This is fourth in a series of brief reviews of personal finance and frugal websites and blogs.
Bottom Line Secrets sprang from a basement publishing startup in 1972 that today includes dozens of books, six printed and two e-mail newsletters on topics such as investment advice, family issues, building careers and taking care of your health. They draw advice and answers to questions from a field of thousands of experts and professionals.
Try out one of their free e-letters and look around their site for a sample of what they publish. I have been a reader of their Bottom Line Personal newsletter for several years and if I had to pick only one printed magazine or newsletter to subscribe to that would be my choice.
Send me an email (BuckWeber at gmail.com) if you have a frugal or PF site you would like to see included in this series. If it belongs to you include a few lines about it and yourself.
Monday
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Thanks for the compliment—and for being a loyal reader of Bottom Line Personal! We work hard to make sure readers get their money's worth every issue.
ReplyDeleteKaren Larson, Editor-in-Chief, Bottom Line Personal
I don't know if you're paid by Bottom Line to hawk their publications, but the company, quite frankly, seems to be a complete scam. I just spent the last two hours helping an older woman who had subscribed to Bottom Line Retirement try to contact the customer service department to no avail. She had been charged for books she never ordered and sent back to the company. Bottom Line Secrets is not an honest business.
ReplyDeleteChris - Nope, not paid by them or anyone else for my Focus On reviews. I have not encountered any problems with them at all, and the newsletters are superb. You would think that if they ran a dishonest business cheating old people they would not still be around after 37 years.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Chris. I've had the same problem, sent a book that I didn't order, and am now being billed for it. I have tried various methods to contact them with out any luck. Type in Bottom Line Books, complaints, scam, then hit enter. You'll be amazed.
ReplyDeleteBob
Bob - Thanks for the comment. I visited the BBB website and they give Boardroom, Inc. (the parent company) an A+ rating. They also list 173 complaints regarding billing or collection issues and 144 complaints regarding delivery issues. So it sounds as if there are some issues, but as I mentioned above I have been a customer for years and have never encountered a problem. Would be interesting to hear their take on the complaints.
ReplyDeleteI received abill for the Bottomline Health Magazine. I called their 800-209-0409 customer service line and complained that I never did nor ever have ordered anything from Bottomline Publications... They could not tell me who subscribed it for me or when other than it came in from the web. If I had not been observant this 19.95 bill would have been paid by my wife thinking i had ordered it. This is our and out attempted fraud. I am reporting it to the BBB.
ReplyDeleteTry Googling "Bottom Line Books" and you will find page after page of complaints from angry customers who have been ripped off. They continue to send unwanted and unrequested books even after you tell them in writing to remove you from their subscriber mailing list and to stop sending you anything in the mail. They simply don't care. They keep sending the worthless books to you and billing you for them, and if you don't pay for them, they will send your account to a collection agency who will then put a negative mark on your credit report for 7 years.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that worked for me was filing a complaint against them with the Connecticut attorney general's office.
Their headquarters is in Connecticut, not at the return address on their mailing labels.
Bottom Line Books
Boardroom, Inc.
281 Tresser Blvd 8th Floor
Stamford, CT 06901-3284
As for the A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, they are also a scam. They have lost any respect I had for them after seeing their A+ rating of such a scam artist company. A google search of the BBB is also very revealing. Many people are starting to figure out that they will never give a negative review to a company that pays their membership fee, so they are biased, and have no value for consumers anymore.