The Journal

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
Regards,
*** ***
The gentleman did not properly explain his company's "business model." He tricked me into thinking that he was working with our local law enforcement agencies. The only reason for his follcall was to pressure me to use a credit card to pay
He wanted payment without asking for, or receiving ad copy. A letter which arrived a day after his call made the following statement:
"To help us meet our deadlines, please enclose your advertising copy - a letterhead or business card - along with your payment in the enclosed envelope and return it as soon as possible." Only in that same letter does it explain that it is a national for-profit pulication (sp) not targeted at any particular locale, etc
I will not honor the invoice, and will not submit advertising copy to this company. Please direct the company to remove *** *** ***from its call lists, and any mailing lists
If you are under the impression that my complaint is something new, please note the following from on this website: ***
View Full Version : *** *** *** They've been running this scam since at least
***
08-***2006, 12:AM
One of the PDs I work for gets a publication called The Journal: The Voice of Law EnforcementEvery now and then, I look it overThe articles aren't great, but it's OK reading in a pinch
The thing that always caught my attention was the advertising included in the publicationSince my FT job is in advertising sales, it was incredibly odd to me that this publication was being sent to *** around the country and was full of advertising for everything from chiropractors to trucking companies to contractors to restaurantsWhat's more, they were from all over the country, and the advertisers seemed to simply be serving local marketsAs a nearly-20-year veteran of the advertising industry, this made absolutely no senseWhy would a company pay money for advertising to reach an audience that, at best, might only be peripherally interested in their products/services? And there were literally hundreds of themSomething just didn't smell right
The other night, I decided to figure out what was going onThe first thing I found was that the company that publishes The Journal is called *** *** ***That immediately raised red flags, because I know of no publishing company that refers to itself as a 'marketing' companyA quick web search caused me to stumble across some court cases from the late 90s that shed some light on the whole situation
Here's how it works; a sales representative from The Journal calls up a local businessperson and says something to the effect of, "How would you like to support your local law enforcement agency? Advertise with us and we'll use a percentage of your ad expense to benefit law enforcement in your areaPlus, we'll send you an official sticker/card/placard that shows you support law enforcement (wink, wink)."
The 'benefit' they talk about is their magazine, which they send out to a token number of police departments around the countryTry to pin them down on actual circulation numbers an they hide behind "proprietary information" (again, I know of no reputable publishing company that would refuse to tell what it's circulation numbers are)According to the court document I read, they were spending 15% of their ad revenues on the magazineEverything else went into their pockets
In addition to this, they were also engaging in numerous other shady practices, like billing advertisers who didn't have contracts, then threatening legal action and credit problems if the advertisers didn't pay upAs a person working for a legitimate publishing company, these kinds of operations make me sick, as they tarnish the reputation of everyone in the publishing industryThe fact that they're tieing in with law enforcement further enrages me
Now I'll admit that the documentation I read was from 1998, so some time has passedAnd it appears that this *** *** *** ended up settling with the FTCI don't know how much their business practices have changed since then, but I still see current copies of The Journal showing up full of ads for everything BUT LE-related companies
I just wanted to pass this information along so that anyone contacted by this company, or others similar to it (one of the court cases named companies that were essentially doing the exact same thing under a variety of LE-sounding names/titles)If you're a businessperson and get a call asking you to help your local department by spending money, I'd get a detailed description of EXACTLY what assistance the local agency is going to getThen contact the department in question and make sure they know about this -- if they've never heard of the company or its 'assistance', save your money
*
***
*** *** **
*** * *** *** *** *** ** *** *** *** ** ***
*** ** *** *** *** *** * *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

May 19,
Dear Sirs:
According to our records we originally spoke to Mr*** *** on March 31, and at that time he agreed to purchase a 1/page ad in our publication and gave our representative his date of birth of 10/as a confirmation of the
orderHe gave us a mailing address of *** *** *** *** ** *** and there had been three invoices mailed to that address and one faxed to *** at their requestEach of these invoices contained a request for them to return ad copy with their paymentOur records indicate that we spoke to Mr*** again on April 22, to make sure he had received the invoice and we were told that he would check to see and get the check and ad copy in the mailAgain on May 6, we were told that the check and ad copy would go out that weekOn Friday, May 16, we were told that they were not going to pay the invoice and at that time we canceled the ad and ceased billingWe never tell anyone that we are turning an a account over to a collection agencyall of our accounts are handled in house by our representativesI apologize if there has been any misunderstandings on this account on our behalf but I can assure you that we would never have intentionally billed Mr*** for the ad had he not given given us permission to do soAgain the account has been closed and they will receive no further communications from us
Sincerely,
*** ***

We did not try to trick *** *** into believing we were with his local policeAs I said before he was told very clearly that this was not a donation or contribution to any police agency but that it was advertising dollarsWe make this clear in every presentation and it is stated on every piece of material that *** *** receivedWhen we make the follcall we offer the customer the choice of paying by credit card or mailing their paymentIf they choose to pay by credit card we have them email, fax or mail their ad copy to usI already stated that we have canceled the ad and credited the invoiceWe are not trying to strong arm him into paying for something he does not wantWe have also put him on our do not call list as he has requestedAs far as the letter to the editor that *** *** refers to from 2006, that was written by a competitive ad salesman that sold ads for another police publicationThat was strictly for his personal benefit

