Mountain Area Communications reviews and complaints

Report all poor business practices to the Federal Trade Commission - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ - interstate fraud is a federal crime.

man this some ###

man are u payin them i aint payin ### cuz i aint take ### ### that

The only way to cancel your service is to write a letter telling them that you would like to cancel. I too had similar issues with them and every time I called they told me I could not cancel or if I did I had to pay a early termination fee of about $400. I wrote them a letter and told them I wanted to cancel my service and I contacted the BBB and they responded stating they had canceled my acct. If you avoid them like canceling your debit card or canceling your bank acct they will just send your acct to collections, then you will be served by your sheriff's dept with a judgement and will have to go to court and it will ruin your credit.

Report all poor business practices to the Federal Trade Commission - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ - interstate fraud is a federal crime.

Mountian Area Communications or The Publishers Service Is a Scam
They tell you your getting 6 mags for 3.85 a week you can save it up and handle it three or four months at a time then after you agree they transfer you to there gift dep. which is the person right infront of them thers nothing professional about them its one big room with a bunch of people in it. sp when they transfer you over a woman asks you for a debit card and get money off it and it dosent go back on it either. and you dont get the shopping spree in 3 to 5 bus days if at all you get a thing you have to fill out and send in to get it and the stuff on the web site isnt worth a buck but you will pay 1000 for the shipping and handling fee there a bunch of dirty liars that arnt trying to help you all they want is your money and if you dont have a card or any money thell hang up and go to the next one its sad really

After reading all the complains against this company, I called them to try to cancel. They refused, so I called my bank and had all transactions from them blocked. There is a way of getting around them.

I am working on ways to stop payments with my bank right now. I have let it go on for to long already. Like you I called and tried to cancel to and they wouldn't let me. Lucky for me my dad is a bank manager and he is looking into things. If any lawsuit does go through for this company I would really appreciate the information. They not only charge me 39.95 a month but also 19.95 which is what they told me they would get my monthly charge down to when I first called and complained so basically the still charge me the 39.95 and on top of that they are charging me an additional 19.95. This is total crap and I want it to stop.

this is all kinds of messed up! they called my cell phone too and the message was a girl with a sounthern accent and said the same thing to the dot of what happened too. she sounded to sincre and nice i believed her. so i called back the number and it said, hi this is megan im on the other line ill get back to you. so i left them a message( before i read all this) saying my name and number. im 16 and have no bank account or anything like that. this is so messed up and im really glad i found these websites before i went any farther. people like that should really get a better job. i wonder what they think at night.

Report all poor business practices to the Federal Trade Commission - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ - interstate fraud is a crime.

They called me Monday and sidney left me a message and told me she was from mountain area and she told me i won an 1000$ online shopping spree. What is the website so i can go there. Do u think I should do this.

I just got the first call from these guys. thanks for all your forewarnings, but if I don't answer and they just went to vm, will I still be charged you think?

Thanks so much for the comments and info guys. I am in sort of the same situation as [censored]j, I don't have a credit card, SOC#, and I also do not know how they got my number. I was called by 'Jacklyn' who told me that I'd won a $1000 Online Shopping spree. I was curious and skeptical so I came here to find this info. The number I was given was [protected]. They need to be stopped!

Theses people called me today, and I've NEVER been so angry with a "telemarketer" before. They called and told me I had won a $1000 shopping spree, but then hung up on me when I refused to give them my checking account information. I called them back, and told them I wanted removed from their calling list, and they hung up on me again. I called them back, once again, and reminded them that fraudulent offers and identity theft was a serious crime. They laughed at me and hung up. I called back and demanded to speak to a supervisor. They said no AND HUNG UP AGAIN. By this time I was FURIOUS and called to tell them "where to go."

This company is what gives telemarketing a bad name. I'm also a telemarketer and I'm stunned that a company could continue doing business like this. Mountain area was suppose to pre- authorize 29.00 but instead the next day it had already been deducted for the amount of 39.00. This caused and overdraft fee, however when I called to cancel due to their mistake, they hung up on me. I played along with these people for a bit, then I just changed my account number. My bank is aware of what happened and knows others in the area that have had the same problem with this company. Also, at the end of the call they will slip in the fact that you will also be recieving a membership for some type of discount club for 4.99 the first month. If you don't call to cancel then you will be charged 40.00 each month there after. Don't bother telling them you don't want that charged to your card, because they do it anyhow. Last night another rep called me after 2 months and said to beware of companies calling to ask me to add magazines to my service because they are trying to scam me. I almost busted out laughing at this guy because I suppose he thinks he's the real deal. I again tried to explain to this f&*(F*k hole that I didn't want the magazines and tried to explain what had happened with the charges and he put me on mute. Me being a telemarketer I knew what he had done. They do that to make you think they hang up on you. I saw the timer on my phone was still counting the total min of the call, so I let that mother F&*(&$r have a piece of my mind and then he hung up for real.

