Magazine subscriptionsI
Complaint
Carolyn
Country: United States
I received a call, and the young man I spoke to spoke so fast that before I realized,I had OK'd subscriptions to 4 magazines. I received a letter from the company stating that I owed a total of$1197.60, which would be charged to my credit card for two years, payment $49.90 per month! Called the company, and was given a number for magazine customer service. Took two calls before I was able to speak with a live person, who informedme that I would have to pay a cancellation fee!
Comments
Your figures match the amounts typically reported against this type of shakedown.
Note the "crafting" built into the script, odd amounts to sound like some "exact" figure you "agreed" to, deliberate ambiguity over length of the "contract", or even what you are buying, no disclosure of total amount until you supposedly "agree", etc. You are looking at a carefully scripted, crafted scam, run by people who have done this for years.
You didn't "agree" to any of the terms they now claim you did. They called, offered what appeared to be competitive terms but didn't disclose all of what they now claim you "agreed" to, got your ok, then started changing terms with their fast talking pitch, adding years of "contract", using deliberate confustion between monthly per magazines costs and normal yearly costs, etc, without disclosing the full cost of any offer and clearly getting your agreement to the complete terms. They then claim you "can't cancel", which is also a lie the AGs nail them on routinely, since one letter from an AG, and they "cancel" immediately.
The goal is to trump up the "contract amount" so high you will "settle" by just paying them the "cancellation fee", usually about $400, for nothing at all. You try to back out, and they might even toss a couple magazines in the mail to you, make you feel "obligated", to pressure you into paying or cancelling this "order". (Costs them nothing, as most magazine publishers will send a sample copy or two for nothing, even pay telemarketers for subscriptions. Or they just pick up some old magazines at the store, slap a label and postage on it, and mail it themselves.)
Even if you pay this ridiculous $1200 "subscription", you will find the magazines come sporadically, maybe not even the ones you thought you "ordered" (one guy reported he was sent "Bride" for months), they keep calling and claiming you "agreed" to more, and as long as they have your valid account number they will keep taking money.
That doesn't make a "contract", just a fraudulent telemarketing shakedown con.
You can buy most consumer magazines direct from the publishers at around $10 to $15 per year, less for multiyear contracts, and with the publishers you can often terminate early and get your remaining balance back. Are you geting 16 magazines every month for 5 years? I doubt it, and even if they promised it, you won't get them, just random crap every few months, to drive you to "cancel" what you never "agreed" to, so they keep the monthly payments so far, and get another $400 to go buy drugs on the weekend.
This scam is run by several "telemarketers" in the Buffalo area, a couple near Atlanta GA, several near Denver, a couple in south Florida (home to many fraudulent telemarketing call centers), one run from a call center in Mumbai India, and formerly one in Montana before they got nailed.
It's fraud, run by swindlers. You pay them, they will keep conning and threatening you.
That's what they do.
By the way, their preferred target is naive young women, or possibly polite elderly people still on their own but with possible mental frailties. Easy marks they can convince to pay, or "this will go to collection", or "if you don't you could be prosecuted for mail fraud", or just "you will get in trouble". They may be buying "sucker lists" from some other telemarketer or "advertised on TV" seller, if you have ever done business with one.
Their "recordings", threatened, or even if played, cannot be trusted. They may be excerpted to portray what they want, or even edited to make you sound like you "agreed" to some different script. It's common with these cons. That's why they might threaten you with some "crime", like "fraud", to scare you away from contacting your state AG, who's seen this all before.
Cut off contact. Stop speaking to them. Hang up if they call. File a fraud complaint with your AG and a mail fraud complaint with the US Postal Inspector if you get a bill.
File fraud complaints with FTC and your state AG. They generally go away if they know you have contacted an Attorney General.
What phone number?
You already know that.
Hope this helps
http://www.bbb.org/minnesota/business-reviews ... ton-mn-96113576
Great American Readers
Phone: (800) 269-4179
Fax: (952) 885-0555
PO Box 20460, Bloomington, MN 55420-0460
Alternate Business Names
Blue Whale Publications (Previous Company Name), Midwest Publishers Home Office Inc
P.O.
Box 28265
Crystal, MN 55429 Best of luck to you!
phone: 1 (800) 247-2477
Hope this helps you!
Suite 300 east
Houston,Texas 77056
18002472477
It is the accumulation of similar scam complaints that gets the attention of FTC or state AGs, as that shows it's not just some "misunderstanding", but an ongoing fraudulent business. Extract your "pound of flesh".
Also notify YOUR state Attorney General. You can do it by computer. They should get back to you in 2 to 3 weeks. If they don't...try again.
Have NOTHING to do with these miserable blood-sucking so- and - sos'. Hire a lawyer as an expensive last resort...and they have their revenge.All their threats are illegal, untrue, and worthless
DO NOT LET THEM CON OR BULLY YOU!