What a Bargain! They sold my wife a handful of magazine subscriptions for eight thirty seven! Turns out they meant $837! Find out how to use deceptive consumer practices to Beat ‘em Back!

A few months ago, my wife received a phone call at work form a company called Publishers Business Services.  They invited her to take a short survey, and in return they would send her a few free magazines.  They surveyed her, and she returned to work.  Within a couple weeks, she started receiving magazines like Vogue, and GQ at work.  Swell, they followed through with their end of the deal.

They called her back a few weeks later at work and asked to do a short followup survey.  During that time they offered to send the free magazines to her home, they just wanted her to pay shipping and handling.  So they transferred her to a “supervisor” to complete the transaction.

When You Need to Close the Deal, You Call on Your Most Skilled Con-Man

The phone switched hands, and my wife  had to tell them twice that the address they had on file was her work address.  Polity, they asked for her home address and she gave it to them.   The supervisor closer went on on to say “I know your time is vital so I’m just going to run over the details for the verification tape, okay?” “Sure” my wife responds.

Enter the Micro Machines guy:  As quickly as a human can speak, the closer  confirmed my wife’s info and told her that she would be billed “eight thirty seven ” for five years worth of magazines. “Do you have any questions Mrs. O’Brien?” … Ready to get back to work my wife thanked them and said no.

Sounds like a good deal right?  $8.37 for 5 years of magazines! The first bill arrived shortly after that. $29.90 was the balance due.  A far cry from $8.37 they told her on the phone.   We were not about to pay this bill. A couple weeks had gone by before I gave it another thought, when a second bill arrived for $61.30. Now I was pissed.  I sure as hell was not going to pay them sixty dollar for a bunch of magazines like Bon Apatite and Men’s Journal.  This was on Friday.

I called them at 5pm, est.  Nobody answered the phone .  So I went online and looked them up.  Apparently I’m not the only person who ever had issues with them.  The FTC filed suit against them and several other companies at the beginning of last year in an effort called “Operation Tele-Phony“  Thousands of people had filed complaints with the FTC, citing deceptive business practices.  Oddly, this was comforting.  I knew that they were in legal hot water already, and I could use this information to my advantage when if I ever get a hold of someone.

Rut Row Rorge! Looks Like These Guys Are No Good!

I spent some more time reading the Droves of Compaints on consumeraffairs.com .  It dawned on me that when the closer spoke with my wife, she left out a critical word in her conversation.  While she said “eight thirty seven” she really ment “eight HUNDRED thirty seven!”  I’m sure this was a common practice for these scumbag dirt merchants.   They even called nursing homes for the mentally disabled and locked them into subscriptions! Following up with harassing bills for hundreds of dollars.  I sure as hell was not about to be scammed by these criminals!

Monday morning I called the company and asked them if they could verify if my wife ever asked them to send her magazine in return for her $29.90 a month.  They “went into the archives” and found the tape recording of the conversation they had with her.  I took the liberty to record a copy for myself.  It was pretty clear to me at this point that I couldn’t dispute what was on the tape, and I told the CSR on the other end of the phone that I wasn’t disputing the contents of the tape, rather that I just thought calling a place of business and doing a sales pitch to whatever cashier answered the phone was pretty scummy.  At that point he tried to get my bank account info out of me, and I told him I would be in touch to further discuss the matter.

I played the tape for my wife, and asked her why she told me she never ordered anything from these people.  If she placed an order with them, why wouldn’t she tell me?  She said that this tape was not the first time they called her, and that they had been sending her magazines at work before they bullied her into placing an order.

After she left, I got to thinking, ‘did that tape indicate the date of the conversation?’ Upon a second listen I heard a date, March 26, 2009.  But how could I prove they sent her magazines and bills before this recording?  I didn’t have the bills, I throw junk mail away!  But you know what I did have, magazines, POSTMARKED MARCH 10.

I called them back, and asked them if they ever send out magazines to people who have not placed an order.  I also asked if they send personal orders to somones place of business. They said no.   That was interesting.  Why did I have a pile of magazines addressed to my wife, c/o her business address?  Why were they postmarked prior to the recorded “verification” of her order?

I told them about the tape and the magazines and how the dates just didn’t jive.  They asked me how I had a copy of the tape and I explained that I recorded the call.  I further explained that Maine is a one party consent state, meaning only one party of a conversation need to be aware of the recording to make it legal.  Upon hearing this, they asked if I was recording the present conversation.  I said, “I certainly am!” and they hung up on me!  How shady does a business have to be to hang up on a customer who records a correspondence with them?

So I called a third time, and asked to speak with the floor supervisor.  I explained what had already transpired on the previous calls, and told him that according to the FTC, I’m not the only person who felt deceived by them.  This guy was very receptive to my concerns once I told him about the FTC website I was reading prior to my call.  I told him I caught ‘em red handed, and I did!

Short and sweet,  he comped the order, and said he is still going to send the magazines for the rest of the year.  I could care less about the magazines, I’m just happy they didn’t get the best of us on this one.  Remember, everyone is looking to clean out your wallet, and you the consumer need to be diligent about recognizing these scams!  I’m sure some of you have fallen prey before, but rest assured, there is something you can do about it!

Don’t forget to comment, Digg and tell your friends about my blog! Now please excuse me while I report this all to the FTC in case they could use the tapes!

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