There was a real lack of transparency and judgment with my "stipended" internship. At the time I didn't know how to stand up for myself in a workplace, which is true of many interns, and I was really taken advantage of.
I worked for them for a year under the guise that they might hire me after I graduated, or at least put me contact with someone else in publishing. They didn't. Whenever I asked about a job, they would say that they were "keeping their ear to the ground." Close to graduation, I expressed to them that I couldn't keep working for them without pay. They stopped answering my emails and calls. I know now that I should have demanded that they pay my stipend on a bi-weekly basis like other employees, but after the first time I asked and was denied, I shut up. I never was able to get the stipend that I was promised, and—what was worse—I was another unemployed post-grad.
What a nightmare. Obviously I knew that I had grounds for legal action, but at the time I felt that I didn't do enough to defend myself, and I was scared that a lawsuit might prevent me from being hired elsewhere.
I should add that I don't think their treatment was in any way malicious; it was negligent.
As an intern or employee you need to be able to stand up for yourself. That was one thing I learned from my internship at Soho Publishing.