These wonderful people called my 83-year old mother out of the blue in December in the guise of being a reputable magazine subscription service; they proceeded to convince her to give her credit card # over the phone to pay for what initially was a three year subscription to Good Housekeeping. This was for $229.99; which in and of itself is ridiculous if one has ever purchased magazine subscriptions on-line at Amazon.com, where they can be had at 80% off news stand prices. They proceeded to call her almost monthly with deliberately confusing offers for additional unwanted magazines and pressured her in a number of borderline threatening ways.By the time I accidentally saw one of her monthly credit card statements in March, she was being billed nearly every other month in amounts as much as $489.99.in total, US Magazines had billed her $1,899.93 for 8 different magazine subscriptions; which they had conned her into purchasing for her 7 different children. I immediately had her cancel her credit card and change her 16 digit card number on the new one. We are working with Citadel Bank in an effort to use their fraud recovery people to get at least something back; but they are telling us it is highly unlikely. I am also working with the local Tampa Bay NBC affiliate to see if their consumer advocate reporter would be interested in exposing this heinous organization. Although we live in Philadelphia, I am urging her to go online and read all of the many similar "scam" complaints regarding this company and how they continue to victimize elderly people. I am suggesting that she can interview us via Skype so that she can connect my mother's situation as a face to this law breaking company, operating in their backyard. Finally, to add insult to injury, I called these people to let them know that I was onto their scam, the credit card was cancelled & that I wanted my mother's money back. When I asked just how many magazines they had conned her into purchasing the young woman said 8. When I asked her if she didn't find it odd that an 83-year old woman would be willing to pay thousands of dollars for a number of magazines she couldn't possibly read in a month... She responded sarcastically..."How should I know, she's your mother!" At which point I decided being polite was pointless and making threats was clearly the only thing they understand. I hope this little story helps others to avoid this company & to report them if your are currently dealing with them. Keep an eye on your elderly parents, because they are likely to be too embarrassed to share their money problems with you. It's up to you to look into things.
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