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essence magazine subscription

essence magazine subscription review: unwanted subscription 9

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8:59 pm EST
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i am recieving unwanted essence magazines. they do not interest me in the least bit, and i want it stopped immediately! i didn't order it and i don't want it. i am not of african descent and am not interested. please stop sending them.

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steph64j
US
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Feb 09, 2011 3:01 am EST

Like several complaints on this site, in Nov 2010 I began receiving a magazine I had not subscribed to. I began my research by using the mailing label to create a login for the online version of the magazine. Once there, I looked up "payment" or "billing" under which I found:
This subscription was purchased through M2 MEDIA GROUP who can be reached at [protected]. Please call M2 MEDIA GROUP for all payment-related inquiries.
Googling M2MEDIA GROUP I got to this website http://www.m2mediagroup.com and email address service@m2mags.com and sent an inquiry on Dec 7.
Since then, I was placing a new order on Vistaprint, which bombards you with "special offers" during the checkout process, and noticed the free subscriptions page and realized I must have blown past it the last time I ordered. (Essence was the default selection)
Anyway, I finally rec'd the following response on Feb 4 2011:
*In response to your note below, you are receiving Xyz magazine as a result of making an online purchase with VistaPrint.com. The magazine was included as a bonus offer with your purchase, and can be found in the checkout process under the ‘Magazine’ tab. By default, the subscription was sent to the billing address used during your purchase.
There are no hidden costs, further obligations, or automatic renewals associated with your subscription. Your credit card information was not passed to us.
Your cancellation request will be forwarded to the publisher for processing. Please note that based on the timing of your cancellation you could still receive another issue.
I apologize for the delay and any inconvenience.*
SO, this situation is not as devious as some seem to believe. It is a lesson in reading carefully every page you click, even if you are on a familiar site. I hope my experience has been helpful to others.

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Theresa W
Bogart, US
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Sep 12, 2013 9:09 am EDT

I am receiving unwanted Essex Magazines. I called the Customer Service line to cancel the subscription only to be told that they cannot cancel it. They did say they would not deliver it but gave me the name of a company Strategic Media LLC, phone number [protected], Marti Schiff, out of Scarsdale NY. I have tried to call her for over a month and address kisted is her home. She refuses to return my calls. I called Essence back once again to be told that there is nothing they can do as any monies taken from my account would be taken out by Strategic Media LLC. I am now filing a complaint with the BBB. Please be leary of Marti Schiff and Strategic Media LLC out of NY.

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Stategic Media LLC
Scarsdale, US
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Mar 25, 2015 12:13 pm EDT

This is Strategic Media (Marti Schiff) responding directly to the above post. We are a bona fide magazine agent and, like M2 Media Group noted above, have several live promotions that include a Bonus magazine subscription as a Thank You bonus for making a qualifying purchase at select ecommerce sites. Essence is one of those titles in programs like this and in all instances there is NO BILL, no automatic renewal, no further obligations, no strings. We do NOT get credit card information from the partner site. Anyone wanting to reach Strategic Media can feel free to email us at Contact@strategicmediallc.com or call us toll-free at [protected]. We will be happy to answer any questions you have and can cancel your subscription if you wish.

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Summer Morrow
US
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Sep 04, 2016 6:42 pm EDT

I too am receiving essence magazine with no way to cancel. I do not care for this magazine and have no interest in it. Please tell me how to stop this.

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Darlenel
US
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Jun 24, 2017 8:27 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

essence magazines bad busness when I paid my order in advance I didn't get the first one for one month later, and every one after that I had to call about, I don't believe its the mail man I blame essence, because when I call I get the machine not a live person, and the machine still got it wrong. I ended up with double of each magazine's I will never pay ahead again for this magazine I'll go to the local drug store, Thank you essence for nothing literally

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Nancy McFarland
US
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Jul 01, 2019 6:43 pm EDT

I am getting essence magazine too and I don't want it. Tell me how to cancel.

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Julie ann snedeker
US
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Mar 21, 2023 1:56 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I am also receiving essence Vogue vanity Fair sports illustrated sports illustrated for kids allure and highlights magazine for kids. Now I track down three of those magazines I can tell you how to look up your account number What happens is companies that you buy s*** from like Netflix sign you up for a trial and you get free magazines for a year and then it automatically takes your debit card or whatever you use to pay for Netflix or whatever store you were shopping at like Books-A-Million bam that's how I got had the first time They tripped me during the holiday rush when there was a million people behind me and tricked me into signing my email address onto a piece of paper saying I would receive free magazines for a whole year so I said okay or no for 2 months not a year so I was like whatever because the people behind me were getting all pissed because everybody wanted to check out so I wrote down my email address Apparently they took my EM email and my debit card and gave it to these magazine companies sent me two months worth of magazines that I didn't even want and she even made me stand there and circle out ones I was like I'm not interested in any of these and she's like Oh just pick a few They're free anyways. Never said anything about me having to cancel it or how to track it down She did give me a flyer but that got lost in all the Christmas crap.. So anyway the three magazines I tracked down through bam was very easy I had to go down to the bookstore and complain to them and they gave me a pamphlet the same one that she gave me during the holiday rush that got lost and in the pamphlet it told me how to cancel it That was through mags.com or something like that. All I had to do was tell them I do not want their magazines and to cancel my subscription because they charged my debit card $25.50 for rolling Stones magazine I absolutely want nothing to do with rolling Stones every single band on there is either Kanye West or some pop star I've never heard of nothing against today's generation lol But that's not the rolling Stone magazine I used to look at when I was a kid there was nothing in there but pop and rap music and that doesn't interest me and the highlights for kids is just a scam for you to try and buy stuff for kids cheap crap from China at least they're only $299 not 1099 a magazine. Again did not want it and the sports illustrated for kids My son's only seven He's not into reading magazines He's into actually playing sports and running around outside So these are the only three I could think of the circle so I could get out of the line and get out of there during the snow storm on Christmas Eve and let the people pass me so they could get the hell out of there. That was easy to cancel through mags.com. I'm pretty sure all three got canceled and they said I could keep the issues that I received and I would be refunded I got refunded. Now the next one where I'm getting essence Vogue and now vanity Fair and I think there's another one Oh regular sports illustrated not even the kids version no idea where they came from no clue but if you look at the label on them above your name there's a hashtag where you'll see a very long number between the two hashtags and then letters abbreviating which magazine. I will add a photo but I have to block out some of the numbers so that someone can't steal my account and reactivate my subscription. You can also Google this too. But come to find out for the last 3 months I've been being charged for these magazines and I had no idea until I saw an actual physical charge on my card Now I've been busy the last 3 months I might not have noticed but I noticed this time because there was no money in my account and it was declined so they sent me a message saying it was declined. So I went to their website and I logged in using my account number that's the number between the hashtags that I'll include the photo of in a second here while I ramble on and then you can contact customer service and 99% of the time Vogue also handles vanity Fair They're both through the same company I'm pretty sure it's called subscription.com Now I can't find out who in the world is sending me highlights so I have to do the same thing again This one has a different number but Vogue and vanity Fair both have the same number It's very confusing and essence has a different number too So these are all account numbers you have with the magazine subscription companies above your name on the label in between the two hashtags and the letters will abbreviate what the magazine is called like for instance . Vogue is VOG essence is ESS and highlights for kids is HFK. Your account number will look something like this #VOG1235566678/8#

