Mags4Cheap review: No magazine - No refund! 72

We paid by credit card to mags4cheap for a 2 year subscription for consumer reports at $24.95 and Wondertime for 1 year at $6.95 on 11/17/07. Consumer reports indicates they have not been paid to date and have suspended their publication after 2 months indicating they are in receipt of our payment. Wondertime magazine was never received. We have tried on numerous occasions to contact mags4cheap with little success since they do not readily return any messages, or only sporadically without reliable results.

It is my impression that Consumer Reports is a reputable publisher and when they indicate they have not received our payment through mags for cheap, I believe them. At this point we are disguisted at this issue with no resolution in sight. Our cost is insignificant but what can be done to right a wrong with a disreputable agency like mags4cheap? From all indications this appears to be a pattern in the way this company does business.

Victor and Rhonda Lipinski

I renewed an order as a Christmas gift and it is now May 2 and one of the two magazines has yet to arrive. They do not respond to phone calls. You can only leave messages. You never get to talk to a live person. You can get better prices elsewhere. DO NOT USE THIS WEB SITE.

This company is incompetent and totally lacks integrity. I have been waiting for a refund on a magazine I ordered in February. Despite many email promises, no refund ever made its way to my mailbox. You can't talk to anyone on the phone because they don't answer the phone. One time when I did get through to someone, they put me on hold and never got back to me. Don't use this company. You'll regret it.

Ordered in Jan 07 a monthly mag didn't receive an issue till april. Ordered a gift subscription a week after first order (thought it would be an easy gift.) Ha! That was FEB 7 2007 today is August 3 2007 and the person has still not received anything. Yes I did file complaints with them and they either didn't respond or stated that publisher issues can take up to 12 weeks to be delivered. Why? Well they evidently take 11 weeks before they turn in the order so they can get some benefit from holding your money.

Purchased National Geographic on Mags4cheap but did not receive the magazine. It's a year later and I am still trying to resolve the issue. I contact customer service at Mags4cheap, they tell me they'll look into it and I then I don't hear from them again. It's certainly one of the worst customer service departments I've ever dealt with.

I ordered a magazine from mags4cheap.com in April. it never arrived. I called, they reordered. it never came. Now they won't issue a refund. Apparently, they have quite a reputation for this business practice.

This company is owned by Creative One, Inc.
Mags4Cheap
14760 Memorial Dr # 306
Houston, TX 77079

The BBB reports on members and non-members. If a company is a member of the BBB, it is stated in this report.

Original Business Start Date: 09/01/03
Type of Entity: Inc
Principal: Dave Shaw, President
Phone Number: [protected]
Fax Number: [protected]
Web Site Address: www.mags4cheap.com
Membership Status: This company is not a BBB member
Type of Business: Magazines-Subscription Agents
Magazines-Dealers
Additional Business Names:
Entertainment4Cheap
Magazines for Cheap
Mags4Cheap
Mags4cheap.com

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to unanswered complaint(s).

When evaluating complaint information, please consider the company's size and volume of business. The number of complaints filed against the company may not be as important as the type of complaints and how the company handled them.

The BBB processed a total of 236 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 236 complaints in the last 36 months, 167 of those were closed in the last 12 months.

Complaints Concerned
Advertising Issues: 9
Outcome of all complaints -
No Response: 9

Delivery Issues: 124
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 18; Unresolved: 6; Administratively Closed: 3; No Response: 97

Service Issues: 13
Outcome of all complaints -
No Response: 13

Customer Service Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint -
Resolved: 1;

Product Issues: 2
Outcome of all complaints -
No Response: 2

Refund or Exchange Issues: 83
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 10; No Response: 73

Billing or Collection Issues: 4
Outcome of all complaints -
Unresolved: 1; No Response: 3

ADDITIONAL TRADENAMES, ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

This business also uses the following names, addresses and/or telephone numbers:

Entertainment4Cheap
800 Tully Rd # 170G [protected]
Houston, TX 77079

I ordered two magazine subscriptions from this company. One in December and one in February. My credit card was charged both times and I did not receive my subscriptions for either. When I called their number it just rang. I left a message and was never called back. I sent an email and was told repeatedly that my problem had been sent to the accounting department and a refund check would be issued to me. They told me that in June, August and September. I have realized I will never see my money again. Do not make the same mistake. They are a fraud.

This company is bogus. They simply take payments and don't provide the magazines. Why are they still in business? I encourage victims to contact their state's attorney general and file an online complaint.

I ordered Holiday presents in November, and still no History magazine for my husband, and it is April. I have called and e-mailed the company numerous times to no avail. I can't even get a live body on the phone. They have taken my money and not given me the goods, or have they?! DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY! SAVE YOUR MONEY.

