Sep
24
My post from some time ago about Morgan and Chase Publishing sure has had a lot of comments recently. It seems after an initial post by some woman who claimed to work for them, and couldn’t believe I was not happy, a flurry of people posted on how unhappy they were.
Well now it seems Morgan and Chase have closed their doors and gone bankrupt. It does not surprise me one little bit. It is just a shame that so many small business people have been ripped off.
Tags: morgan and chase, publishing
M & C came to our town over two years ago promoting their Treastures book–to be produced in time for the early May, 2007, 400th anniversary of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, just 20 miles away.
When the book finally arrived in June (too late to take advantage of the celebration) after numerous calls, a large number of the Yorktown “treasures” were located in the wrong place–so there were two sections of Yorktown places–one correct and one incorrect.
My location was incorrect, and I never even opened the box. When I tried to send the books back, they refused to accept them for one year. They told me that I was being put free on their website which was worth $50 a month (maybe–I don’t recall the exact amount). I had NO interest in the website, so that amounted to no benefit for me at all.
When the year was up, I emailed the company and after numberous emails, I got a very nice reply that I should send them to a particular address for a full refund of $300.
I sent them (for $40) in late June—never heard anything from them.
I emailed a dozen times, and never got any response at all. I tried to call–and other attempts proved equally futile.
I’m just adding my comments to the others–if there’s a “class action” suit against the company (if they are not in chapter 11), I’d be glad to join.
I was just reading online and found this stream and the term “ponzi scheme” comes to mind and reminds me of pond scum. It may look like a pretty green shade of feed, but in reality it is toxic and sucks the life out of the fish trying to swim in the pond.
The term ponzi scheme originates from a man named Charles Ponzi. Wikipedia has a nice explanation of the original scam here. Basically, the scheme consists of using new deposits to pay out old deposits that have matured into payments due. It doesn’t matter if the scheme is less than 100% of a ponzi. If ANY of the new deposits are used to pay off old ones, it is a ponzi scheme. It also doesn’t matter if there is a service, like advertising, in between. Ponzi schemes sometimes say that they include paid advertising, fees, etc. in with the payments. They are still a ponzi.
Even if an administrator has “honest” intentions for running a ponzi, they are still scammers. An “honest” ponzi scheme is an oxymoron. Eventually, the withdrawals match or grow greater than the deposits. Programs fold as they reach this peak or slide down the other side. Some blame it on the members and/or economy to get out. Some blame it on administration. Think about it… ponzi schemes are set up to fail by definition. Folding with a large majority of losers is inevitable. EVERY ponzi scheme is a scam, no matter if they are currently paying or not.
In this case, each upfront deposit for a new promised book, sounds like paid for the previous book to be published ; but if too many books promised came due(deposits in but not saved to pay for the next book to be published) books are not published on time and/or at all. Like “Programs fold as they reach this peak or slide down the other side”.
Sounds like its a serious question of how many books promised(deposits in) were taken in that were never published vs what actually was published or paid out? Was the company set up to fail in the first place; take all that they could get before folding, like the above described scenario? Food for thought.
I, unfortunately, am also a victim of Morgan & Chase’s bad business ethics. I was supposed to receive my books this past fall. The books, of course, did not arrive, nor did I receive any kind of correspondence from the company. When I tried calling the number listed, it was out of service.
After reading all the previous posts and learning that the company closed their doors, I contacted my credit card company. They said they would be happy to dispute my charge, which was $776. For a small business in this economy that is a lot of money. American Express said they would contact the merchant (Morgan & Chase) to request a credit. If they do not hear back from him then American Express will credit my account for that money.
If you paid Morgan & Chase with a credit card, call your company. I was pleasantly surprised. Hopefully, if enough of us make noise about this merchant, he won’t be able to do this to anyone else!