Heartland
Reviews and Complaints

My complaints against Heartland Legal Group are the same as the rest. The salesman sell one thing and then they do another and no one returns calls, despite being escalated several times. They set you up on a payment plan and claim they will resolve your debt at %50. After they got all 30 monthly payments from me the creditor offered a %60 settlement. Instead of Heartland paying %50 and me paying the other %10 as the salesman said, they are expecting me to pay the whole %60 and are still withdrawing money out of my account beyond the 30 payments I agreed to. No one will call me back to explain what happened to all the money I paid them to pay off the %50, they just fall back on the legalese fine print in the contract, which completely contradicts what the salesmen sold me and the expectation they set on at the beginning. I would have saved money repaying %100 of the debt myself. All they do is redistribute the money you owe to themselves and then leave you with the debt they were supposed to resolve.

I originally started with Heartland Legal Group to settle outstanding debts about June 2020. They said they would settle the debts within 3 years. Heartland Legal Group resolved one small credit card initially. I continued to pay in every month. They deducted a set amount each month from my bank account. They deducted $251 every month for service costs plus about $20 per month for administration fees. They also took almost $1000 as an initial retainer fee.

Many months later, (Dec. 2022) after several phone calls to see what they were doing and getting absolutely no detailed response, and having settled nothing on the two outstanding debts, I cancelled. I had $5500 in escrow and had paid more than $7000 in “service fees”. They had more than $12000 of my money which would have settled both outstanding debts easily.

I have received the escrow amount from the escrow bank.

I was once a former employee of Heartland Inc. I worked there for two years. This is a company that continues to stay in business due to the thriving on a business of fraud. This company contacts who are receiving or who have received magazines within the last five years. The goal for this company is to lead you in believing that they are calling from "with the publishers" who are sending out your magazine. This is not your actual publishing company that you have a contract with. Heartland is leading you to believe that they are giving you a better offer on renewing your current magazine subscription. What they do not tell you is, you are signing up for yet another magazine subscription on top of the pre-existing subscription you already have with the original publisher. The difficult part in getting our money back is that the conversations are recorded. In the initial "renewal process" of your magazine order, they are recording the conversation leading you to believe you are simply getting a lower price on your existing magazine subscription. They are not telling you that you will get duplicates from what you are already getting. The recorded converstaion is a script in which these "representatives" are reading to the unfortunate ones to get the scam of a phone call, is worded just right to avoid any major detection of a fraudulent transaction. With the unfortuante buyer giving the approval for the transaction, it is hard to be refunded. My suggestion, never buy anything over the phone. Never renew anything over the phone. Always check to make sure companies are reputable before giving your banking information.
Signed,
Ex-Employee of Heartland, Inc. that was badly mistreated

I have had two debit transactions taken from my bank account of $59.85 from heartland Inc. They called me a couple months ago to sell magazines, I did order them for one payment of $12.99 or so I thought that is what was told to me when I ordered them. I received a letter from heartland about two months ago stating that I have to pay the $59.85 monthly unless I cancel with in ten days, I sent the letter to cancel my order for the magazines before my ten days were up. I received a bank statement that showed the two payments made that I didn't make or give them permission to take out of my bank which they have been doing. I called them to see what was going on and why were they taking money out of my account when I canceled my order and they told me that they never received a letter in the mail from me to cancel that they would get their manager to call me back. Their manager called me back thirty minutes later and I explained to them the situation and she told me that they couldn't cancel my order because I had a time limit to cancel and failed to do so, I told her that I sent in that letter to cancel it and she told me that they have never had a problem in receiving their mail before, I commented back and said that they have a problem with their mail now because I did send that letter and she said thank you have a nice day and hung up on me. So they haven't canceled my order and are still taking money out of my account with out my knowledge or permission. I haven't even received any magazines from them at all.

