Around 4 PM on October 9 a girl named Kayla Steele came to my door in my residence hall at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC and I assumed that she was a student because a student ID is required to enter the building.
She claimed that she was selling magazines for her trip to Europe that was being sponsored by a public speaking class — a very familiar story to many other people on this website. However, I didn't really think much about it because I've participated in numerous (legitimate) magazine sales over the years for school fundraisers. A particular thing about her is that she talks very fast and I couldn't quite figure out what she was saying, but I had no reason to believe this was illegitimate because I figured she must be a student to even be in the building.
So I sign up for a magazine subscription and she requested cash but I didn't think much of it because I wouldn't have asked if she could take a check because I don't have any checks. So we walk over to the ATM across the street and I get the money due for the subscription.
I give her the money and I get my receipt and I ask her how long it takes to get my first issue, she says 6-8 weeks. I figure that is acceptable since having done these before that is usually the norm.
After she leaves, I realize that the address I gave her probably wasn't the best one. So, I look for some sort of contact information on the receipt that I can call and get it changed. There isn't one. Hmm, this is suspicious. So I go to Google to find RLA's website and all I find are the numerous rip off reports of this company from all around the country.
I'm not sure how this helps since most people like me have no reason to not believe these people and wouldn't exactly look up the company while the person is trying to do their sale.
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