MagsForLess.com review: Buyers beware! 131

Mags For Less is a web site offering magazine subscriptions at a discounted price. On their site they say they are located in New York, but I was unable to locate them that way. I ordered and paid for a magazine subscription on-line June 27, 2006 and when Mags For Less confirmed my order via email it said to expect the magazine in four to six weeks. After seven weeks, I emailed Mags For Less using their website and received the following response:

I do apologize for the inconvenience. When I looked up your account I found the order you are referring to and found there was a problem processing your subscription from the publisher. Unfortunately at times publishers reject our orders due to improperly formatted mailing address, incomplete zip code etc. I went ahead and personally resubmitted your order to the publisher and put a rush on it. You should receive your magazine within 4-12 weeks.

Best Regards,
Meagen Richards,
MagsForLess Customer Support
meagen@magsforless.com
http://www.magsforless.com

So, I waited another nine weeks and received nothing. I started emailing them again using their site and have not received a response since. I finally tracked down the number from my credit card for Mags For Less parent company MY1MAG.COM which is [protected]. When I called, it sounded professional, but ended up routing me to a mailbox that was "full." That would not happen at a legitimate company that is still in business. To make things worse, I tried to dispute the charge with my credit card company MBNA and they told me you have 60 days from the charge date to dispute it. So I am out $86.99.

Even I applied for a 12 month subscription of Readers digest which was announced in http://deals2buy.com. I thought any deals mentioned at deals2buy would be genuine and the payment option also had google checkout. But I was surprised when I never got my magazine even after 2 months and couple of complains through emails and phone calls. 4 out of the 5 times that I called them, it automatically went to their voice mail. The other time I left a message and never got a call back. I even send a mail to google and am yet to get any response from them.

DO NOT SUBSCRIBE ANYTHING FROM THIS SITE !

Hi,

My name is Kim Scott and I am the customer service manager at MagsForLess. I am posting on this forum to let you know that I apologize for any issues you previously experienced with MagsForLess. I have a new dedicated team in place and I am going to work their butt until every single customer is pleased with their magazine subscription experience.

MagsForLess goal is to revolutionize the magazine subscriptions industry by offering an unparalleled customer experience.

Please feel free to contact me directly at kim@magsforless.com and let me know how I can help.

Best Regards,
Kim Scott, MagsForLess

I received the following message on Dec 06, 2006 and only after I initiated a response. The scam is to keep pushing you off 4-12 weeks until either you forget about your order or until the allowed time for a charge-back has expired. BUYER BEWARE THIS COMPANY TAKES YOUR MONEY AND DOESN'T DELIVER THE GOODS!

I do apologize for the inconvenience. I located the order you are referring to and was able to identify the problem with getting your subscription processed.

The issue has now been corrected. I went ahead and personally resubmitted your order to the publisher and put a rush on it. You should receive your magazine within the next 4-12 weeks.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation on this matter. I'm glad we could get this resolved and look forward to assisting you with your future magazine subscription needs.

Best Regards,
Meagen Richards,
MagsForLess Customer Support
meagen@magsforless.com
http://www.magsforless.com

I was charged 4 times on one credit card and once on another for one order. No magazines. I was charged for another order and no product received one another order so far i am out 156.00

I found an excellent website that steers people to the best prices in magazine subscriptions. This website performs an absolutely splendid service.

One of the magazine subscription sites shown on this master website is www.magsforless.com.

On September 2, 2006, I ordered and paid for two magazines through magsforless.com. In December, when I had not received any issues of either magazine, I first contacted the subscription offices of the two magazines. They did not know what I was talking about. After that, I began sending e-mails to a Meagan, the customer service(?) representative of magsforless.com. Since my first e-mail, I have sent a minimum of thirty e-mail inquiries about my subscriptions. Additionally, since they do not answer their phones, I have left numerous messages with their answering service. Out of all the communication I have attempted with this company, I have received one response, and that response referred to a magazine I had ordered through their company, but it did not deal with the two magazines to which I had been referring. This disservice to the public is unconscionable. I care much less about the money the subscriptions cost than the utter disregard this company has shown to me and the general public. how dare they not respond immediately to my concerns? After all, their website prominently crows that they will respond to any customer service issue in a few hours. I absolutely demand an explanation of where my funds went or a full refund of these funds. I shall not be doing any business with this company any more, and would recommend that others follow my lead. What an utter disgrace!

