Small Claims Guide Class Actions Lemon Laws FAQ Newsletters
|
|
NEWS
RECALLS
COMPLAINT FORM
SCAM ALERTS
RESOURCES
Small Claims Guide Class Actions Lemon Laws FAQ Newsletters |
Share |
| Automotive Education Employment Electronics Family Finance Health Homeowners Insurance Pets Shopping Travel |
 Print This  Email This
|
|
|
Publishers Business Service |
|||||||||||
|
We have received hundreds of complaints about this company, in addition to the small sample shown below. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been hearing the same complaints and took action against the company in May 2008. Read the company's response here. Mary of Elkton, MD October 26, 2009 I felt like such a fool until I found this site and read some of the other comments. I too received a call from PBS with the same "survey" ploy. I was told their client would send me a little gift for answering and that all I would have to do was pay the postage. Well, long story short the total payments would be over 800.00! She also rattled off a list of magazines, nothing sounding like anything I would want and that I could change them later. I then did something I never do, after pressure from them, I gave them the checking account number. They "recorded" the conversation, or so they say. I was also told that if I had given any false information it would be considered fraud. A few days later I recevied mail from them, mostly handwritten giving details. I contacted my bank and was told that if I felt uncomfortable I should consider cancelling the checking account, which I did. What a hassle to notify all my legitimate contacts with the new info. And boy oh boy how the lady at PBS demeanor changed drastically when it was discovered the cancellation of the account. I hung up on her and promptly received another call which I let go to voice mail. Her message said that they had the new account info and credit cards numbers which they would apply the entire balance to. My bank assured me that there was no way they would divulge that information to anyone other than principal account holders. Cynthia then proceeded to call until my husband took over the phone and was so mad she hung up on him. And here all this time I thought we were covered by the do not call program. Watch out for these people! I can easily see how older folks get scammed by extremely dishonest people. Other than getting hit with a couple of bank fees for overdraft, which the bank promptly credited us because they knew of the situation and a couple nights of troubled sleep, not much. Kelli of Eaton, CO October 22, 2009 Publishers Business Services contacted me one day when I was at work. It started off with a simple survey. Next thing I knew, the lady started talking about Rolling Stone, Elle, and two other magazines being sent to my house at no cost. I didn't think nothing of it, and since I was AT WORK, I wanted to get off the phone as soon as possible. About a week later, I received my first magazine, followed by a statement. I refused to pay this because I did not agree to have any magazines sent to me. Publishers Business Services called my work again, looking for a payment. I told the man I did not agree for any sort of magazines and I want this bull to stop. He said he could not do anything until I gave him my credit card number or my credit would be in the gutter, this was "illegal" what I was doing and it could turn into a lawsuit against me. Publishers Business Services continued to call and call my work place once a day for almost two weeks! My manager finally got upset and told them I no longer worked there. I finally contacted the magazine companies and told them I did not want their magazines, did not agree to them, and wanted their address to send the magazines back. They did not hesitate to cancel the subscriptions. I also let them know it was a little disappointing that magazines, such as Elle and Rolling Stone, is somewhat involved with this scam and this Publishers Business Services are dragging their names through the mud. Kumar of Ashburn, VA October 12, 2009 They called me and said I can look at the magazine list and if not interested , I could cancel using a cancellation form enclosed. I didn't recieve anything other than the Bill after a couple of weeks. I had to pay 62 bucks to close the account. Stephen of Meadville, PA October 1, 2009 Publishers Business Services opened a magazine supscription account on my behalf over the phone for completing a survey without my approval. Publishers Business Services opened magazine supscription account number 378709 QT309-01 on my behalf over the phone for completing a survey without my approval. I have been repeatedly contacted at work where I have requested several employees to stop calling. They pretend to be lawyer's offices when calling, and I am constantly being harrassed. I have tried several times to handle the account through different departments but noone has been willing to help. Robert of Whitestone , NY August 31, 2009 I was called at work and I was told after aI complete a survey that I would receive 30 magazines for 30 now I have a bill for 897.00. I did not give them any credit/debit card number. I'm not sure what to do from here. I also mentioned on the phone that I will decide if I want to keep the service and they said yes Melissa of Shreveport, LA July 28, 2009 After being phoned at my work place, I agreed to purchase magazine subscriptions. The magazines were free; all I had to do was pay the shipping and handling on the magazines for the duration service. They broke it down in to a set amount per payment, to be made until paid in full. I thought this would be an easy way to improve my credit, as well as receive the magazines I enjoyed each month. Shortly after I was contacted again, at work, and because I was busy, I ended up agreeing to a second set of magazines. This happened a third time about 6 months ago. When they tried to get me to agree to a fourth set, I explained that I was not interested, and asked if they could state that in my account so I would not receive any more offers (I was told this was done, and it was not), and asked if there was any way I could get all three accounts taken care of. After a lengthy discussion, where the representative put me on hold to discuss options with a supervisor, I was then told that if I paid it off in 4 months, that all 3 accounts would be closed, and I would owe no more. I owed 9.27 on one