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CB Business and Industrial Magazine Service Center Inc.

The good, the bad, and the ugly - discover what customers are saying about Magazine Service Center Inc.

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4:48 pm EDT
Resolved
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Magazine Service Center Inc. Scam scam scam, stay away

These people are pure theives. No questions, no sugar coating, they will rip you off, threaten you, and laugh all the way to the bank. If you have an offer to get cheap magazines from them, DO NOT DO SO.

The most disappointing part of this whole situation, in my eyes, is the way I got hooked up with these crooks. I was buying something off of Amazon.com, and during checkout I got the offer to recieve 4 different magazines for one year at the price of $2 a subscription. It sounded like a good deal and since these people were hooked up with Amazon, I figured it was legit. Boy, was I wrong on that. Their calls are coming in weekly now. It is annoying to say the least. The last two have been particulary...flustering. Last week (about April 14th, 2010) they called to "inform me my subscription was running up soon, but they just wanted to make sure I didnt get my magazines somewhere else first." I informed them I had already cancelled my subscription with their company. (The stated cancellation took 2 seperate phone calls to complete.) This is where the story gets good... This jagoff on the phone then tells me that his company has a "no cancellation policy" because the company "covers many costs for me, up front, and if i cancel now they will lose money." Well, thats too bad for you isnt it? Then this guy starts talking about if i cancel they will send the account to collections and blah blah blah. This didnt scare me, it did push my button though. first off, how can you send something to collections against someone when you have no social security number? All they have is a debit card number that I cancelled when I lost my card at a football game. So, keep trying to charge that cancelled card, please. And go ahead and send me to "collections" you ###.

My story doesnt have the multiple charges that the others on here are talking about, but I was actually fortunate to lose that specific card when I did. Otherwise I would have been charged their outrageous prices for a renewl of a subscription. This company was nice enough to mail me a letter stating they were going to charge my card and when they would do so, but in reading what it would cost, it would have been over TWICE what it costs to simply pull the little card out of the magazine and send it in. Thats why I cancelled early.

Anyway, the point of this rant is that you need to stay away from these people. They suck at life.

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Lynn079
Chicago, US
Aug 30, 2012 8:52 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have had it with these people! The magazine service center gave my info. to Family Circle, and they started sending me bills! I have called months ago to tell them that I don't want any more trash magazines from them, but they keep sending me stuff. So now, I am on my way to file a complaint with the FTC. I have a family and no time to be running around cancelling these stupid subscriptions, for signing up with a rewards system. And one guy who called me, I tried to call him back, and he kept hanging up in my face! Jerks-Never again!

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5:16 am EDT
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Magazine Service Center Inc. Terrible experience!

Recently our bank account was debited for four automatically renewed magazines. my husband subscribed through this service a year ago in March. it was a special deal. 4 magazines for a set price. One year later with no notification. Our checking account was debited. My husband insists that if there was an automatic renewal feature he would have passed on the original deal. I believe him because we have been burned before on this kind of shenanigan.

After dealing with the increasingly annoying automated voice system, I was able to cancel three of the four. The fourth magazine insisted I sign up for a free gift. Since I didn't want ANYTHING from these people, it took more answering of inane questions before I finally succeeded. Three of the four charges have been credited to my checking account, but I am still waiting on the fourth.

Thanks to Shar from Atlanta who also complained here I was able to obtain all of the info I need to complain to the corporate headquarters. These things are such rip-offs. How much money do they make because people just give up. Talk about endless loops that messaging center is it. Each magazine had to be canceled separately. Necessitating four separate phone calls. never thought to say order new magazines to get an ACTUAL person, but knew that even if I had a live one on the line they would not be able to help me because of corporate policy.

The checking account debited is one we use only for automatic monthly deductions. The four unsolicited debits caused the normally self-sufficient account to cascade into a spiral of overdraft charges. I intend to pursue getting the $156 back from this corporation. I am certain that they have not signature on file authorizing automatic deductions from our checking account for renewals.

I have also been receiving renewal notices in the mail on these magazines. I wonder how many people send a check and get a debit as well. No problem, we will give you another year and a half. What a rip-off.