I had to close all of my bank accounts and they are still trying to contact me. I have also reported them to a fraud agency. They must be stopped!

They are calling my cell phone number. I have only had this number for less than a month and am curious how they got it. However, I do not have a bank card or credit card...so why are they contacting me?

i wasnt home when the called me but a man left me a message on my machine telling me I won a shopping spree knew sounded funny because i never heard of mountain area any way so i googled it and read your comments and i wont be calling them. Thanks alot its nice to see there are still good people in the world.

I want to thank you all for taking the time to leave you comments. Im truly grateful if it wasn't for you, I may have been roped in as well. I recieved a call today from one of this company's reps, who seemed to be a very nice guy. I was informed by him that I had won a $1000 shopping spree on a site, www.selectyour gift.com. All the while he was talking, I was reading your complaints, so I played along with the "survey". Well, when he offered me the magazines, I told him I did not want them, just the shopping spree. He said I couldn't have it without the magazines. I just couldn't contain what I was reading, so I let him know his company was a huge scam. His reply was, " Ma'am, I don't own the company, I just work for them." I said to him, "Well then, you need to change your profession." I told him about this site, and advised him to look it up when he got home. Thank you all so much! I'm thinking about starting a site of my own that warns consumers about rip offs such a this...

Report all poor business practices to the Federal Trade Commission - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ - interstate fraud is a crime.

Hello. The people who have been dissatisfied with Mountain Area Communications please email me. I would like an affidavit and will give you my po box address. Please if you decide to send one to get it noterized. Thank you, and have a nice day.

If the company wouldn't have been so shady to begin with...none of us would have had this problem. Giving out our information may not have been a good idea, but how many people give their info to bill collectors to pay over the phone..or online. The problem is the shady company took advantage of everyone. Many of us were told we could CANCEL within thirty days...when I tried canceling after ONE day they told me I couldn't.

Whether or not it is a scam, everyone that has posted a negative comment have 2 things in common. The first being that you obviosly do not pay attention, as many of you have said, you spoke with 3 people before the order was finalized, so you obviously had 3 chances to say no, but YOU didnt, so thats your fault not the company's. The second thing you each have in common is the fact that you gave out YOUR credit card number! You could have hung up at that point, or simply said NO! But YOU didn't, so again not the company's fault!

In the defense of the people being scammed, I was told that I could receive the magazines at a weekly rate but that to make it "easier" for me they would combine the weekly charges into a monthly rate. I do hope their messages are recorded because when the "supervisor" told me that it was for 60 months I about passed out. I told her quickly that I was not interested in her 1000 shopping spree or her magazines, she tried to give me a sales pitch and I told her NO, that I was not interested, then she hung up on me. A couple of hours later I found that they had debited my checking account anyway. I have attempted to call them, I have spoke with the Hancock Sherriffs Office, I have obtained the local district atty and asssistant district atty name and number and I have filed a complaint with the BBB. Proverbs 11:18 The wicked earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness gets a true reward.

I'm also a person who has been roped into this scam. I'm 18 years old and they called me in spetember telling me how i won this amazing proze of 1000.00 dollars too what ever i wanted to get on the internet. I would jut have to pay 20 payments of 49.90. Now the lady i was talking to said it was simple. That they would break my payments up into quarterly payments of 49.90 and that'd be it. Now if that was the case, i would still be happy with the company. Instead, they took money at the beginning, 50 dollars that they dont even have on there record, but it is on my bank statement, and they also took the money out of my account 3 days before they were supposed. I didnt have the money in there so i went into the negatives, I've never been in the negatives before. It got so bad with fees that i had to come up with over 200 dollars to get myself back on top. I then immediatly tried to callt he company and tell them i wanted to cancel, and that i never agreed to pay 20 consecutive payments. i did agree to pay 20 payments, but i thought it would be every 4 months. I can afford that. i cant afford every month. its stressful. And nerve wacking and im so mad at myself for falling for this. I cancelled my debit card so they couldnt rape my bank account anymore, and they started calling me constantly! they wont leave me alone, and its not just to talk about my account, they harrass me and are very very nasty people! they talk over you and dont even listen to what you are trying to tell them! They called this morning and almost made me cry! it's ridiculous! my mother called the attoney general here, and in TN they told us to just ignore them, and that they have had several, several complaints about this company, when is it going to stop! I'm tempted to just change my phone number that i've had for the past 3 years! Its frustrating, and annoying! If anyone knows how to make this stop please let me know. We should all stand together and bring this company down, how many cmplaints do they need? My dad also looked online and tracked their business down and they never renewed their business liesence...not since JUne 2009, so they are in some serious trouble if they get caught doing what they are doing! If anyone knows how to get this company to leave you alone, please let me know, im over it and i wont paay $500 to cancel it! I dont have have $500, i dont have $100 in that case. my email is jillybean2241@hotmail.com! Power to the people!

