Southern Magazine Promotions review: Never give your credit card number! 43

I tried to cancell, lady said I couldn't so, I said I will cancell my credit card, I was told I was still going to be billed for the payments.SOMEONE NEEDS TO STOP THESE PEOPLE! THANK YOU! CONNIE PARROTT connie_parrott@yahoo.com

i just got a call from the same company i think. they told me my name has been drawn to be entered into a $1, 000, 000 sweepstakes and because i was entered i also automatically won a free lady's or men's diamond quarts watch. i will also get 6 magazines and only have to pay for one with will be $4.60/week and that was required to be entered in the sweepstakes and to get the watch as it was a promotional thing. i told them it sounded scetchy and i wanted to think about it. i found this site and it definitly told me what i wanted to know. thank you sooooooo much for speaking up. now i know its all crap and i can tell them where to stick it when the supervisor calls me back.

I got sucked up as well. I am in construction, so I am forced to answer my phone if anyone calls -- part of the job. I was in the middle of a big job and my phone rang, all I could really understand was the vacation part and verification through my credit card. Oh, and 6 FREE magazines. Well, the second call came, I talked to them and verified that it was me and used my credit card as verification(I have had to do that before, but they charged a $1 verification to my acc. and then refunded...) and next thing you know I get charged 49.92. I have been trying to get ahold of them, but magically I cannot. I have not received any magazines, been charged six times I think, and the manager only works 2 hours a day so I can't get ahold of him/her very easily. My next step will be to file fraud against the company. I have received NOTHING, not even a magazine or vacation or anything. So here I am, $300 down to them, and I have nothing to show for it.

SMP, I am going to take you down if you don't stop this bull.

I am so tired of people calling about this crap. I didn't sign up they took advantage of my mentally disabled mother and she signed me up now I have these idiots charging my bank account $99.32 as of 8/4/2009 and then 8/29/2009.

Mr. I am a police officer. Well I am an officer of peace for an orginization much higher up than you. I can get the records and backgrounds of all their workers in one click. They do pay for your hotel you fool just not your gas or airfare...whichever it may be.

it's not a fraud. people just do not pay attention. The company actually gives you a deal on the magazines and you can consitently switch the magazines to yours and your family's interests. The deal is set up for magazine lovers and families who have multiple members with magazine interests. If a family is indeed set up for this then they recieve a deal and can also choose magazines from a list in which you may not find at any newstand. The vacation is given as well and involves no timesharing or conferences. People do indeed win in the contest as well. All of the prizes are also legit. I can say as a past winner, vacation user and I also saved $3, 000.00 in magazines thru them for my family of 6, that this company is not a fraud though set up forpeople who need this stuff. Maybe, paying a little more attention to what you're doing could help but not ragging a company who actually saves people money and also gives children something to do like reading interesting magazines during the summer in a crazy, drug infested country we have.

I got sucked into the free vacatoin thing too but i took actions to get all of my money back this is what i did:

1st. I filed a police report (they more then likely can't do anything but you can use the info for your bank)

2nd. I went to my bank and had them fill out papers for fraud, they did an investigation and i also gave them a copy of the police report.

3rd. I ended up gettin all my money back in less then a week

So see there are ways to cancell you subscription and still get all your money back. These people need to be stopped. All of their fast talking and promises are crap. So that is what i did hope it helps you all.

