On 11/30/04 I was contacted by NMS Subscriptions while I was working at my parent's house. I am told that someone was trying to contact me, according to my parents—obviously, they didn't have my phone number. I was told that my subscription to TV Guide, which was part of my cable TV bill, was expiring, and that I could renew the subscription at a great rate.
Unfortunately, being busy at my parent's house, I wasn't as concerned about the particulars of the deal. I figured, like most renewals, it would be for a year or 2, amount to $40-$60, and that would be the end of it. One other thing, I refused to give my credit card information over the phone, forcing them to send me a bill.
On Saturday Dec. 4th I received a bill from NMS to the tune of $265.56—for 4 years of TV Guide plus other magazines, these being magazines I had never signed on for. (The breakdown: TV Guide, 208 issues, 4 years, renewal ; Jane Mag., 10 issues, new subscription ; Forbes, 26 issues, new sub. ; Shape, 12 issues, new sub.; Inc., 13 issues, renewal.) The bill came with the proviso that cancellations could only be made within 5 days of the order placement.
Being a Saturday, no one answered at the number shown on the bill, and I was forced to wait til Dec. 6th to call them. When I finally got through, the person answering the phone told me that it was passed the time that I could cancel, and when I complained that outside of the fact that the mail conveniently arrived on a day that made cancellation impossible, I was also being billed for magazines that I never asked for.
I was tersely told that I'll have to pay a collection agency if I didn't pay up. I also did all I could to keep from crawling through the phone line to rip out the NMS operator's tonsils out, realizing that this company, with only a P.O. Box for an address and seeing reports on your website, was obviously a rip.
I contacted the office of Terry Goddard, the Attorney General of Arizona, and filed my complaint. Following that, and when I was able to cool down, I made a follow-up call to NMS—I spoke to another operator, who would not divulge their name, but agreed to cancel the subscription. I asked over and over again to make sure that we understood each other.
One more thing: this particular operator told me that the extra magazines were "complimentary", as in free. I told her I didn't want any magazines, including the TV Guide, and that I expected there to be no follow-up bills mailed to me.
In the time that has passed I received a letter from Tammy Miller, from the Attorney General's office, acknowledging my complaint, and advising me to be patient. Feeling like at least my complaint was filed, I hoped all was done.
Last week, specifically Feb. 23, I received 2 of the "complimentary" magazines, and I called NMS to complain. I was told by another anonymous operator that if I didn't want them to give them to a doctor for his office. I've decided to keep them, just in case I were to need any evidence.
I called the Attorney General's office to give them an update. They told me they had tried contacting NMS, but they didn't get back to them, but that the case was still "live".
Yesterday, Feb. 28, I received a magazine, and today, March 1, I received two more pubs. I've decided not to waste my breath trying to call NMS, and I don't put it past them to have the gall to send me another bill.in the next few days, I'll be sending the Arizona A.G. A follow-up to my registered complaint, just so when the anticipated bill shows up, they're aware that regardless of my understanding that the subscriptions were cancelled, they're continuing to send me magazines.
I'm sure this isn't the last of this saga...
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