Read full review of Magazine Service Center Inc. and 15 comments
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hates crappy magazine callers
Negaunee, US
Aug 01, 2013 10:50 am EDT

These people just called me.. at WORK :/ At first it was $1.85 for the S&H for four magazines that I did not have to pay at the time. Then, the supervisor called me up, now $1.85 per magazine per month which would total roughly $90.00 per year. I let her know that I was not interested anymore and that I have no need for $90.00 worth of magazines. The supervisor became rude all of a sudden saying I had already given my consent and that I was pretty much making a big deal out of the cost. I let her know that I AM NOT INTERESTED and will not give my debit card number over the phone. If these magazines or anything comes to my house, I will put 'RETURN TO SENDER' in big bold letters! I will not be giving them a dime!

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thebosshaha
Auburn, US
Jan 20, 2013 7:17 pm EST

A+ rating with the better buisness bureau hahaha even on the board too...read the fine print idiots...how dumb can you be>?

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dwightschrute
Scranton, US
Sep 26, 2012 10:24 pm EDT

You are all so incredibly stupid. When you sign up for your risk free trial it says in the small print, CONTINUOUS SERVICE. Call to cancel. Get all the information before you blindly hand over your credit card information.

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maggie P
, US
Sep 18, 2012 6:46 am EDT

9/18/12 same problem. 5 magazines charged glamour, cooklight, essence, esquire. Not only did they charged my account 2x. partially credited back some of the fees. Called back spoke to Lauren the person who took the call describes herself as an overflow account operator. Supervisor Darius came on phone said they are not a scam. If you purchased magazine from them they will automatically debit your account for the money every year without your authorization. No renewal required. This company is Magazine Services Center PO box 1329 Newburg, NJ 12550. The company doing this which is not listed anywhere is called Synapse 255 High ridge rd; Stanford, Connecticut 06905. The manager I spoke to is Darius [protected]; Billing Department for customer service [protected]. There is a list of department and every department is located at a different state and no one seems to know what anyone else is doing. Please do not buy magazine from magazine customer services. They will clean out your account. They said they are not a scam.

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Johanna R
Davie, US
Nov 09, 2011 3:08 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

This company definitely tries to take your money any way they can. I agree with the original complaint about the automatic renewal process. Same thing happened here. Although I called while the charges were still pending, on a Monday, for 2 of the magazines and received a confirmation number and was told I'd be getting a full refund and 2-3 complementary issues. I called back on Thursday and spoke with another rep and cancelled the 3rd one and received the same info and he confirmed the 1 request for refund was in for me. I waited a week even though they said the refunds would take 72 hours. The 1st 2 magazine refunds were never received and the 3rd one was not fully refunded, they shorted the refund by $2.42. So I called back. The rep I spoke with that time said he couldn't find any such cancel number and would process it now. However, he wanted to prorate my credit, and give me 60days more for $2, then if I cancelled before the 60days I'd be refunded in full. I said no thank you I haven't been reading the magazines, I would take the full refund now and did not want anymore issues. He said in that case it would still be a prorated amount...but the next 2 issues would be complimentary. HOW ARE THE ISSUES COMPLIMENTARY, BUT THEY ARE STILL CHARGING ME?! I told him that didn't make any sense and I told him he could keep the issues and I wanted my full refund. He said he couldn't do that, that I wold have to take the extension and then cancel with in the next 60 days. I then asked..."so if I agree and you process this, I can call back tomorrow and cancel the extension and receive a full refund then?" He said yes. LOL I told him that was silly, that I understood that his job was to keep people subscribed and then if they forgot to call back then they would be charged again, but I assured him that I was one of those people who would call back 'tomorrow' and that didn't make any sense since I don't want the issues. I told him to save the magazine the expense of the issues and issue me my full refund now. He finally had to talk to a manager and said he would give me my full refund. But...he could not help me with the 3rd magazine's prorated refund rate and he would pass that info on to a billing agent. If this isn't the worst way to try to keep business and.or keep peoples money, I'm not sure what is.

