I was called by a young man, who told me I won a $1000 shopping spree online, then he gave me a pitch about how all I needed to do was order magazines from them. Then he asked if I could hold to speak to his manager and give him a good word because he's new.
His manager came on the phone and it was a nice women who told me the young man was a new hire.
She then continued the pitch and when she told me about the magazine orders, in which she told me was $3.59 a month, I asked if the magazine's were cancellable. She nervously laughed and told me, "Well, I rather you not... Otherwise our company will go out of business... Do you want to continue?"
She then told me that in the case of financial trouble or inability to pay, Active Periodicals will work out something between us.
As I contemplated for a minute, thinking that $3.59 a month for 14 months is not bad when I would also earn a $1000 shopping spree, I hesitantly said yes.
Another call took place shortly after, in which another nice women told me that to finish the transaction I would have to answer only 4 simple questions. An automated voice came on and
The questions were:
1. Are you Married or Single?
2. How much are you paying for the magazine subscriptions?
- I said $3.59, then the women came on and corrected me saying that yes it was $3.59 for one subscription of ESPN magazine but there were also other subscriptions that I ordered, in which I did not know about.
3. What are the last 4-digits of your credit card?
I can't remember the last question but the main point is I gullibly accepted the transaction and gave away my credit card information.
On Friday June 5th I received a letter from Active Periodicals stating that I have ordered 4 magazine subscriptions and that I will be paying $58.34 a month for 16 months.
I did not hear these amounts from the phone calls. I thought I was agreeing to pay only $3.59/month for one subscription for 14 months.
And the $1000 Shopping Spree is only a poorly printed attachment in which you would have to fill out a form with your:
Account #/Billing I.D.
Name
Phone #
Address
City
State
Zip
Date
Email
and Signature
On the bottom of the form is an address to mail this form to:
Fufillment Center, P.O. Box 1188, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33443
On the form it also says:
"The magazines have been ordered for the full term as indicated on your order agreement. All orders are subject to acceptance by Active Periodicals, Inc. And, subject to the laws of your state, are not cancelable after 5 days from the time you recieved the enclosed copy of your agreement.By signing, you agree to fulfill your obligation as listed on the enclosed agreement. We thank you for your initial payment you made at the time you accepted your order."
I have not sent out the form yet, but for what it says, they have already begun charging me for this month's subscriptions.
I tried calling them on their customer service line (800) 553-7633 that was written on the letter on Friday and Saturday but all I got was an automated, "Thank you, Goodbye."
I then went online to yellowpages.com and found their business number and called that and got another automated message saying, "All of your representatives are busy with other customers, please leave your name and number and messages and someone will get back with you shortly."
I left my name and number and told them to call me back because I have some questions. No one has called me back yet.
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