I’m searching a lottery game in the internet to find what’s the number is coming out that day. Then I saw a website said free government lottery game. You don’t have to pay so I signed up and in the next day a lady called and she told me that their company is the one who sponsored of the government lottery. But before that I need to order a magazine for one year. They let me to select the payment order. They told me $3 each magazine. Then the rest I don’t understand what they said because they talk so fast. After she talked to me her manager call back and she told me all I need to do is to answer the machine who asked me a question. I didn’t know what they do to let me agreed to order the magazine. After that I realize that I’ve done something wrong so I called her back to the number she used when she called me. But the phone is not working, I can’t contact her. So I began to suspect that there was something wrong. I try to contact theme again to cancel my order still the same, the phone not working. After a week I receive a bunch of magazine and I receive a call from them and they try to offer me some staff like 30% off if I ordered another magazine. I told them no thank you and I told them that I need to cancel my order from them. They hung up the phone and I don’t receive any call from them for several weeks. Then I received another call from them for the same reason to offer something. I told them that I like to cancel my order the lady said she can’t cancel my order then she hung up on me again. Then last Dec. 2008 they call me again my husband answered the phone and told them if they can cancel the magazine I ordered. The man said they can’t do it and they give us the number where we can cancel my order. I called to the number they give us but there’s nobody there to answer my call. So I leave a message to call me back as long as they received my message. The lady called me back in the morning. I told her that I like to cancel the magazine that I ordered. I told her too that I’m not always at the house coz we’re traveling a lot. So I don’t need the magazine anymore. She said ok as long as I pay the last magazine they sent me. I thought she cancel my order that time. Then last January something happen my debit card stop working. Then they start calling me again to collect the payment for the magazine they sent. I was surprised I told them that I cancel my order a long time ago. They told me “no ma’am your order is not canceled”. Then I realized that they keep charging me even though I called them to cancel my order. Then I asked them again to cancel my order but they told me they can’t do it. They give me a phone number to call then I called that number immediately but there’s no one there to answer my call. I leave a message to call me back. They call me in the morning. I told her to cancel my order and to send me a billing letter. She told me, she can’t send me a billing letter and about to cancel my order I need to pay the 2 years order. I was surprised because that’s not what I know. I ordered magazine only one year. Supposed to be, It’s the end of my order last December 2008. I asked again to send me the billing letter. The lady insisted that she can’t send a billing letter, she want me to pay her that time. I told her my card is not working and she asked to give her my checking acct. no. I don’t give it to her. I told her that I won’t pay until she don’t send me a billing letter. After the argument she told me that she send me a billing letter. Then she hung up the phone while I’m still asking here. Then I receive a billing letter but it don’t say anything there. Just the amount that I need to pay. Then It’s says in the letter If I wish to pay quarterly I need to pay them at the amount of $ 152.98. I told them to send me the cancelation fee and the price for the last magazine they sent me instead I need to pay theme quarterly. I try to find the address they give me in the internet but I can’t find it. Instead I find this website that a lot of complain about them. In their address says P.O. Box so they don’t have an office building.

Thank you for the email! I almost believed their sweet southern voice! Beware

hi. please list ur name n what city n state u live in if u placed your order with smp in tifton, ga. they have ripped the wrong person off n if u could list ur name if u have been charged and still have recieved nothing plese tell so we can put a stop to this. further legal action will b taken for this matter. thx

give it up people you act like your victoms...god, next time a telemarketer calls you HANG UP!

same thing happened to me, they NEVER told me that it was gonna cost me 998.40! I am disabled and live on 500.00 a month, i called my bank and put a stop on ANY payments to this company!It's a fraud and they should be caught and punished for takeing advantage of people. i even told them i was on disability and they didn't care! KARMA

this stuff is real u dumb ppl

I work for a Police Department and these people called me at work and offer me this same deal. Saying I was entered in a drawing by my card company and that I won a 3-day vacation and I would have to pay for the gas and whatnot, but they would pay the hotel bill. I had to agree to order some magazines and pay for one of them. He continued and went through the whole process but never asked for any of my credit/debit information.

Herschel Harper - SMP - Souther Magazine Promotions
[protected]
[protected]

As far as I know, they haven't taken any money out of my account yet. After I got off the phone with the above named, I decided to check my bank account. Bare in mind, I did NOT give him any information in reference to my bank account or debit/credit number. He asked me the following:

Employeed full-time?
Age?
Single or married?
And he wanted an alternate phone number. I answered these questions, but he never asked for any card numbers. He stated his supervisor "Sherry" would contact me shortly.

I decided to check my bank account online and noticed $50.00 exact was deducted. I did some searching, their phone number wasn't listed. So I searched the company name and found this site.

