Complaint Review: Century Marketing - Helena Montana

I was called late in the evening on a restricted number (which should have told me something was wrong right away) congratulating me for being already entered into sweepstakes to win $25,000, a BMW, among other prizes. Participation was not required. Then they began to advertise 4 free magazine subscriptions for the price of 1, Time magazine. This would only cost $3.99 a week.

I had been contacted before with this same intro, same offer, and said no. This time, however, I figured a few magazine subscriptions might be worth having. Plus, the girl on the phone sounded very nice. So I allowed myself to be persuaded. They also mentioned that I would receive a free diamond watch(gold band) for signing up.

Once I had agreed to the 60 month subscription of $3.99 a week, I was transferred to a man who started off telling me I was going to be paying for some other magazine I don't remember the name of, and I corrected him saying it was supposed to be Time. He reassured me that I can change all of the 5 magazines to anything I want throughout the subscription, so I would never be tied down to even my initial choices.

One of the above two people had asked me some survey questions like:

Are you between the ages of 18-20, 21-25, etc?

Are you single/married?

What are your hobbies/interests?

What card gives you the best service(Visa, Mastercard, American Express...)?

After much of the "order process" had been completed, I was informed that the payments were going to be 67 or so dollars a month. He explained that this would pay off the subcription early, and I would not have any payments for like the last 20 months. I told him I didn't want to pay that much per month regardless, and he proceeded to argue with me until they transferred me to someone else.

This man was very cordial and offered my, instead, a 30 month subscription of only 19.99 a month, and I could cancel anytime after the 30 months. This was a bit more reasonable to me, so I took the bait. Here is where it gets strange: They already had my mailing address, debit card number, and security code(on the back of the card), but I was required to confirm my understanding of the agreement through several questions where my responses were recorded. Everything still sounded right, so I completed the questionnaire. Finally, they thanked me, said I would not begin receiving the magazines for 3 months, and promptly hung up.

Now the worst part: I have been waiting for a charge from century marketing to appear, and still nothing. Two days ago, however, I noticed large withdrawals being made from my account at a bank branch I had NEVER visited. There is no company name or person, just simply withdrawals. I ASSUME this is related, since the total withdrawn before I caught it and froze the card was $980, roughly the cost of the original 60 week subsription all at once! I have filed reports with the police and my bank, so I will update as soon as I know more.

The moral of the story is: don't give out your info on the phone. Ask them to send you a bill in the mail or something. And get as much information about THEM as possible so you can report fraud.

Jpadilla

Burbank, California

U.S.A.