Complaint Review: Winners Reader Service/mcraes Blue Book

If you have not done so - MAKE SURE YOUR MOTHER IS REGISTERED ON THE DO NOT CALL LIST - this will stop most telemarketers. If they continue to call she needs to note names of people/company who called with the date and time. So they can be reported for violations.

I have a standard line I use -

For personal security I do not do business with people who call me that I do not know and hang up.

TELL HER - DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITH ANY TELEMARKETERS!
If she gets any more telemarketing calls-she is tell them NO and demand they put her on their do not call list immediately - again noting the name, date and time for reporting them if needed.


It is absolutely NOT SAFE to do business with telemarketers - as you have seen what happened with this one. There is no way to determine that anyone calling is a legitimate company or charity anymore.

TELEMARKETING NEEDS TO BE OUTLAWED. FOR THE CONSUMERS PROTECTION!

Remember the reason they came up with the DO NOT CALL list is because MOST PEOPLE DO WANT TO BE BOTHERED BY TELEMARKETERS!

Dear Mama's Girl,
I too have been sucked in by these pieces of trash who call themselves "Winner's Reader Service", twice!! Let me tell you I know exactly what you are saying. These people are the devil's children and they cover their butts well. As far as giving you several options to bow out of their offers, the only response to that is "YEAH RIGHT"!! Bow out and say you don't want it?? Not possible. These people call you at the worst possible times, dinner time, early morning, or late night, because they know that people don't want to talk on the phone to some salesperson at those times. Then they badger you for what seems like hours to purchase their service, while you say no over and over again, then when you finally are defeated and just say "okay you win, sign me up", it is at that moment that they turn on the tape recorder. I can only assume that they are pleased that they have hooked another sucker!! It is at this point that they transfer you to what they call an "assurance operator" to get your account and personal information. Keeping in mind that by this time you just want to finish this conversation as soon as possible, you go through the motions and answer all of the questions that this "assurance operator" gives you to answer. This will be what they are referring to when they tell you that they recorded your acceptance, not the first 30 minutes of the conversation where you clearly said NO again and again, the part before you finally cracked is just your word against theirs as the recorder was not turned on until they finally get you to agree to purchase from them!! This happened to me twice!! I asked them to stop taking money out of my bank account by auto-draft every month, but was informed that they could not do that, because supposedly it does not guarantee payment if the send me a bill in the mail. So, unfortunately, I guess I am stuck with these demons until my contract is payed up. I sincerely wish that I could cancel this subscription, but they will inform you if you try to cancel that it cannot be canceled unless you pay them some outrageously large amount of money to finish out what you owe them, this is supposedly because they had to pre-order your magazines from the publishers and will lose money if you cancel now, at every step of the way reminding you that they have you on tape agreeing to these terms when thy originally hooked you, so, there is no way to cancel your subscription once you realize how ridiculously useless it is to have this many magazines delivered to your house every week. It is also not a very good deal, as they claim it is!! There are no true savings that I have seen so far, just $33.00 a month for magazines you don't want or need!! Well actually it $66.00 a month for me, because I fell for this scam twice. $66.00 a month for magazines???? Who needs to spend $66.00 a month on stupid magazines?? I certainly don't!!!! So let me be the first to respond and agree with to your complaint about these evil people at this subscription service provider!! They are scum, but unfortunately, they are well practiced scum who know exactly how to cover their behinds so that they are not caught for being ripoff criminals praying on innocent people who's only mistake was answering the phone when it rang. The only advice I can give to people to avoid this terrible company from getting it's teeth into you is never answer your telephone, and if you do answer your phone then hang up as soon as someone on the other line says "Hello, this is Winner's Reader Service", because that is the beginning of a very long scam that will drain you for incredibly large amounts of money in return for something that is effectively useless, Magazine subscriptions!! Just hang up on them as soon as they call, it is your only defense against this scam!!!!

