A word to the wise: this is a crummy product and a nasty outfit. Here's my
sad story.
Last year an administrative assistant came through my door with two binders
and a pile of supplements and said that the Legal Assistant's Notebooks,
Northern & Southern California, needed my attention. Apparently some
secretaries had updated them on and off, but not regularly. I updated the
binders, but thought the product (a basic directory of court personnel &
fees) was badly designed and its substance thin, so I determined to watch
this title and see if it was useful to anyone. Before long my suspicions
were confirmed, nobody liked them.
But worse, each monthly supplement (one for Northern & one for Southern)
came with a separate invoice, and without fail there would be miscellaneous
outstanding charges of a few bucks, even though I had always paid the
previous invoices on time. You all know the game.
Finally a sharp paralegal came to me and said that the Legal Assistant's
Notebooks were just junk, that the same info was in everybody's favorite,
the California Courts Directory and Fee Schedule (published by the
California Court Clerk's Ass'n, 510-553-0401, P.O. Box 38, San Leandro, CA
94577, a beautiful slim little booklet that comes once a year, is
notoriously thorough and accurate and beautifully layed out) and what wasn't
in there was on the web for free. I promptly called ASAP Publishing to
cancel the clunky Legal Assistant's Notebooks. That's where the fun began.
To cancel I had to pay a recent invoice that they claimed was outstanding
and request cancellation in writing on firm letterhead. I was given a
dollar amount to pay. I asked the person before we got off the phone, "Now,
that's the whole amount that we owe you, and after I pay that we're all
clear, right?" Oh yes, right, all clear. I paid the requested amount and
wrote a nice letter. That was last November. Of course, supplements
continued to arrive and I had to take up precious time sending them back and
reminding ASAP Publishing that we had cancelled.
Here's the last straw: I just got a letter demanding $5 more for unpaid
delivery fees related to an invoice from 2000. That's two years ago! A
business with any morals or savvy would simply write off the $5 as a
business loss, but not these little bulldogs. My attempts to reason with
their Office Administrator, who has NOT got the gift of customer service,
ended badly after turning into something like you'd hear on Hannity & Comes
between Sean Hannity and James Carville.
Even though I feel we are getting scammed here, $5 isn't worth fighting over
and I'm going to pay them to go away, especially since I was threatened with
collections if we didn't come across with the vig, uh, outstanding balance.
But, dear reader, as George said to the guests, You Stand Warned! Avoid
these goofs and their thoroughly unworthy Legal Assistant's Notebooks like
the plague!
Nancy Brown, Librarian
Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean, LLP
Oakland, CA
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