Okay, so this has been going on for a long time and now it's getting a little ridiculous. I just got another phone call from a company that calls itself "Central Subscription Services". What do they do? They take subscription orders from supposed customers for a number of magazines and charge them accordingly. There is a small problem, however. They actually seem to make the orders FOR the customer, rather than letting the customer come to them to make the order. Don't believe me? Let me tell you a little story.
29 December 2010
I find myself sitting comfortably in my house in Georgia, just enjoying the Christmas vacation. It's my first time home in exactly one year. The rest of the year had been spent in school and working. Not to mention the health problems that I had been experiencing for the previous four months. I was just hoping for a relaxing, 3-week break.
As I mentioned, I was sitting comfortably. I was on the couch all by myself. No people. No dogs. Nothing. Just me and the TV. As I sat there, I got a phone call from someone claiming to represent the "Central Subscription Services" company. He talked very fast, so I was having a little bit of trouble trying to keep up with him. I asked him to repeat himself several times (blame it on me being Southern, but still, he wasn't making it any easier for me). He was telling me all about these great magazines that I could get with a subscription through them. Apparently, I had told them before this time that I wanted some magazines. However, according to fact, this was the first time I had ever even heard of these people. I explained to him that I wasn't interested in ANY magazines because (shockingly) I NEVER READ THEM! I never even LOOK at them. We debated back-and-forth for about 15 minutes until I finally reached what I thought to be an understanding. I didn't want the magazines, but the only way to get this guy to shut up and leave me alone was to say, "Okay, you already sent them without asking me first. Don't send them again and don't call me back."
That's when things took a different turn. He then told me that he was going to record this part of the conversation. When he told me that he was going to be "signing me up" for 2 years of subscriptions to these magazines, I stopped him. I said, "That's not what I want. I don't even want one month's worth." He then tried to reason with me, telling me that he would only send the one month's subscription and then I wouldn't get anything else and wouldn't be charged for it. So then he *restarted* the recording (apparently deleting the other one) where he then READ MY DEBIT CARD INFORMATION TO ME. Keep in mind, I have never spoken to this man, never ordered anything, and yet he is reading my card information to me. Something isn't right here, is it? But I just wanted to get him off the phone and never talk to him again, so according to this "understanding" that we had, I wasn't going to be charged anyway, so I let it go.
Phone call ended, I go about my break and other business like I normally would. On 4 January 2011, I see a charge for one month's subscription from the aforementioned company. "Okay," I thought. "Just one month because that's all he said I was going to get. I'll let this one go." I had a little buffer money in my account anyway. So I was fine.
9 February 2011
I look on my bank account (a regular activity). What do I find? A $59.80 charge to Central Subscription Services. This is charge number TWO. You can imagine how excited I was to see that. Meaning I wasn't excited at all. In a slight rage, I called this company to see why they had charged me a second time. According to them, I still had a subscription. I had what I thought to be a clear understanding that I wouldn't get anything or be charged for anything after that first one. Looks like I was being too trusting in a group of thieves. I took action, since I didn't want this to happen again. I went to my bank, cancelled my debit card, requested a new one and waited for it to come to me in the mail. No more stolen money.
Since that time, I have received upwards of 6 separate pieces of mail from the same company telling me that I owe them money. The amount? $1000+. I have had *a* (meaning ONE) customer service rep from this company call me and talk to me several times about this. She played the recording (a whopping total of 2 minutes) of my conversation with the man on December 29. That didn't really say anything about what I discussed with him. I've grown tired of dealing with them. I have told them many many many times that I don't want their magazines and that I want this "subscription" that I have to be cancelled. They're not even willing to do that. I have received phone calls 3 times in the past week or so from this same customer service rep saying that she "needs" to speak with me. Problem: you keep calling me when I'm at work and I'm not really in the mood to return your unwanted phone calls.
So, "Central Subscription Services", if you want someone to steal money from, you have come to the wrong place. Who knows, maybe I'll make more money off of you than you have made off of me. I like the sound of that. As for this man's money, to quote the great Dr Who, "IT IS DEFENDED!"
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