Progressive Business Publications Charged us for internet reports we did not order or receive. Malvern Pennsylvania

18th of Oct, 2011 by User232518

Progressive Business Publications claims I ordered a trial subscription of an internet marketing newsletter for my company in March, 2011. I talked to them, but toward the end of the call, I remembered to ask if this was one of those deals where they automatically start charging us after the free subscription, and they said, "Yes." I said "NO! I don't want this. Cancel this." I never take those kind of offers, because it is too much trouble to remember to cancel them. I think it is a bad business practice and that the product must be worthless for them to have to resort to such tactics to sell it. I must have given them my birthdate, before I found out what kind of offer it was. I've been with the company for 11 years, we get many of these offers, but I didn't recognize this one immediately. We never received any newsletters from Progressive Business Publications. When they called and tried to collect $299 on a bogus invoice, our accounts payable people had me talk to them. I told them I did not order this, we did not receive it and we didn't want to pay for it. They insisted that I had ordered it and had my birthdate that they gave as proof. I told them what had happened and asked them to produce a recording of the call where I ordered the product. They would not, even though the call had been recorded. On 10-18-11 I got a phone message from Sam at International Credit Recovery (phone 607-748-4686) saying that there was a past due invoice that had my name attached to it. I called and found that Progressive Business Publications had turned the bogus invoice over to a credit recovery company, who said they were going to report a delinquent invoice to the credit bureaus on our company if we didn't pay the invoice. I explained to Sam what had happened and that I had asked to hear the recording. She told me that the recordings were for quality control and that they didn't have to release them. She called this fraudulent practice "negative selling." I didn't know there was a name for it other than stealing. We paid the invoice, because it was a relatively small amount and not worth fighting. I think they count on that, and probably do this to company after company. If you get a call from Progressive Business Publications, HANG UP. Do not tell them your name or any other information. I don't even know if they have a product to sell, since we never got anything. However, I know they are NOT a legitimate company, with honest business practices trying to serve the public. I'm going to file with the Better Business Burea in Malvern, PA. Be sure to tell all your friends.

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