Instead they used us as another pawn in their scheme...I think someday I may make a good sales woman but Im not going to do it by ripping people off...
I ♥ the internet! I thought I was the only one being harassed by PBP's so-called "collections agency". It all started when a sales rep. from their company called me about this AMAZING newsletter and how I couldn't live without it...blah, blah, blah. I told him I was absolutely NOT interested in receiving any kind of "free trial" if it meant I would have to cancel the subscription or be billed automatically. I'm not very good about remembering that kind of stuff, and have fallen into that trap before. He went on to tell me that it wasn't anything like that. He said they would simply send me a newsletter, and if I liked it, I could sign up for a subscription - no strings attached. I thought that sounded like a an okay deal, so I said "sure, why not?". He then asked for my birthday to verify that he spoke with me. That should have been a giant red flag right there, but the guy was so sincere I didn't think anything of it at the time. BIG MISTAKE!
I received the first newsletter and skimmed through it. It wasn't anything great, definitely not amazing, so I tossed it. I thought that was the end of it. OH NO, that was just the beginning. Now five months later, I have someone calling 3+ times a day from a supposed collections agency. At first, I had no idea what the eff she was talking about. It had been five months and the newsletter wasn't exactly memorable. When I finally figured it out, I explained to her that the rep had told me that I didn't have to cancel anything. She basically told me that it didn't matter if the rep had lied through his teeth. Because I had given him my "personal information" (my birthday), apparently he could have said I agreed to give them my first born child and I would be legally bound because they know my birthday. What a load of bull****! I won't be held responsible for the fact that their sales reps. are lying ###!
I'm not paying them a dime! And I hope more PBP victims read this and do the same! I'm going to report them to the BBB and my state's Attorney General. And so should you if you've been preyed upon by this bloodsucking demon of a company. They can't be allowed to keep taking advantage of consumers like this. It's just straight up WRONG.
This company is getting more clever by the minute. I never spoke with anyone regarding a free trial, but I guess the receptionist gave someone my name as the person that orders office supplies. A week later I received a newsletter from PBP, but they were not able to verify any information with my birth date, since they did not talk to me directly. I called to speak with a rep, and for sure there was a request in the system for a new subscription. I googled the company while talking to a rep. to let her know that I am on to the scam, and of course she promised to get to the bottom of this, and cancel my subcription right away. I deliver the mail, so I will contact PBP right away if they invoice my company.
I have no idea why anyone would defend this company. (Dan U is probably an employee of PBP)
I was unaware of what was going on til my accounts payable notified me that there was a 3rd notice due and we needed to pay it. I have no clue how thay came about my information but I never received anything from them or even know how it looks like. I am so furious with all these companies that offer these so-called "free trials" but never follow through with there promise. And just like many others said, if they want their money...why don't they call in directly to the businesses instead of sending notices in the mail? what does PBP have to hide? If they do not cancel my account, I am going straight to the BBB. No if's, and's or but's! I've had enough of this company! GRRRRRR!