United Readers Service
Reviews and Complaints

I have been getting phone calls from USA Collection Agency for about 3 weeks. They told me that I owe United Reader Services $1500 for unpaid magazine subscriptions from 2006. They told me they were willing to settle for $499. I told them that I could not pay because i was unemployed, I then asked if they could send me a bill or invoice and I will try to see if I could scrounge up the cash. They said I could only pay over the phone. I said no. They told me that the next thing I would be receiving in the mail would be a subpoena to appear in small claims court.

I hung up and looked up United Reader Services. I called the customer service [protected]). They told me they had no record of me or any of my home phone numbers. I told them about USA Collection Agency and they said they have gotten several other complaints about that company. They also said that they have no relationship with that company and that I should ignore those phone calls.

I have gone to ftccomplaintassistant.gov and filed a complaint against USA Collection Agency, unfortunately I did not get any of their info like address or phone number.

If you get a call from USA Collection Agency you should definitely file a complaint to the FTC and your State Attorney General. But first try to get their company info like address and phone number.

Ok id like to say you guys say they introduce themselfs as usr. I work for united readers service and we go by ursi not usr. There are a lot of scam artists out there that copy off of people. I work two telemarketing jobs and both are copied. However nothing we say nor do is fake or misleading. We've been in business since 1972 for a reason. For our excellent offers and customer service. I personally purchased the mags and all is well. So no need to slander nor try to ruin our company's rep. We do not force our customers to buy it we offer we are always 100% polite and do not force anyone to do anything. We understand how the economy is and jus try to make it better the sweepstakes are real the major list brokers enter you in. So everyone yes its real and theremight be a scam place out there but IT IS NOT US THANKS

I filed with the Better Business Bureau online and they helped tremendously. They contacted the company and then e-mailed AND phoned me to see if the company had responded. I got a letter from URS saying I didn't owe anything and I haven't been bothered since! I can't say it enough-----CONTACT THE BBB online. It COSTS NOTHING and the results were quick.

They pulled the same scam on my 85-year-0ld mother. I am shocked and appalled by this company's horrible behavior.

My 86 yr old mother just called me all upset about a threatening phone call demanding her credit card number to pay her debt for magazines ordered. She is adamant that she did not order magazines and when asking the caller to send proof or cancel the order, the caller became that much more determined to get her credit card number. Caller ID says US Readers and all info I can find suggests it is in either CLearwater or Tampa FL. I am going to find a way to get the calls stopped - even if it takes a lawyer to do it!

I got the same phone call! They asked me for $1000 or they will sue me. I told them I wanted proof of what I purchased and they said they didn't know. I tried to reverse the listing in order to get the name of the collection agency, but you have to pay for that information, and I am now willing to do that. Did you file with the Better Business Bureau? What was the outcome? Should I do the same?

I was just called this morning. Amera from USA Collection Agency called saying that I owed 1, 500 for not cancelling my contract from 3 years ago! I asked all the same questions as you have; what magazines, when, give me the number to United Readers Services, give me your call back number and of course, she could not answer 1 question. Thank goodness for caller ID! There number is [protected]. I told her that I didn't know what she was talking about and that I would look United Readers Services up online to get a number. Thank you all for speaking out on this! BBB, here I come.

I got hooked by United Readers Service, Inc in April.2009. Address is in Lakewood, OH. I've done the magazine thing before, and it was great-only $120. URS never told me the total amount for the magazines (Buy one, get 5 free)and I only found out by accident-it was on the back of the "welcome" letter w/free watch. I just happened to notice it days after receiving - in the middle of a small print paragraph - $963 !
Unbelievable. After sending cancellation notices and receiving calls for payment (where there was no supervisor to speak to), I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau online. I recommend everyone to do this. The more complaints BBB hears, the faster they will shut these scammers down!

hey "ally" i assure you it is URS that has been calling each and everyone of us i have even called the numbers and they answer it "United Readers Service". you people need to leave us alone and stop with all the scams and calling 24/7 and i do mean 24/7! next time you people call me i will let my 19 month old handle it!

Ok well I work for United Reader Service and our company does not handle our business that way. I'm sure the company you are speaking with is a scam using the same name as our company. However I assure everyone that the sweepstakes entries are real and people do win the prizes offered.

If you LOVE magazines its a good deal ( i guess) but if you're not a collector of them then dont give your cc #! You have TEN DAYS to cancel in welcome package should be a postcard to cancel fill it out right away! want the owner of Publishers headquarters personal number here give him a call not private numbers and give him a piece of your mind(he's dirty RICH cuz of people like u !)
[protected] Ziv's his name and he might not be too nice
Hope this helps + save the numbers they call u from !

I agree with MST64 because of the fact that the "Mrs. Hope" who said she had to pay $6000 in small claims in FL is residing in Hunalolo Hawaii. I'm not sure if Hunalolo is supposed to be Honolulu...