I ordered a subscription in Nov of 2007 as a Christmas gift. The subscription was never received and I have been continually sending emails to try and get my money returned to me. They seem to have a standard letter when they reply : "They are checking on it and i should receive my refund within the next 10 days. " This now has been going on for months. I would never order from this outfit...I dont believe they even are a business. This must be a total fraud...they take your money and continually send replies to your email that seem to be the same to everyone..All the complaints I have read are the same. Someone needs to pull "Mags4cheap" off the internet! Do not order from them! It really is a HOAX!

I placed an order for a magazine in January of 2007 and was billed $21.95. After not receiving the mag in the 10-12 week period, I emailed them. I received an email informing me that because there was such a large order for the magazine over Christmas, that I would have to wait a little longer. One more month went by and I called mags4cheap and was told by a very disinterested Brian that he'll put in a trouble ticket. Finally in July, I called again and told Brian I wanted to cancel my order. He said that I would receive a refund by check because they do not refund credit cards and that I should receive it in 10 days. It's two months later and I still haven't received a thing.

Ordered and paid for Kiplinger's Retirement Letter on Mags4cheap but did not receive any issues. It's a year later and I am still trying to resolve the issue. I contact customer service at Mags4cheap, they tell me they'll look into it and I then I don't hear from them again. It's certainly one of the worst customer service departments I've ever dealt with, and the worst magazine subscription service I've ever seen! A rip-off!

It's been 7 months since I subscribed to 2 fashion magazines. I have only received one and that was after I placed a phone call to Mags4Cheap saying that I had waited 3 months and still had not received my magazines. A month or 2 later I received one magazine...still waiting on the other. I placed a call to the company and have not been able to get a hold of a "live" person. I will not use this company again. I wish I had read the complaints before doing business with them.

More of the same I guess. I also got burned by these scam artists. Charged me immediately for a subscription then told me it would be up to 12 weeks for subscription to start. That was last April. Subsequent emails requesting information get an auto response that a "trouble ticket" has been submitted but of course you get nothing. I think their tact is just take your money and hope you go away after being snubbed enough times. I am surprised that Visa and Mastercard still allow these people to charge credit cards with the amount of rip-offs they have been involved in.

I paid for four subscriptions, but only received two. The company has not responded to any of my emails and if I try waiting on the phone for customer service to answer, I get disconnected. If I call and leave a message, the message is not returned. Mags4Cheap uses Google Checkout. If we all contact Google, maybe Google will stop allowing Mags4Cheap to use their checkout system. I will also contact the Texas Attorney General's office with a complaint!

Beware!

In December 2006, I ordered a magazine subscription through Mags4Cheap to “Fit Yoga Magazine” and Mags4Cheap charged my credit card at that time.

I never received the publication and after countless calls to Mags4Cheap and to the publisher, I can not get a subscription going that I paid for many months ago.

At Mags4Cheap, I have spoken to Brian (manager) and Nicole and others and still no resolution.

Mags4Cheap
14760 Memorial Dr. Suite 306
Houston, Texas 77079
Phone: [protected]

Any help you can give would be appreciated. Thank you.

Mike Little

I ordered a subscription in December '07. I never received it and I was never told there was a problem. I sent an email and was told that the publisher would not fill the order so they would refund me my $79.40. It is now almost October '08 and I have still not received my refund. I even received one email from someone at the company named Brian saying that he had personally written me a check. It's always just excuse after excuse followed with "you should receive your check within 7 to 14 business days". They are a scam and I am in shock that they are still allowed to do business.

I ordered over $90 dollars worth of magazines in February of 2008, one of which was a one year subscription to People magazine at a very good discount. It appears that the offer may have been too good to be true. I believe that Mags4Cheap is a con-man operation that will submit one order and renig on the other subscriptions. I have given them all of the information and time that they require and I have been put off twice. I am now posting to warn off the rest of you who were wise enough to check them out before investing your money. I hope Google takes note of this since their link includes a link to Google.

Ordered and was charged for People magazine subscription 03/24/07. Was not received so contacted them and they advised it would be sent within 4 weeks. That was 06/20/07. Have been trying to reach them since first part of July with no success. By phone I am disconnected. When leaving message for return call, I am ignored. I contacted Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Houston and Mags 4 Cheap would not cooperate with them. What a scam!

I placed an order on April 17, 2008 for two subscriptions to People Magazine. Have never received them...After numerous phone calls ( no one answers...have to leave messages) no one ever returns calls. Have emailed many, many times. ..they have replied that they cannot provide People now because their distributor can no longer get this magazine and yet, it is still listed on their website. This crooked company will not refund the money to my credit card because "it has been too long..." they claim that they will send a check and never do. I have turned this all over to Visa and to the Attorney General of the State of Texas and the Houston Better Business Bureau.
This is a totally unethical company. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM!

