Progressive Business Publications Reviews

I received a call from the CEO of this company today who had already called ICR and spoke with them regarding our account, and removed our company from collections as well as spoke with them about the unprofessionalism of the representative who I spoke with. I am very grateful that they made this right, and I get to keep my job. I do believe this company means well.

Progressive Business Publications began sending a newsletter to our company, unsolicited, and then sent an invoice demanding payment of $295.00. Their invoice mentioned a name and listed a date which was supposedly this individual's birthday, and this was apparently supposed to be proof that this person had entered into the subscription. The individual named, however, has not been with our company for many years, and there are circumstances related to the named individual which prove this to be a total scam. Suffice to say that it would have been impossible for their claim to be true. Don't fall for their scams.

These people are shady. I gave the ok for the guy to send me an email just to get him off the phone. I never even read the email. Got an invoice and sent it back saying Please Cancel! Now I get calls from a collection agency. They claim the email said I have to cancel or I would be charged. How can this be legal?

I have received 5-6 harassing calls from Kathy, and today from Chris, demanding payment for a subscription I neither asked for nor received. The negative reviews of these two companies for this scam are ongoing and I hope they get investigated and shut down.

As noted by many others, I received a phone call with a free offer for Foundation & Corporate Funding Advantage. Received invoices for the subscription... wrote cancel on the first and sent it back. Kept receiving pieces and just pitched them as junk mail. Got a phone call on Monday from a collection agent who informed me I owed $288. When I noted I sent a cancellation in was told I must not have "checked the barcode box" on the invoice... really?!?! So now my small nonprofit is out this money. Today I received an email from the company thanking me for my subscription which lead me to look at these reviews. Unfortunately I was scammed by this organization and will use everything in my social media/internet powers to warn people about their underhanded and disgusting business practices.

I received an unsolicited call from a sales representative asking if I would review a few publications free from Progressive Business Publication for "Keep Up To Date On Payroll" and they would follow up with a call which they did. I stated I was not interested and to cancel my trial subscription. Today, I received a collection call stating they were taking me to court for nonpayment! I looked up the company’s information, contact them, they are asking for proof that I canceled and that it had to be an invoice cancelation or proof of something in writing! I was told that informing the representative I did not want the subscription and to cancel was not the way to go about this. Apparently, they cannot cancel the subscription and my name and date of birth were attached to the information! This is a SCAM! Do NOT give your information to this publication company! There are other resources out there.

This company called me unsolicited and asked if they could send me a few copies of their newsletter at no cost. I said sure...they were free and I'd take a look. Just got off the phone with a collections group who said I owe them $207.50 for their subscription. I said I never signed up for this nor wanted it. They said they sent me emails (so what?) and that they had been sending me invoices... Yes I received them but assumed they were just like the credit card applications I get that I don't respond to either. This company is scamming people into thinking they are offering free newsletters and then signing up for an annual subscription. I never signed anything or applied for anything - yet here I am paying the bill. This company's practices should be reviewed and investigated. ** is phone number of collections person, Kathy who called me.

Heavy handed phone call to send payroll updates via email. Was told if I found them helpful, I could renew for a fee. Never received-never renewed. Kept getting invoices in the mail. Was sent to collections and was contacted that my name was attached to invoices and that I/the company I work for had to pay the bill. Of course, I had to pay the $299 or lose my job. I am so ** mad at these losers! DON'T even talk to these people if they call you. They lie about their service and charge you without permission. PROGRESSIVE BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS ***SUCK***. Was contacted by Beckie ** from Intl Credit Recovery and she stated that I owed $299 and she would not give me any information since the bill was sent to them. Her callback number is **. I had to pay, or I would lose my job. I am out $299 which for me, is a lot of money. How can these people get away with this?

This is a complete scam. They say they receive authorization to send trial newsletters and then send an invoice demanding payment saying the trial period is over. No one at our office authorized the shipment. No one remembers receiving the newsletters, and this has happened before. Zero stars. I have called 1-800-220-5000, option 6, and spoke to Melissa to "cancel" the order we never made. Hopefully, they will not follow through with the threat to report to a credit agency. Bad company. Bad scam.

A salesman from this company called me to push a magazine subscription. He did not say how much it was, as I just kept saying I was not interested at any price. Finally I agreed to accept a free magazine to review to see if it was something I would like. He said he just needed my birth month and date to send out the free month. That was in July. To this date I have never seen an invoice from this company. Didn't even see the free month, as it was probably tossed out because I do not have time nor interest in magazines. Today a collection company called me stating that they are going to enter a bad debt against our company unless we pay today. I told her good luck and have a nice day. I really hate loser sales companies who only make money off of scamming people.