I am afraid that I to have fallen into their spiders web. Same stuff, $1, 500 will settle for $499 only on a credit card. Will not give out any info but when the call was done I did a *69 which give the NY number [protected]. With laws on the books how come no government agency can stop them? It is like they are untouchable.

From TLM I recieved another call from USA Collections Agency today. It was the same woman that passed me off to Mark Cowan. When she started to tell me that Mark could did not talk to me on Thursday like he said. I told her I talked to him on Friday and told him the was running a scam and not to call me anymore. Out of the blue she told me that the statutes of limitations is 7 years. I told her that I live in Delaware and it is 3 years and then I hung up on her. Can anyone tell me how to stop them.

From TLM

I to have recieved many phone calls from the USA collection agency. I have spoken to four different people. The last one said his name was Mark Cowan. He gave me the same story that most of the others have been given. The contract number that he gave as my number is 934948. When I told him I had talked to the United Readers' Service Inc.. He told me it was a different company. His company was United Readers' Services with a S on the end. When I Googled that name I came up with this Web Site. The number that they have been calling me on is [protected]. When I call the number back it tells me that the box is full. The address on my caller ID is New York, New York. I am also going to complain to the FTC.

I received a phone call from someone telling me I owed them over $1, 500 in a back bill from this reader service. I NEVER had a reader service. EVER!
Once I checked on line what was going on I found that this is all FRAUD!
USA collections is in on this and they are trying to make a lot of money using scare tactics.

Since they keep saying they have oral contracts, I suggest you look at this site : http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/article-29941.html which tells the length of time oral contracts are valid in all 50 states. Also, remember that if you are recorded on the phone, those recordings can be manipulated to sound like something else later.

I have seen at least two posts where people claim they have actually been taken to court and lost. One woman said she had to pay $6000 in Florida where the small claims limit is $5000. Additionally, they are trying to scare people with threats of lawsuits in Florida, but small-claims court requires that they bring suit (which they are not going to because this is a SCAM) at the court nearest your home.

This company has been calling my house for over a month now, every day. They ask for "Connie Mohlmann", no such person lives here, nor do I know of any such person. I told them that, they hung up. Every time they called I told them the same thing and that they needed to remove my phone number from their records - and each time before I could finish my sentence they would hang up.

This is ridiculous and not a valid company. A professional collection agency would hang on the line and listen to what I had to say, maybe even try to feel out if I was being honest or not - pry for more info, ya know the drill. I worked in collections for a number of years and know how it works. It doesn't work the way they operate. I do not have a phone number (they claim they can't get incoming calls), or any contact info, and asking to speak with a manager results in a hang up on their end. Tomorrow when they call I will ask for the contract number. I expect that I will hear the exact same number that each and every poster here has noted.

This is a scam. I will be filing with the ftc momentarily.

Hi, my name is Debra Smith and I was receiving harrassing calls from a woman who claimed to be working for the USA collection agency. She told me my contract #912847 was overdue for the past 3 years and how I owed the United Readers Services 1500$. I didn't recall ever receiving these magazines and told the girl to stop calling me and contacted the Better Business Bureau who told me to ignore these calls. Unfortunately i recently received a sopena for a court date which I attended to find out the account was in fact mine, and now I owe the court almost 4000$ with court fees, lawyer fees and of course my outstanding debt. Oh lord, how ever will I come up with this kind of money now...

I have been getting these calls a lot the last couple of weeks as well. I have told them repeatedly that I am aware of their scam and they just get beligerent and insist that I don't pay my bills and that I am going to mess up my credit. They threaten to mess up my credit and once even told me that it was now too late and that it was out of their hands and had been sent on and would now go on my credit report. A couple of nights ago I even checked my credit report. No worries!

My husband wanted me to get info so that we could look it up. Today when they called I got their name, USA Collections Agency. They said that I owe $1000.00 but can settle it today for just $499.98 and how would I like to take care of that? They said that I had ordered the US Women's Package in August of 2006 and that the contract number was 912847. On another call I swear that they spouted off 2001.

I told them to go ahead and move forward with it. He said that there would be a lawsuit and I told him that I would deal with it if it happened.

I also had harrassing phone calls about magazines a year or two ago. Exact same stuff. Apparently they don't give up easily.

Several years ago I used a magazine subscription service. I think I took care of it but my memory is not 100% clear.

Once a year or so I get phone calls claiming I still owe. I actually did give a credit card number once or twice.

If I ask for an invoice they claim they sent one several months ago. The first time they conveniently said they had sent it to an old address.

Several time I asked to pay by money order. One time I asked them to call me back in a couple days. I got a money order and kept it in my wallet over a year before cashing it in. Another time I asked for a mailing address and mailed a money order but the letter was returned because of a bad address.

Most recently I have been receiving calls from USA collection agency claiming I owe for a subscription to United readers services. After reading this board I know to just hang up on these calls.