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Magazine Warehouse

Magazine Warehouse review: scam 17

T
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1:47 pm EDT
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Got i call saying I have been selected to win a diamond watch from publisher's clearing house.
All i had to do was provide them some info- my name, address, phone
once they got you interested they told me all i had to do was pay a small fee for 4 magazine.
for $3/day. I was reluctant to give out my credit card number but they assured me they were a real company and they would not bill my credit card for anything other than the magazine. They they switched to a man that kept pressing for me to give out my credit card he kept on saying its a small fee for 3 yrs of magazine. Thinking that it was a small fee and i was selected to win a free watch i gave them my credit card number. then they switched me to a voice recording telling me to repeat everything they said regarding my order. repeating my name address credit card info and that i was being billed $32 per month for 16 month. At that time i did not pick up what a huge amount i was paying for. only when the bills came telling me to pay $32 per month for 16 month did i realize i have been scammed. After doing the calculations did i realize I would have paid $512 to get 4 magazines.
After i realize what a mess i got in i called their number and asked them to cancel that magazine. They told me they had a recording that i had agreed to pay the amount and that they had prepaid the magazines so i do need to pay them. & that i could not cancel it. If i do not pay them they would contact a third party to get that money and that there would be a late fee that accumulate which i would need to pay.
After when the bills from magazine warehouse came i didn't get my diamond watch and that i needed to fill out a form with my subscription number and my SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER in order for them to send out my watch.
its been 2 months now since i've been paying for the magazine & only 2 magazines have come & they tell me that it take 6-8 wks for magazine shipment to arrive.
Do not get scammed like i did. There is no such thing as free lunch
the number on my caller id was [protected]
and in the bills they sent me it the address was po box11180 pompano beach Fl 33061
and their customer service #-[protected]

also i had tried to contact the individual magazine suppliers myself to cancel that magazine but the magazine pple told me a third party told them to dispatch the magazine. and that i wasn't allowed to cancel i need to contact the third party. the number they gave me to contact them was invalid

17 comments
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C.House
Dexter, US
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Aug 28, 2012 3:37 pm EDT

I, too, fell for the scam, I do receive the magazines but my bill is $59 a month, there are no loop holes to get out I have also tried...Please if they call, JUST SAY NO! They also said I could change magazines, yet have no way of selecting them, I receive random ones different all the time!

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Una Engañada
US
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Oct 04, 2012 1:49 pm EDT

Received a call from this company saying that I had win a diamond watch. The only thing I needed to do was to get 4 magazines. I felt for it. Upon receiving the letter from the company, I realized that I had been scammed because they requested my Social Security number. Not only they wanted my SS#, the letter said that it is not cancelable but it is changeable for the price of $59.80 for 15 months.

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Bubsy
Fort Lauderdale, US
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Oct 19, 2012 11:04 am EDT
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I worked for them and they scam their own employees! I a sorry I ever tried to work for them!

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Leeladevere
US
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Mar 07, 2017 5:20 pm EST
Replying to comment of Bubsy

Is there any way to get our money returned?

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ljsladmld
US
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Feb 08, 2013 5:16 pm EST
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I had the same thing done to me..now they are saying they are turning it over to collections... i can't get out of it either.. NEVER recieved the watch... Should be a way to get out of this! Tried to call the number back and all it does is ring and ring.. no one ever picks up!

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TTYS
Tuscaloosa, US
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Jul 18, 2013 4:14 pm EDT

My son-in-law is getting letters and phone calls from these people saying he ordered but never paid for magazines, from the same people. He did not give them a card number, but declined at that point in the transaction; yet they still say he contracted with them and say it can't be cancelled. He is shown as "seriously delinquent, " and the bill says he has to pay within 5 days or they will send him to collections. They want over $600 as a "payoff amount, " but he's only "delinquent" by $205 or so. He has no magazines and they do not have his credit card number. I assured him they cannot sue him for it since they have neither a recording of him agreeing nor a signed contract. He should still check his credit report and see if they put it on there, so he can dispute it. They will then have to "prove" it to the credit agency, which they cannot do, so it will be off his report. These guys are AGGRESSIVE.

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Concerned Citizen3
US
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Aug 09, 2013 1:11 pm EDT

SCAM...All I got a call like this recently. At the end they wanted my credit card info and I refused. The guy John Williams was very persistent then became rude when I would not give out my credit card number. I ended up telling him I don't give out financial info over the phone and if that's what it took to enter me in their drawing for PCH then I wasn't interested and I hung up on him. Folks this is an old scam that has resurfaced. DON'T FALL FOR THIS!

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strat271
Sunrise, US
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Dec 11, 2013 12:33 pm EST

This is the address of magazine warehouse:
5101 nw 21st ave
ft. Lauderdale, fl 33309
[protected]

I was about to work for them until I found these posts. Report them to the fl state attorney or business regulations office

here is their ad on craigslist:

ORDER DESK (FORT LAUDERDALE)
Small Office Needs Happy Voices - No Experience Necessary - We Will Train You!
$10.00 - $15.00 Per Hour
Day Shift - Monday through Friday 10 am to 3 pm
2nd Shift - Monday from 3 pm to 7 pm; Tuesday through Thursday from 7 pm to 11 pm and Friday from 10 am to 3 pm
Call [protected] To Schedule An Interview - Ask For Curt

good luck!