Because of all the problems others have had and those experienced by myself, I cannot recommend doing any business with this operation.

I ordered 4 magazines (for a total of $48.54) in June 2006 and even used a $5 coupon (which I'm not sure was applied). One magazine [Backpacker] came quickly, but after 6 months, I never received any of the others. I received a few generic emails with links to ask for an 'investigation' or a refund.

Emailing replies or using the links didn't work. I finally sent an email (1/2/07) to every address that I could find associated with this company (questions@magsforless.com, kim@magsforless.com, support@my1mag.com, owner@magsforless.com, info@itorama.com) asking for a resolution. A day later I received a paypal notification about a payment sent. I received a reply from kim@magsforless.com (Kim Scott) offering apologies and was given a refund of $43.54 (less a paypal fee of $1.56 since a credit card was apparently used to fund the transfer).

The paypal sender was listed as Joel Simkhai with an address of questions@almostfreemags.com and a 'paypal confirmed' mailing address of:

Joel Simkhai
41 West 72nd Street, 10G
New York, NY 10023
United States

I'm not sure how they came to the issued amount of $43.54 unless it was a typo or they thought the coupon was applied; but considering I got at least one magazine that was listed as $10.23, I guess it'll work out for me in the end.

My best suggestion is to write a calm letter with your order info asking for a refund and carbon copy it to all the email addresses I've listed. Maybe someone will listen.

The whois for the domain listed in the paypal payment is:

Michael Farber
42 Oak Place
Houston, Texas 77056
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.GoDaddy.com)
Domain Name: ALMOSTFREEMAGS.COM
Created on: 22-Aug-05
Expires on: 22-Aug-07
Last Updated on: 26-Jul-06

Administrative Contact:
Simkhai, Joel yysnyc@yahoo.com
n/a
Los Angeles, California 90029
United States
[protected]

Because my issue was resolved, I cannot give the worst rating, however I'd still recommend avoiding this company or any other domain with which it is associated (magsforless.com, almostfreemags.com, my1mag.com, and any other copy you can find). In researching the company, I've seen dozens of complaints on sites like epinions.com, resellerratings.com, and the New York BBB those people can be assisted as well.

I hope this information helps.

I have had a similar experience to everyone else who has posted here. I ordered three magazines on July 30, 2006. In October, I sent a message asking when the subscriptions would start. The response was that was processing, and I should begin to see issues shortly. Then by the end of November, still no issues, I emailed again. I was told that it can sometimes take up to 20 weeks for these to start, and that they should begin shortly. In January, 2007, when issues still have not arrived, I sent several more emails (over the course of 3 or 4 days), and have since gotten no responses. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!

I ordered 4 magazine subscriptions from MagsForLess and paid everything upfront. After 60 days of waiting I contacted customer support and was told that they had up to 90 days to get the magazines to me. After 90 days I contacted them again only to receive an email that told me all 4 magazines were on backorder. I find this highly unlikely being that these were 4 very popular magazines (Road and Track, Backpacker, Motor Trend and Hot Rod). After I received this sorry excuse I emailed customer support again requesting a refund. I’ve gotten no response yet and I’ve email customer support 5 days in a row. The magazine subscriptions this company claims they can sell for unbelievably low prices is not worth the trouble, STAY AWAY!

I've experienced the exact same issue as the complaints previously posted.

Does anyone know what is required to bring a class action lawsuit against my1mag.com?

Also, the publishers of the magazines being advertised/sold on the website may have an interest as it is cannabizing their revenues. I for one am out $50 for a magazine subscription that was never delivered and won't be subscribing to anything in the near future.

I placed three subscriptions of magazines from magsforless.com starting March 2006, but none of the magazines ever showed, yet my credit card was billed almost immediately.

I used their online customer-service form to inquire about the magazines. Two or three days later, I received a reply from a "Megan Richards" saying that there was some technical glitches and my subscriptions did not go through. The message assured me that she would be rushing a subscription for me.