Whoever wrote the comment about getting what they actaully said they would get, probably works for the company or is actually the one trying to scam everyone out of their money. My son is a college-age student and got roped into this deal. He told them on the phone that he didn't want the magazines and they sent them to him anyway as well as charged him $39.90 every month. Also, he has never received any kind of a gift card or shopping spree. He has called about three times now to cancel. He thought it was taken care of, but now they have sent him a notice saying that he needs to pay. What in the world would he do with more magazines than you find in a doctor's office? Does anyone know how to get these guys off your back? Or better yet, has anyone filed a lawsuit against them? If so, please post the information so the rest of us can get in on it. This is rediculous! By the way, there is an awesome guy named Bill Gephardt. He is with KUTV News in Salt Lake City. He will investigate fraud or anything you want him to and usually he can get things resolved for people. Maybe if we all write to him, he can help us and expose this company on the news! Here is the link: http://connect2utah.com/content/gephardt Just be nice when you voice your complaints because he is a very nice man and I doubt he will want to help us if any of you use fowl or obscene language. That kind of language makes people sound uneducated anyway, so please keep your comments clean. Thanks and good luck to us all.

macyuck,
I've been keeping up with the complaints and compliments people have about this company (mind you the comments are far and few between) and I really appreciate the fact that even though you worked there that you were still honest about it. This company will eventually figure out that they can't make money by being shady.

I worked for Mountain Area Communications for one week and I have to agree and disagree with both sides. Yes, the consumers do have to consent to this service; they do have the right to tell the person on the other end no or "hold on for just a sec" or "can i get your number to call you back?" Taking this time out, you can sit down and run these numbers through a calculator...3.85 per week for 60 months- break it down, 3.85 per week for 4 weeks outta the month- 15.40, 12 months in a year 184.80, 60 months=5 years, at 5 years 924.00. Take the time out to listen to the data aspect of the conversation, they are telling you the total cost but they are able to distract you with fast dialect and unanswered questions. When they consolidate it, the price also increases, 49.98 (around that) for 20 months, 999.60. You are paying for your 1, 000 shopping spree essentially-it's not free because you paid them for it, this is where I embark upon my disagreement- there is no need to pay this amount for magazines, you can get most of these select magazines through their individual companies and pay 15.00 per 12 months and alot of those magazines will also send you an additional magazine for 12 months at no charge...this total over a period of 5 years, for all 6 magazines at 15.00 is 450.00, so you are being duped once more. This is a big difference from 996.60! Additionally, I believe that they could gain and keep more customers who will be loyal to the service if they told you all outright what the service was they were providing. I didn't agree with the services that they were providing and didn't stay with this company very long. To all those who I may have sold to (a couple) I am extremely sorry because I was duped myself from the initial training and was told about the "great" offers they were giving you. My eyes were also blind, but when I figured the numbers, I left. I wouldn't recommend this program to anyone unless you like to flush money...

Report all poor business practices to the Federal Trade Commission - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ - interstate fraud is a crime.

