Complaint Rating:

I got a call ooon Jan 7, 2007 wanting to renew our subscription to Autoweek. They sounded as if they were Autoweek calling: had my husband's subscriber name, obviously our phone number, and knew when the subscription was expiring. In short: the caller offered a good deal for a 3 year renewal, offered a free one yr subscription to Playboy (which in hindsight I thought was very odd) that I declined, said they would send an invoice but that if I wanted to save an extra $5 I could pay right then with a credit card. I said fine, fortunately gave them a Virtual Account number (good for one time use only). They then said that the credit card billing would say "United Magazine Service" (UMS)- my only clue that this wasn't Autoweek calling, but I figured Autoweek had farmed out their renewal service calls. I received an order confirmation in the mail a week later (good tactic to make one think everything is fine). Weeks later, after receiving 2 "your subscription is about to expire" notices from Autoweek, I called them directly and found that they have no relationship with UMS and had received many complaints, had even published a warning in the magazine against scams like this, and are currently investigating how UMS got actual names and phone numbers of current subscribers. Today I called the phone number UMS listed on my bogus receipt and, surprise surprise, it is not a good number, nor is the phone number listed on my credit card statement next to their name. So - buyer beware!! I would call the magazine with whom you have a subscription directly, or respond only to their official renewal requests.

Note that this is one of many complaints against UMS.