I waited for another two months before I realize something was still wrong. I filed another inquiry about a later subscription, and guess what? Almost an exact message from this "Megan Richards" came back, saying that was a technical glitch and she would rush another order for me.

Having worked in the IT fields for most of career, I realize that the email was most likely generated by some automated computer. I found their phone number on the credit card statement, but no one was there to pick it up, and the messagebox was full so I couldn't even leave a message (it wouldn't have worked anyways).

Even if it were true, that there were indeed technical glitches, I don't think they should be allowed to do business. Imagine every time you go to an airport to checkin and are told that due to some tech glitches, you flight reservation didn't go through. How many times could this happen before that airline got sued? Probably very few. Yet magsforless.com is still alive and kicking! If they have so many problems, someone ought to stop them from doing business until they have solved their problems!

But the story gets better. In November, I received an email from their customer-service VP named "Andrew Melville" who gave me the assurance that my concerns would be addressed. I fell for it. I filed another customer inquiry according to his instructions int he email. Then nothing happened, again, for another 2 months. On Jan 11 2007, there was another email from this Andrew Melville, which stated that "I wanted to personally confirm that all your concerns were addressed to your satisfaction by the customer service team here at MagsForLess."

I felt being insulted. So I wrote him (if he is real) back, saying that I was surprised to hear from him again. Then I told him that I think of magsforless as nothing but a scam, a fraud. Then I said the only way to change my opinion is to see my magazines being delivered, and I asked him to give me an acknowledgment upon receiving my email. But just as I thought, an automated computer wouldn't give me any acknowledgment.

So I want to file this report and let everyone know what a shameless fraud it is. Stay away from magsforless.

Please, feel free to contact me concerning any problems or concerns you have with your magazine order with magsforless.com. I will work very hard to correct the problems and resubmit your order or refund you. I look forward to helping you in anyway possible.

Sincerely,
Kim Scott

kim@magsforless.com

I also placed an order with MagsForLess.com and never received my subscription. I've emailed them several times, with no response. I also submitting several inquiries through their website, also no response. This company is a fraud. They will take your money, but not deliver the goods. Stay away from them.

I ordered Oprah magazine from magsforless.com on September 7 06. I paid 16.50 through pay pal. They took the money right away and 18 weeks later I still don't have the magazine. After several weeks I contacted the on line customer service. Someone emailed me back saying I could get 10% off another magazine and asked me if I still wanted the magazine. I said I still wanted It. Now several weeks later I have no magazine. I guess You get what YOU pay for.This site is a big rip off.

Resolved by Meagan - MagsForLess Support Jan 24 09:11

Dear Lovanna,

I do apologize for the inconvenience. I located the orders you are referring to and was able to identify the problem with getting your subscriptions processed.

The issue has now been corrected. I went ahead and personally resubmitted your orders to the publisher and put a rush on it. You should receive your magazine within the next 4-12 weeks.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation on this matter. I'm glad we could get this resolved and look forward to assisting you with your future magazine subscription needs.

Best Regards, Meagen Richards, MagsForLess Customer Support meagen@magsforless.com http://www.magsforless.com

For immediate answers to your questions, we welcome you to visit our FAQs at: http://www.magsforless.com/faq.cfm

You may also lookup the status of your order anytime at: http://www.magsforless.com/ordering.cfm

Re-opened by Lovanna Lee Jan 23 17:43

Hi Meagan,

It has been a few months since you had told me that you would get my order shipped from these magazine companies and I have yet to receive them. Will you please give me an update on when these orders will get fulfilled?

Thanks, Lovanna

Avoid this seller - magsforless is on Ebay, also. I can't believe this kind of merchant exists; just straight-out fraudulent! I ordered a magazine subscription on September 3, 2006 on eBay, and never received ANY issues! I called the magazine itself, and they confirmed that they never received any subscription information for the magazine! Horrible! I called that 1-866 number as well and this woman's recording just says that the line is no longer in service. Disgusting. AVOID!