Dear Mama's Girl,
I too have been sucked in by these pieces of trash who call themselves "Winner's Reader Service", twice!! Let me tell you I know exactly what you are saying. These people are the devil's children and they cover their butts well. As far as giving you several options to bow out of their offers, the only response to that is "YEAH RIGHT"!! Bow out and say you don't want it?? Not possible. These people call you at the worst possible times, dinner time, early morning, or late night, because they know that people don't want to talk on the phone to some salesperson at those times. Then they badger you for what seems like hours to purchase their service, while you say no over and over again, then when you finally are defeated and just say "okay you win, sign me up", it is at that moment that they turn on the tape recorder. I can only assume that they are pleased that they have hooked another sucker!! It is at this point that they transfer you to what they call an "assurance operator" to get your account and personal information. Keeping in mind that by this time you just want to finish this conversation as soon as possible, you go through the motions and answer all of the questions that this "assurance operator" gives you to answer. This will be what they are referring to when they tell you that they recorded your acceptance, not the first 30 minutes of the conversation where you clearly said NO again and again, the part before you finally cracked is just your word against theirs as the recorder was not turned on until they finally get you to agree to purchase from them!! This happened to me twice!! I asked them to stop taking money out of my bank account by auto-draft every month, but was informed that they could not do that, because supposedly it does not guarantee payment if the send me a bill in the mail. So, unfortunately, I guess I am stuck with these demons until my contract is payed up. I sincerely wish that I could cancel this subscription, but they will inform you if you try to cancel that it cannot be canceled unless you pay them some outrageously large amount of money to finish out what you owe them, this is supposedly because they had to pre-order your magazines from the publishers and will lose money if you cancel now, at every step of the way reminding you that they have you on tape agreeing to these terms when thy originally hooked you, so, there is no way to cancel your subscription once you realize how ridiculously useless it is to have this many magazines delivered to your house every week. It is also not a very good deal, as they claim it is!! There are no true savings that I have seen so far, just $33.00 a month for magazines you don't want or need!! Well actually it $66.00 a month for me, because I fell for this scam twice. $66.00 a month for magazines???? Who needs to spend $66.00 a month on stupid magazines?? I certainly don't!!!! So let me be the first to respond and agree with to your complaint about these evil people at this subscription service provider!! They are scum, but unfortunately, they are well practiced scum who know exactly how to cover their behinds so that they are not caught for being ripoff criminals praying on innocent people who's only mistake was answering the phone when it rang. The only advice I can give to people to avoid this terrible company from getting it's teeth into you is never answer your telephone, and if you do answer your phone then hang up as soon as someone on the other line says "Hello, this is Winner's Reader Service", because that is the beginning of a very long scam that will drain you for incredibly large amounts of money in return for something that is effectively useless, Magazine subscriptions!! Just hang up on them as soon as they call, it is your only defense against this scam!!!!

