Complaint Review: Budget Reader's Service

I was contacted by Budget Readers' Service back in June of 2005 (they had a different name at the time) and they somehow talked me into purchasing 5 years worth of magazines. Sounded like a good deal at the time, so I went for it. I was paying $39.95/month up until December 2007, when my payments were over and I was supposed to receive my magazines through June 2010. I had no problem with the service at that time.

I was contacted by them on 8/20/08 because they needed to "update my information because their system crashed". It sounded legitimate, so I answered a few questions. They verified my address, credit card information and interests. When it go to the part where the lady asked to record the conversation so that she could have verification that my information was correct, I got suspicious. I went along with it and she began asking questions and recording my answers.

When she got to the part where she was repeating my contract terms, but she said my payment amounts were $49.95 instead of $39.95, I asked her to stop. I asked her SPECIFICALLY if she was trying to charge me more money, because that was what it sounded like and I told her that my payments were over and I didn't want to pay for anymore magazines. She replies "Oh, no ma'am, I'm just repeating your original contract terms for verification... oops, we need to start recording again because we waited too long and it timed out."

So she begins asking me the verification questions again, recorded, and we actually complete it the second time. Everything seems weird, mainly because verifying my account took 17 minutes on the phone, where I had to repeat my information an infinite amount of times.

I came home today and had a statement in the mail from Budget Readers' Service, which states what magazines I selected (?!?! there was no talk of this on the phone) and the Payment Arrangement plan. It says that I will be billed on the first of the month for $49.95 to my credit card they have on file. There is an order number and everything.

To say the least, I am very dissatisfied with the scam that is going on here and I can't believe that I allowed myself to fall victim to such fraudulent activities.
As of right now, I have yet to be billed, so I think I will cancel my credit card and have the bank send me a new one. This will at least postpone this crap so that I can figure out how to deal with this company.

I need help!

Rachel
Arlington, Texas
U.S.A.