My cell phone kept receiving 'unavailable' phone calls for two days. As I was leaving work one day, I decided to just answer it. It was a salesperson who said as a Visa, Mastercard, or American Express card holder I was entered into a sweepstakes and was selected. As I was driving home, the salesperson informed me that as a 'thank you for being a good customer' I had won a free watch. I had the option of choosing men's or lady's style. I was then transferred to another agent who congratulated me on my new watch and proceeded to offer me four magazine subscriptions that would actually interest me for only $4.99 a month. I accepted and I gave her my debit card info. I was then given a thorough list of detailed confirmation numbers (Ex: an order number, the salesperson's name, an authorization code, and some other type of number) for me to write down for my records. She then summed up my magazine choices totaling $59.99 a month. What??!! I immediately told her I could not afford this amount. She understood and offered me a discount of $49.99 a month. Again, I told her that would be impossible. She assured me that I didn't need to pay immediately. I could pay later when a phone call would alert me to when I would actually be billed. I told her I think I changed my mind. She then said she was going to do this for me, I was going to get her employee rate of $35 a month. I politely declined and explained that I knew this wasn't the best thing for me. Then the questions came: "Why are you changing your mind? What's making you change your mind now? You agreed before, why now?" I told her I did not want another bill. This went back and forth for awhile. Her last words were, "Well obviously I can't make you do anything you don't want to do." Happy that she was finally relenting, I thanked her for going over everything with me. I heard the phone hang up on me in the middle of my sentence. I'm 21, kind, and obviously naive but not stupid. I was worried this person had my banking info. I checked my banking and found a pending $1 fee charge from a I-888-854-4706 number and the word 'magazine' before it. No company name, no address. My mother searched the Internet with this number and found this webpage, which in turn turned me to usacomplaints.com! I immediately called my bank and they are issuing me a new account number due to this unauthorized charge.
I know now what questions to ask and how to ask them. I've learned alot and I'm grateful for not being burned worse. I hope my story helps someone out there.
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