His supervisor did infact call me. This is a summary of the conversation:

(Hello.)
Hi, may I speak to *name*?
(Yeah, give me just a minute.) [I began recording this conversation for records]
(You still there?)
Yes, ma'am.
(Ok, this is she.)
Hey *name*, this is Sherry, Herschel's supervisor and I'm calling to go over this order you've placed with him.
(Ok, I was just wondering if I could cancel anything I may have ordered.)
Uh, no you'll have to do that with him, so are you willing not to help out with the magazine?
(Well, he said I had to go through you to cancel.)
He could have done that there at his desk, um, did you tell him you didn't want to purchase any magazines?
[While on the phone with him, I repeatedly asked if I could just cancel anything I may have agreed to without knowing, since he didn't really ask me bluntly if I agreed to order them. Just wanted to make note of this.]
(I asked him if I could cancel and he said I would have to go through you.)
Ok, well they do ask that you're gonna stay with us and not cancel, 'cause what happens is *name* to make a committment with the publishers to guarentee the price of the magazine for the full term. Which is the 60 months.
(Ok, so does that eventually equal up to $50.00 a month?)
Well, it's $3.87 a week.
(So, does that equal $50.00 a month?)
It's going to, yes.
[Editorial note: $3.87 X 4 =? Someone doesn't explain the details of what's going on very well. Either that or they don't understand math.]
(Ok, well has that already been taken out of my account?)
No ma'am.
(Ok, well $50 has been taken out of my account.)
It already is?
(Yes.)
Well it wasn't by us 'cause we don't have that information to do that. And if by chance it ever was us, it says MAGAZINES and then there's a toll-free "866" number that's our customer service number. It shows out there beside it. It's $49.92 have you spoken with anybody other than us? As far as myself and Herschel?
(No, I haven't.)
Ok, then we don't have your account information. You have to give that information to us before we're allowed to actually do anything.
[She just stated that I infact did NOT authorize them to use any means to retrieve my money. If any money is deducted and given to this company, they will have STOLEN the money.]
The reasons I say that is because it's $3.87 a week, $16.64, but they bill it 3 months at a time so it does make it $49.92. And if that's been deducted from your account it's not from us, unless one of our other represenatives have already spoken with you, and if it is from us then it shows up as MAGAZINES like I said with a toll-free "866" number that is our customer service number.
(Ok, well either way I'd like to cancel anything that may have been ordered.)
You'll have to do that with him so I need to pass your information back to him, ok?
(Alright, I appreciate it.)
You're welcome have a good day.

Fore warning to anybody, don't give your information out to anybody and if possible, avoid using your credit/debit cards on the phone or internet. I know it's easier to order stuff online, but if you can select using a money order or cashier's check instead, it's much safer and if it is a scam, you may have lost a few bucks, but atleast they won't have your information to do more harm.

How do they Get our Information? what all do they know about us?

Wow! i just got called from them like 10 minutes ago. This lady named Sharon Lucky called me and told me i would be getting 6 free magazines and they would like me to help with one of them and i picked Time, they where gonna charge me $3.87 every 20 months but it would come out as $49.22 every month, she was talking so fast and i was trying to get back on the phone with someone else on the other line i really didn't even know what i was getting myself into. So she got me on the line with this other lady and she reviewed everything i was getting the trip and some other drawing they where gonna do in Jan and May i gave them my credit card number. When i got off the phone i still had no idea what the crap i just had done and how i got entered in this drawing so i looked up SMP and found this! I called back and got this guy and told them they where frauds cuz i had found lots of bad things about them on line he said they had been in the business for 30 years and they wouldn't be if it was a fraud i still explained to him that i wanted everything that i had done canceled i think he did...i called my dad and said they had my credit card number and he's pretty sure they didn't canceled it so I'm so praying that they did.

They did the exact same thing to me also! Knowing me, i went through with it! I tried to cancel it but i couldn't get through so i cancelled my card so my account wouldn't keep going over. I do keep getting the magazines, but im being billed all the time. One bad thing about it though, it will go on our credit and look very bad. Now, every now and then i do get phone calls saying, "you have won..." now i hang up. I have definently learned my lesson.

