On Dec. 2009 a dark-haired high school-aged boy rang our doorbell to sell magazine subscriptions. He claimed that he was a neighbor from several streets away, and that he played on a very successful soccer team that was going to Hawaii for the playoffs. The magazine subscription sale was the fund raiser that the coach had chosen for them to earn the trip. He also claimed that the magazines were going to be sent to the troops overseas.
My wife, being the kind-hearted person that she is, agreed to help by purchasing subscriptions for the troops. She was also told that part of the money would be sent to one of four foundations: Cancer Research, Children’s Literacy, Diabetes Research, and, I believe, a Children’s Diseases Research Hospital.
The young man was a smooth talker, seeming very genuine throughout the entire encounter. He said that his coach wanted him to offer some kind of service to anyone who purchased magazines from him. He agreed to come back on Sunday afternoon to wash one of our cars. He made friendly conversation, tried to connect with our dogs, and made an effort to say goodbye to both my wife and me.
I felt very uneasy about the entire thing and got online to research the company listed on the receipt. I was upset, but not surprised to find some very negative information about United Family Circulation, including this from the Better Business Bureau:
BBB Rating
Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of F on a scale from A+ to F.
Reasons for this rating include:
• 128 complaints filed against business
• Failure to respond to 41 complaints filed against business.
• 8 complaints filed against business that were not resolved.
• Overall complaint history with BBB.
Several complaints state that the sales representative has represented him or herself as neighbors or students trying to earn money for a student in the area. The company states that they do not condone or use this approach in their sales training for these "independent contractors." Consumers should exercise the three-day cancellation privilege if they have been misled.

2 very clean cut young men came to my door selling magazines to go to Spain with their soccer team for the national finals. One of them did all of the talking, very smooth, asked the same questions that I have seen posted, such as how many people do you have living here, how many kids, etc. Told me he was OCD and had the magazines highlighted in different colors and tried to sell me different sponsorships. Told me his Dad was a marine and that his Dad was pimping him out to do work and that he would come back and do work for a day, such as gardening, clean our garage, etc. for a full sponsorship. I had an uneasy feeling about them a few days later and checked my checking account the check had not cleared and I was going to stop payment on the check when I got home that evening. When I got home, my husband said have you seen the news, is this the name of the kids who sold you the magazine, I said yes, checked my account and the check had cleared. Would have cost me almost as much as the check to stop payment, but it was too late. The sad part is, I will never buy anything from anyone else at my door, due to these lame brains. What kind of people would teach kids to steal!?

The young man approached my husband while he was out walking our dog and told him he was working for Saint Louis University (where I work), so my husband told him to ring our doorbell and I would take care of him. Normally, I would never buy anything from a door-to-door solicitor, but since my husband told I'm that, I thought he had already checked him out. The young man said he was selling magazine subscriptions to earn a trip to go to Italy with the Saint Louis University debate team. I asked him what would happen if he didn't sell enough subscriptions and he said he wouldn't get to go. Then, I asked him if he had a SLU ID and he said he didn't have it with him. I should have known better, but he started rushing me and promised me that he was a junior at SLU. In a few minutes, someone honked for him and he said he was really late and needed to get going. I wrote the check and he gave me two receipts. I didn't look at the receipts until after he was gone. He didn't have my name or address written correctly and the receipt was not dated. There is no way a magazine will ever arrive at the address he wrote. When I called the customer service phone number printed on the receipt, a recording said that there is not a representative available, but to press '1' to leave a message and someone would return my call. When I pressed '1', the recording said the message box was full. Then, the message continues to repeat itself. The receipt says I have three business days to cancel in writing by mail or telegraph. I am going to do that, but I am also going to stop payment on my check. This is going to cost me, but not quite as much as the full subscription of the magazine. Whatever it costs, I don't want this company to get a dime.