They are ripping me off
Complaint
Jaquelyn
Country: United States
I had this number call me in about september. they gave me their bull story about how these magazines are cheaper and blah blah blah. I was stupid and it sounded good at the moment so i gave them my debit card number and paid 75 dollars that day. the next day i figured i could have used that money for my car insurance so i tried calling that number that called me back to cancel and get my money back but of course it didnt work. so i got my money back through the bank. it was about a month later when they started sending me magazines and i got another call from a weird number. it was the magazine company again and they were telling me how i owed them money. i told them that i got my money back from the bank so they shouldnt be sending me magazines anyways and that i wanted to cancel so please stop sending me magazines and to cancel any future magazines that they were planning to send. she said ok so i figured that it would be all over. they continued to send me magazines and called once more telling me that i owed money. i told them again that i canceld that awhile ago and to stop sending me magazines. do you think they listened? no they didnt. it has been 8 months later and they are still sending me magazines only now im getting letters CCSI debt collector and they keep harassing me! trying to tell me i owe that company 2,400 dollars! wut the hell! i told them this whole story and they said they had no information about me canceling my order to them! are you serious! i told them to call me back when they actually knew what they are talking about, they last girl i talked to called me stupid and told me she would see me in court, and i laughed at her and hung up. Im worried this is going to affect my future plans of getting a house loan, or any type of loan for that matter. Please Help.
Comments
Their original offer did not disclose what they now claim you "owe", so their claim now that you agreed to it is fraudulent. They also routinely claim you cannot cancel, when they never disclosed that up front, or like you found, your cancellation was just "lost".
Also note, that in this type of scam, they actually avoid sending any documentation up front with the initial order, that might clue you in to what they are about to do. They want it to appear that you "agreed" to their absurd charges, by making the original payment, without any written documentation of what that "agreement" even is, so they can change it at will. (In this type of scam, they may also falsely claim they sent you some "information packet" that "you must have lost", again to make it appear YOU "agreed", or failed to cancel when you could have. You should also beware of doctored phone recordings with this type of scam.)
Making an offer that appears competitive, then changing it after you agree while claiming you haven't cancelled or can't cancel, does not a contract make. It is simply fraudulent telemarketing, beyond bait and switch. They may just be playing you to agree to some "cancellation settlement" for several hundred dollars, basically for nothing.
At the typical publisher's price for common consumer magazines of $15/year for a monthly magazine, $2400 would buy you 160 years of 1 magazine, or 16 magazines, each coming every month for 10 years.
There IS NO LEGITIMATE BUSINESS MODEL charging $2400 for magazines that any breathing consumer would agree to if the terms were honestly disclosed up front. The only way a business would be attempting to collect thousands of dollars for "magazines" is if their terms were deceptive and the company was going to use coercive threats to force payment once the consumer found out. All such claims that you owe thousands of dollars for "magazines" just indicate they are a fraudulent scam.
Contact FTC, your state Attorney General, and the Virginia Attorney General, to file faud complaints.
If you receive a bill for this absurd amount that you never agreed to, or from a debt collector demanding the same, send a certified letter disputing the bill as fraudulent, file complaints with the authorities (state Attorneys General), and file a mail fraud complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspector.
http://www.bbb.org/norfolk/business-reviews/m ... ach-va-44002217
Yet if you search on their name, you find reports like these.
In 2003:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/book-magazine-publishers/crc-of-virginia-inc/crc-of-virginia-inc-aka-commu-69387.htm
Recent complaint. Reneged on "15 day cancellation", at 3 days. Note how instead of just payment for any magazines sent, "cancellation" now costs 1,264.63 . Also note the "diamond watch" come-on, never sent. Promises of "gifts", or entering a "sweepstakes" are common lures used by this company. Also note the debt collector, Credit & Collection Solution Inc., shows up in connection with debt collection for several similar magazine scams.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Sales-People/CRC-Of-Virginia-Inc/CRC-Of-Virginia-Inc-Aka-Commu-87723.htm
"...I was told that I had 15 days to cancel. I tried to cancel 3 days later and was told that I can not cancel but the monthly payment could be lower. I have not even seen the magazines yet. Sometimes I get them sometimes I do not. I write return and send them back. I consistently called, telling them I did not want the magazines but nothing is done and they are helpless and rude to me. I recently reported them to BBB. I did not get the diamond watch either. But it is amazing how they want 1,264.63 to cancel. My supposedly past due amount is 147.05. And I am being harassed by a Credit & Collection Solution Inc. and CRC of Virginia.
..."
Note that many magazine publishers will not only charge a small fraction of these inflated scam prices, but they will let you cancel at any time, with a refund for any remaining unsent magazines.