Company names: Professional Business Publications, Progressive Business Publications, International Credit Recovery. What to do if collections calls you: The best way to handle the scam is to call 1-800-220-5000. DON'T PRESS #2 - PRESS #6 so you can speak to a live person. Seems that the same person always answers the phone - her name is Nicky. She was very nice and immediately canceled my 'subscription' (the one I didn't sign up for) - and I was told she would contact the credit company to tell them to stop collections. I'm assuming Chris from collections sits right next to her.

Avoid at all costs. They reported my company to a collections agency, claiming that one of our employees "agreed" to a 30-day free trial of a subscription no one wants, then "failed to properly cancel" within the 30 days. So now we're being harassed by "International Credit," 607-748-4686 - Katie, for $250. "Katie" told me I should scold my employee, for doing something "they should not have done." It's a beautiful world.

I received a call late one afternoon from a salesperson (Chris) selling Administrative Professional Update. Truthfully, I just wanted him off the phone so I agreed to my "NO-RISK" order of Administrative Professional Update. I was told that if I enjoyed the magazine, a subscription was "just two-ninety-nine". Assuming this was a small Admin Professional magazine, I assumed this meant $2.99. When I received my confirmation email the next day, I saw the price of "$299.00" and emailed immediately to cancel.

I got a call from a salesperson from Progressive Business Publications. They were very persistent about accepting free trial which we can cancel by returning the first invoice and marked "Please cancel," which we did, but after several month maybe 3 to 4 months we receive a bill from them with no phone number or email address so we ignored it. On 10-20-16 we get a call from a collection agency from New York City requesting payment of $299.00 which WE refused to pay. I DON'T recommend anyone to accept their trial offer due to the high number of complaints on this website.

Be careful... they cover their tracks. I got a call from a salesperson from Progressive Business Publications on May 04, 2016. She was very pleasant and I accepted the trial subscription just to get off the phone. I was told that if I chose to cancel, I could indicate on my invoice, when received, that I wanted to cancel and mail it back. She did confirm my birthday and immediately sent an email confirmation titled "The information you requested". In the email I was told I would receive a username and password via email within 24 hours. The email had no phone number or email address for the salesperson that I spoke to. I did subsequently receive a few e-newsletters. I did not ever receive the username and password via email.

One of our employees was contacted and the company represented themselves as a new, local business and wondered if he would like a complimentary book. If he liked it, he could call and they would sign him up for a subscription. He never received a book, so he forgot about it. Now he's received an invoice and phone calls. I've played phone tag with the number of the person he gave me but made no live contact. I left a message requesting our account be zeroed out and informing them that we had received nothing.

Got a call today that hit our Foundation up for $249. Sure smacks of a scam-type approach. I DID NOT solicit a membership, I DID agree to read your gratis bulletins. By not responding on a certain date you "hit" our Foundation up for $249 via a collection agency. Nice gesture by a non-profit group. If we wanted the publication we would have officially subscribed to it, and not having to be forced to pay for it. This one is going to the Better Business Bureau and to sister foundations.

My husband was called by one of their telemarketers while he was driving and told he would be sent a sample publication as a FREE trial and the terms and conditions would be sent to him via e-mail. He never received the terms and conditions and we have been mailed an invoice for $430 that he never agreed to which is now being sent to collections. One of the tactics that the telemarketing companies are using to get people to answer the phone is showing a local phone number on the caller IDs, which is also what happened in this case, further assuring me this is a scam.

I started receiving publications in the mail at my workplace in July of 2015. It was under my name (Wrong title) and the company's old name (We had gotten acquired months prior). We received a Bill for $430.00 stating that I had given "Written Verification" stating it was the 3rd notice. I had never heard of this company before.

Former employee of company and felt like I was forcing publications on people who did not want it. In the script it does mention it is a free trial and can cancel, but most publications were over $300 and would receive an invoice. It was a quick blurb put in the script and many didn't realize they would be charged. The manager was not professional in any way and yelled at the employees when not reaching goals. Also, the technology was so outdated the computers were at least 10-15 yrs old and employees had to push record on the tape recorder when verifying customer information. The tapes would then just get tossed in a bin at the end of the day.

I received an invoice for $299 for an annual subscription that I did not request. They had my name and birthdate, they also claimed to have an "Original Order Date & Written Confirmation" supposedly sent from me. I know I never would have requested their services so right away I was concerned. I googled the company and the comments I read on this site were more than just a little bothersome so I was fully prepared for a battle when I called the number I found.