account, roughly 367.00 on the second account, and over 500 on the third account. I was told that after 4 payment of 132.60 paid consecutively from March thru June, I would no longer owe money. I had recently gotten engaged, and was beginning the wedding planning process, as well as beginning preparations to move in with my fiance, and was already stretched financially, but agreed to the terms in order to get it paid off and no longer have to deal with it. The 4 payments of 132.60 were paid in full, drafted from my checking account on 4/1/2009, 5/1/2009, 6/2/2009 and 7/1/2009. With the fourth and final payment behind me, I was relieved to have it paid off. Today I received a call stating that while the third account was paid off in full, the other two accounts are still open and because they are no longer being automatically drafted from my account, are negligent for the past four months, I would have never agreed to pay that large of a sum of money each month, accept for the fact that I was told that my accounts would be paid in full. It is preposterous that I would have left an account with only 9.27 open and I did not stop the auto drafting, and they have no record of me doing so. Now they say I still owe 9.27 for account one and 367.00 account 2. I just got a house with my fiance that we are moving into this weekend, and I am still trying to plan a small wedding. I have a little over 9.00 in my checking account and about 12.00 in my wallet, and still have household items to purchase and a wedding dress to pay off, and they want me to pay what didn't get auto drafted the last 4 months as well as the rest I owe. Had I known I the other two accounts would be left opened, I wouldn't have agreed to the 4 payments, and would have made a payment schedule accordingly. I've paid them over 500 in the last 6 months, and probably about that much in the last year or so before that. I have a decent job but I dont make a whole lot. I'm trying to build my life with my future husband, and plan our wedding, that even though its going to be small is going to cost money, and now I owe money that I thought was taken care of. Josh of Scotts Valley, CA July 24, 2009 I was contacted at work in 2006 and told that if I completed a short survey that I would recieve free magazine subscriptions. Pretty soon, I recieved a bill for 19.99. I called the number on the statement and was told that I had agreed to payment for a seperate account which was 19.99 for 36 months!!! Said that they had me on tape agreeing to this amount. I paid roughly 300 over the next year and became fed up. When I made one payment to them (which was probably my biggest mistake), I gave them my acct number and agreed for an electronic check for THIS PAYMENT ONLY. They continued taking money out of my account and this did not cease until I called the bank and informed them of the situation. They placed a stop payment on the business name and stopped the payments. I recieved a phone call and was told that I needed to pay my accounts up to date. I was told that I had authourized 2 more accounts in my name and that I owed them another 600 dollars total. I never agreed to pay them for any magazines in the first place, yet alone open 4 seperate accounts with them. I have been notified that they will send me to collections and have made them aware, in writing, that I dispute the debt owed to them. Gene of Anchor Point , AK July 15, 2009 Gene my wife was called on her cell phone by them while at work. She gave the information they asked for while trying to be nice and tell them she was at work and could not talk. Next thing we knew we where getting a bill from them for 29.95. I tried to call them today to get it canceled. I asked to speak to billing. they should have been able to help me. They transferred me to public relations. All I got was a recording to leave my name and number and they would get back to me. I called 2 more times trying to talk to a supervisor and got the same results. the last time I called they transferred me to a guy that informed me that the problem was because they closed a 5pm est and I am in Alaska. Buy this time I am a little hot under the collar about the run around and called them idiots because they were trying to scam us. The guy told me that he did not have to put up with that and hung up on me. I was to mad at the time to get names. Cindy of Scottsdale, AZ July 8, 2009 Like all the other complaints about them....there was never full disclosure of costs, I did not agree to anything and then I get a bill for 897.00!! They tell me they have me on tape. Then they will only having me say I UNDERSTAND their monthly payment, not that I agreed to it! I have filed complaints with both the BBB and FTC. And this company tells you that they have very, very low complaints.... BBB has them with over 400 complaints in the last 36 months. I would say that is alot!!! I have called and written to this company to complain, but have heard nothing from them!! So much for customer satisfaction.... Jeremy of Prattville, AL July 2, 2009 Our complaint is very similar if not exactly like everyone else on here. However, I would like to bring some light into the problem. I called Publishers Business Services (PBS) on June 30, 2009 and spoke with a very rude male in the billing department. I asked to cancel our account and his reply was that it was not possible and we owed PBS over 550 for the subscription. He then brought the amount down to 220, then 210, then 149,50, and finally to 110. I still refused to pay. He continued to yell at me over the phone, and I hung up. I contacted the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and filed a complaint. The FTC already has a federal lawsuit against PBS. My wife then emailed PBS' Customer Service department, requesting to cancel the account and that a complaint was filed with the FTC. Today, July 2, 2009, she recieved an email back from PBS Customer Service stating our account has been cancelled and we would not be billed for any future months and our magazines would be shipped through the end of this year. I highly recommend you make contact with Customer Service and NOT the Billing Department. Prior to hearing back from PBS Customer Service we did cancel the credit card that PBS had on file so they could not charge our card the 29.90/month. I recommend you do the same and this too will ensure they no longer charge your card. Advertisement
| ||||||||||
