Viking Magazine Service review: They won't let me cancel! 137

I just got a call from Viking Mag and they said they got my number from a credit card company I'm in good standing with, I knew they were full of it because I havent had a credit card in over 15 years. So while he was yacking on and on I got on my computer and looked them up, and low and behold, I found this site. So when I started reading the complaints back to the guy he started stuttering and repeating the same crap he had already said. I told him to lose my number because if they called again I was gonna look up their physical address and pay them a personal visit...LMAO

I too am a victim of this company. I have just filed a complaint to the better business bureau http://www.bbb.org/us/. I urge any one that is having a problem to file a complaint if we can get enough complaints maybe we can get this taken care of

My son made a big mistake by signing a verbal agreement with a magazine company (Viking Magazine) over the phone who promised "millions of prizes and rewards". However, he never got the magazines he ordered and called to cancel because they were charging him almost $69 every month and withdrawing the money from his checking account. He called them several times to cancel with no avail. We had to close his bank account and now they are harassing him via letters threatening him with collection agencies and bad credit reports. We found out that we are not alone. There are many others who have been scammed by this company. Does not he have the right to cancel a contract, which they said is a binding contract, at any time if we are not satisfied with the services rendered? We need advice.
Thanks.

I agree with every thing people are saying about them, I try to call and cancel after I research them on the web. The nonprofessional supervisor try to tell me I couldn't cancel, when I had call back the next day before the 14 day cancellation period was up. What I did was contact the BBB and the attorney general file a complaint. Also when I received the first billing in the mail, it had on the back were you could sign to cancel. I sign and sent it back in the mail by priority mail, so that I knew it was delivered. However, the BBB work in my favor they cancel my services for me and I no longer have a problem. I know now that I will never fall for this crap again.

people... look you are paying for a service that saves you 70%... you can't cancel your cable, internet, lease, car payments, etc and now that you are dabbling into the small business of magazine you get mad because your paying money for a service and actually have to pay! GROW UP

that is the best thing to do is file with the bbb or the attorney general, the bad point of that is that they change their name very frequently. the way you get them to stop calling, is ask them to stop calling take you off the phone list, if that don't work let them know you are going to call the attorney general, if that don't work then get the number that called, and thne report them, they will put a stop to them, it is iilegal to keep calling. I used to work their and not only do they mess over people they mess over there people that work for them. they told me that I would make 9.00 an hr and when I got my frist check it was 7.00 an hr. they told me I didn't make enough sales to get 9.00 an hr, but if a company says that base pay is 9 it should be that. to support the employees, we only had a 2 hr training session, so that is hard to get to know any job, at that training period. another reason people their maybe are their for sometime, either are on parole and have no other experience to go else where for the time being. Also we don't really know what happens after we transfer the calls, only exception is the person has been their for a while and finds out from someone else. I only lasted their for 2 months at best, and one of the big reason's I left their is I'm trying not to be affiliated wiht such a aweful place that messes over people including their employees, on a daily basis. But the old and present saying is what comes around goes around. you reap what you sow. God Bless you all, and them

Well i sure had enough of reading people getting ripped off, by this lower then lower life company, I worked at viking for no more then 2 months, and couldn't worked their nomore. from hearing older ladies to disabled people. I had enough. They even mislead me, they told me that I was going to get 9.00 an hr base commission, and when I got my first check it was 7.00 an hr, and then I asked them why is mycheck only 7 and they said because I didn;t make the sales to equal 9.00. which they said it was 9 base pay, which means that i get 9 no matter what. as far as rude they are rude to there employees, treat us like lower then dirt. to support the employees about there lack of info and customer service, they give us a 2 hr training coarse if that. we don't even get much more then thatto learn what to do, they put us on the phone for 30 and then say get your sales now, when we don't know what to even do a that time. a big thing they do when we don't make any sales one day, they send you home the next day if their isn't any seats to sit down, then they [pick who they want to send home, they don't care if it takes you 2 hrs to get their on the bus or have to pay bills. not to mention the scummy owners that come through every once in a while. but when you look at them you can see scammer in their face, and if someone works their longer then a month, either they are hard of for a job, and need to pay their bills, or they are on parole and have to have a job, and better yet, you have to be a scammer your self. one big thing about scammers and thieves, they say, it isn't stealing unless you get caught. At that time I was working for them, I as starting to be a reborn christian, and that would be last place I wanted to have a foundation, or association with, if tha is the direction i was planning on going. something didn't seem right, about the company, the people that worked their and the so called under qualified mananger staff, their below gheto. the owners to get out of law suits, they change the name of the company. one of the names I know of is midwest. One of the things I heard from a gret source, tha they don't not only send the wrong mags, some of them are old subscriptions some go back as far as 2 years old mag. that guy above that said he worked their for three years, he is probably one of them that is just as low as this company. here is a funny story about my experience working their. I was trying to make a sale, and I had a lawyer on the phone, I figured that he definetly had a sale, and he was going to, until one of the supervisors said hang up the phone, I said why they just said hang up the phone, I said but i have a sale for sure, they said hang up the phone, and I had no idea, what they were talking about. and after that, we went on our almost 10 minute break, whcih we only had 2 of them, which right their is iilegal as heck, I told this guy that has been working their for a year, and the only way he was, is because he was on parole, told me that they don't deal with lawyers(wonder whyHMM) because a lawyer has experience with the laws and guidelines and they know how to get out of the subscriptions. they also don't deal with police officiers, or anybody that has anything employment with the government. My prayers go out to all of you that were tricked into buying a subscription. to add that most of us, as employees their don't know what happens after the phone is transferred over, really the second people don't know, and the closer don't know either that this stuff is happening to people, unless they are their for a while and hear it from someone else. we are in the dark as well, if were not and know were a scammer, it really comes down to that

