Complaint Review: IMC - Mailbox Magazines

For privacy ande other reasons that shall become obvious, this is a report for another person.

The person is mentally unstable at times, and on the day in question, was on a new medication that was making him/her unfit to make coherent decisions. Also, this person is unable to release a conversation until the other person stops. Thus, s/he has difficulty with aggressive, pushy salespeople.

On a particular date, this person was asleep and received/answered a call from an "International Magazine Group" salesperson on his/her CELLPHONE offering FREE magazines. S/he emphatically indicated NO INTEREST. The salesperson would not stop, but kept on wanting his/her address data to which to send the FREE magazines. After several refusals, this tired, half-awake, mentally disfunctual (at the time) person gave in to get the salesperson off the phone. The salesperson then went on to push added magazines for just pennies a day for the next 5 years. In this person's anxiety-ridden fog, s/he said OK and when given the condensed payments of $79/mo for 4 months gave in and gave the salesperson his/her credit card info.

In retrospect the next week, this person called me to help by cancelling the order. I found the phone number from the credit card company and tried, but the person I contacted refused to cancel unless told by the cardholder directly. The cardholder called and was told they would not cancel, and would not return the funds already taken ($240 at this point). Explaining the disfunction due to the medication problem, the IMC person said they would accept cancellation and give a refund if a letter from a Psychologist indicating the medication-caused disability were sent or FAX'd. Said letter was FAX'd.

No refund or cancellation was forthcoming. The next communication with the person was from a collection agency, via the CELLPHONE, who wanted twice the original contracted price, would not listen to the extenuating circumstances and verbally abused this person. I was again asked to intervene. I called the collection agency, spoke eventually to (Rev.?)Eric Clemens who said he had purchased the debt. I warned him if this person ever again was contacted by his agency a class action suit would be initiated since the money was not viably owed. He promised to never call.

I feel the owner of IMC Inc needs to be incarcerated, and all employees treated as criminals for setting back this person's psychological recovery.

Al
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
U.S.A.