STAY AWAY from Mags4Cheap. Like many others, I foolishly ordered People magazine on December 16, 2007 and that was the last I saw of the $73.95 immediately removed from my credit card. I have filed a complaint with the Attorney General of Texas and the FCC, both of whom acknowledged my complaint and that was it. I currently have 2" of copies of emails, etc. and occasionally email them so I can see if they have any innovative excuses to add to their macros. The most amusing came from "Andrew" who said "we've sent your refund to you multiple times"! Very creative but complete nonsense. STAY AWAY from this boiler room operation.

I ordered a year subscription for my daughter on November 30, 2007 to People magazine through Mags4Cheap. I waited the allowed time for the magazine to be delivered to her and she never got it. I have called but always get an answering machine, I have left numerous messages but get no reply even though they guarantee that they will respond within 24 hours. I've also emailed them several times and been promised they will look into it, and I have had no response back after that. I am very frustrated and will never use their company again!

I ordered a one year subscription to Astronomy Magazine from Mags4Cheap for my son in 2006 and received it without a hitch. 4 months before the magazine subscription expired, I attempted to renew again through Mags4Cheap. After watching the expiration date printed on the magazine label never change I contacted the publisher to see if the renewal was processed. They told me they had received nothing. I immediately contacted Mags4cheap via e-mail who responded and opened a "trouble ticket" on my order. They apologized and claimed to have resent the information to the publisher. I checked back with the publisher and still nothing. I went through this runaround 3 times over the last two months and now Mags3Cheap stopped responding to me. I tried calling their contact number (1-877-WEB-MAGS, [protected]) and never did better than voice mail and never received a response. I am giving them one more chance and if they don't take care of this am reporting them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center - http://www.ic3.gov/. There is not much money involved here - just the principle of the matter, my son's disappointment, and all the other people that are getting burned - I see from browsing the web that bad experiences are much more common the good ones with this company. I wish I would have researched them before I ordered.

Out of 5 subscriptions I only rcvd. 2! It has now been 9 months and I am still trying to get my money refunded. I was never notified about any problems with my subscriptions - they just never came. I have emailed & called over a dozen times each and get the worst service ever. I have been promised refund "checks" that have never come. I called their toll free # and when I got their recording and left a message as prompted, I never got a call back. I would rather pay full price than to ever deal with them again. HORRIBLE!

I ordered a magazine in January 2008 - They charged my credit $12.95. Said I would get magazine (it was a renewal) in 8-10 weeks. Delivery of magazine stopped: I called the Magazine publisher - they said that Mags4CHEAP was NOT an authorized service of theirs! I contacted Mags4Cheap - in May, 2008 - they said, since so much time has passed - they would have to send a check refund (they communicate by email ONLY ) . They said I would get in 30 days. I have sent 3 emails since - 'they are looking into it'
Its July 25 - looks like I'm screwed.
Will report them to BBB - I wont be the first

No customer service. Placed an order in late November for a xmas gift. Magazine never arrived. Tried contacting Mags4Cheap by phone several times and was never able to speak to a live person; left messages and no returned calls. Emailed several times and nobody ever got back to me. Contacted the publisher and they claimed never to have received an order from Mags4Cheap.

Since they took my payment and did not provide the magazines subscription I plan to turn the matter over to the FBI internet fraud division.

Better choices for magazine subscriptions, suggest looking elsewhere. A big waste of time and a disappointment.

I renewed a subscription to The Weekly Standard on December 7, 2007. My credit card was promptly charged. On 12/18 I received email stating the subscription had been accepted by the publisher.
6 weeks later the publisher sent notice subscription was canceled because it hadn't been renewed. Called publisher and said Mags4Cheap had never placed an order. Contacted Mags4Cheap by phone, and they said have to wait until after 2/26/08 to file complaint. 3/3 called and filed complaint -they said a response within "7-10 business days". No response, so on 3/26 wrote to file another complaint. Same 7-10 wait period, but still no response and no magazines. 4/26 Credit card company will pursue them and issue provisional credit.
I used Mags4Cheap in the past with no problem, but never again after this!

I have been dealing with this company for almost a year. I ordered magazines as a gift for my son..they never were delivered..this was on 8/29/2007! I have since than tried calling and have been continually disconnected. I have e-mailed MANY times...On 1/10/2008 after waiting for delivery that they stated could take as much as 12 weeks, I was told there was a problem and they submitted a problem ticket. since that time I have e-mailed many times..the following are some of there responses...a problem in the fulfillment center..there was a problem with their credit processor it was down for maintenance(?) Because of the length of time they could not credit my card I would need a check instead..It would take 30 days...it would take 15 days and be sent third class..that was on 4/29/2008 and the last one on 5/2/2008 said simply..you will get your money...please help! It is regards to my order number 585404 and the refund is for $64.90 Thank you

Stay away from this company. Strange enough that they didn't burn me until my third order. I guess they hook you, then they burn you? After talking and emailing with Nicole from Mags4Cheap and stated that they had to reorder mag and so forth. I finally disputed my credit card charge 6months after it posted. WAMU stated 60 day limit on disputing a charge after posting or after mailing appears on credit card statement. WAMU is off the hook for reimbursement and so is MAGS4CHEAP .. I will never ever wait or order something from internet and wait more than two weeks for product as the FEDERAL LAW LIMIT IS 60 DAYS TO SUBMIT DISPUTE AND BANK IS LIABLE. Credit Card Fraud itself is another matter and individual is only liable for first $50 and banks usually waive that. I am currently looking for a Credit Card with stronger language on internet disputes recourse and protection.