I was contacted by International Credit Collection Bureau on behalf of Progressive Business Publication. I was accused of lying about ordering some publication called Environmental Compliance. The woman who called was very rude and threatened to ruin our company credit by reporting delinquency on this account if I did not pay the account. I asked for your name and phone number but she just hung-up on me. This is a scam to get you to pay!!!

PB Compliance called my place of employment concerning free information on HR, frequently. I finally got tired of phones calls and told them to send me information and I will look it over and let them know at my convenience. Next thing I know I received a bill for $230.00 on publications that I had not received and kept unsubscribing from the e-mails they kept sending. Now they have a collection agent trying to strong-arm for payment. If PB Compliance calls hang up and do not talk to them because once you tell them to send you information they automatically "bind you" in a contract you know nothing about. And do not give any personal information on yourself, with this information they process this and you are automatically subscribed to their publications without your knowledge or consent.

I was contacted by someone from Progressive Business Publications and asked to sample a trial subscription to a business journal. I agreed to sample it. I was informed that if I wanted to cancel the trial subscription just let them know and it would be cancelled. I contacted them and told them I wanted to cancel. The business journal/newsletter stopped. Several weeks later I get phone calls from International Credit Recovery to pay a $250-$299 overdue subscription fee. THE WHOLE THING MUST BE SOME KIND OF SCAM!! They should not be allowed to do business like this - consumer affairs or some other watchdog agency needs to shut their business practice down!! Anyone who reads this - Stay away from Progressive Business Publications.

I was contacted via phone, asked if I wanted a free publication. I said, "Sure." Started getting invoices. Ignored them, because I was told this was free and figured the invoices were for additional services or something. My fault, I GUESS, for not reading invoices more carefully, but there was absolutely no indication in the phone conversation with the salesperson that this would need to be cancelled by some certain time in order to not be charged. If there was some messaging regarding that, I would have not agreed to the subscription at all. Received final invoice for approximately $250. Hassled to pay it. Said, "I thought this was free." Argued. Didn't get anywhere. Paid it. Just got another newsletter today and asked to cancel. Hopefully, that will be the end of this nonsense.

Don't talk to anyone from Progressive Business Publications or CFO & Controller Alert!!! I'm an office manager who doesn't have many freedom so I know that I don't accept anything permanent or that costs $$ over the phone EVER!!! Only my Pres & VP have the authority to do any such thing. The only time I gave my date of birth out to anyone in recently, was to someone saying they were sending a free 2015 calendar out. Free calendar works for me.

I use to work for PBP in Altoona. And I feel bad for the people I "sold" the subscription to. Altoona doesn't offer many job opportunities, so when I applied for this job I was under the impression that this was useful information. While employed, the Branch Manager would belittle me in front of other coworkers. Threatened my job countless times for not making "sales". Told us it was our fault that you people who receive our phone calls don't answer. We are treated like cattle. Slaves. And they hold that job over our heads knowing that it was a last resort for employment. I highly advise no one subscribes to their publications. For if you do know that the people that are employed at that company is highly degraded and belittled on a daily basis. And by subscribing, you support that.

Collection agent has called me on behalf of the ** at Progressive Publications saying I owe them for something I have had to cancel every single time they send me an invoice for years now. Went down this same heated road in 2009 with the Progressive ** to the point that my controller was on the verge of getting out corporate lawyer involved due to the harassment. At that time, I was supposed to be PURGED from their system, but next thing you know, they are back at it again year or so later. Now they want $180.00 through a collections agent to purge me out of the system again. So I am not sure why this company is still allowed to be in business with these practices, but it's probably ran by a Progressive Liberal. They suck!

If anyone ever contacts you from Progressive Business Publications or International Credit Recovery Inc.... hang up the phone and ignore them. They are a scam that sells completely useless information for a host of different topics. The information is useless because it isn't relevant to the real world. I was called about receiving an environmental email and was told I could cancel it within so much time without charge. I have been fighting with these losers ever since. They do not cancel as they say they will. They also slam you with additional publications which you never even asked for. They are very aggressive and ICR would not know the third party debt collections practices act if it bit them on the forehead. Hang up and ignore these morons and do not sign up for anything. They are horrible.

I was called and asked if I wanted a free publication and because it is free they would need to confirm my "birth month." They did this and next thing I know they have send me an INVOICE for $299.00. I called their Customer Service area: 1-800-220-5000 and they did cancel it for me. I listened to all their options and they must have problems, as one option is if you are an "employee or former employee" contacting the payroll department. They must have high turnover due to people calling to yell at them. I did NOT press #2 to cancel as I wanted to TALK to someone. I pressed #6. She said she canceled the subscription. I hope it worked.