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I personally, and the company I work for, has had this same pattern happen over and over again for at least 5 years running in our collective memory. We've made a file because we've had so many people in our company assaulted by this smarmy group. Apparently they've developed a disgusting process that begins with an innocuous-sounding offer "Would you like a free trial subscription to The Selling Advantage?" You agree and they confirm by asking for your birth date and then the fun begins! They send you the publication which is basically recycled fluff related to marketing and sales. Theoretically you decline by writing "cancel" on their invoice but they don't send an invoice timely - they hope you'll just continue to receive it "proving" you want it. I think you'll eventually get an invoice - but I'm not sure any more! In any case you can't call or contact them or get through to anyone to decline the subscription. Next you get a call from a collection agency. I always consider this suspicious because a respectable vendor would call you first and give you the chance to make good on your debt. Not The Selling Advantage! For whatever reason they seem to think they have an advantage over you and try to scare you or shame you into paying their invoice! I just hung up on the guy that called - but they're used to that. This is their M.O. They expect to do a certain amount of collection I guess? I don't know. My advise - avoid this company unless you want low quality newsletters and harassing phone calls.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I'm sorry yet another person has fallen victim to Progressive's shady "business" practices. But yes, they will sell the whole "free trial" thing so much that they hope that's all you'll hear. Sometimes, you won't even get the publication or an invoice and you go right to their collection agency - International Credit Recovery - a phony and inactive collection agency in New York. They make it sound so easy to cancel, but you might not even get anything from them and, of course, the invoice itself has no contact information on it if you happen to even get one.
The fun part is that even if you do get everything, there is absolutely no way for you to cancel before your free trial period is over because the invoice arrives after the 30-day "try me free" time span. The rep will say, "Your first issue will arrive in three weeks and your second one two weeks later." That's five weeks, and five days beyond the trial period. Their secret is their script is written in just such a way that they can tiptoe around the truth without completely outright lying to you. It's a clever little scam they've got going on, and usually the only way people find this out is the hard way.
Once these people have their claws sunk into you, they will never leave you alone. They are sales sharks who peddle information that could easily be found online for free...and they simply stick that information into a badly-designed eight-page newsletter that will cost you anywhere from $100 to $700 a year. Even if it had a reasonable subscription cost like $15-$50 a year, it still wouldn't be worth it.
I have heard a few success stories as far as getting subscriptions canceled by contacting their customer service department (try PBP.com for emails and phone info), but I personally cannot make any promises. I used to regrettably work for these ### and the best advice I can give you to keep them at bay is to make your business phone service not accept blocked calls. PBP hides their phone information, and even if the rep dials *82 or whatever it is to unblock a number, they will not get through.
I just had the pleasure of being scammed by this company. I wanted no part of it, then six months later get threatening calls from their "collection agency". Of course, I settled and paid 50% of the amount since that's actually easier/cheaper than dealing with them. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS. Hang up. Don't even confirm information to get them to go away. They will use it against you.
The same thing just happened to me! I took the phone call in the summer and said ok to the free trial, Now months go by without seeing a bill and a collector call. I told the collector that I remember the call and there was nothing stated about me having to cancel but in the event I am wrong please provide me a recording of the conversation or something with my signature. After that she asked my position again and hung up. The next day my accounting department calls me to ask about the collector as they are now on the phone there, I told her to have them contact only me.
I too have been scammed by Progressive Business Publications. They claim I received 14 pieces of mail including their publication and their invoices. They claim I received a confirmation email of what I agreed to. I looked up my received mail and the email was not their. The customer service rep resent me the email while on the phone with her and I never received it during our 15 minute phone call. The first time I've heard of this company is when I received a fax notice from their collection agency. During our conversation she suddenly said, oh, we're about to get disconnected at which time I'll call you back, well, we were disconnected and she hasn't called back!
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 have just been scammed by them as well. And this is the second time within my company that I am aware of. They claim to have sent invoices and publications but I never got anything nor would I have ever agreed to it. I am an inside sales manager. My people don’t need this info. The Selling Advantage is a slime ball company.