I, too, was duped by Heartland, Inc. I had actually agreed to magazine subscriptions from another company and thought that Heartland was them when they called, but then when they couldn't verify the magazines that I had coming to the house, I became very suspicious. A while later, I noticed that my checking account balance had taken a major hit of $1317.50 +/- by a company called Heartland, so, I called them to find out what it was for and got the same story that everyone else has gotten, but when I was offered the option of hearing a recording of my consent to the charges initially, and said that I would like to hear it, the call was disconnected. At that point I called my bank and informed them of the bogus transaction and they reversed it, but I just received another call from them on my cell phone now, after screening calls to my home phone and was told that my credit card/bank card was declined (of course). I politely explained that I was billed over $1300 for magazines, notified my bank and they put a block against the company who overcharged me, and I said that it was a bit steep for a handful of magazines and that I wanted to cancel my subscription. The woman politely explained that I am still obligated to pay the balance and that they couldn't cancel my subscription because it had already been processed, etc., etc. I don't want something for nothing and don't want to pay for something that I don't want. She did ask for my permission to record the call several times, to which I acknowledged, leaving a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I find it odd that they can't just stop sending me magazines if I don't pay. I don't remember there being a contract as to the duration of the service, just the number of issues (with the other company whom I thought I had been dealing with). UGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

A representative of Heartland calls asking if you want to renew your subscription to a magazine you are presently receiving. They don't tell you that they aren't the company through which you are presently ordering your subscriptions. If you're in the practice of renewing over the phone, this seems like a reasonable request. You're then sent a subscription to more magazines than you want and are told your payment plan is only $59.85 over the next 19 months for a total order value of $1197.
I tried to talk to a representative of the company, but they wouldn't talk to me. It's their company policy to only talk to the person who has the account. Heartland will not even honor the request of the account holder to speak to another person. Today my wife talked to a manager (Brandy) who was rude to, and raised her voice at, my wife, arguing with my wife. Brandy wouldn't listen to what my wife had to say. Heartland's tactic is to bully the account holder into paying for magazines that they don't want, at prices that aren't in align with the value of the magazines.
We've been trying to get this subscription issue resolved for over two months. One manager canceled it. Then two months later someone calls and tells us we still owe. They advertise 24/7 service and give an 866 number to call, but never answer the phone (how convenient for them.) That allows them to call back when they want to talk, not when you want to talk.
DO NOT deal with this company.

Heartland Mag I have been tring to reach you for day's and without any responce you still as of date not called back my complaint is I gave you the right to use a Debt Card to pay my Two Accounts Once on the 1st of each month and the other in the 15th of each month and then to my suprise you Took out another amount out on the 21st of Dec 2009 without my agreeing I have tried to call Ive left messages and No return calls What do you say this is I would call it Stelling As of this morning I have called 7 Times leaving message after message I hope that writting this I might get a reture call so those who have had this same problem please stand up to these people who makes a living off of people who try to pay our bills not stelling from others

Let me tell you a story about a bunch of crooks. Here goes ...