I've been a customer of viking magazines for 10 years. Sounds like you just need to learn to pay bills. I've been saving 75 percent off the retail value. You guys... Idk who you've been dealing with but sounds like you need to learn that if you want something... you have to pay for it... This company has sent me an x-box with kinnect and it was late so they than sent me an additional bonus 2 games for free.

Ummm. I've been a customer of Viking for 15 years, and you need to grow up and learn how to pay your bills. You are all going to save 75% with Viking Magazine. They even sent me an X-Box with the Kinnect since I've been with them so long at the discounted rate.

I just received a call from them. I wish i wouldn't have been so gullible. It is a complete scam. After reading up on them I immediately called and cancelled. I am now out around $45. Im glad i had enough sense to research them before it was to late. As far as i'm concerned they can take the magazines and the "$500 shopping spree" and shove it! I think you should be allowed to cancel at any time. Oh well I learned my lesson and i'm not falling for that crap from any "company" ever again!

lady you gave them your card number.. end of story. they're just doing their job.

i agree because viking mag. try to tell me that i won a 500 dollar shopping spree on line and thy were on there way of taking advange of me as well so thy could ge my visa account number where thy can get my money heel no and if thy are reading this fromme to them dont call my damn houseany more or i will have you arrested for phone harresment.

I agree with everything you have all posted . Something needs to be done with viking magazine. I [censor]ing hate them they are making it so I can't pay for my gas and electric so I am gonna lose my power and my house phone and internet. This is [censor]. And as far as customer service well they are the rudest people ever.

I agree with all of you. I am having the same problem. I am gonna lose my power because of these people and I have a baby in the house along with two other children. Something needs to be done with these people.

Just tried to cancel my subscription by calling [protected]. The lady asked why I wanted to cancel and I told her that I was fired from my job and had to cut corners. She said that she understood but she said that since it was past the cancellation period the best she could do was push November payment to December and that I was to call her back in December and maybe start making partial payments. All I want to do is cancel the whole thing altogether. Like most of us, I really didn't know what I was getting into.

I'm glad I read this and found it within 24 hours of them getting me to subscribe, I tried calling customer service this morning but never got through, and the found out that they had tried to take money out of my account. I quickly called my bank which is a military bank an they found another number for them and gave it to me. I called and they told me they would stop the credit card charge and my service would be canceled and I would be called from the manager in about 12 weeks. WTF! I really don't want to talk to the manager after I have canceled. But hey at least I got this bullcrap taken care of. My husband is over in afghanistan and I have our 4 month old daughter to take care of. Thanks all of you for putting this up. And if anyone needs the number to cancel here's the one I got through on to cancel. [protected]. Just tell them that you would like to cancel your subscription. Hope this helps all of you who are having trouble getting out of this.

just cancel your card.

Thank god i just came to this site bc they called me today too and i took tha bate bc they said magazine and i love to read...just 30min after i finished with them i called right back to cancel and tha lady said someone will cantact me..so at 722pm they called to ask y i cancel and i said in a nice tone bc im starting college and im not goin to be able to pay for it while im in college so he tried to offer me something less and i said nicely again i just want to cancel thank you...he rudely said uuuhhh and hung up...ima call tmrrw to make sure its cancel but on tha 30th if i get a bill they are goin to be in trouble bc i recorded them saying it was cancel so we will see and im srry to all the other pple who got scammed by them, , i wish yall had tha guidance i have na when they called..Thank YOu!

