This all started because I was online a few days ago and happened to click on a shoe advertisement from vans shoe co. The ad was a $75.00 off deal on a pair of custom shoes (Vans Shoe Company is irrelavant to CMI and we'll get to the details soon enough) from Vans.
In order to get the deal from Vans, you have to be willing to take a survey which will then go into various and numerous products that may or may not entice you. For example, you will click yes if you want more information about online colleges, health insurance, movie discounts, and so forth.
It just so happens I clicked no to every single offer thrown at me (I had done this before and your information like phone, address, and email all get bombarded by telemarketers) and there is no way to stop this because one agency sells your info to another agency, to another agency and it simply never ends.
I figured by clicking no, no one would bother me, but sure enough I was getting numerous calls from different telemarketers. That was one of my first mistakes. One call of course came from a company only identified to me as Century Marketing.
The first person asks you information about yourself. Are single or married? What are your hobbies? All this to tailor a package of magazines to sell to you for $39.90 per month for 25 consecutive months. I decided to go through the process to see what would happen.
During the conversation I asked the first person, Identified as Derrick, if I was unsatisfied with the service How could I cancel? Of course he diverted my question and explained his boss would come on the phone to confirm the order and answer any other questions.
When the boss who identified himself as Mitch came on the phone we went over the service agreement again (if anyone is at this point you can still backout). While going over the cost of the service (let's do the math) which was $39.90 per month for 25 months (total of $997.50) I explained to Mitch I had no money in the bank, was unemployed and my only source of income was student loans.
I asked several times when they would process the first charge, Mitch never gave a definative answer. While asking about cancellations Mitch also diverted my question and lead me into answering the prompts which ask if I understand the terms of service. I went as far as to do all this to inform everyone else who is contacted by them of how they operate.
You would think after answering all the prompts that were given there would be someone to answer any questions you might have. There was not. The automated prompts are the last step in their scheme and no one is there to provide answers. As the automation ended, Mitch came on the phone and said thanks before hanging up on me.
As soon as this happened I attempted to call the number on my caller id from my cell. It was 1 866 724 5076. I tried this number at different times of the day and on three different days. Each and every time, you get a busy type signal.
During this time I also checked to see if this company had any contact information and a website. None could be found. Of course, I also checked with my bank, and they denied a charge from CMI who immediately attempted to withdraw money from my account. Like I said, I had no money.
After a little bit of investigation I found another website which had some similar complaints about the same company but under a different 866 number.
Http://800notes.com/Phone. Aspx/1-866-457-8854
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