Memo dated December 15, 2009

On July 22 of this year, Readers’ Choice, a Magazine Subscription Service based in San Luis Obispo, California, wrote me a letter welcoming me to their Readers’ Exchange Program. This was in response to my accepting an enticing offer made a few days earlier by a very professional sounding young lady to service my magazine needs for the next five years. I was informed that if I were to totally pay for this service immediately at the time of my order, I would also get a 4-day/3 night Royal Caribbean Cruise at any one of 25 resort destinations; a 7-Night Resort Getaway at any one of 500 resort destinations; $1, 000 worth of brand-name grocery coupons; $1, 000 in savings at some of my favorite well-known restaurants; a Two for One Cruise Certificate, and a Free Companion Airfare Certificate – all under my Certificate Validation Code: 1512. I would also receive, as an added bonus, a Lifetime Membership in Hotels, lnc., a large Discount Travel Club, which was easily worth the $129.00 that I would be charged; a Certificate redeemable for a Premier Golf Membership giving discounts at more than 1, 500 golf courses throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean, and the British Isles, and a Free $100 Redeemable Gasoline Certificate (I got one worth $200 instead). All of this along with my subscriptions to the first four magazines of my choice, and I gave these to the young lady salesperson during our initial phone call. They were: Maximum PC, World of Puzzles, Cookbook Digest, and Readers Digest. Next, I was given an Order Number: 0321631, and I received my Hotel, Inc., Membership Card, Number 789919 by regular mail very soon thereafter. I was told in that letter that should I need to contact Readers’ Choice for any reason, my Customer ID and my Password would be: 1047631. The costs for this service seemed reasonable (even if the discounts turned-out to be not much to speak of). At the end of my initial telephone conversation, I agreed to pay the first two of three monthly installments of $199, 00 each immediately if Readers’ Choice would pay the final payment. I was eventually charged for the two $199.00 payments on my American Express statements on 7/21/2009 and then on 8/13/2006. This meant that Readers’ Choice would pick-up the third and final payment . My American Express card was also billed $35.00 on my July statement for each of the two Vacation Getaway packages (one was called a Cruise package) on 8/24/2009, and I was also charged $129.00 on 7/21/2009 for my lifetime membership in Hotel Etc. which also included my annual access to www.ChoiceTravelPass.com at no additional cost. This was all explained to me by letter from Readers’ Choice dated 07/22/2009, and I approved of this charge as it was explained to me earlier by phone. All of the Readers’ Choice special programs and benefits were paid through my American Express card, and they have all been delivered exactly as I was told they would be. The actual delivery of their claims, however, turned out to be very disappointing; however, I bought into their program on my own free will; therefore, any blame for the lack of delivery of any expected service which I had assumed would be provided is mine, not theirs.

An invoice dated July 17, 2009, was received by me from a National Magazine Exchange’s “Reader’s Club” to confirm my magazine subscription order. It indicated that I would be receiving the following magazines: Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Forbes, Working Mother, Popular Science, Interview and Essence. It also said that I would be billed on my American Express card for 4 month payments of $67.08 each beginning on July 17, 2009. As I thought this was from “Readers’ Choice”, I called them and said that my invoice was all wrong and that my list of magazines was not anywhere near to what I had ordered. I was assured that I had the right place, and that they would correct my subscriptions to conform with my order. In the meantime, the National Magazine Exchange, dba NME MAGAZINEORDER 86LARGO, charged $67.08 to my American Express card on 7/17/2009. I noticed, however, that their invoice had a Clearwater, Florida, address for all correspondence, and an Atlanta, Georgia, address for all payments. Their Customer Service Department was shown to be in Clearwater, Florida, at [protected]. As my magazine service was located in San Obispo, California, I began to wonder if this was the same company. Sure enough, it wasn’t..

On August 18, 2009, I was sent an eMail by Readers’ Choice confirming my order and detailing once again all of wonderful things that I would be getting with my membership in their program, and in that eMail, they said they had served America for over 20 years, and that they had teamed up with the Hearst Corporation in order to give extraordinary benefits to their customers which were not found with normal magazine subscriptions. I signed the form that they sent me to confirm my order, and then promptly mailed it back to them so that I could quickly get the Certificate for my Cruise and the other for my Getaway Vacation. I paid $35 for each Certificate to Readers’ Choice through my American Express card in order to get them pronto as they had suggested, and I still have the one for the Cruise. I determined after sending back the one for the Vacation Getaway, that the Certificates weren’t worth the time it took to fill them out. As an example, I requested accommodations at the Dover House in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for my 7-day/8-night Vacation Getaway, only to find that it would cost me over $70 per night after adding up the various service fees. Heck, I could get a room at a Motel 6 or some other inexpensive motel for less than that, so where was the big deal I was going to get? I just forgot about the Vacation and the Cruise, too. Just give me my magazines I said to myself.