My boyfriend and I found ourselves in the same situation as everyone else listed on here. We tried cancelling the credit card on the account, but bills kept coming. When we tried cancelling the account, the woman I spoke to tried to get me to pay $79 to get it cancelled saying that this money covered the issues that would be sent to me in the time it would take to cancel the account. When I told her I couldn't pay it because the account was in my boyfriend's name, she freaked out because she wasn't supposed to talk to me, only the account owner. She said she could be fired for speaking to someone who wasn't on the account. My boyfriend called later thinking that he would then pay the money and cancel the account, but when he called back, they told him his account had been cancelled. Maybe the woman was afraid we would turn her in, but no matter don't fall for paying to cancel your account. Be persistent, refuse to pay, and insist on cancelling! DON'T ALLOW THEM TO STEAL MORE MONEY FROM YOU!

And to Justin who commented on page one saying he works for this company...Justin, you should be ashamed of yourself for making a profession out of scamming people. Try getting a real job you can be proud of...

Please help! I just stumpled on this website and found that i was not alone! I just received a letter stating that i owe them 884.42 or they will report me to collection agency. how do i get out of this horrible contract? does it really work if i tell them i will report them to the national fraud center? I can not afford my credit rating to go down!

Wow.. These people are sneaky as hell! I ordered a KidRobot hoodie and recieve it yesterday. An hour ago i just recieved a call from Logan saying i was intered into a drawing for ordering something online with my visa card in the past 6 months. I got avaca of my choice of any 8 places.. and i was subscribed for 4 magazines and i was intered into a drawing on dec 1st of 2008 for some stupid ammount of money and they would be giving away 1000 prises.. I told her to sign me up n gave me my info but NOT my card info.. She said her manager would be calling.. He called about 15mins later and i ignored the call.. Then he called AGAIN. So i answered and he seemed nice and pretty professional. He explained what i was "subscribed" for and then says okay, go ahead and give me your card number and experation date. I knew right then not to and i said in a nice way, um let me think about this and if i deside i want to ill call you back. His attitude and profesionalize took a 180. He started YELLING at me. MAM YOU HAD ME UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU WERE WANTING TO SIGN UP FOR THIS AND JUST WENT ON AND ON. I kept trying to interuppt him, but he just kept yelling I was sitting on the phone for 2 minutes saying excuse me, excuse me, excuse me over and over again but he wouldnt shut up! I finally just hung up and ive tryed calling the first number back and it just rings and rings and i tried to second and its a busy signal. If anyone has a number i can reach ANYONE at that company at please email me it! Mindeestrick@comcast.net I am filing a lawsuit.

thanks & becareful who you give your card info to.
they can do muuchhh more than just charge you
for some lae magazines for 20months.. even tho thats ALOT

beware guys

I coul'd have written any one of these stories. I'm talking to a lawyer on Mon. I feel like such an idiot. It was such a high pressure sale that before I knew it a was saying ok to a bunch of magazines I don't even want. I cancelled my credit card too. I don't know what to do next I know they will be sending me a bill. I feel sick to my stomach about this..

I also got a call from SMP, but I never gave out my credit card information. My question is, if they have my name, address, and phone number, do they have my credit card information too? and if they do, even though I told them I cancelled my order, can they charge my card? By the way, how do they get our personal information?

Number one: If someone you've never met is calling you trying to offer a "great deal, " especially on your cell phone, get a clue! Justin you're a POS just like the rest of the parasites who prey on the elderly and/or naieve. When someone makes a purchase for something they want off the internet, a third party of jerks like the ones you work for take and use this information to scam vulnerable people like the ones above. This isn't about offering people a great deal on a bogus vacation or a 5 yr subscription on a magazine they'll never read or be able cancel easily. It's about the almighty dollar and how much of it you can put in your dirty little pockets. If you believe any different you're just as gullible as the people you scam. Dont call us. We'll call you...NOT!

Wow. I had no idea this many people were sucked into it. I gave out all my information and completely fell for it. I had a bad feeling about it the next day and canceled my credit card. So they havent been able to take any money out from my account. Now they sent me a bill that I needed to pay for $102. They keep sending me tons of magazines. But they never got a penny out of me. So in the end I guess I got a good deal. But yeah if this happens to you report them and cancel your dang card.