I placed an order with magsforless.com back in August of 2006 only to be told on numerous occasions that the subscription has been delayed due to the publisher. I have made several requests for a refund only to be told that the subscription is on back order and will be deliver in 4-12 weeks.
Dear Dave,

I do apologize for the inconvenience. I located the orders you are referring to and was able to identify the problem with getting your subscriptions processed.

The issue has been corrected. I went ahead and personally resubmitted your orders to the publisher and put a rush on it. You should receive your magazine within the next 4-12 weeks.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation on this matter. I'm glad we could get this resolved and look forward to assisting you with your future magazine subscription needs.

Best Regards,
Meagen Richards,
MagsForLess Customer Support
meagen@magsforless.com
http://www.magsforless.com

For immediate answers to your questions, we welcome you to visit our FAQs at:
http://www.magsforless.com/faq.cfm

You may also lookup the status of your order anytime at:
http://www.magsforless.com/ordering.cfm

I ordered 4 magazine subscriptions 13 weeks ago. None of them arrived. Sent an email to their customer service and another one to Megan & Scott {listed on this complaint board}

meagen@magsforless.com
kim@magsforless.com

I received no response to my emails. I finally contacted my Credit card company to dispute the charges.

Stay far away from MagsForLess.com. Very poor service and no magazines. I received an email from SoftwareProjects.com telling me my refund would be posted in a few days. Right I am still waiting. Stay away from both companies.

I ordered from MagsForLess.com in November 2006. Still have not received my magazines but paid for them! I have sent countless emails with no response.

Scam people. Typical complaint as others. No magazine, they wait long enough so credit card company will not do anything. Grabbed for $11.99.

I placed an order with MagsForLess about 6 months ago and did not receive any issues of Mens Health. I finally got tired of waiting and requested a refund (which i got through paypal for the full amount.) The thing that doesnt make sense to me is this email:

Dear Rudy,

I do apologize for the inconvenience. I located the orders you are referring to and was able to identify the problem with getting your subscriptions processed.

The issue has not been corrected. I went ahead and personally resubmitted your orders to the publisher and put a rush on it. You should receive your magazine within the next 4-12 weeks.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation on this matter. I'm glad we could get this resolved and look forward to assisting you with your future magazine subscription needs.

Best Regards,
Meagen Richards,
MagsForLess Customer Support

Nice to see the canned response being sent out to everyone that is having this problem. I wouldn't recommend magsforless to anyone i know. not even the ones i hate the most.

I had placed an order for Magsforless back in August 2006 (Order # 227713) for 4 Automotive magazines and it is now February 2007 and I still had not received my magazine! I ordered it based on an advertisement on gotapex.com and this site is a total scam! You'd better believe I will watch my credit card so they don't scam me for a renewal without any authorization! What a total rip off!

This company is a damn rip-off! I just contacted AE to get a refund. Also lodged a complaint with the US Postal Service.

I am now in the same situation. I placed an order for Shape, Fitness and US Weekly on 9/29/06 and today it is 3/1/07 and I have received ONE Shape magazine back in December and that is it. I paid $70 for the three subscriptions total, which is great, IF I received them. DO NOT WASTE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY - THIS IS RIDICULOUS. I tried contacting them so many times now I've lost track. I am going to report them to the Better Business Bureau this week.

Avoid MagsForLess, My1Mag, and AlmostFreeMag!