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Does anyone here know if "Viking Magazines" are the only people who do the stupid 60-month commitment thing? I was just called claiming that I ordered with them, and was locked in to 60 months, but I was so confused and frustrated that I forgot to ask who these people were and their number came up "UNLISTED" on my cell phone. If anyone knows if there are any other companies who do this crap, please let me know...I can't afford this crap I never asked for!

I got a call about two days ago from Viking Magazine, it sounded pretty cool and the 500$ shopping spree sounded great of coarse then I went through the whole thing three calls, recording etc. I was genuinely interested but I told them I don't know if I could afford it and they delayed my first payment till next month. Then I got my first paycheck, there is no way I will be able to afford it and then I read all this and I realized that I may be in big trouble I can't cancel my card b/c its my primary 1 and only card, they haven't charged me yet and I haven't received any thing from them (so it Cant be too late to cancel i hope). I then called to cancel viking magazine and got some grumpy girl telling me that they would cancel and someone will call me in 2 weeks wtf should I do?!?!?!?!

i just want to let all you [censor]ing [censor]es know that viking is not a joke. you guys are all just [censor]ing [censor]ed. dont answer the phone with such a [censor] attitude and you wont [censor]ing get hung up on you stupid [censor]ing [censor]s. and for you that buy the magazines you forgot to [censor]ing mention they do give you a free 5o0 dollar [censor]ing shopping spree! GROW THE [censor] UP

thank you bloggers, I was able to find your blogs while I was on the phone with them, and refused the service that sounded just so nice. I didn't give her my credit card or anything. I even called back to make sure that NOTHING was going to be sent and to make sure they KNEW I refused the service. Thanks guys! I really appreciate that cuz i don't need that right now.

VIKING JUST CALLED ME TODAY. I SHOULD HAVE KNEW IT WAS A SCAM TALKING ABOUT THAT I WON A 500 DOLLAR SHOPPING SPREE FROM VISA. THEY ASK ME FOR MY CREDIT CARD INFO BUT I GAVE THEM A OLD PREPAID CARD NUMBER BECAUSE I KIND OF FIGURED THAT. AND SOON AS I GOOGLE IT. THIS WHAT I GET. ITS ONLY BEEN A COUPLE OF HOURS AND SOON AS I GET UP TOMMORROW IM GOING TO CANCEL. PEOPLE LISTEN TO WHAT THESE PPL OF SAYIN BEWARE. VIKING YOU SUCK! ISN'T THIS ILLEGAL.

Thank you for posting your experiences with this company. They called me the other night and the whole deal sounded ok to me. Get some magazines and a "free $500 online shopping spree." It was really just about the magazines all along, I bet I would have never been able to utilize said shopping spree. Personally I thought it to be an attempt at fraud as shortly after learning about the company they wanted me to fork over my credit card info. When I told them I would like to check into the company before going ahead they were understanding, no problem with the agents but I sure am glad I didn't go through with it at this point after reading what they plan on doing after getting my payment info...screw me. Cheers to all of you, and good luck to those of you who have had huge headaches with this company.

Here are some common threats made by debt collectors:

"We're going to take your house unless you pay this bill immediately." This is a bogus threat. Unless the debt being collected is secured by the house in question (i.e., a mortgage or home equity loan), the creditor does not have the power to take your house away from you.

"If you don't pay this bill today, we're going to have a warrant issued for your arrest." Nonsense. Failure to pay a debt is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. Threatening a debtor with jail time or accusing them of committing a crime is totally against the rules.

"We don't care that you sent a cease communication notice. We're going to call you anyway." The FDCPA gives you the right to terminate contact efforts by a debt collector. Failure to respect a cease communication notice is a clear violation of Federal law.

"We're going to garnish your wages to recover this debt." A collector can only threaten action it has the legal authority to take, and the vast majority of collection agencies have zero legal authority. Your wages can only be garnished by a creditor after they have won a judgment against you in a lawsuit.

"We know where you live, so you better pay up." Yes, threats of violence still happen in this industry. Nearly 300 complaints against collectors received by the FTC last year cited the threat of violence as the cause of the complaint. This is absolutely illegal.

Aside from the usual bogus threats, collectors also use other tactics that are illegal. For example, discussing your debt with a third party is a clear violation of the FDCPA. Yet collectors routinely call neighbors, relatives, and employers to obtain information on debtors. So long as the collector does not discuss the actual matter of the debt, they still have their toes on the right side of the line. But as soon as they mention or even hint that they are calling about a debt, they have crossed the line.