I was also suckered in. I felt like a total loser. I tried to cancel, When i saw the charges on my account. but i couldn't, next time they call, i am going to try again. I am paying almost 50 dollars monthly. Its been 8 months now.And they have a nerve to keep calling me faithly saying i am a great costumer, and tries to offer me an additional magazine for free, which its total bologna. I couldn't believe i let myself get talked into something like that. I learned my lesson.

Elena

Boston, ma

Well it just so happens that i work for these people. I'm a representative. I'm the person who sales the magazines. What i dont understand is why you people are so ### about this. i mean after all YOU are the one who agreed in the first place. I can honestly say there are some ignorant people out there, never noticed it til i started working this job. No one is forcing you to buy anything, YOU make the decision. It is actually a pretty decent deal. afterall it is over the couse of five years. stop your whining

[protected]

this is the number that i called to get the payments cancelled. tell them you feel scammed about all of this. tell them you found a complaints board with hundreds of people complaining about SMP. Tell them you are hard up for cash already and you can't afford this ###, and you will get the payments cancelled. you just might even get your money back like i did.

Just do yourselves a favor and research about companies like SMP before agreeing to anything.
DO NOT GIVE YOU CREDIT CARD NUMBER TO ANYONE!

PEACE AND PROSPERITY BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

DO NOT LET THESE GUYS SCAM YOU! SAVE YOURSELVES AND YOUR MONEY!

i just noticed on my online banking account that this SMP company was taking money out of my account for magazines i never even wanted! Sheryl said that SMP would not take money out of my account until i gave them my activation number that she would soon give me.

Well, i was busy at work when these people(SMP) were hassling me on the phone, so i told Sheryl that i didn't have time to discuss all of this at the moment, she said all i needed to write down was this activation number, i said i was busy, so she then said she would call back and leave a voice-mail with the activation number. She called back but never left the activation number.

Now back to my online banking account. I noticed that they had already started taking money out of my account, or at least the payment was still pending, so i decide to call SMP about this. They never answered any of my calls. But anytime your account is charged money from a company like SMP the number for that company is listed in the description for example:

DESCRIPTION... CHECK DEBIT CREDIT
Card Purchase MAGAZINE [protected] [protected] GA 39.92

that is what you will see on your online banking account. Call that number that i have listed and get that ### cancelled or even get you money back.

I just received a call from SMP a few minutes ago and Megan told me I had won the vacation (three days and two nights) and 4 magazine subscriptions for $3.87 a week for 5 years. She told me that her supervisor would be calling to confirm. Her supervisor called a few minutes after and he started to confirm everything I had spoke with Melissa. I told him to call later because I needed to think about it and he wanted me to decide immediately and I insisted. After a few minutes he said he would call back at the end of the day. I'm so glad I decided to research this SMP company before I made a decision and I found all this helpful comments. I am going to tell them they are a fraud and won't pay that much money for magazines.

I just received a call from SMP 20 minutes ago and Elronda told me I had won the vacation and two magazine subscriptions "free". She told me that someone would be calling to confirm. Thank goodness I am at a computer and immediately looked up this company. Sure enough as I am reading all the complaints Bradley calls and reviews my conversation with Elronda. Then he proceded to tell me that I could receive my TV guide I chose at $3 a week and to confirm that with a credit card. I told him that I would not give him my card number over the phone and also ask if I had to subscribe to TV guide. His answer was "we ask that you help out". I told him over and over again that I will not give out my credit card number and he stated that I would not be getting the "free trip" and to have a blessed day.

How about that?