On 09/29/06 I was charged $33.90 for a two year subscription to the New Yorker magazine. I ordered the subscription online through magsforless/my1mag (same company). The website indicated that the magazine would arrive in 4-6 weeks. On 11/10/06 I sent an email to "Andrew Melville" requesting information on why the order had not been filled. Later I received a form letter saying the problem was fixed, and was offered a 10% discount on future orders. I attempted to gain additional information (such as expected delivery time) from "Andrew Melville" through "questions@magsforless.com"—but my emails went unanswered. I attempted to call their "customer service" number [protected])—but their voice mail was "full" and indicated customers should call back. I called 5-8 additional times as the weeks passed, but the voice mail was always "full." Therefore I decided to wait the 4-6 weeks for delivery. On 12/05/06 I sent additional emails to company and filled out online complaint/order status ticket. "Meagen Richards" emailed me on 12/06/06 from the online ticket, saying "I do apologize for the inconvenience. I located the order you are referring to and was able to identify the problem with getting your subscription processed. The issue has now been corrected. I went ahead and personally resubmitted your order to the publisher and put a rush on it. You should receive your magazine within the next 4-12 weeks. Thank you for your patience and cooperation on this matter. I'm glad we could get this resolved and look forward to assisting you with your future magazine subscription needs. Best Regards, Meagen Richards, MagsForLess Customer Support." On 12/06/06 I also received an email from "Kim Scott," whose email address I found from other angry customers in a threaded discussion forum at "slickdeals.net." This email from "Kim Scott" says "Hi, I found your order. It is still processing. It seems to be processing correctly, not sure what is taking so long. Would you like to continue to wait for it. [sic] Which could possibly be 4-6 more weeks or I can refund your credit card for the full amount. I am sorry for the frustration this has caused you. I look forward to your reply. Thanks, Kim Scott" On 12/06/06 I responded to Kim that, "I'd really like you to process the order" and receive the magazines, rather than the refund. On 12/06/06 she confirmed my message by writing "Hi, ok thats [sic] great. Thanks for letting me know." By 01/20/07 the magazine had not yet arrived. I sent an email to both "Kim Scott" and "Meagen Richards" asking them to contact me via my cellular phone (supplying them with the number)--the only response I received was from "Kim Scott"--she wrote (on or around 01/21/07) "Thanks for contacting me. I would be happy to refund you via PayPal if that is acceptable to you. I do not have access to your credit card information at this time. Also, if you wish I can also resubmit your order normal delivery time for resubmissions is 4-8 weeks. Please, email me your current PayPal email address and I will take care of your refund immediately if you wish..[sic] I look forward to your reply." On 01/22/07 I called all five numbers listed under the BBB website for the company; none but the fax number was connected. I left a message on the voice mail of the number listed as the fax (212.217.0028) but am not sure if this is still the number for magsforless. At this point, being frustrated, I called the New Yorker magazine subscription department to see if they had any record of Magsforless trying to fulfill my subscription. "Nicky," who works for the New Yorker subscription service department, stated that Magsforless was barred from selling subscriptions of the New Yorker--they do not have the authority to sell the magazine! After checking the Magsforless website (on 01/22/07) they still claim to sell subscriptions to the public. (01/23/07) I was told: “I submitted your request for a check to be mailed to you. Please, allow 7-10 business days for delivery. Please, let me know when you receive your check.” The check has not arrived and I have attempted to tell this company this on the following dates via email: 02/03/07 & 02/07/07 & 02/11/07 & 02/12/07 & 02/15/07 Big surprise—no response! I have started the process of disputing the charges with Visa today (02/15/07) Latest update: (02/19/07) I had the following response from the company, “Dear Mike, I do apologize for the inconvenience. I was able to locate your order in our system and confirm that indeed there was a problem processing your order. I canceled your order and personally initiated a refund to your account. You should see the refund posted to your Paypal account.”—This is very unusual as the company does not have my paypal information on file (I paid via Visa credit card). I responded on the same day via email, asking “How do you have my paypal account information on file? This information was never provided to your company!” then asked for a check to be mailed (as we had previously agreed). As of 03/01/07 I have not heard back from the company.

If you've been "burned" by this company, please file a complaint with the BBB. Here are some emails that might be helpful:

Active Emails:
bbb@magsforless.com
kim@magsforless.com
questions@magsforless.com
meagen@magsforless.com
questions@almostfreemags.com
support@almostfreemags.com

Questionable:
joel@magsforless.com
BBB@almostfreemags.com
Kim@almostfreemags.com
info@almostfreemags.com
meagen@almostfreemags.com
joel@almostfreemags.com
andrew@almostfreemags.com
Rhonda@almostfreemags.com
questions@my1mag.com
info@my1mag.com
meagen@my1mag.com
joel@my1mag.com
andrew@my1mag.com
Rhonda@my1mag.com

If you have an active phone number for the company I would LOVE to hear from you!

This company billed my credit card for a nyer subscription that was never sent to me. This is over 6 months ago. There is no tel# listing for this company. I just called the toll free # listed for this company when i was reading through other accounts and merely got through to a "full voicemail" account that couldn't accept messages.

