I received a call on Thursday night, July 15th. Usually, I do not answer calls that do not list their names, or come across as "Blocked Call", "800 service", "Unknown", etc. However, this came across with the name "Heartland, Inc.". This was a call that kept coming in at least 2 or 3 times a night, and Lord knows how many times during the day, and even on Sundays. So I thought perhaps it was someone trying to reach one of my children, and I answered it. They started off with the usual, "We just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate your business and we just wanted to let you know that we have been receiving complaints regarding other magazine companies who have been calling our clients. Have you been receiving any solicitation calls from other magazine companies?" I said, no. Then she went on to say she would like to update her records while she had me on the phone just to make sure that all the information was correct. She read off the information, and I (like a dummy) confirmed it. She asked what my favorite magazines were, and again (like a dummy), I told her of two. She went on to say that since I was such a good customer the company would pay for an additional 20 months of subscriptions of my favorite magazines. I immediately stopped her and said "NO" I do not want another subscription to any magazines. Then, very politely, she said, "Oh, no I am not trying to sell you any additional subscriptions this is an offer to you for being a good customer. Then she said, "Would you mind speaking with my Supervisor as this is only my second day, and I would appreciate a good word from you as to how courteous I was." Josh came on the line and immediately started in with the same thing that I would be receiving an additional 20 months of my favorite magazines for only $39.+ a month. I again stopped him, and by this time I should have just hung up, but I told him that I had paid off my contract as of February or March of this year and I no longer had a contract with anyone. He started to argue with me and said that he knew my contract was paid, however, this was in addition to that contract because it was in the original contract of 2004 that I had an extension option. I told him that if I paid off a contract in full, then I no longer had a contract. I then hung up, and no sooner had I hung up and Josh called back and actually started being very insistent and talking rather loudly and I said "Whatever!" and hung up. Today, July 20th, I received a letter stating that I was under a contract for four magazines and that it would be $59.85 per month, or a total of $1,197.00. There was a clause at the end of the letter that stated if I wished to cancel this agreement, I had to sign in the place provided, and return within 10 days of the date of the letter which was July 15, 2009. I will be returning the signed cancellation request today. Where do I go from here if they should deny the cancellation for some reason or other? I have listed my home phone and cell phones on the National Do Not Call List and I still get these very annoying solicitation calls. These people cannot take NO for an answer. Evidently NO is not in their vocabulary.
Agnes
Peoria, Illinois
U.S.A.