Avoid Publishers Distribution Services

Well, “Publishers Distribution Services” kindly offers me a subscription to the Wall Street Journal at $599.95 a year.  That is six times what I currently pay (the education rate).  It is “one of our lowest rates.”  I’d hate to see one of their highest rates.

Avoid these scoundrels.  They operate under dozens of names and hope to deceive people — and they often succeed.

The Return of the Fashion Logo

The Wall Street Journal of 15 November 2013 has an interesting article titled “The Return of the Fashion Logo.”  The article notes that companies are finding fresh and sometimes ironic ways of getting customers to become walking advertisements.  And it notes that:

 After all, logos are as much about broadcasting financial status as they are about making a fashion statement.

An interesting take, and worth the read.

The Wall Street Journal Gets Mad

My recent posts have discussed fraudulent attempts to get people to subscribe to magazines at often outrageous prices.  This morning’s Wall Street Journal (11 November 2013) has a full page on the subject:

It mentions names like Associated Publishers Network, Magazine Billing Network, and United Publishers Service.

Now, the WSJ charges on the order of $275,000 for a full-page ad.  They aren’t going to give over that much valuable advertising space unless they are really, really unhappy.

For more details, see the WSJ site.  That page mentions that the WSJ is taking action to stop such frauds.  I hope they succeed.

Avoid American Preferred Reader Services

I just got a call from “American Preferred Reader Services.”  When I said that I had no business relationship with them and that they were in violation, the reply was that I had ordered something from them.  I asked what.  “I can’t tell you that, since I work in marketing.” Indeed.

They call from Florida with numbers like this: 954-767-XXXX. The Better Business Bureau has a file on them.

Avoid them.

Avoid Publishers Billing Center

Over a year back I wrote about the Associated Publishers Network.  As you can see from the entry below, lots of unhappy people found the post.

Now they are doing business as “Publishers Billing Center” with a mailing address in White City, Oregon.  The forms look the same — just the name has changed.

Again, their prices are high, sometimes outrageously high, and they hope that careless recipients will think it’s a bill and send a check.

Avoid them.  They also don’t know grammar, since the grammatical form would be “Publishers’ Billing Center.”

They do business under a variety of other names, changing as each becomes too notorious.  Here is a typical one, designed to look like a bill (although if you read carefully, they note it isn’t.

The Nation, one of many magazines afflicted by this scammer, provides a list of other names they use:

• Billing Services Association
• Billing Services of America
• Circulation Billing Center
• Circulation Billing Services
• Magazine Billing Services
• Magazine Billing Network
• Magazine Billing Services
• Magazine Distribution Services
• National Magazine Services
• National Magazine Subscriptions
• Orbital Publishing Group
• Periodical Billing Services
• Publishers Billing Association
• Publishers Billing Center
• Publishers Billing Exchange
• Publishers Payment Processing, Inc.
• Publishers Subscription Services
• Readers Billing Network
• Readers Billing Services
• Readers Payment Center
• Readers Payment Services
• United Publishers Services

If you get an mailing from a different name, let me know.  I’m keeping track of these scoundrels.