Holding me to a 60 month contract without canceling
Complaint
Mrs. B. Finken
Country: United States
Contacted Capital Magazine Service today in response to unsatisfactory service. I had called earlier to complain about the offensive "bonus magazines" I was receiving. They agreed to cancel this feature. Have only received two magazines that I requested and they are charging my bank card. I called today to cancel and was told I had made a commitment to the publishers for 60 months. They told me they would play the recording of my agreement. My response was I did not understand the terms that I had to pay, rather I was guarented a 60 month rate. There appears to be no cancellation clause. I was told I can cancel ant time but I would be billed for the full term of 60 months. Several years ago they contacted me and I was able to cancel then without the threat of continued billing. I don't think their business practice would hold up in court.
Comments
That is fraud.
They made up this "60 month commitment", which was not part of any agreement, through a deceptive sales pitch, from a "60 month rate", followed by "bait-and switch" to a "60 month contract".
That is fraud.
Instead of correcting some "misunderstanding", they were already prepared to jump right to threatening you with some "recording of your agreement", to intimidate you. That shows that was what they intended all along, and that it's what they routinely do to their "customers". That is also fraud.
They haven't even played this "recording", but if they ever produce it, you can bet they will first edit it or doctor it for their purposes. That's how this type of telemarketing fraud is done.
None of this is in writing, and they are making up new "terms" whenever they feel like it. They made up the "bonus magazines", the missing magazines, the undisclosed inflated "60 month contract", and they will keep making up more stuff as long as it gets them more of your money.
You are being conned, taken for a chump.
The whole pattern of this "transaction" is of one deception and fraud after another. They never intended to deliver anything you actually ordered under the terms they led you to believe you were getting. It was a scam from first contact. That doesn't make a "contract", since they never had any intention of delivering what they were selling you on.
This type of scam is common with sleazy magazine subscription marketers. You can find complaints against similar scams located in Buffalo NY, Virginia Beach VA, Florida, and Georgia. Montana AG shut down one in Montana several years ago, and there were several operating out of a suburb of Denver, using several name to avoid too big a complaint profile.
They are trying to scam you out of this "60 month" inflated "contract", for nothing at all, if they can. That's why they go out of their way to actually deliver bad service, wrong magazines, etc. They will threaten you, trying for maybe a thousand or more, then "offering" to "settle" for several hundred, as some "termination fee". You basically get scammed for $300 to $400, for nothing at all.
Those "bonus magazines"? If you only got a couple, they could have been free samples from the publishers, sent as a prop in this scam to shore up the appearance of this "contract". Probably cost them nothing at all, not even for mailing. Sounds like they were deliberately chosen to be offensive, already steering you toward some "settlement" just to get out of their clutches.
That's the game.
You don't want to be suckered?
You want to stop it?
Cut off the money, have your bank shut down your account or block your card number, and file fraud complaints with FTC and your state Attorney General. If they call, tell them you've filed fraud complaints, then just hang up.
They are looking for suckers too timid to file fraud complaints, and if you fit that profile, they will milk you for more money every few months, adding "terms" any time they need drugs for the weekend.
And don't fear any "collection agency" they threaten you with. Report them to FTC and your AG as well. FTC fined one of them aiding a magazine scam, Luebke-Baker, several million dollars a few years back.
It's either that, or cough up their extortion.
https://complaintwire.org/complaint/YIkBAAAAA ... advice-services
You cave and pay them, they keep coming back for more, making up more "terms" like new magazines "you agreed to", or "extensions of the contract", all with nothing in writing. Often they are deliberately ratcheting up this imaginary "contract" with the goal to get you to just pay them several hundred dollars as a "settlement" just to get out, They're not really in the "magazine sales" business.
You deal with criminal activity like shakedowns, extortion rackets, etc, by contacting the authorities, like FTC and your state Attorney General. These scams have to play a balancing act between threatening suckers too naive to know it's all bluff, and knowing when to back off. They generally back off when you contact a state AG, because this cr*p. As for "collections", that's often the other guy at the next desk. Or some sleazy "collection agency" that also knows it's fraud and requires the same "special handling", i.e. know when to run.
FTC socked one of these "magazine scam" collection agencies with about $3.1 million in fines several years ago.
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases ... using-consumers
1030 St Georges #200
Avanel NJ 07001-1330
Telephone: 888-882-5082
They will not answer nor call back and I've been trying for months. Around June they told me my subscription was cancelled which it is not because they are saying if I don't pay I will be sent to collections.