Next, I received a letter from Hartland, Inc., dated September 9, 2009, thanking me for selecting them to service and manage my subscriptions. They stated that the charge for their service was $59.85 over 18 months, for a total order value of $ 1197.00 . The magazines they showed that they were sending me included: ESPN, Better Homes & Gardens, Maximum PC, Mens Health, and Inc. Magazine. Then, on September 15, Heartland charges $119.70 to my American Express Card (the same card I used to pay Readers’ Choice). Without knowing this as I didn’t get my statement until the end of September, I sent an eMail on September 16, 2009, to Readers’ Choice once again saying that I was not getting the magazines that I ordered, but that I was still getting ESPN and Sports Illustrated. I also added that I was still getting the “warning” calls supposedly

from them, informing me that other magazine services may be trying to get me to subscribe to magazines through their service and that I should not do so. During all of this confusion, I talked with a “Kyle” over the phone (Direct line [protected]). He said that he would have his boss, “Jeff”, call me back about these problems. I called Heartland at [protected] the minute I got my American Express statement to see what kind of scam they were trying to pull on me. The lady who answered the phone got rather “huffy” with me and played back a taped recording of a conversation that I supposedly had with their representative when placing my order. It was my voice alright; however, it was the recording of the conversation that I made when I placed my initial order with Readers’ Choice back in July. I challenged the lady by asking her when I supposedly placed this order with Heartland, and she said her records showed that it was made in September. That was utter Bull%#+*! Heartland had to have gotten a copy of the conversation that I had in July with Readers’ Choice’s sales lady in order to be able to play it back to me. My guess is that you will probably find that “Ken” is no longer with Readers’ Choice (or something along those lines). More than likely, he is now with Heartland along with the tapes he made while selling or otherwise working for Readers’ Choice. At this point, I called American Express to challenge Heartland, Inc.’s charge on my Account, and they confirmed by letter that they were looking into the matter.

On September 15, 2009, I eMailed Readers’ Choice to let them know that I had been getting dozens of calls from their Company (at least that is what I was led to believe) warning me not to take any subscriptions from anyone other than them. Each caller asked me to confirm my age, address and marital status. They may have even asked for other things, but I don’t recall as there were so many calls, and each caller went out of his or her way to make me think they were calling on behalf of Readers’ Choice. What a “ruse”! I see now how this scam works. Also, in this email to Readers’ Choice, I complained again about receiving only Sports Illustrated and ESPN, and nothing else so far.

I again eMailed Reader’s Choice on September 20, 2009, as a follow-up to a phone call that I had made a week earlier to let them know that there was possibly some fraudulent activities going on. I provided my Password (#1047631) as I was told to do. I then advised Readers’ Choice that I had received an eMail that was supposedly from them on August 8, 2009, which stated that I would soon be receiving: Sports Illustrated, ESPN, World of Puzzles, Cookbook Digest, and Travel 50 & Beyond. I let them know that I had received the first two magazines on this list, plus I had also received copies of: Essence (a magazine for Black people), Working Woman (and I am neither working nor a woman), and Readers Digest (which I wouldn’t mind getting anyway) – all of which I would never have selected as they don’t fit my interests by any means. I also asked if my American Express account was in any danger of being used by any other organization and I inquired as to how Heartland Inc., gained the information about my earlier magazine subscriptions in July.

On September 24, 2009, I called Kyle at Readers’ Choice at [protected], and also Faxed him at [protected] at 8:25 P.M. with a letter expressing my displeasure in the package that they sold to me in July. I also forwarded Readers’ Choice the Welcoming letter that I had received from Heartland, Inc., which was dated September 9, 2009, to see if they could find out who these people were and how they got my credit card information.

On October 14, 2009, American Express notified me by letter that Heartland, Inc.’s, September 15, 2009, charge of $119.70 had been suspended.

The next thing I know, Heartland, Inc., has again charged my American Express Card, this time for $59.85 on October 20, 2006, which suddenly appeared on my November statement, Again,
I called American Express to protest this charge, and they notified me by letter on November 10, 2009, that this charge had also been suspended.

In the meantime, I received a letter dated November 8, 2009, from American Express stating that the dispute with Heartland, Inc., in the amount of $119.70 had been resolved in my favor.

