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Show Salesmen fleece campus with magazine 'sales' By JAMES NELSON Chronicle Staff University students are losing hundreds of dollars to magazine salesmen who have been soliciting for the past three months to the University Village and dorms by offering supposedly good rates on subscriptions or by saying they are collecting points that would enable them to receive a scholarship. The University campus police department has been receiving complaints recently concerning the problem. Detective Aleck Shilaos of the campus police department described the situation this way: "A well-dressed man convinces the student he can offer good subscription rates to the student. He will often say he is earning points for a scholarship and working his way through college. He will say that if the student will write a check for $100 he won't cash the check. He says he will tear the check up after his boss has seen it. For some reason University students identify with this approach." The campus police department estimates that over $500 has been taken in the past three months and they believe that many other students who have been taken on this deal either are still waiting for their magazines or they feel embarassed to report it. Other methods these salesman use are selling encyclopedias or saying certain magazines will come. Often different magazines come and there is an additional charge that is much larger than what the disappearing salesman said it was to be. According to Detective Jess Petersen of the campus police department this is how the salesmen operate: "They are definitely out-of-state people. They usually stay at downtown motels or hotels and they may or may not be using their own names. The good appearance is deceiving but there is no way a student can save money on these magazine deals. The students should ask for proper identification and all salesmen should have it." Four girls have been taken for $100 each on the magazine offer recently and another five students have been getting magazines but at a larger sum and of different desire than their original plans had indicated. Two students have been given a raw deal on the encyclopedias. The encyclopedia salesmen have represented the P. Williams Co., which is a fraud company, according to campus police. The department expects many more -eports concerning the encyclopedia offer from the new University Village. All students hat may have been affected by such sales tactics are urged to contact the University :ampus police department. |
