If you were ripped off by Great Lakes Circulation (GLC Inc.) a/k/a Magazines Inc. also d/b/a American Cash Awards contact the Colorado Attorney General's Office, 1525 Sherman Street, 7th Floor, Denver, CO 80203. (303)866-4500 FAX: (303)866-5691 Consumer Complaint Line - in Denver and Out of State - 303-866-5189

I agreed to order a magazine from a girl who was trying to get points toward a trip. She told me that I could order, give her the check, then cancel my order (by following the instructions on the back of my receipt) and my money would never be taken. She said that she still received points, even if I did cancel the magazine subscription and that, if I didn't order with her, then I would be bothered non-stop by other groups trying to do the same thing.
Yes, it probably was stupid to listen, but one of my friends who was there had dealt with this same group before and he said that it was true that there would be more groups coming and that they wouldn't take my money (because they hadn't taken his money). So, I ordered some magazine and the very next day (September 2, 2008) I followed the cancellation process. It told me to sign my receipt, requesting the cancellation, then either mail it, email it, or fax it to them. Of course I wasn't about to send it to them & be left without proof that I did cancel, so I chose to fax the receipt. On Thursday September 4, 2008 (the day my cancellation deadline was up) I saw that the $71 had been taken from my account. So, I emailed customer service to explain that I had cancelled and wanted to know why my check was cashed and to have them please refund my money immediately. I eventually heard back from a woman named Kristen which spawned a few weeks long email battle between us. She told me that I had to send them my "proof of payment" from my bank to show that they had, in fact, received my money (which is stupid, I gave you all a check, you cashed it you don't need proof), but I got it anyways and immediately scanned it to my computer & sent it to her. (I have copies of ALL of our emails and ALL of my faxes in this process.) Basically what happened was that, though I sent this to her, she began to claim that I had not and, therefore, had completely missed the deadline. She actually even claimed that I clearly spoke to one of their other representatives who clearly told me that I was to send them a proof of payment and that I had not done so. I had to then explain to her that she was the ONLY person I had spoken to unless there was another woman names Kristen with the same email address and I forwarded her the email that SHE sent telling me what to do. I then called customer service and they acted like the Kristen woman was crazy and that I was in the right and told me to fax them the proof again and I would have my money in 4-6weeks.
It's now November 5th, 2008. I have not received any money and, so, I called customer service again. This time I spoke to Marsha who clearly thought I was stupid. She told me that I never sent them my "proof of payment" to which I immediately exclaimed that yes I had and I have the fax transmission sheet to prove it. I told her I sent it on Septmeber 15th to which she claimed that on September 16th & 17th I had called them (not true) and that they didn't have it then. She finally shut up and just asked me for the date & time of the transmission, which I told her. She then told me that they did received a fax on that day at that time but, because it wasn't in PDF format she was unable to view it &, therefore, unable to believe that I had sent it.
I then calmly explained to her that a fax cannot be sent in PDF format it's a fax. You put a piece of paper in the fax machine, it gets sent, and comes out on the other end as a copy of that piece of paper. I told her that if she wanted a PDF then it would have to be transmitted through a computer (such as through email) or on a disc, etc. She was taken aback by the fact that I knew this, but continued to claim that it was not in the right format. So I asked her if whether their faxes came through a fax machine or if they were on a computer - she told me that she was looking at the computer database and that it was unviewable, but that if I wanted to email it to her directly, that would be fine. WHAT?

These people are morons and they need to be shut down. I won't get my $71 back, but I'm still going to be sure to annoy the hell out of them as long as I can. If I had the time and they weren't in Colorado (I'm in Kentucky) I would take them to court (as I do work in the legal field, it wouldn't be hard).