Dear Mama's Girl,
I too have been sucked in by these pieces of trash who call themselves "Winner's Reader Service", twice!! Let me tell you I know exactly what you are saying. These people are the devil's children and they cover their butts well. As far as giving you several options to bow out of their offers, the only response to that is "YEAH RIGHT"!! Bow out and say you don't want it?? Not possible. These people call you at the worst possible times, dinner time, early morning, or late night, because they know that people don't want to talk on the phone to some salesperson at those times. Then they badger you for what seems like hours to purchase their service, while you say no over and over again, then when you finally are defeated and just say "okay you win, sign me up", it is at that moment that they turn on the tape recorder. I can only assume that they are pleased that they have hooked another sucker!! It is at this point that they transfer you to what they call an "assurance operator" to get your account and personal information. Keeping in mind that by this time you just want to finish this conversation as soon as possible, you go through the motions and answer all of the questions that this "assurance operator" gives you to answer. This will be what they are referring to when they tell you that they recorded your acceptance, not the first 30 minutes of the conversation where you clearly said NO again and again, the part before you finally cracked is just your word against theirs as the recorder was not turned on until they finally get you to agree to purchase from them!! This happened to me twice!! I asked them to stop taking money out of my bank account by auto-draft every month, but was informed that they could not do that, because supposedly it does not guarantee payment if the send me a bill in the mail. So, unfortunately, I guess I am stuck with these demons until my contract is payed up. I sincerely wish that I could cancel this subscription, but they will inform you if you try to cancel that it cannot be canceled unless you pay them some outrageously large amount of money to finish out what you owe them, this is supposedly because they had to pre-order your magazines from the publishers and will lose money if you cancel now, at every step of the way reminding you that they have you on tape agreeing to these terms when thy originally hooked you, so, there is no way to cancel your subscription once you realize how ridiculously useless it is to have this many magazines delivered to your house every week. It is also not a very good deal, as they claim it is!! There are no true savings that I have seen so far, just $33.00 a month for magazines you don't want or need!! Well actually it $66.00 a month for me, because I fell for this scam twice. $66.00 a month for magazines???? Who needs to spend $66.00 a month on stupid magazines?? I certainly don't!!!! So let me be the first to respond and agree with to your complaint about these evil people at this subscription service provider!! They are scum, but unfortunately, they are well practiced scum who know exactly how to cover their behinds so that they are not caught for being ripoff criminals praying on innocent people who's only mistake was answering the phone when it rang. The only advice I can give to people to avoid this terrible company from getting it's teeth into you is never answer your telephone, and if you do answer your phone then hang up as soon as someone on the other line says "Hello, this is Winner's Reader Service", because that is the beginning of a very long scam that will drain you for incredibly large amounts of money in return for something that is effectively useless, Magazine subscriptions!! Just hang up on them as soon as they call, it is your only defense against this scam!!!!

Dear Mama's Girl,
I too have been sucked in by these pieces of trash who call themselves "Winner's Reader Service", twice!! Let me tell you I know exactly what you are saying. These people are the devil's children and they cover their butts well. As far as giving you several options to bow out of their offers, the only response to that is "YEAH RIGHT"!! Bow out and say you don't want it?? Not possible. These people call you at the worst possible times, dinner time, early morning, or late night, because they know that people don't want to talk on the phone to some salesperson at those times. Then they badger you for what seems like hours to purchase their service, while you say no over and over again, then when you finally are defeated and just say "okay you win, sign me up", it is at that moment that they turn on the tape recorder. I can only assume that they are pleased that they have hooked another sucker!! It is at this point that they transfer you to what they call an "assurance operator" to get your account and personal information. Keeping in mind that by this time you just want to finish this conversation as soon as possible, you go through the motions and answer all of the questions that this "assurance operator" gives you to answer. This will be what they are referring to when they tell you that they recorded your acceptance, not the first 30 minutes of the conversation where you clearly said NO again and again, the part before you finally cracked is just your word against theirs as the recorder was not turned on until they finally get you to agree to purchase from them!! This happened to me twice!! I asked them to stop taking money out of my bank account by auto-draft every month, but was informed that they could not do that, because supposedly it does not guarantee payment if the send me a bill in the mail. So, unfortunately, I guess I am stuck with these demons until my contract is payed up. I sincerely wish that I could cancel this subscription, but they will inform you if you try to cancel that it cannot be canceled unless you pay them some outrageously large amount of money to finish out what you owe them, this is supposedly because they had to pre-order your magazines from the publishers and will lose money if you cancel now, at every step of the way reminding you that they have you on tape agreeing to these terms when thy originally hooked you, so, there is no way to cancel your subscription once you realize how ridiculously useless it is to have this many magazines delivered to your house every week. It is also not a very good deal, as they claim it is!! There are no true savings that I have seen so far, just $33.00 a month for magazines you don't want or need!! Well actually it $66.00 a month for me, because I fell for this scam twice. $66.00 a month for magazines???? Who needs to spend $66.00 a month on stupid magazines?? I certainly don't!!!! So let me be the first to respond and agree with to your complaint about these evil people at this subscription service provider!! They are scum, but unfortunately, they are well practiced scum who know exactly how to cover their behinds so that they are not caught for being ripoff criminals praying on innocent people who's only mistake was answering the phone when it rang. The only advice I can give to people to avoid this terrible company from getting it's teeth into you is never answer your telephone, and if you do answer your phone then hang up as soon as someone on the other line says "Hello, this is Winner's Reader Service", because that is the beginning of a very long scam that will drain you for incredibly large amounts of money in return for something that is effectively useless, Magazine subscriptions!! Just hang up on them as soon as they call, it is your only defense against this scam!!!!