This company is a complete scam.

I wish I had done my homework on this company before ever ordering. I previously ordered from another discount magazine service over the internet with no problems. This time, Mags for Less was cheaper. I suppose anything that looks to good to be true IS. A two-year subscription to Marie Claire magazine was placed in SEPTEMBER 2006 and still nothing, not even an email response from this company.

Where the hell are you, Ms Scott, when I need to ask you a question? I sent you several emails and you just won't reply, eh?

They are scammers. Two times I ordered from them, and both times didn't receive my magazines. Emailing them couple of dozen times led to nothing.

Also known as: My1mag.com

I ordered (4) magazines on 11/10/07 and my credit card was charged. After receiving a reply that the problem had been fixed I still did not receive my mags. As of 3/9/2007, after many calls and emails I have received no replies or magazines.

Beware of this company! I have ordered several magazines and 3 months later not a single issue has arrived.

I have ordered 11 magazines with this company on November 19th 2006, it is now March 12th 2007 I have placed several e-mails to the company and to the mag1 and only received a general e-mail response, I am unhappy with the service thus far, I would hope they will correct this matter in a timely matter, after reading others complaints I am nervous, thanks for the pointers, I will be calling all the magazines to confirm my orders with them.

I have spent the day researching this company, (I should have done this first) and it is not looking good. It has over 200 unresolved complaints. The president Joel Simkhai @ 41 West 72nd street apt 106 New York,NY 10023 has not responded to the BBB. All the phone numbers posted on there are no good. To me it looks like the "company" is ran out of an apartment. I have yet to find a good review that is real on this company and I have been looking all day. I contacted all the magazines that I paid for and not one of the eleven have ever received an order from them. If anyone has any suggestion that would be helpful that would be great.

I have also made numerous complaints to my1mag.com about my unfulfilled subscriptions and have yet to get any kind of response or acknowledgment. I am elderly and live on a fixed income, VERY small, and these two gift subscriptions were no small sacrifice, the only thing I sent my son for Christmas. This company needs to go down! Like others I waited too long to get reimbursed by my credit card company so I am just out the money. It is a crime!

I agree with the comments regarding the failure of this vendor to provide promised goods based upon my similar experience. I have received the same canned email responses. I have contacted the New York Better Business Bureau with no results. I was promised a refund in January, 2007, but no refund was received by me. The initial order was placed in July, 2006.

I would not recommend doing business with this company based upon my negative experiences of no product and no satisfactory customer service. I suggest that you contact the Better Business Bureau of New York ( http://www.newyork.bbb.org/reports/businessreports.aspx?pid=44). This link gives you information about the company and the complaints when you look under the URL of "magsforless.com." I would also recommend contacting the Attorney General (AG) in New York and the AG in your state (or the department of consumer affairs) if you had a similar experience.

Same experience. I ordered a magazine on eBay on Dec. 3, 2006, and up till now, never received magazine.

Payment info is:

Payment To: Josh Zimmerman (The recipient of this payment is Verified)
Seller's ID: almostfreemags
Seller's Email: sales@my1mag.com

I wrote them emails, not heard back.

I am in the process of getting a class action suit together on this company due to the inordinate number of people that have been ripped off by this company including myself... This has to stop... I have already spoken to my attorney and he is in the process of filing the paperwork.

Please contact me at rookie139@yahoo.com so I can add you to the list of complainants.

I'm having the same problem. I "purchased" my subscriptions from Snappymags. From reading other comments on other web sites I understand these two companies are the same.

I placed my order and my charge card was immediately charged. I have not received any of my subscriptions and have sent several e-mail messages to their "customer service" department with no response.

I had purchased magazines from this site for 2 years and previously had no problem.

I called the 888 telephone number that is on my charge card statement and was routed to a full mailbox. Customer service!?

I found some information on epinions.com under a review of MagsForLess. The individual provides some telephone numbers and whom to contact at the business.

I also placed an order with MagsForLess.com and never received my subscription. I've emailed them several times, with no response. I also submitting several inquiries through their website, also no response. This company is a fraud. They will take your money, but not deliver the goods. Stay away from them.