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M. Haggins
Bloomington, US
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Feb 20, 2014 2:50 pm EST

Same happened to me. Totally a scam. I stopped payment due to double billings to my account in a single month. I received a call from Jennifer [protected] about payment and threatening about additional fees. I never received the magazines promised. Customer service is 8:30-4pm EST M-TH when most people are working. Totally scandalous!

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SteveinOH
Carrollton, US
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May 27, 2014 11:37 am EDT

My mother just received a call from these guys. The caller ID showed up as Select Direct I (Inc)? #[protected]. They identified themselves as "publishers sweepstakes" and that she had won to be a finalist in there next sweepstakes drawing in October. After several minutes of her answering yes or no questions they requested her credit card info and she refused to give it out and said no thanks and hung up. I asked my Mom what the story was and she said it was "PCH" (she believed) wanting her credit card info. I did not believe that so I told her to call them back and she put them on speaker and Rose the lady she had talked to before answered the phone without identifying the company. My Mom then hung up. Immediately there was a call back from John Williams as the supervisor wanting to know if we had just called and got disconnected. My Mom put it back on speaker phone and he was trying to convince her that it was a legit company that has been in business for 50 years. He claimed they are the original "PCH" but again identified their company as 'publishers sweepstakes'. He said he was not an individual requesting her credit card info but a corporation which he then identified the name of the company as "Magazine Warehouse". As my mom was speaking I did a search for "publishers sweepstakes" which produced nothing significant besides wanting to redirect me to "PCH" websites. The "magazine warehouse" search popped up several scam/fraud sites with reports on it and here I am now typing out a comment. Once asked about any of these websites John claimed it was an old employee making false accusations. My mom tried to ask John to take her name/number off the call list but John kept interrupting her and stating that their company has been around for 50 years. He then started trying to convince my mom for her credit info again...she hung up on him. It all seems to be BS. After reading some of the other comments I felt compelled to feed in this info for future reference to all phone owners out there. I hope it helps.

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someonewhounderstands
Dakota City, US
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May 15, 2015 12:57 pm EDT

To all of you people trying to get out of this CANCEL YOUR CARDS! I DID IMMEDIATELY! THEIR THREATS ARE EMPTY THREATS! I have been recieving calls mail ect for my payments, I went to the police and as long as it doesn't go onto my credit report they can't hurt you! Stop giving them your money now just CANCEL YOUR CARDS!

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someonewhounderstands
Dakota City, US
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May 15, 2015 12:59 pm EDT

Also, They have been trying to get to me for going on 4 years now and their still empty threats!

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Nikki Mcclellan
US
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Aug 31, 2016 7:16 am EDT

I just received a collection notice because of this kind of crap. They said it happened in 2012, so 4 years ago. I do remember cancelling as soon as I did it and cancelled my card. I never received any notice of payments not being paid and then all of a sudden I get this notice. The collection company said that they had never received a payment and if that is the case why did they not try to contact me. I have been at the same house with the same phone number since I was 16 and I am 31 now. I am so mad.

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Barbara85
US
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Sep 13, 2016 1:05 pm EDT

Hi i got a notify in the mail today trying to say i owe 935.57 to a company i have never hear of saiding i agree to a 24 months at 49.95 a month for 4 years i would never do that for what magazines i can buy at a store for less why the hell will i pay 49.95 a month for one .

The company is Periodical warehouse

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snowcowboy
US
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Oct 19, 2016 5:27 pm EDT

I just got off the phone with Brianna at [protected] who said she was with Billing Department Services in San Diego, CA calling to verify an address I have not lived at in over 9 years. No address forwarding, no calls from the company, I sent a cancellation letter as requested back in 2012 but did not receive confirmation of the cancellation other than my card was never charged. They say I can pay a 'no contest' fee of $500 for the $991.51 amount supposedly owed from the 24 month agreement I cancelled that would have expired in 2014. Brianna was pushing for my current address for some reason and told me I had to submit a dispute filling in writing with my current address for collections. BS

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Jane Kohut-Bartels
US
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Oct 21, 2016 11:42 am EDT

Just this week (October, 2016) we received a collection notice for $969.00! for magazines from a collection agency in Calif. We have never been contacted by the original seller of the magazines. Two or three years ago, some company started sending magazines to my husband out of the blue. He cancelled them...when he noticed what was going on, and they immediately started sending him "Golf Digest", other magazines that he had no interest or wanted. HE repeatedly called and had these cancelled. This was at least two years ago. Periodical Warehouse was the company. The collection agency was very rude, and she said that they didn't have to tell him who was the client...but it was on the collection notice. The woman at the collection agency said that if he didn't pay up, she would mess with his credit. She was very threatening. She also said that he had signed a contract...(not true) and that he used a credit card. This credit card he never had. It was not his credit card, but she said she had no proof that it wasn't.. It was a MC and he only carries Visa. Never had an MC card. This is a total scam and as he is working and very busy, we have contacted an attorney to go after this scam. We still don't know where this originated, but it is possible it was PCH. Just don't know. Periodical Warehouse sounds like Magazine Warehouse...both connected scams?

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Magazine Warehouse
Pompano Beach, US
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Oct 27, 2016 9:38 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Magazine Warehouse is NOT Periodical Warehouse. Magazine Warehouse has been getting phone calls from individuals receiving collections calls and letters from a collections agency in California. Magazine Warehouse does not do business with any billing department service in California and is in no way associated with a company called Periodical Warehouse. Please direct all calls back to the collections agency at [protected] as Magazine Warehouse has nothing to do with any debts being collected by a California agency.