Ok,
So far I have read two different stories about winners readers service being a rip off. Honestly those two people are obviously not very intelligent for making such assumptions when in fact they've never delt with the company themselves. I've been using winners readers service for 15 years now. 15 years! Obviously if this company were a rip off I wouldn't have gone back.

A rip off is when you pay for something and you never get your money worth. The stories I just read seemed to be coming from a son or daughter of these so called "rip-off victims". I find it hard to believe a company who is ripping you off would be in business for over 20 years. Another thing that you obviously forgot to mention is there are 2 to 3 different calls you receive before they confirm your order one of which is recorded on tape. Unless you respond "yes, yeah, Ok, mhmm, etc." Your order is not processed. And you obviously are fully aware of what you are doing when they tell you the total for your order is $990.00 for 60 months of service. Oh yeah and you also have to be fully aware when you're giving put your acct number routing number, credit card number, or sending in some sort of payment.

You know what you're getting youself into. And when they ask you 7 different times if you understand what you're getting billed for and if you're sure you want them. Also when they let you know its a seperate order with a seperate payment. If you sign yourself up twice its your stupidity not there's. Name off the list?

Yes they do promise that IF YOU DISTICTIVELY ASK FOR YOUR NAME TO BE PUT OFF WHEN YOU TALK TO YOUR 1 OF 3 DIFFERENT REPRESENTATIVES YOU SPEAK TO. And they never use someone elses name. Like I said if they did they wouldn't be in business. So let me give you all some advice if you don't want your old senile parents buying stuff talk to them about it but don't try to ruin the reputation of a very good honest company. Its obviously not working. Take care of your parents and don't let them order things. And for those of you who say they didn't do those things for you request a copy of your tape then listen to it. If doing so you find I am wrong then my bad. But when in fact you do find YOU'RE wrong step up and take responsibility for your own actions.

No one forced you. And if you want your name off the list so bad so you don't make a decision you'll regret call the do not call list and pay the money to put yourself on. Don't be stupid make educated decisions

She fails to mention that, not only are all calls taped WITH THE CONSUMERS CONSENT clearly on the tape, but also that the terms are very clearly explained. They further give a very clear time period to rescind the agreement with no money owed, but also make very clear that the account is sepearate from anything else they may have ordered with them previosly or with any other company. Winners is also extremely dedicated to trying to work with their clients to help them whenever possible. I quit working there to go back to school, but I can tell you that i will most likely look for a position there again during school breaks and maybe even a better position after I graduate. When I last worked there they had over 20,000 active clients, (i'm sure its greater than that now) and less than one quarter of one percent (less than 0.0025) complaint ratio. To me, that is an incredible average for any company, and its always been that way with them. It is a small corporation with a very family atmosphere and they expect superior customer service from their reps. I was in accounting and really amazed by the consumer, rep relationships I witnessed over my time there. To see a complaint like this one on ripoff report is incredibly hard to beleive, especialy knowing the internal workings of the company. These guys are not you're average run of the mill service. Also I note that another company is mentioned in the "report" mcraes bluebook. I know for a fact that Winners is not afiliated with any other service whatsoever. Perhaps this "Report" wa meant for the other company, who knows, but I know personally that Winners is a very upstanding company who values their clients very greatly. All you have to do is speak to them (you catch more flys with honey than vinegar - LOL ) and they will try there best to come to a very reasonable resolution to just about any problem or complant. It may not be what you want to hear everytime, but like I said, it will be very resonable and fair based on the circumstance. Anyway, I use ripoff report all the time to research before I buy, although this is the only time I have ever posted. I signed up to post just because I saw this in fact. I just thought its only fair that the other side have a chance to say something, Its rare that I see the companies point of view and having some insight, I thought I would throw in my 2 cents.


Sorry if that was a little long winded LOL :o)




Peace is Gods will - Hate is mans lack of God.