I had fallen into the same Area Circulation Trap that everyone else has fallen into here. I got the same symtoms as everyone else. I checked my statement one month and there was a second charge for the amount of almost double the first.
Neither I or my wife remember authorizing the second charge, yet it still came. My wife tried to cancel the account over the phone but they gave her the same song and dance.
I finally reached my limit the other day when tight times stretched my accounts very thin. Area Circulation proceded to take out their "fair share" and put me over the limit.
I called them and proceded to ask them what was needed of me to cancel the account. I did not ask for them to cancel it, I just wanted to know the dollar amount, paperwork, or silly dance I needed to do in order to cancel my account.
I was on the phone with a customer service representative for approx, 10 mins when I started to see the problem. I was asking the same question as above. I asked it over and over and over. I never got a straight answer, the Customer Service Representative danced around it. She then saw that I wasnt going to back down and transferred me to a manager.
Now remember, I am not asking these people for anything free or to skate out on payments, just what I have to do to cancel the contract.
So the manager gets on the phone with me and continues the same song and dance as earlier. I keep pushing the same question, i ask it in different forms and mention to the manager that he might not be listening to me. He offered me a reduced rate for the services.
Upon this a light came on in my head... Supposedly this company gets you a good deal on magazines by purchasing the subscriptions in bulk. They get a big discount for ordering for a lengthy subscription also. They then front the money to the publishers and you pay them back, interest free.
The managers offer got me thinking, how can this company offer me a discount for as much as 50% off if they have already paid out? So I told the manager that I dont want anymore payments, I just want it over. He again offered a lower rate, this one at 90% off. So I asked the manager how this was possible. He started to trip over his words and couldnt find me an anwser. Not even an unsatisfactory answer.
This was the point where I knew I had them. I pushed a little more asking for the info I needed. And then success. The manager presented me with an offer I couldnt refuse.
He told me he would stop delivery and payments and "try to recover some of the moey from the publisher."
Now I am free of the chains that bind me. I guess the moral of this rant is that, if you want area circulation to stop, just give them a call and dont give up, just ask what you have to do to cancel. Keep asking till you get the answer you want.
Good luck to all
Steve
palm bay, Florida
U.S.A.
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