You can see how to protect yourself and seek help against illegal tactics.

Don't let them push you around. The credit buisness borders closely on harassement.

YOU CAN FIGHT BACK

Check this articles and look up some more:

http://www.bcsalliance.com/debt_when_collectors_misbehave.html

STAY STRONG

All the best.

i just spoke with these people and they were offering the same basic thing 60 months 3.98 a week and 500 dollar shopping spree. While talking to them i googled the information and surprise surprise "scam" and "ripoff" popped up all over the place. when i asked the woman how to cancel if i decided to agree to their offer she talked around it several times before i changed my tone of voice! Once i became a little irritated with her and told her to stop giving me a talk off she said she wasn't with the cancellation department and that i would have to ask them "AFTER" i enrolled about the cancellation details. I use to work for a large credit card company in customer service and EVERYDAY customers were disputing things just like this which is why i was skeptical! DON'T FALL FOR THIS and if you simply can't help yourself make sure the credit card number you give them is through a bank that has a FREE dispute process and a ZERO fraud liability commitment to their clients or this could end up costing you big!

i worked for VMS and to say the least it is a SCAM! they lie to you and cheat you out of your money... as far as i know hardly anyone even GETS THE MAGS THEY PAID FOR! I've called ppl and they have told me to stop calling because they ordered and never got the mags... i feel so BAD for working for these people... they are such a rip off! i wish i could take back every call i made! they treat their employees horrible and make us treat you horrible... it sucked. i quit. after a month. because its wrong.

I work for a small mag co. I talk to a lot of pissed off people. I don't blame you for being pissed off, mostly for being treated so badly. Any time we talk to a potential customer, or even a current customer, it's CUSTOMER SERVICE! I don't care how pissed off the person is, BE PROFESSIONAL! It's not that hard. As for getting the calls stopped, the only thing i can say, short of changing you #, just politely ask to be taken off the companies call list. If you get another call from THAT PARTICULAR company, ask for the customer service #. If they are any kind of decent company, you should not have a problem. However, you must remember that there are alot of mag. companies out there, so you may recieve more calls from other companies. Just politely ask to be removed from that companies list. The calls will stop over a short period of time. Please remember, we are not all out to scam. Our particular company PRIDES itself on Excellent customer service. If the person you are speaking with is rude, ask to speak with their supervisor and put in a complaint about the agent. And please try to be polite even though they were rude. This will make you the better of the two. Thank you for your time.

They kept calling me and I wouldn't answer and finally I answered. That was a couple days ago. Haven't made a payment yet but I sent them an email canceling my service. Today in the mail I get mail from them says I'm going to pay $68.96 a month which is ridiculous and adds up to $1034.40 total for the 15 months not worth it. And a release form for the $500 shopping spree. Sorry if I have to sign a release form to get it I don't want it. Kinda fishy to me. So needless to say I canceled it before it went anywhere. I've been sick I have three toddlers 1-4 and have been spacey lately so don't even listen to half the stuff going on when someone's talking to me on the phone. The second lady asked me to lie to the third lady and the third lady informed me I wouldn't be paying the $3.95 a month but rather over $60. When she went through the do you remember this step the only question I could answer was the company's name..yes that's how out of it I've been being sick. If they take money out of my account I will be filing for fraud since it hasn't been 14 days and no payments have been made and no product has been recieved.
Now my question...if you haven't recieved a product but have made payments and if you can change the magazines when eer and as often as you want why can't they cancel your service...in order to change the magazine isn't that basically what they are doing anywyas? Sounds a little iffy to me.

I posted 13 days ago (see above). I just received a letter in the mail from Great American Readers and they have cancelled our account. I sent a letter to them by registered mail a while back, filed a complaint with the BBB in MN and filed a complaint with the FTC, Do Not Call Registry (because all of our phone numbers are registered) and filed a complaint with the MN Attorney General Office. They must have heard from all of these companies because they cancelled the subscription. We asked that they keep the money we paid and just stop the subscription and also told them we will sue if they don't. I did hear from the BBB and they told us this company -Great American Readers has an unsatisfactory rating with them and sometimes they resolve the issue or they may not. This scam goes under the names of Viking Magazine Service, VMS, Great American Readers and Blue Whale Publications in FL. Every time they called us it was a different number that came up on the caller ID. So they are scamming everyone out there and it is hard to keep up with the names and phone numbers. I think we are done with them now, I still have to check with the Credit companies. Everyone out there needs to do the same thing and stop these people. Good Luck everyone.

