National Readers Service Inc

Review: I was tricked into signing up for a magazine subscription in May of 2013. I was told I would be charged $60.38 USD for four months, and would receive 4 years of subscriptions. I am still being charged monthly, the last one occurred near the end of January, 2014. That is nine payments so far, almost $600 USD, over $600 CAD. For magazines!! I wish to stop the payments, especially considering I rarely get the magazines anyways. I have tried to cancel, but I always either conveniently can't reach somebody, or I am denied. I don't know how to go about forcing a cancellation of services, so I appear to be trapped spending between $65 CAD to $70+ CAD per month for a service I do not want, nor do I receive.Desired Settlement: I would like at least partial reimbursement, but I am not completely foolish, I would probably need to really fight in order to get it. I would be happy with immediate cancellation. They keep the roughly $600 they have withdrawn, but I am no longer charged. If there is any way out, I would be greatly appreciative. Thank you.

Review: I was contacted by this company, they stated that they were calling on behalf of Visa and as a preferred customer I was eligible for an exclusive magazine offer. I accepted the offer and was told that it would be a payment of $57.50 USD monthly for 12 months. The first charge was processed immediately and I was billed $64.98 USD. During the phone call there was no mention of how to cancel or what the repercussions of cancellation would be. Three weeks later I received a letter from the company stating I had 10 days from the date of enrollment to cancel this service. Obviously by the time I had received the letter the 10 days had lapsed.It has now been 5 weeks and I have yet to receive a single magazine or any other correspondence.I called the company and asked how to go about cancelling this service and the only answer they had for me was to pay out the rest of the subscription at an 80% penalty which would have been $640 USD. I still have not received a single magazine.I then contacted Visa and they immediately put a stop payment on my account for this company as Visa has absolutely no affiliation with this company.Desired Settlement: I realize that nothing can be done about the already processed payment but would like to not be charged any further and have contacted the company via phone and email stating so.

Business

Response:

We are in receipt of the complaint filed by Ms. [redacted] in reference to her account listed above. Ms. [redacted] has NO account with [redacted] does not conduct out of state business.

Review: This company will not cancel the subscription that they sold. They gave inaccurate information regarding price, delivery, cancellation policy.

On August 5th, 2013, my wife was contacted by this company. She listened to the sales pitch and signed up for the magazines. The company promised that they would send a contract with everything that was discussed such as price, terms & conditions etc. She was also told that she had two weeks in which to cancel the subscription. She was told that the subscription was $56.00US per month for 12 months. She was immediately charged 64.99 Canadian dollars which translated to 69.99 US dollars. On or around August 19th, 2013, my wife phoned the company with the number they provided, and asked to have the subscription cancelled. She was told she had already gone past her three day cancellation timeline and was not able to cancel the subscription. She asked if there was any possible way to cancel this subscription in which she was told that it would cost 700.00 to cancel the subscription. So she basically had to buy out the whole subscription. By this point nothing had arrived in the mail in the way of a contract or service agreement. My wife complied with the contract by continuing to pay for the subscription which has proven to be a challenge when she is only paid one per month from her employer. The company had made contact with her in order to collect the next payment from the credit card. She told them that she was not able to pay until the approx. 10th to the 15th of the month. The service agent said they would note it in the file. She then asked again if it was possible to cancel the subscription. The agent said no and hung up. The company continue to call my wife and ask where there payment is and repeatedly she tells them that there payment will be either the 10th or 15th of the month via credit card but yet no attempt was made to charge the card. On Oct 29th, 2013, I made contact with the company to ask if it was possible to cancel the subscription and was told no that it was not possible because the three day time line for the cancellation policy has passed. I asked why I should have to pay for a subscription that has not arrived nor should I pay for something that no paper agreement or contact has been sent. I was told to end the contract that I would have to pay over 600 dollars. I was also told that I could listen to the verbal agreement that was recorded between my wife and the agent that made the original call. I did listen to such recording and was under the impression that the whole verbal agreement was coached. The agent did quote the price of 54.99 in US dollars. I asked to speak to a manager and was told there was no manager on the floor. I asked to speak with a supervisor and was told that I may speak with me(the agent who called for collection). I then asked a third time to speak with a manager and was put on hold for a few minutes. A manager had come on the phone and I went through the whole process again. The difference this time is that the manager told me the my wife was a liar and that the sales agent had not told her false information during the sales conversation. She also said that my wife was lying regarding any conversation with other agents. She also suggested that I should have a conversation with my wife regarding her purchases and that I should control her spending habits with a credit card. The manager stated that it would be documented that I had listened to the phone conversation with the sales agent and my wife and that we had refused to pay the outstanding balance. I stated that she should review the sales practices that the agents are using to sell magazine subscriptions. Giving false information in order to make a sale is unethical. She asked if there was any other questions at which I said no and I will be contacting local assistance.

Desired Settlement: All that we are asking is to have this subscription cancelled and not be charged for product that we did not receive. We just don't want these magazines.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

To Whom It May Concern:

We are in receipt of the complaint filed by Mr. [redacted] in reference to his account listed above. Mr. [redacted] has NO account with Diamond Enterprises.

Please have Mr. [redacted] contact the number on complaint.

If you should have any questions please feel free to contact me at 1-800-576-6698. I will be happy to assist you between the hours of 9am-5pm PST Monday-Friday.

Sincerely,

Customer Relations Manager

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

I have to apologize to your company. I have sent a complaint to the wrong company. I have just discovered the legal name for the company in question.

Review: I am being fraudulently charged for a magazine subscription that was supposed to be only 12 months at $3.00 a magazine (total of 3 magazines) per month. I have been charged $30.20 per month for over two years and can not get them to cancel the subscription or change to the current address so I can even get the magazines that are supposedly being delivered to my previous address.They will not cooperate with me on the phone or recognize that I never agreed to a subscription longer than 12 months. Additionally, reviewing the company online has shown there is a very large scam/fraud complaint rate against this company and that their practices are deceitful, at best, about the nature of the agreed terms.During my last phone call, with my husband on the line, they told my husband that we had agreed to a 30 month subscription which would end this November 2013. That is not in line with the original timeline even if true. Also, I am still getting charged as recently as December 2013.I am putting a stop payment at my bank, which I should have done long ago, and filing this complaint. I am not certain which of the many "National Readers Service" offices in the US I am dealing with so I picked the one with "**" in the name as it fits closest to what appears in my bank withdrawal.The exact bank withdrawal name is "[redacted]" and the phone number (part of the name) is [redacted]Please help me to end this fraudulent attempt at my money and to recover lost withdrawals.[redacted]P.S. My former address is on record with them as [redacted]Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for the services charged against me outside of the original agreed upon terms, especially as I do not receive an services from them as they will not change the address and deliver any actual magazines.However, I would at least be content with no longer being charged from this point forward. I do not want them chasing me for "arrears" on an account they demand to charge against me once I put the stop payment against them with my bank.