Today I recieved a call from an 'Unavailable' number. I answered the call, and it was from this company, Countrywide Periodicals. The girl I spoke to was named Ashley. She told me I was going to recieve a diamond watch and free subscriptions to Cosmo and Vogue magazines for 48 months, all I had to do was subscribe to another magazine, which would cost $3.83 per month. It sounded good, so I gave her my address, etc. She told me her supervisor just tapped her on her shoulder and wanted to speak to me to ensure that Ashley was providing good customer service. She handed the phone over to him, and he said his name was Kevin James. He was telling me more about what I was going to recieve. He said I could cancel my subscription at any time, and that I actually wouldn't be charged for the first month. He then started asking me for my credit card information. I was really hesitant to do this. I told him I didn't have it with me, and he asked, "What, are you afraid of giving your information over the phone?" I said that yes, I was indeed afraid to do that. He assured me it was fine and that it would be secure. Before I gave him the card number, he somehow already knew what number it started with. I asked how he got my information, and he said that the credit card companies sponsor it. Whatever that means. I was still unsure about this, and so I told him exactly that. He told me that I was going to be recieving a second call after I hung up with him, and I wouldn't be charged until I confirmed the charge during the second call. I immediately googled the company name. Not long after, I recieved the second call. The girl said her name was Jackie, and started telling me that customer service is everything and that they try really hard to provide good customer service and wanted to know if Kevin and Ashley were being friendly. I told her that I did not want to go through with the charge, and that I would like to cancel it. She immediately became extremely rude. She said, "i dont understand, i think im confused. WHY WOULD YOU SAY YOU WANT TO AND THEN WANT TO CANCEL IT? CAN YOU NOT AFFORD IT, IS IT TOO MUCH FOR YOU?" I told her that I just didn't trust the company, because I had been researching it online and found nothing but bad things said about the company. She then said, "WELL GOOGLE VERIZON AND DISH NETWORK, PEOPLE WILL SAY BAD THINGS ABOUT THEM TOO." I told her that it still would not change my mind, so please cancel. And she HUNG UP ON ME. Before I could get a number to call or anything. She just hung up on me. Great customer service, huh? So I got a number to call through a google search, and asked to speak with Kevin James. The gentleman who answered the call, Chris, said that nobody by the name of Kevin James works there. I said, "Really? I just spoke to him. He's a supervisor." Chris then told me that there was a supervisor there named Justin. I said fine, let me speak to him. So I explained to Justin my situation. This guy was really nice, and totally on my side. One funny thing was he was very concerned with how I got the number. What kind of company worries about their customers finding their number? He said he would reverse the charge and cancel it, and take care of the rude people I had talked to earlier. Then I asked about Kevin James giving me a fake name. He said there was a Kevin Donahue who works there, and that he would speak to him about that also. After reading online about everyone not being able to cancel their subscriptions and still being overcharged, I figured that I probably shouldn't trust that they even cancelled my subscription as they said they would. I called my bank to see if I could change my card/account numbers. They told me that I should file a claim, so I spoke to a claim representative with my bank. I explained the situation to her, and she asked me for Countrywide Periodical's number. She called them, and then told me she spoke to the supervisor, who this time said his name was Doug. She said that he would cancel everything and reverse the charges. She took notes and said that if I still get charged, just call my bank and let them know and I'll be able to dispute it. So we'll see what happens.
Apparently, the guy who runs this company is named Jason W. Ellsworth. He runs similar companies as well; one of them going by the name of US Magazine Services. Google his name and tons of complaints and court cases will come up. He and his company employees are absolutely NOT to be trusted.
I've also read that a lot of people were given phone numbers that were constantly "busy, " the voice message inbox was full, or that the number was just invalid. To those who have fallem victim to this, the number I was able to reach the company at was 1-406-961-5388.
Dont give your information to countrywide periodicals!
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