I was just recently contacted by a collection agency saying that I owed Worldwide Preferred Publishers for magazine subscriptions that were taken out in 2001. Upon looking into this company it was once called the Community Reading Club of Southern California.
Yes, I did take the magazines out, but was told by the telephone solicitor that I had a free 30 day trial period for two to five magazines with no obligation whatsoever to purchase any of the trial magazines and that I did not have to contact them unless I wanted to join after the trial period ended. At the time I was in the process of moving, had just had a death in the family and when I tried to convery this to the person on the phone they just added additional pressure and sales tactics.
I had no contact telephone number for them and the mailing address was a P.O. Box in which I wrote them inquiring as to why I was still being sent copies of the original magazines well pass the 30 day trial period.
The collector told me that I had a balance due but that WPP would settle for a little over half plus a collection service fee, that I did go ahead and pay up to get them off of my credit report in which I did not see them as being listed recently when I pulled copies of my report. Upon conferring with my wife who is in a nursing home, she recalled that she was making payments to CRCSC and that the balance was well below what they claimed it to be.
I remember too, it was just around what I just got done paying them, so they lied and by way of deception claiming I originally owed substantially more they got their balance owed them. Too, I'd like it to be known that I have not received a bill from them since 2003 and had I gotten it their debt would have been paid off long ago. Neither did WPP attempt to contact me regarding this matter or inform me in any way that they were turning this debt over for collection.
I intend to contact the Missouri General Attorney's Office filing a complaint against WPP and asking that they not be allowed to do business in our state. I suggest a writing campaign to magazine publishers asking that they do not do business with WPP acting as agents for promoting and selling their publications.
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