I received a phone call in December or January stating that I needed to renew my magazine subscriptions. Because I am on the federal Do Not Call list, I believed this phone call was affiliated with three magazines that I really do subscribe to.
However, then I became suspicious. About two weeks ago, I received a magazine in the mail called "Working Mother" however I am a college student with no children, and I never would have subscribed to this. On my bank statement I noticed a charge for $56.50 with the Area Circulation phone number (but no company name was listed, just "Magazines" and 1-800-324-9452.) I called this phone number back and explained my confusion. The woman I spoke with stated that their company first initiated contact with me. Upon hearing that I am on the Do Not Call List, she stated that they probably got my phone number from a credit card company (but I do not have a credit card!) She said that they had called me a second time to confirm that I was going to pay $56.50 a month, however I did not receive a second phone call. Also she said that I had received a written contract in the mail, which is also not true. She said "Sorry that you're confused but we did tell you" and when I tried to cancel she refused to let me saying "We have made an agreement with the publishers and we discourage cancellation because we have already made a contract with them and this ensures savings and that your prices won't go up." She stated that I am subscribed to Rolling Stone, SPIN, Esquire, Ok! And several other magazines. I do not think I would have ever subscribed to Esquire since I believe it is a mens/business magazine.
I have not received any of these magazines that I supposedly subscribed to, and the woman I spoke with stated this could be because of different publishing guidelines and that it had not yet been 12 weeks so I could not file a complaint. I was charged in both January and March. When I told her that I had received rolling stone, Star, and US Weekly for several months she said that Star and US Weekly are from different companies but she thought that my receiving Rolling Stone meant that my order had gone through correctly. But I think then I would have been receiving two subscriptions to Rolling Stone and I don't think I would have gotten duplicate subscriptions, not to mention that there are no other magazine charges on my debit card or checking account. I think the person I spoke with was very rude and evasive. She kept on talking over me when I kept trying to tell her what happened, and acted like I was stupid by just saying "Sorry for the confusion."
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