Complaint Review: Active Periodicals

I recived the initial phone call very early in the morning in November of 2010. I believe it was Jamie who had called. He said I would get the $1000 shopping gift certificate if I read through the magazines they would send me (which were Glamour, Seventeen, Marie Claire) and do a quick survey. He also told me if I called within a certain time after reciving the magazines, then they wouldn't charge me for the year's subscription of both. Like an idiot, I accepted and gave over all my debit card info.

Soon after I received the magazines, but no $1000 shopping certificate, I tried to call to cancel before they charged me an outrageous amount, but no one ever answered. I kept trying every hour, every day when I could, but still there was no answer. I left numerous voice messages asking them to call me back because I would like to cancel.

Before I knew it, I had been charged the $90+ for the year's subscriptions to all the magazines they had sent.

Soon, I started getting magazines I hadn't even signed up for, like Architectural Digest, ESPN, Latina, etc... Every month I would also be charged somewhere between $25-40. I continued trying to call, but it became hopeless.

Then one morning, I recieved another call from the company (Jamie again), letting me know I was now a "valued gold memeber." I proceeded to go on a slight rampage about how they would never answer their phones when I called and never returned my calls after the numerous voice messages I left. I demanded they stop charging me and stop sending me the magazines, especially since they were sending me ones I didn't sign up for.

Jamie said he was sorry I felt that way but they hadn't recieved any messages from me, and it was too late to cancel and I would continue getting charged. I told him that was unacceptable, but he proceeded to put me through to the verbal agreement recording to verify my gold membership. With every question on the recording I said "no" until the recording had to start over. I just hung up. I noticed for the next two hours, they kept trying to call me, but I wouldn't answer.

They continued to charge me, but I noticed the name the charges were under had changed. At first it was under Score Marketing Buyer's Club, then it had changed to American Reader's Choice. However both were from Deerfield Beach, FL.

A few weeks later, I bite the bullet and try calling them again. They actually answered this time. The man I was talking to asked for my name to pull up my account. So I told him, and I requested that my account be cancelled, and he actually said he would do it. I verified with him that I would no longer be recieving charges, and I would not be bothered with them ever again. He said that was it, and not to worry about anything else. I saw they had reimbursed me for the last charge in my account, and I thought it was finally over.

Now, in September 2011, I recived a charge of $98.47 from "Magazines." And just today (November 9, 2011), I recived another charge of $98.47 from Active Periodicals Mag. Both of these again from Deerfield Beach, FL.

I think I'm going to have to file a report with the BBB, because I know calling will be useless. This is very frustrating. If anyone has recieved good results while fighting against this company, your advice would be very appreciated. I just want this done, for good this time.