A seemingly sweet young man from Texas came to my door this evening, selling magazines in order to win a trip to Cancun. He was friendly and made several off-the-wall comments and jokes, which I now realize were meant to throw me off my guard. He would ask odd questions and use strange wording so I'd have to guess at his meaning, and then laugh at myself for being confused in the first place. Pretty impressive tactics for a kid "just out of high school and on his way to college."
I'm a 20-something woman, and was home alone, but I recently got a giant-breed dog (half-Neapolitan Mastiff, half-St. Bernard!), so I used her as an excuse not to open the door. I'm really a cat person, but I've never been more glad that I now own a dog. My main reason for not wanting to open the door is that I grew up in a high burglary area of San Diego, so I've learned the hard way not to let strangers get a peak in my house.
The kid was unphased though, and agreed to pass materials to me through a snag in the screen. He showed me his laminated Cancun contest postcard and list of magazines available. Some of the zines were X'ed out with blue crosses because they were no longer available. Somehow this added to his cause's legitimacy: Why would they bother to cross out certain unavailable mags if they were just going to rip me off anyway?
So I humored him when he said I could just pick 3 that I'm "interested in, there's no commitment to buy, " and he would still get his contest points. I looked over the points and saw on his postcard he needs 20,000 to win the trip (each magazine had a listed point value of around 20 to 50 pts), and I tried my darnedest to find one I liked so I could humor this kid. But I finally had to confess to him that I don't read magazines.
He then told me that he could get a whopping 1000 points if I got a gift subscription to a children's hospital or someone deployed in Iraq. I thought that was nice that his company rewarded him extra for charity purchases, so I decided to go for it. I picked Jack and Jill, the only children's mag choice that wasn't associated with television.
He began to fill out the form, and then passed it through the screen for me to sign. I signed the form in pencil, and was going to correct the mistake when I began to feel the nagging sensation of my better judgement beckoning to me. So I passed the form back, signed in pencil, and I said I'd look for my checkbook.
That's when he began trying to convince me to pay cash. He said he'd get more points if I did, and said that "the girl's team always gets cash, they always win." He said they "flirt with the men, and the men always give them cash." I couldn't find any cash, so he settled for a check. I definitely needed a pen for my check, so I went to the desk in my bedroom, and thank the Gods that I did! My computer sat upon my desk, staring at me, all-knowing. I couldn't resist and, carefully pulling the window drapes closed so he wouldn't see me, did a quick search on the Internet for his company name.
Lo, and Behold! Usacomplaints.com came to my rescue (again!) and I realized the mistake I had almost made. I went back to the door and regretfully told him I had changed my mind. He replied coercively, "But you've already signed the form." To which I said, "I'm sorry, can't you just destroy it?" But he insisted, "No, they count them!" He was clearly upset, but I think he knew that the jig was up because he started to leave, but added, "Well don't buy any from the other kids then!" I'm sure I will have no problem complying with his request!
I feel bad now about letting him leave. After reading the testimonials from a few former employees of USA, I can see that this kid may not have been a full-fledged con artist. Yet. If I'd known how hard it is to escape USA's clutches, I'd have offered him some help, or even an honest job (I own a business myself).
Regardless, I think everyone should be warned at least about the company these kids represent. Whether these kids know it, suspect it, or are totally oblivious to it, Universal Subscription Agency is a scam. I've even seen some replies on here of former (or current?) employees to USA who are proud of their conning and scamming skills.
It makes me sick to think of these young, smart kids being used by this company, and learning to think of other human beings as fools and suckers. I thought the kid who came by tonight was nice, and I even feel guilty that I couldn't help him out in some way, which I guess means he was successful at proving me a sucker, too. But thanks to usacomplaints.com at least I didn't lose any money for it this time.
I highly recommend reading the cocky "rebuttals" of some of the former-USA employees. I'm sure those girls seem just as sweet when they come to our doors at night, but you can plainly see from their own comments that they are cold-hearted scam artists who only think lower of the people who fall for their scams and take a caring or sympathetic view of them.
Companies that exploit our better nature are of the worst variety, and to think this boy almost used my concern for children in hospitals or our soldiers in Iraq as a means to steal money from me, it says a lot about the state of our country, and it breaks my heart.
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