My husband just recently got caught up in this scam. He was at away from home at work when he was contacted via his cell phone. He was told he won "the watch" by someone representing publishers. My husband is an avid reader and orders a number of magizines, He thought he was being contacted by Publisher Clearing House for the magizines and has done business with them before with no problems. When he returned home he received a bill through the mail for $39.90. He belived that it was a one time payment, He pays somewhere around $15.00 a year for Readers Digest and $56.00 for a Smithsonion subscription for 22 issues. He was supposed to get 7 different magazines for free and pay for 2 for $39.90. He was not told it was once a month and the total billed would be over $400.00. The total paid for 2 subscriptions is $478.80. If you divided it out and even though you were buying all 9 subscriptions it would be $53.60 a year per subscription. So he called and tried to cancel and was told he had entered into the contract verbally. So he figured it was easier to just pay the bill than to get legal representation. We went to the website we got this website and were unable to locate the payment website. We called again and complained only to get the same answer about the contract and that they were updating the website that is most likely why we can locate it. I verbally told them after this point we no longer wished to be on their call list or contacted by them other than to have her supervisor contact us to talk about cancelation.
This company poorly communicates what they are providing and does not make it clear as to the terms of the contract you are entering into. Since a number of people have had issues I am sure they know it and continue to do it because it is profitable. The fact that they are aware and do not change there presentation so it is clear and or seek to make things right when notified absolutely makes it a scam.
Just and end note we have to date not received a single magizine.