Note deceptive sales pitch, claiming to be "with VISA". Using a well known and trusted name to borrow legitimacy is a common telemarketing fraud tactic.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Telemarketers/Community-Reading-Cl/community-reading-club-of-va-4deb6.htm
Outline of their scam script, including how to deceptively obtain multiple recorded "authorizations" for cramming charges. Also note how weak BBB's standards are: just respond to BBB complaints. Various names: IMA, PRS, LMA, CRC
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Telemarketers/PRS-Marketing/prs-marketing-lma-ima-prs-xbcaf.htm
Alleged ex-employee.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/telemarketing-companies/community-reading-cl/community-reading-club-company-7763b.htm
Report from an alleged ex-employee of Periodical Publishers Service Bureau, Inc., a Sandusky Ohio bill collector, handling "accounts" from several "magazine subscription services", including CRC of Virginia Beach. Note the description of fraudulent "upselling". Also note the policy for handling threats of BBB or AG complaints.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/collection-agency-s/luebke-baker-an-asso/luebke-baker-and-associates-cdgg8.htm
They appear to use BBB to cover up serious complaints, despite a long history of complaints similar to yours.
Young people, and especially young women, may be seen as a good target for increased fraudulently fabricated claims. A lot of guys would just tell them to f***-off, so they are more likely to have to play up the "settlement" "pay up to cut your losses" angle with them, whereas with you they are more likely to play on the "responsible" "you don't want to damage your credit" angle.
Regardless, "cancelling" in exchange for hundreds of dollars to NOT send magazines is all profit.
Note how they took your "cancellation" in stride, just ignored it, and "lost" it. They had already planned how to handle it.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/EpcWc3C5PQC8egjMejmoYg
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-854-4706
Did they cold-call you?
Did they call you in violation of the Do Not Call list?
Did they just falsely claim you had "agreed" to some subscription without any agreement on your part at all?
Did they fully disclose the alleged terms of their offer up front, including full price including any shipping costs, payment terms, cancellation terms, the particular magazines you were ordering, and for how long, and any other terms material to your decision, after which you agreed to them?
Or did they deceptively give a sales pitch claiming various competitive terms, and then after they lured you in (and maybe even got your account number), did they come back and fraudulently claim you had agreed to an entirely different set of terms, including critical but previously undisclosed ones like "no cancellation", along with higher prices than originally disclosed?
Did they "offer" to terminate this fraudulent "subscription", for only a few hundred dollars?
Did they falsely and fraudulently claim to be associated with the publisher, or with your credit card company?
If their letters mention judgements, they probably violate FDCPA, state debt collection laws, or other unfair trade practices laws, for deceptively claiming they can just get a judgement. They would have to sue you, notify you of the lawsuit, win in court (in your jurisdiction, not theirs), and have the judge award a judgement.
If their letter implied they could just get a judgement (by their own unilateral action), then it deceptively threatened to take an action they cannot legally take, and probably one that this outfit doesn't take anyway, since they routinely engage in telemarketing fraud.
That would be really dumb, especially if they put it in writing. Hang onto those letters, since you could probably sue them under FDCPA or your state's own debt collection laws.
Note there may be some complication if they are the original creditor, but in some states like California, state debt collection law applies to both original creditors and debt collectors. FDCPA may also apply if a debt collector is contacting you about this, or if the original creditor is contacting you while representing themselves as a collection agency.
In addition state laws against fraudulent telemarketing may also apply, and some states may require registration or licensing to telemarket into their state.
Contact your state Attorney General for assistance.
The environment is not professional, turnover is extremely high with the grand old hiring practices of "if they're breathing, they can apply today and start working today" being the norm. Jailbirds, druggies, people caught up in hard times, as well as straight and narrow people come and go extremely fast. The problem is just that because there are no standards, credit/background checks and these people have YOUR CREDIT/DEBIT CARD INFO.
It is a business however, and that is A okay. But to stay a safe and happy consumer, BUYER BEWARE. If a telemarketer calls you, hang up. If you are buying something online, make sure it's a reputable site such as SEARS, Best Buy, Target, or WalMart.com. Don't get click happy if you see pop ups, chances are, they're going to take money from you and pass your card info around like the crack that the CRC telemarketer enjoys. Your information is valuable, don't give it away to any telemarketer or website that is not well known. BUYER BEWARE!!!
Your information matches that from various sources, including from a former debt collector that handled trumped-up accounts from this and similar magazine subscription scams and finally realized what they were up to.
They have complaints of altering alleged "contract" terms after the fact, essentially "bait and switch" after they already have credit card or account information, followed by harassment and intimidation to coerce payments never agreed to. They also appear to prey mainly on unsophisticated consumers, such as young adults or college students, who appear to be more easily intimidated, and don't understand what makes a contract and what makes fraud, or credit or account security and how to dispute and block fraudulent charges.
What they really want is for you to pay them a "termination fee" of several hundred dollars to "cancel" what they aren't going to send you anyway.