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suzie smith
ORLANDO, US
Oct 31, 2011 2:31 am EDT

10/20/11
My husband, who is disabled and collecting Social Security, received a phone call from Magazine Service Center. They offered him a $30 worth of gasoline for $5 which he agreed to purchase. This part of the conversation was not recorded by MSC. The confirmation was recorded by MSC and it was spoken as fast as an auctioneer and my husband did confirm. When we saw the bank statement of $49.90 withdrawal for MSC I tried to call the 800 number on the statement but it no longer existed so we cancelled the card. A bill arrived for $1000.00 from MSC with the company’s address and phone number. The address is PO Box 48882 Coon Rapids, MN 55448 and the phone # is [protected]. I called and spoke with the manager (Jerry) and told him my husband purchased gasoline and would never purchase magazines because he does not read. Jerry stated I have him on a recorded confirmation and I said I wanted to hear it. I listened to it at least 5 times and could not understand it because it was spoken so fast as if an auctioneer was speaking. I asked Jerry what was stated in the confirmation so I could write it down. I could finally hear what was stated in the confirmation and it had nothing to do with gasoline. The confirmation was about $1197.60 worth of magazines. When I told him that my husband was disabled and could not possibly understand this confirmation Jerry said “That’s not my problem”. I was hoping that this company could be investigated because it is obviously a scam. If other people complain then they could be investigated. I have listed organizations and phone numbers.
Attorney General Economics Division: Depends on what state.
Department of Consumer Services: [protected]
Federal Trade Commission: [protected]

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CandyB
Los Angeles, US
Jul 09, 2011 12:06 pm EDT

This company has twice taken money out of my account. The first time about 1 1/2 years ago, I had received a card with a number to call if I didn't want to renew the magazines. I am dis abled and was dealing with health issues and forgot to call them. After trying to use my debit card and having it decline my purchase, I checked my account and found out that they had renewed four magazines for a total of $220. I called and talked to a gentleman who only wanted to credit me part of my money back. I asked for a supervior and explained my situation. She told me that she would turn it over to their account receiveables office, which refunded me all of my money. Two days ago, I was checking my account in regards to something else and found one charge for a magazine I never received from them. After talking with them for several minutes (press 0 to get pass the automated system and to a person), the gentleman refunded me the money. Yesterday, I was checking my account again and found that they had taken money for two more magazines which I had never ordered through them. It was too late to call them so I will be doing so in the morning. Between the three charges it totals $115. This is a lot for someone living on a fixed income. Who would ever order magazines from them as they charge way more than if you ordered it yourself from the magazine itself. After all of this, I'm going to write the CEO of the company at the corporate office so that my information is totally erased from their system and I won't ever use my card for $2.00 magazines again.

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lro
West Unity, US
May 16, 2011 9:32 pm EDT

I too have been on a run around all afternoon... three charges for magazines that we did not authorize automatic payments to totally $199.95. These are magazines originally ordered in 2002- 9 years later we are getting charged for them. Does one accept the "samples" until July 15th and then cancell in hope of the money being returned? HELP... my bank has recommended changing the card numbers so this doesn't happen again if I can't get the company to return funds. Any suggestions?

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Thomas Schmidt
Odessa, US
May 07, 2011 9:11 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I received my first unordered magazine around April 20, 2011.I have e-mailed each of these magazines and the only one to respond was Forbes telling me that they had been ordered for me through a company named Subdirect.I have phoned them to no avail since I cannot seem to get a live person.This is very aggravating to me as I am an elderly blind man and have no need for any of the magazines sent.The only way I know how to get it to stop is to contact the Missouri Attorney Genreral of Missouri.If you do not get any results from this company I suggest you contact him as well.

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femi punti
Franklin Park, US
Feb 10, 2011 8:07 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

i got a call from this number [protected] that i won a $250 gift card and then there asked me to some amount to subsribe for some monthly magazine, there sweet talk me, about the benefits and how to pay for this magazines, i ended up given them my debit card details, but i m no more interested in there so called gift card, because i suspected it was all scam...i will have to call my bank and inform the police about this ... thank you

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