The Bangor Daily News erroneously reported Saturday that a local businesswoman was the intended victim of an advertising scam.

Carolyn McKinnon, administrator of A Small World Day Care Center in Bangor, told the NEWS she became suspicious after receiving a $246 invoice for advertisements supposedly aired on the Cable News Network.

The ads were said to have been shown June 15-19 as part of a promotion called “Destination Education.” McKinnon said she wasn’t informed of the broadcast times until the invoice arrived June 22.

McKinnon said she then called the customer service office of Cablevision in Bangor. According to McKinnon, the female office manager told her Cablevision knew of no such advertising promotion.

“She said they had nothing on their desks to indicate that our ads had been shown on the air,” said McKinnon. “They advised me to call the Better Business Bureau in Portland.”

According to McKinnon, a member of the Better Business Bureau staff told her the offer sounded like a scam.

“(Given) the fact that I received information (about broadcast times) after the ads were already shown, and the fact that I called the cable company and they didn’t know anything, what should I think?” asked McKinnon. “I wasn’t going to pay $246 for something I hadn’t seen.”

But McKinnon said she spoke Monday with Jeff Grabarz, a sales representative for Cablevision.

“He told me that there was a miscommunication,” said McKinnon. “The cable station here in Bangor was not notified that (the promotion) had been on air.”

Grabarz referred specific questions about the matter to William Fay, general manager of Cablevision of Bangor. Fay was unavailable until Wednesday, however.

Grabarz did say the company that billed McKinnon, Radio Accounting Services of Chicago, was legitimate.

“It was a communications problem between the cable system and us in the advertising department,” said Grabarz. “A miscommunication is what it amounts to.”

Debbie Corey, office manager for Dr. John McGill of Bangor, also bought an ad from Radio Accounting Service. Corey said the ads were broadcast as scheduled June 15-19.

The ads gave viewers Dr. McGill’s name, his office address, phone number and a short message supporting education, according to Corey.

Corey said she found Radio Accounting Service employees to be very helpful, and she was satisfied with the advertisements that were aired.

Thomas Hughes, operations manager for Radio Accounting Service, said the 30-year-old business sold advertising time on both cable and radio stations. The ads were tailored toward smaller businesses with limited budgets, and included anti-drug, pro-education or anti-drunken driving messages.

“We have hundreds and hundreds of happy, repeat customers,” said Hughes.

Even though McKinnon’s ads were broadcast, she said Grabarz had arranged for them to be repeated, free of charge, afternoons and evenings next week on Cable News Network.