Hello, i literally just their call today 3 TIMES! first i spoke to a women named shirley ( she said she was with SMP)and she spoke about the 3day two night vacation package to any 20 locations in the united states with free subscriptions to three magazines, except the third i would have to pay 16.64 a month. She gave me a confirmation number and said that i would be recieving a phone call from her supervisor. When he called, i told h im that i was not intereste. After the first phone call with shirley i went online and looked them up and i found this website amidst many others complaining about this fraudulent evil do'ers. When i told him i wasnt interested he got mad and said why didnt i tell her before everything got under way, i said things change and he got mad and hung up. I would never give any information about myself to them and nor did i. PLEASE PEOPLE DO NOT BE GULIBLE! She then called me back after her boss did, and she said what happened, i told her you guys are a fraud i just looked you up online and said leave me alone and dont call me, she got mad and i just hung up. Im currently in arizona and called my local 12News and let them know. Why do people do these things?! DONT be lured. I for sure was not.

Does anybody have the number to get ahold of these people I would really love to cancel this subscription!

I got a call from Bobbie Pritchard from Southern Magazine in June telling me that I was eligible to win a lot of money and free vacations and that sort of crap. I should have told them right off that I wasn't interested, but I staid on the line and answered all their questions. I was driving through a construction zone at the time, I wasn't paying attention, I just answered their questions quickly so I could get off the phone without being rude. Next thing I know, I'm getting a confirmation call on an order I placed for 2 years worth of magazines. I had no one to go to to help me get out of this mess and ended up giving them $800 for magazines that I never read.

That was in June. Last night I received another call from a guy named Wayne. The name of their company had changed, they were in a new location. The man I spoke to said he was updating their records, and I answered questions like, "Are you renting or owning?", "How long have you lived there?", "Where do you work?", "How long have you worked there?", "How old are you?". I answered all these questions. Then the guy started telling me about the new special they had going on. I was like, "Ok, ok, ok..." never telling him that I wanted to buy anything. I got off the phone with him and got a confirmation call a few minutes later with some guy telling me that I just ordered another 2 years worth of magazines. I fought him on it this time, and my husband fought with him about it too. The guy started swearing at us, calling us liars. These people have our personal information and could do so much hurt to our credit. We've informed our banks, canceled accounts, and my husband called them back this morning to get all their general information (company name, manager, phone numbers, location, etc.) and we are reporting them to the BBB. We doubt we'll get our money back, all we want is to be left alone.

They are at it again and they have cell phone numbers because i just got off the phone with them. BEWARE! Buy a weekly magazine for $4.00 week for 20 months that's a whole lot of cash that i don't have to throw around.

Yes it is illlegal for a company to require a purchase in order to claim a sweepstakes... and the whole buisness is fraudulent and the shoule be closed down...think of all the elderly people who are taken in... lets work together to get rid of these uncaring people who have no consideraion for other people. Thank you!

I understand what you are talking about. they are very persistent and even managed to get my boyfriends cell phone number somehow seeing if i was with him. I just want them to leave me alone and stop taking my money!

It's ILLEGAL for these companies to require a purchase of something else in order to claim a sweepstakes prize. Mention it to them and save yourself a lot of trouble, even if you've already said YES. Also mention you're reporting them to the national fraud center.

These people are terrible. They got my daughter. She is paying $40.00 for god knows how long. Stay away. If you did get taken. Call them back and tell them you want to cancel. When they say you can't and want to play back your recorded message tell them you are going to file a complaint to the better business bureau. They are marketing under Southern Magazine Promotions and Reader's Resource Center out of Montana. I was then told that we could cancel but it would take up to 2-3 months and that my daughter would still have to pay. I didn't accept that and asked to speak with a supervisor. A man came on the phone and said he needed to send a letter to me, and I insisted he fax it. He said he would. When it didn't show up , I called back and got another person, she said they print the next day and would be faxed. Then when I fax it back they will cancel immediately. I'm not falling for that one. I went out on the Southwest Georgia Better Business Bureau. Found an email address and have sent a request that the account be canceled and that my daughter be refunded the entire amount she paid. I also live in Wisconsin and had indicated that I would turn them into the State of Wisconsin Attorney General. Keep at them. You will get it canceled.

Lori.

Same thing happened to me. Was a little drunk and got totally suckered. I also found out if you do not pay they threaten to turn you into the collection agency! Total Rip Off!

Does anyone have advice on how to cancel this without affecting your credit? I got suckered!

Thanks!