Then, I get a letter dated November 24, 2009, from American Express relative to the suspension of Heartland’s $59.85 charge. Hartland furnished them with transaction details and a letter of explanation. As I indicated earlier, Heartland told American Express in their reply that my, “phone transaction was recorded to a wav file and archived with a sale date of 09/09/09 for the purchase of magazines.” As I also told you earlier, this is pure Bull%#*#! This order and the recording was made in July when I placed it with Readers’ Choice. Also, the copy of the Confirmation and Guarantee letter that was sent to American Express had no Signature in the place where it was to have been signed. Of course, Heartland said, “As our customers place their orders exclusively by phone, we do not obtain a signature.” Tell that to the Judge when he asks why you didn’t get the buyer’s signature on a sales contract for the purchase of a car, even a used one! Then, they were “nice enough” to tell American Express that they would cease the automatic monthly billing to my American Express Card, and change it to a direct monthly billing to my regular mailing address.

I have also received recent eMails from a Treasures Coast Readers organization inquiring
about my magazine subscription contract, and by a “Readers Service” organization in Colorado saying my 6-months subscriptions were about to run out, and that I needed to renew them.
I was also contacted by a company called Publishers’ Magazine Service a few weeks back, and would you believe it – I even got a call from a “Home Office Magazines” TODAY. When I asked who they were, the lady said, “We are the ones who are sending out your magazines.” I was so shocked, as I had been writing on this memo for several days, that I blurted out, “Oh god, not another one!” The line immediately went dead! Where are all of these magazine subscription services coming from? And, how the H--- do you stop them?

Back to the problem: within the past few weeks, I have received two calls from Heartland, Inc., inquiring about my monthly installments which supposedly are in arrears. In fact, I just received the “first” monthly paper invoice from Heartland Inc, P.O. Box 3586, in Des Moines, Iowa 50323, Telephone [protected] in the amount of $59, 85. The invoice came in my regular mail. On the invoice, it stated “A PAYMENT OF 1137.15 WILL PAY YOUR ACCOUNT IN FULL.” Well, la-te-damn-da! I guess it would pay them in full if I owed them that amount, but I don’t, and I won’t!

I am tired of all of this hassle! Here is how I propose to put a big HALT to all of the confusion and harassment:

First off, I did place an order for magazine subscriptions with Readers’ Choice, and I did sign a confirmation form with them to this effect. I have totally paid-off this obligation and intend to honor our agreement. I only hope Readers’ Choice will do the same. Now, to that end, I am enclosing their Magazine Switch List in with their copy of this memo. It shows the magazines that I want, and expect to receive, within 8 to 16 weeks. I would like to request that “Jeff” lets me know that he has received this memo, and that my new list of magazines will soon be on their way.

Secondly, I have never knowingly placed an order for magazine subscription services, or anything else for that matter, with Heartland, Inc., nor do I ever plan to order anything through this organization in the future. I have never put my signature on any document of theirs that would confirm my authorization to be billed for any amount of money, much less the $1, 137.15 that Heartland says I owe them. So, I would advise Heartland to get off my a-- or I will look into legal means to get them off. Next, I would advise Heartland, Inc., National Magazine Exchange, Home Office Magazines, Treasure Coast Readers, and all the rest of these fly-by-night organizations who are preying on the unsuspecting public, to never call me again as it will be a cold day in H--- before they ever get another dime out of me. I could have sworn that I had subscribed to a “No Call” telephone service, but the “herd” is running over me at this time. I will check with this service to see if I am on it, plus I will send a copy of this memo to the Better Business Bureau, to RipOff.com, Snopes, and any other agency or organization who might be of interest. I have already found that most of the magazine service companies mentioned in this memo are listed as “rip-offs” on the Ripoff.com website, including my own service provider, Readers’ Choice. We shall see!

Thirdly, I will inform American Express to cancel my current Credit card account and reissue a new Credit Card with a new account number to assure this problem will no longer continue or ever arise again from some new “scam” artist.

