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melcolbert
March 3, 2010
FRAUD
This company telemarketed my 86-year-old mother within days after the death of her husband, my father. They claimed to offer a great deal on renewal of her National Enquirer - 8 payments of $45 each, to renew for three years, even though her subscription was not due for renewal. This was in June 2009 - dad died at the end of May 2009. She kept telling the telemarketer "NO", but he kept cajoling her, and finally she gave him her credit card number. Her National Enquirer did not expire until Feb. 22, 2010. She got an order confirmation from Magazine Readers Service Center in Florida (mom is in California). It said to allow 8-12 weeks for the magazine renewal to take effect, so she waited. After five months, her magazine label never updated the expiration date. She called Magazine Readers Service and asked what was going on - she said the rep was very unprofessional and she had to keep asking him, "Are you still there?" They claimed they would take care of it. She called again a week or two later, and again was told it would be taken care of. It was not. I called in December and asked them to follow up and call my mom back, which they never did. Finally, in February, just before the final payment was due, I called and told the rep to cancel and refund the payments. I asked for his name and he said, "Tom". I asked, "Tom what?" and he said, "Tom Thomas" - I said, Do you really expect me to believe you? He told me it would take two days to process the cancellation, and that it had to go through their other office. I told him I wanted someone to call my mom back to confirm. He said they would. Instead, one week later, they went ahead and charged mom's credit card for another $45, and she stopped receiving her National Enquirer, because her subscription was never renewed. This company almost certainly never fulfills their orders and simply takes your money - unless you raise a big stink about it, then they probably spend a few dollars by actually renewing those complainers' orders. In our case, I called the credit card company and they are crediting mom - they will have to find a way to collect the money from this con-artist company. I plan to complain to the Florida State Attorney General online.
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