My daughter ended up getting involved with this company. I did not know about it until the second month of her 'subscription' when this company double charged her account for the monthly payment. This caused her account to go negative, and have 8 overdraft fees. When we called the bank, they said the company if definitely fraud, and to contact them to advise they have to pay the fees. We spoke with Paige, who was very rude, and told us we would have to speak to Cindy the next day. But, Cindy is only available for 6 hours a day... B.S.! I called back and was transfered to Jacqueline. She apologized but said that my daughter authorized a double payment, which was complete crap. She then said they would refund the duplicate charge, but that the bank would be responsible for all the overdraft fees when they realize it was an error. We called the bank, and they said MAC would be responsible as they caused the negative balance to begin with. I called Jacqueline back, and she asked why my daughter continued to use her card, and I told her flat out she was within her rights to use her card for funds she thought were available to her. She asked what bank it was, and when I told her Wells Fargo, she said to fax a copy to her so they can dispute it with the bank, because, according to her, they have had numerous issues with Wells Fargo paying back overdraft fees. We did send the fax, along with a nice letter advising they have 14 days to issue payment. If they refused to do so, they need to provide a letter stating why, as we would need to include that with our complaints to the BBB and the MN Attorney General. We received a call the next day stating they were issuing a check as they just don't feel like arguing with the bank. Funny thing... That is exactly what the bank said they would tell us! They also stated my daughter could cancel with a $500 fee as she agreed to the terms of cancelation. I asked to see it in writing. She stated they have her on tape verbally agreeing. Verbal agreements are not valid in all states. When I advised her of that fact, she said because they are located in TN, my daughter goes by their laws. Absolutely not true. When this company does business in another state, they have to abide by that states laws. They agreed to cancel the subscription for two monthly payments of $49.99. We told them we will call them when the refund check is received. We have no intentions of paying them the cancelation fee. Our bank advised if they did turn it over to collections to dispute it with the fact that due to the problems they caused in her account, they should be able to waive the two $49.99 a month cancellation fee! I will be posting negative feedback about this company where ever I can. I am writing to the BBB, and the MN Atty. General. I urge anyone who has had issues with them to do the same thing. Get your State Atty. General involved! This company needs to be shut down for good!

I had a run in with them also. I came across some information somewhere on the net that mentioned writing them a letter to cancel. I gave it a try and haven't been billed for that since. There was another business they signed me up with that I had to deal with as well, but that was much easier to cancel. I put all the details in a blog post as http://scamvigilante.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/cancel-mac/.

I was recently scammed by mountain area communications same as several people on this site. I however didn't let them bully me into accepting their bs about how there was nothing I could do. I immediatly called the Better Buisness Buero, the Federal Trade commission and I was prepaired to finish my complaint with my attorney General. As a result, Mountain Area Communications buckeled and canceled my account. So all you really have to do to make mountain area communications tuck tail and run is be as big a pain in the ### as humanly possible.

Call them at [protected] and ask for their collections number. They can't transfer you to collections but they can give you that number. Then tell them you want to cancel. They'll go into a spill about it being prepaid but that they can cancel for like 70% of your total balance. Keep giving them hell about it and make up some excuse and they can go down to 55% of your total balance. You're still going to have to pay but when you do pay one of these percentages, you'll still get the magazines for however many years they promised. Or you could tell them your calling the BBB and the atourney general and keep giving hell with that and sometimes they'll let you cancel with 2 or 3 monthly payments.

Would someone please post the number for cancellation?

could you plese give me the number to the company so that i can try to cancel? my email is hohoholly29@yahoo.com

You cannot cancel for 1000 dollars, or 500 or 300. You just can't. You can cancel the order for a percentage of the final balance on your account because it is stated to you when you are in verification that they are prepaying the magazines for you in advance. That's why they ask you not to cancel.

Also, you're not paying $29.90 a month for 5 years for these magazines. You're paying $29.90 a month for the first 20 months then you pay nothing for the remaining 40 months of the service.

You can't just say "no" and cancel the service. If your account goes too long without payment, the account is sent to an outside collection agency where your final balance becomes due along with a hefty service charge for the collection service. I know this from experience. I wish I had just paid my monthly bill. Now my credit is messed up because I didn't pay it and I ended up having to pay it anyway in the end.

The company is legit. I started receiving my magazines about 3 months after I started the service and they did stop until I paid them in full and now they're coming again. The company really does offer what they say they do. I just wish I had known that ahead of time.

So just say no? and they won't bother you anymore? I NEED HELP I WANT TO GET OUT

When I was being asked if I wanted to sign up I specifically asked the care rep and the supervisor I spoke to if I could cancel at any time due to I did not want to be locked into anything for 60 months knowing things could change (finances, job) and they told me they could not tell me I could not cancel but they prefer I didn't. Then when I called today due to my car broke down and now I must buy a new one and I list my wallet so I had to stop all my cards and accts and told them I wanted to cancel the sup Cindy told me I cannot cancel but only change the magazines but this is not what I was told and I am mad as hell because I cannot afford to pay for this magazine subscription anymore.