This is like one of the biggest scams that they allow to go on and they don't even get in trouble for it because somewhere in the fine print they're allowed to automatically give your debit card company number to these companies and let them auto renew your subscription if you don't cancel it even if you don't know you have a subscription because you're being told that it's free and that you don't have to do anything So I'm about to file a complaint with Books-A-Million since I tracked down where three of the magazines were coming from and it was from her lack of knowledge telling me that I had to cancel it myself and that they were giving my debit card information away My address my name everything to some company I didn't even know just by providing my email address. They took the information that I privately gave to Books-A-Million and sold it to magazine subscription companies and they know 99.9% of the people are never going to figure out how to cancel these orders or bother canceling them and they're going to get charged every year most people probably won't even notice I seem to be an expert on the issue because I have six different magazines here and I've never ordered or opened one of them in my life I think the last time I looked at a magazine I was 15 years old and I was looking at pictures of boys to hang on my wall I don't want to look at a bunch of no offense guys dressed up in women's really ugly dresses that I wouldn't even wear I wouldn't even wipe my [censored] with half the stuff these girls are wearing or guys. And also I am whiter than Colgate whitening toothpaste I haven't seen daylight in 6 months why would I subscribe to essence magazine so whoever did that to me is just f****** with me. Lol And no I don't have anything against trannies or African Americans I'm just saying I did not order these magazines I do have children yes but children don't read magazines adults don't even read magazines unless you're sitting in a freaking doctor's office.

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Sheri Blair
US
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Sep 30, 2021 8:56 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I started receiving Essence magazines several months ago and tried to find a way to contact them to have it stopped. Then I received a "renew" your subscription thing in the mail and so i used that envelope to tell them to stop and that I didn't want this magazine and that I hadn't subscribed to it. Fast forward 1 week and I received an invoice in the mail thanking me for renewing my subscription. I didn't subscribe to begin with and I most definitely didn't renew. I want this stopped...HOW DO I DO THAT?

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Julie ann snedeker
US
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Mar 21, 2023 2:01 am EDT
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I have this issue a year ago too I'm still trying to figure out where these damn things are coming from but the best way to do it is by contacting the company themselves above your name on the tag of each magazine in between the hashtags is actually your account number. So whatever magazine you're getting I would go to their website enter in that account number and your name and address whatever they ask for and click cancel or contact customer service and tell them what's going on that you don't know where it's coming from and they'll tell you where it's coming from and how you got signed up probably for a yearly subscription sometimes it's from stores like Books-A-Million they scam people into it sometimes it's from Black Friday deals where you order a a year of Hulu and get free magazines yeah well what they don't tell you is they also give out your credit card information to these companies and automatic renewal and they don't tell you when it's time to renew or when you're free subscription runs out or even that you have a free subscription And they know that nobody's going to remember a year later to cancel it until they see charges on their debit card If you read my other comment that's like 10 pages long you'll see the crap I just went through to figure out why I was being charged for rolling Stones magazine Just be happy you're only getting one because I'm getting like 12 thanks to Books-A-Million and the lady at the register who told me that I would get two months for free and then all of a sudden get charged like $50 for rolling Stones which is absolute worst magazine I'd rather have essence lol I like how the other guy was trying to be all nice and be like I'm not of African American descent Well I'm not either and I'm whiter than white on white and my [censored] hasn't seen daylight and 5 or 6 months no offense to African American culture but I don't like magazines and I definitely don't like sports illustrated and I definitely don't want to see a bunch of people in Vogue and allure or these crappy pop stars and crappy rappers in rolling Stones magazines and highlights for kids is basically just trying to sell you stuff all the time It's not even fun for kids anymore It's all advertisements to sell stuff. So not one single one of these magazines interested me My daughter did take a couple of the perfume samples out she's 5 years old I think she did look at a few of them and go Oh that's pretty and that's about it So now I'm stuck with like freaking 90 magazines I never wanted to be my mother who had probably 10,000 magazines stacked in the corner for no reason My dad used to use them for starting the wood stove lol

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