I have contacted Mr*** *** personally this morning and apoligized for the behavior of our sales representative *** *** This account should have been credited when Mr*** called in and requested suchAs I explained to Mr*** there is no excuse for rude behavior and I am sincerely
sorry that this happenedMr*** has been placed on notice and I can assure you that this will not happen againWe have canceled the renewal and added Mr*** to our no call list as he requestedIf I can be of further assistance please contact me
*** ***

Dear Sirs:
First we have never asked them for a donation to local law enforcementIt is made clear in every presentation that this is a solicitation for advertising and is not a donation to any law enforcement agencyThis is also reiterated on the bill and letter that accompanies
it. We spoke to Mr*** *** on June 9, and at that time he agreed to do our smallest ad for $A invoice for that amount was mailed to him the next day.When we followed up on June he stated that he had not seen the invoice that was mailed so we faxed him a copy of the invoice and he said he would mail his payment and copyAfter receiving the faxed invoice he stated that he wanted to check us out and make sure we were legitimate before paying the invoiceWe gave him our website address and again explained who we wereWe spoke to Mr*** again this morning and he again stated that he was in the process of verifying our legitimacy and to get back with him on MondayHe has never told us that he was not going to pay the bill or to cancel the ad
We canceled the ad reservation and credited the account after receiving your letterWe left Mr*** a voice mail this afternoon informing him of thisThey will not be contacted again
Sincerely,
*** ***

When we spoke with [redacted] on 1/**/14 he was told that this was not a donation or contribution but that it was only through the advertising revenues that we are able to distribute the magazine free to the police officers.
 This publication goes to virtually every sheriff and chief of...

police in Virginia free of charge. As far the web site the most current magazine is there is there and all editorial from that issue can be read. The covers are all past issues back to 1993. We made a follow-up call on 1/**/13 to make sure they received the invoice  and material we had sent and they were to call us back. We have canceled the ad reservation and credited the account.
[redacted]

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: I purchased the Sunday only subscription for The Journal back in the end of November/beginning of December for the 6 month period. I received my journals with no issues at the beginning of my subscription. About 2 months into my subscription, I stopped receiving The Journal. I originally thought that maybe I had signed up for the 3 month period instead and did not think twice about it. About a month ago, I was consolidating my finances and found out that I had actually paid for a 6 month subscription. I called the billing office and spoke to a woman who advised I had a past due balance on my account so they suspended my delivery without notification or explanation. I was confused... I pre-paid in advance for a 6 month subscription. I had just moved into my apartment and never had The Journal delivered to me before. She advised she would look into the issue and call back. I waited 2 days and never received a call. I again had to call The Journal and they advised they had made an accounting error and it would be fixed. She explain she would tack on all the months I missed out on to the end of my subscription. I was frustrated, but I understand mistakes happen. 3 days later at 530 am, I received a knock on my door from the local police department concerned about my safety. The police officer explained that the newpaper delivery man called in a report that there may be an issue because I had not picked up my journal for 3 days. I was confused and apologized to the police officer, explaining that The Journal had messed up my Sunday only subscription and I had talked to them 3 days prior to fix it. I did not understand why papers would be being delivered during the week days anyway. I have 2 doors to my apartment, and the door that the paper is delivered to is one that I rarely use. After this incident I quickly made a call to The Journal, furious at this point. I spoke with a male worker and his boss, both who had spoken to the delivery man while I was on the phone and confirmed it was him who called the police. Apparently when The Journal reinstated my subscription, they changed it to a everyday delivery instead of the desired and originally ordered Sunday delivery. They apologized for the inconvenience, explaining that the delivery man was just concerned. I explained I have had too many issues with their company and I would just like to cancel my subscription and be refunded for the remainder of the papers I have yet to receive. The male worker explained this would not be an option but he would have someone in a higher position call back and discuss the issue. Shortly after, I recevied a voicemail from a woman who apologized for the incident with the police but explained it was not someone who worked for The Journal who made the report. She then explained she was unable to cancel my subscription but she would correct the issue and make sure I receive the full 6 months I had paifd for. She did not leave a number where I could call back. I was frustrated with the voicemail because it was very impersonable and the woman lied. The police officer, as well as the 2 Journal workers I originally spoke with both confirmed it was the delivery man who called the police. As angry and frustrated as I was, I tried to let it go as multiple people had said there was no way to refund the money. Approximately 2 weeks after this instance, I received a call from a Journal worker asking if I wanted to renew my subscription because it had expired. I was livid at this point. I had only received 2 months (if that) of papers when I have paid for an entire 6 months. The Journal has made multiple mistakes, promising to fix them, and they have never followed through. I am a young individual who could have had a long term relationship with the local newspaper, but after this experience I will never deal with the company again.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for the $41.60 I paid for a 6 month subscription.