My fiance got a call from a company called the International Magazine Company and was spoken to by a male (not sure of his name). He was told that he was entered to win the publishers clearing house sweepstakes and that he had also won a diamond studded watch. Then they told him that they were going to give him 6 magazine subscriptions for free, and the only one he had to pay for was the Rolling Stones subscription for a 4.00 flat fee. Then he proceeded to tell my fiance that they were going to have a manager call to confirm his order.
A couple minutes later, my fiance got a call from a man named Brandon Green, supposedly a manager for this company. He then told my fiance that he was going to only charge him 4.00 and that was it and asked for his debit card number. (The man he spoke to also had his full name, address, CELL phone number, debit card type, and other info as well.) My fiance then gave him his debit number and the manager then waited a couple moments for the transaction to go through and then he explained the billing method, AFTER he put in his debit number.
Then he proceeded to tell him that the final charge was going to be $53.16, when my fiance did NOT give him permission to charge him for that transaction. Then my fiance tried to get him to cancel it and then the man named Brandon tried to work it down to $39.99 instead to get my fiance to keep the account. Then my fiance tried to cancel a bunch of more times and Brandon kept trying to add on other things to make it a "better deal". My fiance kept saying he wanted his money back, that he did not agree to that amount.
Brandon then said he was going to transfer him to customer service (Remember, he is supposed to be a manager. He is the one who handles these things.) and then he hung up on my fiance. Then he called this number back (1-866-394-9197) about 5 times and finally got through and spoke to someone else who said he was going to get a form to cancel the account and my fiance was hung up on again. Then my fiance called like 5 more times and got another person who took his info down and said customer service would call back in 5-10 min and he never got a call back.
So then, I got involved. I looked up the "International Magazine Company" and there are many complaints about this "company". They are a scam. They say it is going to be $4.00 and it winds up being like $60.00. I even read some complaints where people said they scammed them for up to $800-1000 dollars. So here is how you get your money back and avoid them posting any other transactions on your behalf.
1) First contact your credit or debit card company (IE: Wells Fargo, Bank Of America, ETC.) and report it as credit or debit fraud (whichever applies to you), and have your card canceled so no other transactions go through.
2) Keep trying to get a hold of the company. There is only ONE number where I spoke to anyone that seemed like they could do anything about it. That number is 727-536-9990. That is the Executive Office for the International Magazine Company. I talked to one lady who seemed nice and has told me that she will be refunding our money back into our account within 3 days. Her name is Jen and her extension is #226. She is the only one who called me back after I gave them our number.
3) If you do not get your money back and/or don't receive a phone call back after giving them a chance to settle this through you, then I suggest you file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. (http://www.bbb.org/) Go to that site and enter your zip/postal code and it will send you to the Better Business Bureau of your city/county. Then on the right you will see a 'BBB For Consumers' box and you will see a link that says 'File A Complaint'. Click on that. It will then ask you the address of the International Magazine Company and their information.in case you cannot find their information anywhere else here is their info.
Company Name: International Magazine Company
Company Address: 3665 E. Bay Dr. Ste. 204 #253
Largo FL 33773
Company Phone Number: 727-536-9990
(Also remember that you will probably get nowhere if you call back the number that called you. Call this number and you speak directly to one of the top people.)
Then explain what happened to you in detail and submit your application. Also, watch your account for further charges although I doubt there will be any if you listened to step 1.
If you need any further help just let me know. And remember this will take time to get through to them and get your money back. Be persistent and demanding and you will get your money back.
Good Luck.
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