PA presented themselves as something resembling a trad pub on the face - providing small advances, claiming to have an intense review process for acceptance, and also claiming to offer full editorial and marketing services and in-store distribution just like trad pub. This was not quite accurate.
I've never seen a PA contract, so I do not know how much was promised contractually vs. what was delivered, but here's one article that discusses some of the uproar:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/publish.html