Dear Sir/Madam:

Just like you, I have also been scammed by Great American Readers. It is truly the biggest nightmare. I am still dealing with their harassing calls every day. Mind you, they are calling me every single day around 8:30AM, and multiple times from different numbers during the day.

Anyway, I think the best way for you to do is to:

--- File a report to the BBB both in MN and your home state.
---- Contact BOTH attorney generals from MN and your home state.
---- Close the debit card that you used to make a transaction with them.
----File a compaint with the FTC, make sure you save your complaint reference number
----don't pick up their calls until you have heard from FTC, BBB or your attorney generals.
----If they threaten you with legal actions, or if they say that they will take you to court... don't be afraid because if somebody's going to be taken to court, that would be "THEM" and not "YOU"
--- contact the three credit departments and tell them about the fraud that the magazine posted
--- I doubt that their "collection agency" is a legitimate one, because there are way too many victims of this scam.

Hope this helps.

Please let me know how you make out with this.

Thank you.

they got my bank card number I filied a dispute and canceled my card the people working for viking are HACKERS

We are also involved with this company for over $800.00 for magazines we never ordered. My husband cancelled the credit card that they used to charge us for these magazines. they are are calling and sending us bills or want another credit card number. I have filed complaints with the BBB in Minnesota and our home state, filed complaints with the State Attorneys General in MN and our home state. We also complained to the National Do Not Call Registery because our numbers are on that list and the Federal Consumer Protection Agency. All of you guys who have complaints have to do the same things. These agencies have been established to protect comsumers from these unscrupulous people. Please file complaints because nothing will be resolved if these agencies don't know they are doing this to people. If they continue to harrass us with magazines and phone call we will take legal action. I would rather fight these people and give the money to an attorney than to give them $800.00 for something we never ordered. Just an FYI, they also do business as (DBA) Viking Magazine Service, VMS, Blue Whale Production and Great American Reader all in MN except for Blue Whale-comes out of FL.

Used to work for them. The majority of the employees are a bunch of scam artists, criminals and junkies, which is why I no longer work with them. No desire to be associated with that.
By law, however, they are allowed to call up to 9:00 p.m. in every time zone.
The best thing to do is tell them to put your number on their do not call list, and their main website actually has a tab for you to click on for just that.
Do NOT ever give them your credit/debit/checking account number, and you will never be charged, nor put into collections, despite what they say.

We spoke to them and they refused to let my son out of what they called a contract when in fact they had NO SIGNATURE for this account, but they continue to take the funds out of his checking account. What a rip off for many people trying to make a living and not being able to have the right to cancel something that is keeping them broke! Screw you Viking magazine subscription service!

I am very angry at this company! They talk really fast and don't give you a chance to ask questions... I NEVER received anything saying I could cancel and every time I try to cancel, they say I can't. I am filing a complaint with the BBB, cancelled my credit card and mailed them a letter telling them to stop sending me magazines and stop sending me bills, or I will take them to court. I obviously didn't sign up for this... they are sending me Parenting, Men's Health and Vegetarian magazines... I am not a parent, a man or a vegetarian... go figure... that is one of the many reasons why I know this company is a scam. Also, they kept saying it was a contract... the last time I checked, contracts have to be in writing and be signed by me... none of this happened. This company needs to be closed down and stop trying to scam people!

Well I feel like a lame ###...I too believed inthe "$1000 walmart gift card" pffft HELL NO. Now they are calling me daily being jerks and have my momma stressed out as they got her name/number too. If anyone knows how to handle this mess please say something...might help those of us who dont know which way to go. I feel the BBB isnt going to be much help.

I was offered a thousand dollar gift card from walmart(that I never got), If I did the magazine deal I was going to use the card for christmas. Now I feel like I've been sucker punched, I never thought I would fall for something like that.

this stupid company called my house-after i got a nuew number- asking for my husband said he wasnt here can i take a message, are you his wife, yes i am, well this is so and so from viking magazine just wanted to call and say thank you for your subscription. i said ok i dont know what your talking about your going to have to call back when my husband is home. i called my husband he was like what the ### is that, ive never heard of them and never signmed up for any subsription. i told him idk they are supossed to call back. so i called them they new my name as soon as they picked up the phone and said that they were actually calling to offer a subscription, i told her thats not what they guy said earlier on the phone! she said im sorry i will find out who that was and they will be reprimanded. whatever i dont believe that, but i told her that there was no way that we wanted a magazine subscription she said ok and that was the end of it-----hopefully!