© KXPC, 2011
I was woken up at 6.00 am by a call from Scotland last week. (I’m not a morning person so wasn’t pleased). It was a call from a company called Public Service UK, requiring an article urgently on excellence in distance learning for their free ‘open access’ online magazine on Science and Technology. After 20 minutes of shivering in my pyjamas while I followed the phone call through their web site to have an article placed next to Michael Gove, the UK’s Education Secreatry, I was then told that I would be expected to pay £6,000 to have the article ‘placed’. (“Think of what this exposure to the market will do for your reputation’ was the reason given for throwing away $10,000. They then suggested, when I politely deferred, that “as you work for a public organization, wouldn’t they pay for the publicity?”)
Subsequent Google follow-up shows that this company has more or less exhausted the UK market with this ‘business model’, and are now calling overseas. If you get a call, hang up immediately. If they call again, complain to the UK Advertising Standards Authority.
This of course is partly the result of the UK privatizing many formerly government services.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
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Got a call from a chap called Harry Dickinson . Selling a slot on Scottish public health event on 5th September at Glasgow . Charging £8000 for the slot. He was reluctant to put this in writing and could see his sales pitch which was initially credible looked fake at the end . Beware of anything to do with publicservice.co.uk.