Complaint Review: Construction Today Magazine

Construction Today Magazine is a Pay for Play scam. The person who calls will insist on speaking with the company CEO and does not want to talk to anyone in marketing. They will say they want to write a feature article on your company, but they need to first conduct an initial phone interview with the CEO to make sure their a good fit for the editor.

The style of speak is like a con artist. You feel like they just keep talking and talking without making total sense. When asked if there are any sales involved in this, they laugh and act like that's a ridiculous question and assure you there are no sales involved.

Once they get the initial interview with the CEO, they tell the CEO they will need a list of suppliers in order to run the article and to make sure someone in the company will supply the list. The CEO gets excited about the article and is on board, which is why exactly Construction Today wants to speak with the CEO in hopes they will force the employees to comply with the request.

After the phone interview Construction Today will send the supplier request to the person the CEO has told them to contact for the list. In order "to secure your spot in the next issue," they will need a list of 20-30 global suppliers you conduct business with. They also send you a letter that's written as if it's from your company and they ask that you put it on your own letterhead and sign it. The letter is to be sent to your suppliers in an effort to sell them advertising or side articles.

If you don't comply or ignore them, they email back and then start calling. When they call it's more con-artist style speaking, and when questioned aobut why they would need a list of suppliers if this is a legitimate editorial piece, they tell you a bunch of incomprehensible nonsense about how their company is run differently than other publications and it's based on some so-and-so business model - just a bunch of fast talking that gets pushier and ruder as it goes on.

When told they do not have permission to use the letter on your company's behalf and that you won't sign it, they act like that's not a big deal, but they really need the list of suppliers right away - they even give a deadline of needing it the same day or they might not be able to secure your "feature article."

So after being told they would not receive a list of suppliers, the guy I spoke with was so rude, he actually said he would be letting my company's CEO know - as if he was telling on me. What a joke. The unprofessionalism and rude tone was so outrageous it further proved they are nothing but a big scam.

If Construction Today Magazine calls you wanting to write a "feature article" on your company, ignore them and tell them to go away.