Publishers Clearing House Company Sending Invoice for Merchandise Never Ordered! Port Washington, New York
I received an email stating that I had placed an order for a magazine "Thomas and Friends," from Publishers Clearing House and would be receiving an invoice in about two weeks.
I called PCH and told them I had NEVER ordered anything from them. The customer service representative said he didn't show any order for me and that I should call my local police and report this as it was probably a scam.
I called the police and they came to my home and said there was nothing they could do at this point but I was right to call them.
Today, about two weeks since that conversation, I received the invoice for $15.99. I tried to call PCH again but could not contact a human being. The invoice "looks" legitimate and gives the company's address and told free phone number that checks out with the same information given online.
I have read complaints exactly like mine in which the same situation existed from Publishers Clearing House.
I conclude that there is no "outside source" scamming people but that the scam/fraud is coming from within Publishers Clearing House.
I will not pay for any merchandise I did not order but I am concerned that by not doing so I will have a problem with the credit bureaus.
The invoice gives detailed instructions for returning items for proper processing. Since this is a magazine that they will send to me, just marking "return to sender" may not meet their requirements but I am NOT going to pay additional postage to package and remail the item to them.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Nancy
Birmingham,Alabama,
United States of America
Spoke with PCH customer rep on phone today
#2Author of original report
Fri, April 30, 2010
Called the toll freenumber 800-645-9242 and spoke with customer representative named Jerry, employee number 319, who asked for the order number on the invoice.
Checking his records he indicated that the order had been placed over the internet. When I insisted that I had not placed any order and told him of the conversation I had with the other customer service rep. on March 27, who assured me there was no order placed, he said that the order didn't show up at that time and that it was recorded on April 15th.
I told Jerry that I had called the police on March 27 to report the matter. Jerry said that he cleared my account to show no balance and he didn't know how the problem had happened but assured me that if I received any other invoices I should ignore them.
He said when the magazine arrived just to keep the copies that came until they quit coming.
I told Jerry to remove me from all their mailings and emails and that I did not want to ever receive anything from Publisher's Clearing House. He said he did that.
I am sending back a copy of the invoice with the statement that I DID NOT ORDER and will not accept or pay for any merchandise from PCH.
We will see what happens next.