TFN Billing scam

[Guest]

I didn't pay attention to the warning message in the T&F magazine a couple of months ago about this.

I renewed my subscribtion (aparently from a clearing house- I realized this now) in July for 2 years and then recently got another renewal notice from TFN. I tracked down my cancelled check from the bank and called T&F customer service. They gave me the phone number of this agency- I called them and they would not give my money back. They told me that they are a legitimate business and that 'T&FN' doesn't know about them!!

After hitting a wall, I called them back today and told them that I needed to cancel the subscription because I got laid off. They put in a request and told me that it will take 6-12 weeks to process. Hopefully, I will get my money back.

Has anyone else had this problem? For $88 ($6 more than T&F renewal fees for two years) it is almost not worth fighting the battle, but I am fuming right now!!!

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

well, don't expect any help from these howers. in fact you might anticipate that the big brothers on this board will delete your cry out.

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

I don't blame T&FN. They posted the warnings, I remember. T&FN also told me that there is a pending lawsuit against this agency.

I am mad that they (the clearing house) has been doing this for a while and is not stopping!

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

Sorry to hear about this...

So, you gave them money to renew your subscription and they didn't do it? How can this be a legitimate business?

P.S. If they did renew your subscription, but charged you more than you would have otherwise, I guess it's tough luck. Sucks, but probably not much that YOU can do -- although T&FN probably has a stronger case.

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

I don't know if they renewed my subscription. The october issue that I got is from T&FN. This agency told me that it takes 2-3 months for the renewal to take effect. So if they renewed it, I have yet to recieve it. I might never know, since I asked for a refund.

[gh]

Re: TFN Billing scam

Not sure which scumbags got to you, but the one that plagues us the most (and we cite in the magazine on an almost monthly basis) goes by various names:

Publishers Service Exchange
Associated Publishers Subscription Service
United Publishers Network

A google on any of those will show you no end of magazines who have been equally plagued.

Check out this URL and you'll see that Time filed a huge lawsuit against them. We've had the attorneys-general of several states after them for years, but they're very slippery, we're sad to report. Every time we think we've heard the last of them they show up somewhere else under a different name.

Our apologies to any and all who have fallen victim to these turds. We're doing everythign we can to stop them.

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

The company name at the back of my cancelled check says: "IC marketing Inc., DBA, publishers consolidated". The check was cashed at BofA, Lake Oswego, OR.

[gh]

Re: TFN Billing scam

Most of the trouble of late has come out of Oregon.

[jhc68]

Re: TFN Billing scam

So what exactly is the scam? do they NOT renew or do they simply keep renewing you into the indefinite future? I have a Volleyball Magazine subscription that goes way into the year 2006 because I didn't pay attention and kept recklessly renewing with whoever sent a renewal notice.

[gh]

Re: TFN Billing scam

The scam as the original poster described it was that a rogue company sold him a 2-year subscription for what was double the 1-year price. The real T&FN renewal notice then showed up with a 2-year price discounted $6 off double the 1-year.

Another thing that these kinds of agencies will do is offer you a subscription at a price LOWER than what we offer. When we refuse their request to issue a subscription at a price that has us running at a loss, they then go back to the victim and tell them they can't have T&FN but they'd be happy to funnel their money into another magazine. It's a delightful world we live in.

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

<<...they then go back to the victim and tell them they can't have T&FN but they'd be happy to funnel their money into another magazine. It's a delightful world we live in.>>

That's a good reason to choose the "Bill Me" option if it exists. That way, you don't pay until you've verified that the renewal/orginal subscription order has been processed.

Of course, paying by credit card gives the customer added security (assuming the company doesn't practice credit card fraud)

Surely, any legitimate magazine or subscrition service would offer either of these options to their customers.

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

This is why I buy mine at the newstand. Although each issue may cost more, I'm able to break about even by not buying the occasional dud issue (I skim it there before buying; this also saves some wear and tear).

Also, this is an appropriate occasion to protest TFN's discrimination against those who buy at newstands. I was horrified to read that they would never hire someone who isn't on their mailing list!

And don't think that newstands get them later than residences do. I've noticed that newstands vary a lot, but the first ones often have it before my subscriber friends do.

[gh]

Re: TFN Billing scam

>Also, this is an appropriate occasion to protest TFN's discrimination against those who buy at newstands. I was horrified to read that they would never hire someone who isn't on their mailing list!>>

That's not exactly true. Proscription applies only to the editorial department and the restriction is that you have to be a reader of Track Newsletter, not Track & Field News.

If you don't have the interest to delve deeply into the facts that so deeply affect our sport, you wouldn't be able to cut it in the editorial department, where knowledge of names and numbers is so paramount. Through the years it has been a very effective screening tool.

It would be different if T&FN was a colossal enterprise with dozens of employees, but in a small office where everybody has to have a working knowledge of every facet of the operation, we can't afford to hire people with a narrow focus of skills.

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

<newsstands>

Since on the subject, I have never seen The Track and Field News Magazine in any newstands anywhere. I usually when in USA, reside in Arizona.

Cheers

[Guest]

Re: TFN Billing scam

My point was that you can't tell who is a reader of TN, TFN, or whatever simply by checking your mailing list. I read TFN, even if I'm just standing at a newstand; I read my friends' TNs. Hell, there are probably folks out there who create their own lists and know far more than most TFN/TN subscribers. Or maybe they read foreign media.

Your standard is probably useful, but it shouldn't be written in stone.