Cordially,

Charles L. Gafford

Address:
250 E. Alameda Street, Apt. 642
Santa Fe, NM [protected]
Res.: [protected]
Cell: [protected] or [protected]

A company called Heartland Inc. has been conning my elderly mother for months. Several different callers reach her and confuse her. My mother ordered one magazine from one company. I'm starting now to put two and two together. Heartland "representatives" refuse to talk to anyone other than my mother, who didn't realize she was being charged 2 to 3 times a month in the amount of $59.85, until she got a call about identity theft. She then carefully reviewed her bank statements and didn't recognize Heartland. Heartland has two to three so-called reps calling my mother up to 7 times a day with different messages.

Message one - Your payment isn't going through and we need you to pay your bill (no kidding, we made sure we stopped payments)

Message two - I'm Josh (with a heavy accent, and blocked number on caller ID). We are trying to send you money we owe you, but need your new credit card number. (not gonna happen)

Message three- You owe us $1000.00 for your magazine subscription and we need you to pay now.

Then, there's this other company... called Unique Readers Service. The "representative" there has the same name as the "representative" used in the recorded conversation with my mother. Both company's are double billing my mother.

The latter, Unique, told my mother to tell the other subscription company to "stop calling her and that the subscription is already taken care of, " as if this would stop the harassment. I'm taking the route as the other person who posted a complaint on this site and contacting the BBB, and the Attorney Generals Office. This is absurd. These folk need to be jailed.

By the way, none of the numbers for Heartland are operable. You get a voicemail for one, and some kind of error message for the other number. Additionally, the so-called web address www.heartlandinc.com belongs to some other company.. has nothing to do with magazine subscriptions.

My advice... when subscribing to a magazine service, go directly to the magazine!

I was told on the phone I had to renew the magazines, the rest of the contract I had agreed on. The gentleman had the list of the 4 magazines my husband gets & he had my credit card number. I just had to verify the experation date. He said it would be billed 3 payments of $59.85. When I got the letter in the mail it said I would be billed $59.85 over 18 months, for a total value of $1197.00. I called right away & it was a recording & I left a message.I called twice on Monday, twice on Tues. & finally on Wed I got a call from Heartland. The guy was really rude, laughed at me! He gave me his name as Ashton.He said I could not cancel & I said I was told on the phone I had 10 days to cancel so is that a lie ? He just laughed & said that I would be hearing from the company & that I would pay it one way or another! That it would be turned over to a collection company. The letter said I have 10 days to cancel by mail & so I sent a cerrified letter so I'm hoping it will work & get canceled! This place should be stopped they are stealing from people!

This company keeps calling me. As soon as they tell me who they are, I hang up. Yesterday when I hung up on them, they called me right back and ask why I hung up on them. Then he told me I owed them money and were going to turn me over to a collection agency. They said I commited to magazines last May, 2008. I have never received any magazines, they have never tried to bill my credit card. I have received no bill in the mail or any written correspondence from them. There are many complaints about them on who calls me.com. directory of unknown callers, etc. All you have to do is search their phone number and hundreds of complaints pop up about them. I am in correspondence with the Better Business Burea about them as well. They are violating the do not call list, and making harrassing phone calls. The man that called last night was really nasty.

This report was extremely similar to my experience, but I have been hit twice by these people. The first was a couple years ago, and I just got through paying for that... But yesterday I got the call again, this time they did identify themselves as Heartland, which I now know, and they tried telling me I already agreed to extending AGAIN! This time I actually conceptually gave them info as I do like the magazines, and it is a good price, but their approach HAS to be ILLEGAL. Their conversation recordings have to be dubbed. Someone needs to do something about this company.

Origial Post: Back in September, a lady called and told me that she wanted me to write down a security code because my magazine are up for renewal and there had been complaints from other customers getting ripped off from other companies asking to renew when they weren't ready for renewal yet.

I told her that I wasn't sure when my subscriptions were to end, either 3 yrs or 5yrs, but that once they ran out, I did not want any more. Of course, I had gotten all my magazine subscriptions through NME about 3 yrs ago and completed my payment in 4 months.

