- Report: #866512
Complaint Review: gulf bay magazines - seminole Florida
Reported By:
anonymous -
central coast, California, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
gulf bay magazines
10801 starkey rd suite 104 seminole, 33777 Florida, United States of America
Phone:
866 394 9149
Web:
www.gulfbaymagazines.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
gulf bay magazines takes advantage of people, sales people are deceiving, customer service is very rude, seminole, Florida
My husband and I began receiving sports magazines in the mail and charges for them on our account from Gulf Bay Magazines Inc.. We called customer service to tell them we had not purchased a magazine subsciption. They told us that in fact we did order the subscription and they had the recording for us to listen to.
We listened to the recording and it turns out to be our 18 year old son on the recorded call. We were also informed by Gulf Magazines that in fact they called my son on his cell phone, my son had not called them. They asked him for account information and told him he would be receiving his magazines. My son's mistake was giving them our (his parents) account information. He does have permission to use the card for gas. To his credit he has always been responsible with the card. He is a full time college student. When my son was asked to agree to the 5 year subscription he informed the sales lady that he needed to wait, it was not his account and that he had to ask his Dad first. The sales person continued on telling him that it was okay and just kept changing the agreement to a smaller time frame commitment like 1 year.
This conversation went on for 11 minutes with the sales person continuously asking my son to agree and with him continuously responding with "I need to ask my Dad first". Then she played for him an automated recorded message that was very hard to understand informing him of the agreement and when he did not respond she told him to respond and quote "you are doing just fine" and he said "uuhh yes" .
This is their way of selling magazine subscriptions! They origanaly refused to cancel the subscription and had the nerve to tell me my son committed fraud by using an account that he was not authorized to use. Then they told us that the account will be sent to collections if we did not pay. Eventually they canceled the subscriptions after much complaint and a threat to conact an attorney. They knew their sales person was wrong.
If you check the BBB, Gulf Magazine has a D- rating and the President Thomas Meehan has other businesses with terrible ratings as well.
We listened to the recording and it turns out to be our 18 year old son on the recorded call. We were also informed by Gulf Magazines that in fact they called my son on his cell phone, my son had not called them. They asked him for account information and told him he would be receiving his magazines. My son's mistake was giving them our (his parents) account information. He does have permission to use the card for gas. To his credit he has always been responsible with the card. He is a full time college student. When my son was asked to agree to the 5 year subscription he informed the sales lady that he needed to wait, it was not his account and that he had to ask his Dad first. The sales person continued on telling him that it was okay and just kept changing the agreement to a smaller time frame commitment like 1 year.
This conversation went on for 11 minutes with the sales person continuously asking my son to agree and with him continuously responding with "I need to ask my Dad first". Then she played for him an automated recorded message that was very hard to understand informing him of the agreement and when he did not respond she told him to respond and quote "you are doing just fine" and he said "uuhh yes" .
This is their way of selling magazine subscriptions! They origanaly refused to cancel the subscription and had the nerve to tell me my son committed fraud by using an account that he was not authorized to use. Then they told us that the account will be sent to collections if we did not pay. Eventually they canceled the subscriptions after much complaint and a threat to conact an attorney. They knew their sales person was wrong.
If you check the BBB, Gulf Magazine has a D- rating and the President Thomas Meehan has other businesses with terrible ratings as well.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Glenn
Tampa,Florida,
USA
Gulfbay Magazines, Inc. More Scamming, Ripoff Scam
#2Consumer Comment
Tue, September 04, 2012
BIG Scam out of Florida...NEVER BUY FROM THIS COMPANY! NEVER...Read:
Have to love Florida, Home of the Scum Bags! 'Winner' hit with $1,200 bill from Seminole, Florida magazine seller! Read What they Did!
Dillon Bosco thought he had hit it big.An unsolicited call to his cellphone announced that he had won a "diamond" watch and qualified for a $1 million sweepstakes. All the 18-year-old had to do was pay shipping and handling for the watch.By the end of the call, Bosco's father says Seminole-based Gulfbay Magazines Inc. had duped his son out of $1,195.92 for magazine subscriptions. And when they tried to cancel, Gulfbay refused."I spent countless hours on the phone with this Gulfbay Magazine," said Michael Deutsch, Bosco's father. He acknowledged that his son bears some responsibility for the order. Still, he noted, "We haven't even received any" magazines.
The Better Business Bureau of Southwest Florida says the case fits a similar pattern of dozens of complaints the agency has received over the past three years about Gulfbay. Concern about the company led the BBB to post its new "alert" warning on Gulfbay Magazines' listing on the bureau's website."Consumers should understand that this company has a pattern of complaints alleging certain business activities," said John Zajac, a spokesman for the Better Business Bureau of Southwest Florida.
"They should take that into account when considering doing business with them."Over the past three years, the BBB received 86 complaints from 33 states about Gulfbay Magazines. Gulfbay is not a BBB-accredited company and has a C- rating.Zajac said the owners of Gulfbay Magazines have operated other subscription businesses from the same company address.
Those companies, too, have had a series of complaints, including International Magazine Company Inc., which had 211 complaints closed from 2008 to 2011, and Omnipresent, which had 372 complaints, mostly from 2007 to 2008.
Drea Cecot, a receptionist at the company, ( Not her real Name) said officials there had no comment. Deutsch, who lives in Centennial, Colo., said Gulfbay Magazine solicited his son after he turned 18 this year, opened a checking account and got a debit card.On Aug. 14, the teen received the phone call with the prize offerings. The company charged $40 to his new debit card and promised him the diamond watch. The watch arrived, but without any precious gems.
"It was Chinese brand that you can buy for about $2.50 in bulk," Deutsch said. Diamond was the brand name of the watch, he said. In phone calls with Gulfbay, Deutsch said the company played back tapes that affirmed his son accepted the magazine subscriptions. But Deutsch said it was because his son was tricked, not because he knew what he was getting."There was some fault and liability on his part," Deutsch said. "I think he was naive and kind of tuned out and didn't know that he would be bounded by this $1,200."Gulfbay told Deutsch that if his son didn't pay, the company would turn the teen over to collections.
So Deutsch reached an agreement to pay the company a total of about $200 to settle the case so his son's credit would not suffer."I told them I was doing it under protest," Deutsch said. "I filed a complaint with Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission."
Even with the agreement, I told them I was not going to let this go," he said. "People should know about this company.
Bottom line, if you get a call from this company, tell them to Fu%K Off!
Sep 03, 2012
