I was contacted (on my cell phone) by SFMG. Last I heard, you could not solicit on cell phones, but they did anyhow. I was driving and flustered and exlained this to the marketer but she just went on and explained she would cheer me up because I was being entered to win $1 million bucks. She just needed me to complete a quick survey, which I did. When she asked my age group I was in the 21-45 category. Such a LARGE category! She said "oooh, I'm sorrry, you're not eligible, but we have these great magazines". (oh ya, and that watch too) She explained to me that I would receive 7 magazines for 3 years each. I would only have to pay for one magazine, Allure. I would be charged over the course of 16 months for this. I was told this was a rate of $3.99 per MONTH. That's not a bad deal, they were ok mags, I decided to go for it. I admittedly gave up my CC info and started to go through the process.
When the marketer verified I would be charge $3.99 per WEEK (not month as I was originally told) I had second thoughts. I started asking questions, then my cell phone cut out. I tried to call back the number which they called me from but since their phone system is set on auto-call all I got was ding ding ding - this is a recording... Blah blah blah...
I immediately hung up the phone and called my bank. This is all in the matter of MINUTES. They had already pre-authorized my credit card prior to the call ending! I asked the banker what to do and this is what she suggested.
We first put a stop payment on any future billings. Second, we cancelled the card I used and third, I opened a claim with my bank's fraud department.
A week later I recieved a letter from SFMG asking me to confirm some items, do I want a men's or women's watch (although I had already answered this on the phone). Funny how they recorded my CC number but not if I wanted a men's or women's watch... And they asked my preference a few times...
This letter also contained information for cancelling my account. I would have to write a letter for cancellation. (in hind-site, I should have sent this certified mail).
I sent the letter, but they never cancelled my subscription. This is what my bank discovered. When this was discovered I called my bank and they got a woman from SFMG on the phone to conference. First, this woman was BEYOND rude. She approached me "matter of fact" which is the WRONG way to approach an angry person, this is only going to make them more upset. I explained that I had sent a letter for cancellation. She said they never received it. I mentioned how "convenient" this was. I also told her that the call was not completed and so the ourchase should have never gone through. She had no answer for this. I started getting angry. This woman said "Jesus Christ" under her breath while I was talking. This through me into a complete FIT. They finally agreed to reverse the charges once I started SCREAMING at the woman calling her and the company rip off artists and shady, shoddy people.
I am now waiting for my credit. Will take about 14 business days.
Let's go over some math since I've seen some EMPLOYEES say what a goo deal everyone's getting...
I was going to be charged $69.16 over the course of 15 months for ONE magazine, Allure. Let's assume that the going rate is $5.00 for this mag per month. THis is $60.00 per year. For 5 years this is $350.00. If I would have paid the $69.16 for 15 months I would pay them a total of $1037.40. That's roughly $650.00 above market rate. Let's even assume this mag is $10.00 per month. That is a yearly rate of $120.00, over the course of 5 years this is 700 BUCKS!!!
Someone please explain to me how I am only paying for ONE magazine in this equation?
So, don't buy from these people... Don't buy from ANY subscription service. It's all crap and if you REALLY wanted those maazines you would already be purchasing them... Right?
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