Yes, I know she told me her name and that she was from Heartland, but at the time with all the FACTS and information she had on me and the magazines I was receiving, I never once questioned this was someone trying to scam me and confirmed my credit card number with her!

She then told me that I would need to talk to her supervisor just to make sure she was polite and that she confirmed my information correctly.

When the supervisor got on the phone, he started telling me that I would be charged $59 within the next 3 days, I said what for? Everything is paid for, he then proceeded to tell me about a contract that stated I would renew my magazine for the next 5 yrs.

After about 10 more minutes of arguing with him and telling him he better not charge my card, we hung up. I went to the bank first thing in the am and I already had a pending charge from them for $119! So, my bank helped me file a fraud complaint, I got my money back and canceled my card.

It is now Oct. 20, 2008, they just called me at 8:30 at night telling me something was wrong with my card. I told the man they were not getting any money from me and exchanged a few more words and he babbled something about the BBB and their atty... I told him I wanted my recorded conversation and he told me good bye.

If these people call you, hang up and don't even give them a chance!

I received a phone call from Heartland, Inc this evening telling me that their customers had been receiving calls from other magazine companies claiming to be them. They wanted to reassure me that they were in the process of putting a stop to these scam companies and even gave me a security code for my account. They said that unless the person calling me could provide this security code, then it wasn't them. Having bought magazines (big mistake) several years ago and having recently gotten a phone call from another company claiming that I owed money for an account that I paid off years ago, I actually believed them and thanked them for looking out for me. He then went on to ask me what my favorite two magazines were and if I stilled lived at my current address (they had this information which to me added more legitimacy to the call). He said that I would be receiving the 2009 magazine list in the mail in the next 3 or 4 days. They then asked me which of the major credit cards I preferred best for my transactions, to which I replied Visa.

The person I was talking to then told me that he was new and would I mind speaking to his supervisor to put in a good word for him. I said sure as I was pleased that they were looking out for me. When the supervisor came on, I informed him that the caller was polite and had done a good job and thanked him for looking out for me. Thinking that the call was over, the supervisor then proceeded to ask me a number of questions such as the new expiration date of my credit card. I gave this to him and he said it was validated. He then asked me to confirm my credit card number which started with a "4". I asked him why they needed my credit card number since I had paid off my account years ago. He said that as part of my agreement, I was to receive an additional 60 months of magazines at a reduced price of $10/month. I told him that I did not remember agreeing to that 5 years ago, and he said he had my agreement that clearly stated that. I told him again that I did not owe anything, didn't want anything else and had not agreed to the additional 60 months. Just prior to this I had taken my credit card from my wallet and was about to give them my number, but something made me fill uncomfortable in doing so. The 60 month reduced rate agreement which they said I had agreed to made me even more paranoid and I put my card back into my wallet without confirming the number. I then told them that I had not agreed to that and he said that they would send the magazine list and my agreement in the mail in 3 or 4 days. I asked for a phone number, name and name of the company and they immediately hung up. I try to call back at the [protected] number just to see who would answer and I keep getting an error message saying that the network is having problems and can't connect. I hope I dodged a bullet, but after reading these other complaints, I will definitely be watching my credit account and the mail for anything from these guys.

How can they get away with this and why can't something be done with all of these complaints?

I got talked into a subscription and when I was told that I had agreed to buy it again, I was angry. But I figured that they were right and I was wrong. Just the other night I received another call from Heartland, Inc and got the impression that they were just checking up on my account. I looked at my checking account and saw that they had taken out a payment of $59.90. Just a week earlier they took out a payment of $49.90. When I call I get a voice mail. I have left four messages in one day and no one has returned my calls. I am going to the bank first thing next week and stop payment to this sorry excuse for a company.