Thanks to Complaints Board. Hope this helps somebody!

I was supposed to receive my magazine in June 2007, but I never did. So I emailed, and called, left message, also wrote to their company in Texas. Then I checked my order status online, it says my order was resubmitted to the publisher, and I should receive my magazine by October the latest. Today I checked my order status, the resubmission part was deleted, so my status still says I will receive magazine in June, 2007. So everything is back to the beginning.

I ordered Rolling Stone from this site on July 25. It is now November 2 and I haven't received 1 magazine. I've emailed them twice with no meaningful response except an automated email showing that they got my email. I called them and after sitting on hold for several minutes got through to an actual human. She then put me on hold for another several minutes. It sounded like she just set the phone down, and there was no activity in the background. I think she just set the phone down and went and checked her makeup. She got back on and told me some vague generalities about how my magazine would be there soon. I called my credit card and am now challenging the charge. AVOID THIS JOKE OF A "MERCHANT".

I have paid mags4cheap in full when they said thet will even give me 14 months instead of 12 i tryed to contact them and they said that they did not receive the pay ment from my credit card called credit card and they said they received it aug 20 th what a scam

I ordered 5 magazines from this company in May. I only received 2 of them. I have filed a complaint with their customer service twice and have never been contacted. I tried calling the phone number listed and the box is always full so noone answers.

I ordered a magazine subscription back in December of 08 and have not yet recieved one copy to date. Several attempts to contact the company have been unproductive

I dont know why everyone is ripping this Company. Ordered 4 Subscriptions back in Feb and received all 4 with no problems. Just ordered 3 more so we'll see if I still get the same great service!

Mags4Cheap - I ordered a subscription to Newsweek magazine on 1/24/07 as a gift. My credit card was charged promptly yet the person I ordered the sub for has not received one issue as of today 4/30/07. I inquired via customer service with the mags4cheap website and have yet to receive a response.

I ordered from magz4cheap a couple years ago and got a great deal. I cant remember exactly but it was something like 4 susbscriptions for 14 bucks... I decided to get back on to re order and when I googled it I was suprised to see the scam forums. Now I am afraid to order from them again.

order#735277 from harold ingram 398c highway 395n colville washington 99114 placed on 39 june never received farm show

Ladies & Gentlemen -

I have been the absentee owner of Mags4Cheap.Com for years. I own several other businesses that occupy the majority of my time. About 3 years ago I handed this company off to a management team that has done a very good job of running my company to the ground. There was a time when Mags4Cheap was the best name online for magazine subscriptions. Obviously, that is no more. About a month ago, my own mother found the negative reviews about my company online and called me. I have since come back to Mags4Cheap, replaced my entire staff and am actively managing it myself. We have sold to more than 3 Million people, and although we have millions of very happy customers, there are nevertheless some very unhappy customers out there, including those who posted here.

I am here to reach out to any customers who have not either received their magazine subscription or a refund. If you fit in this category, you may email me directly at rbfallon@mags4cheap.com or call me directly at [protected].

I will personally investigate your issues and refund you if necessary.

I apologize for the bad experience you have had and I am here to make things right.

Cordially,

R. Brandon Fallon
Mags4Cheap.Com
Owner

Ladies & Gentlemen -

I have been the absentee owner of Mags4Cheap.Com for years. I own several other businesses that occupy the majority of my time. About 3 years ago I handed this company off to a management team that has done a very good job of running my company to the ground. There was a time when Mags4Cheap was the best name online for magazine subscriptions. Obviously, that is no more. About a month ago, my own mother found the negative reviews about my company online and called me. I have since come back to Mags4Cheap, replaced my entire staff and am actively managing it myself. We have sold to more than 3 Million people, and although we have millions of very happy customers, there are nevertheless some very unhappy customers out there, including those who posted here.

I am here to reach out to any customers who have not either received their magazine subscription or a refund. If you fit in this category, you may email me directly at rbfallon@mags4cheap.com or call me directly at [protected].

I will personally investigate your issues and refund you if necessary.

I apologize for the bad experience you have had and I am here to make things right.

Cordially,

R. Brandon Fallon
Mags4Cheap.Com
Owner