I was first duped into this scam in July 2001. I was shocked to see that they were billing me $66.65 a month, and when I called to complain, they explained that it was for 4 years, so it worked out to about $16/month for 4 magazines, which didn't seem so bad at the time. I actually started recieving my magazines on time, and for a while, was happy with the service (although I have never seen this "diamond watch" they were supposed to send as a "free gift")
In about April 2003, (after having paid to them a total of $799.80) I suddenly stopped getting Sports Illustrated, so I called them, and they said they no longer carried it. Now I was a little irritated, and wanted to just cancel my account, but the guy talked me out of it, and told me I wouldn't be able to get my money back. (in fact, he laughed rather rudely at the idea...) So I told them I wanted a list of their magazines, so I could choose a replacement.
By the beginning of August (2003), I hadn't recieved anything else from them. No list of magazines, or the magazines themselves. So I called them, and was disappointed to hear the voice of the same rude guy as before. He was slightly more polite this time, and at least pretended to be helpful. I told them I hadn't recieved my magazines in over 2 months, and I wanted my money back. He told me they would refund me for those two months, and resume my service. I told them I was dissatisfied with the service, and told them to cancel my account. Since I had already paid for two more years of subscriptions, I told them I wanted my money back for the last two months, as well as the remaining 24 months I had paid for. (this worked out to a refund of $433.22)
The guy said he understood, and that it would take 7-10 business days to process. I checked my bank account the following week, and they had deposited 2 payments of $66.65 in my account (leaving $299.92 still unpaid). So, this morning I called them back and demanded the rest of my money.
At this point, they connected me to their "supervisor", who was even more rude than the guy from "customer service". He told me that they had only agreed to refund 2 payments for my inconvenience, and they had not cancelled my account. I again demanded the rest of my money back, and the guy started to raise his voice and tell me that they can't get their money back from the publishers, and that they "aren't just going to give me several hundred dollars", because that would be a loss to them. I told them that I certainly wasn't going to take a loss of several hundred dollars, either, and he just said flat out, "You're not going to get this money back."
This situation is unacceptable. If anyone recieves a call from these people, don't even deal with them. They are a bunch of con-artists posing as a legit business. I am determined to get my money back, and plan to call the Attourney General.
**Has anyone had any luck getting their money back from these people? **
Shane
Hudson, Michigan
U.S.A.