Heartland Inc. has harassed my elderly disabled parents, calling them at all times of the day and night also the Flint Bible Institute, where I am working for a degree. They have told me I owe them $1450.00 for 10 magazines I never ordered. They told me to give them my Master Card numbers and subscribe me to addtional 4 magazines for 20 more months at $49/ MO. They said if I will agree to this they will never bother me again... so I agreed so they will leave me alone... depressed at Christmas with a headache because of this unwelcomed predator after credit card account access

heartland has called me several times saying i was receiving magazines from them. i do not. they are now telling me that i owe for an extended 60 month subscription that was automatically added on to my original subscription. i tried to tell them that idonot receive magazines from them and i will not be responsible for the payments they have threaten to take me to collections. these people are uneal. I have never been sorudely treated . they wouldn't even try to help me get this straightened out.i will never order any magazines ever again. the company i do receive magazines from have said they have received several complaints about heartland pulling this kind of scam. but i will never again order anymore magazines.

I received a call stating they were a magzine company, and they wanted me to know that another company was calling their customers pretending to be them. I didn't catch their name, and now I question if they ever gave it to me. Since I was receiving magazines from a company, I assumed it was a legitimate call. They verified my name, address and credit card number. Since they had my information, I thought it was the company I had ordered from before.
They never told me it was a sales call. They asked me what magazines I liked to read. They said they were going to send me a list of magazines for me to chose from. I kept asking if I was committing to anything. They kept stating they were going to send a list for me to look at.
Four days later I received a list of magazines along with a letter stating I had agreed to automatic billing with my credit card for the 10th of each month for $49.90 for 19 months. They never mentioned or asked anything pertaining to that in the phone conversation. They had that I had agreed to 60 issues of Ladies Home Journal and Redbook (the ones I stated I like to read when they asked). There was also 36 issues of ELLE and 48 issues of SPIN. These last two magazines was never mention by either party.
The guy who was supposed to be a supervisor gave me his name and phone number and told me to call him if I had any problems. I have called numerous times and left messages, but he has never called back.
As of now May 9, I have filed a dispute with my credit card company over these charges.After that I plan to file a complaint with the BBB.

First off, I have been registered with the National Do Not Call registry since January of 2003.(I recently checked to verify that I am still on the list, and I am). This Company called me Jan. 17, 2008. and started out bu asking how I like the magazines I was receiving. Since I was receiving magazines from another company, I assumed they were somehow affiliated with that company and I never asked.

They made a lot of small talk(probably designed to get me to give some 'yes' answers that they could use later) and verified some information like age, credit card number address, etc. they never told me that the purpose of the call was a sales call(and I believe, if my research is correct, that this is required of telemarketers) and they never asked me if I would agree to pay $49.90/ month for 20 months to add 5 more years onto the subscriptions.

By February, they were billing my credit card for the $49.90, I missed the first one but I caught it on the March bill and reported it to the credit card company as an unauthorized charge, and they took it off. Heartland then started calling me almost daily and sent me a letter that they would send an invoice and I should mail them a check.

On these phone calls I told them that I had never authorized them to bill me so they played a tape purported to be the recording of the sales call. I can't prove it without having the tape analyzed, but that conversation did not take place in that way and the charges had never been mentioned to me(they were on the tape, however and my response was uh-huh, which I believe was something i answered to a different question and I believe in order for the verbal, recorded contract to be valid, the purchaser has to give a definite and clear affirmative response).

I decided that it would be too costly and time consuming to try to prove the tape was a fake, so I went after the Do Not Call violation instead. The first person I mentioned it too said it was my obligation to notify them that I was on the do not call list, which proved he either didn't know the law or didn't care. The second person I mentioned it too said I wasn't on their list(if they bought the list like they are required to do, I would have been on it).

When I researched the Do Not Call law, I find that they are required to purchase the lists of every area code that they make calls in and if they don't, they could be fined up to $11, 000/ per phone call. But, the FTC does not enforce this, they only keep a data base of the complaints, it is up to an attorney general or a district attorney to bring charges I guess. I did get them to drop the contract by filing complaints with the FTC, the BBB, the South Dakota Attorney General's office and Senator Tim Johnson's office, and I was willing to keep going if necessary.

Even tho, I am no longer on the hook for the charges, I believe scammers should be stopped and I hope someone takes hold of this and runs with it.