They called me one day to tell me i had won a $1000 shopping spree online. The only catch was that I pay for magazines. I thought it was a great deal so I went with it. After a couple weeks I still had not received anything. The took their payment out the first time, then i closed the account. They called me later wanting to know when i would make my next payment i told them i would not be paying anything else til i got the card. They said they had sent it but they could send me a grocery card instead if i would like. I waited on that but it never came either. Now they wont answer my calls and they are still taking money out of my new account.

I don't know how I stumbled upon this mess of a business, but I think it was through some online survey I was taking for a Wal-Mart gift card. These people called me, then fast talked me into some bogus ### contract of buying mags for $49.90 for 20 months. They also told me that I could cancel my subscription at any time...so I did within 7 of receiving the contracted letter, which was my option. They tell me you can't because they've already prepaid a couple of months in my behalf...bull! So, make a long story short, I had to set up a payment plan to pay back $200.00 that they said that I owed them for them paying for me in advance for these magazines. This business is one of the biggest scams in history! Please don't get duped into this like I did...

They got me after I had just been off work from a 12 hour day getting ready for a store inventory count the next day. I of coarse got charged the very next day for 49.00, though it was supposed to be a hold. After a few monthes of trying to contact them here and there to cancel the account, cause you can never get ahold of anyone, I finally did. A supervisor or owner or what have you gets on the line and tells me sir, if they said you could cancel the account, then they where lieing and they would be fired for it, I said well, looks like you have some training todo on your end, have a nice day cancel my account. Of coarse they said no, so I got on the phone with my bank right after the call and canceled my card so they could not debit out anything else from me. Few monthes later, after not answering there calls, I get a call on my house line, hmm how nice. But this time is from some Mirand Response lady saying how she aggrees that I should not be having to pay and that they did me wrong, but I could resolve all of this if I paid them 120.00 for the next few monthes, since she could cut my total due in half. Or if i wanted to be done with it completely and not get any other magizines and such, that I could simply pay them 480.00 and it would be resolved. Supposedly she did not work for Mountain Area, though in the back ground I heard a lady answering the phone prolly in the next little cubical saying, Thanks for calling Mountain Area Magizine, haha. Now I heard the recording, and yeah it sounded like me, so I can not dispute the fact they got me when I was gulliable I suppose, but when I started stating the fact to this Daniel chick at Mirand Response( AKA Mountain Area Communications) she started getting all offensive, and sure I did have a little more loudness to my voice by this time, told her that I would not be paying and then she said, well you will pay in time, you will be hearing from our Lawyers. So guess its time to get a laywer myself, as I would rather pay them the 2k then pay that scam of a company another dime. Its sad to see all these others that have been duked by these people, but is nice to see that I was not the only one. So, looks like my next adventure begins. Oh did some looking on this Mirand company, they are a collections agency based out of Jamica or something like that. Looks like they hired some thugs to try to get there cash. Well, will keep you all posted on my little adventure against a scam bs company. Could think of other things I could be doing at this time I tell ya.

I was scammed by these people through an unsolicited phone call and they said I had been chosen to receive a $1000 shopping spree sponsored by VISA. Long story short I had to close my debit card account. Now they are harassing me and saying they are going to turn me into all 3 credit bureaus for default on a $750 loan. Please hang up if MOUNTAIN AREA COMMUNICATIONS calls you. I know of no other recourse than to file a complain against them.

THESE LOSERS GOT ME TOO! SAME SCAM YOU WIN $1000 SHOPPING SPREE, THEY CHARGE YOUR ACCOUNT AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE BEFORE THEY GET CAUGHT. I AM WONDERING IF THEY HAVE DONE THIS SO MANY TIMES WHY THE HELL HASN'T ANYTHING BEEN DONE TO STOP THEM? THIS IS FRIGGEN RIDICULOUS! I FEEL SO STUPID TO HAVE FALLEN INTO THIS DUMB FRIGGEN SCAM MORE THAN ANYTHING SO I WILL RUIN THEM SOMEHOW, I AM GOING TO NOTIFY ANYONE WHO WILL LISTEN.

http://www.myspace.com/crazymy

employee decided charge unauthorized transactions to my debit card and refused to fix them. My bank was cooperative however.

I think it's awesome how if you try to call them back to cancel, the phone is busy ALL DAY LONG.

Don't know how they verified my credit card info but they did charge my card i canceled the card and started billing me...i called to cancel and they said that it would go to collections so i gave them a new number to pay the back owed subscriptions then i came across this site what now?

scam very disappointed how this company misleads people and upset how they treated me. Beware of this company!