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Viking Magazine Service

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

S
Author of the review
12:00 am EDT
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I keep getting phone calls from them, telling me I can't cancel and if I don't pay they will send it to collections! I explained to them I am not working and have to feed my children. They said I owe them 825.00.For magazines, are you kidding me? They said I committed myself to five years! Well they kept calling me and calling me, and each time I thought it was to confirm my order,so maybe I wasn't paying close attention to what was being said. There has to be a way out of this mess!

Can someone please help me?

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137 comments
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shawn
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Sep 17, 2008 3:17 pm EDT

they called me. went thru the same ###, $3.50 or whatever, then it was up to 15 or so.. Then up to $60 a month.

now within the first 30 seconds, i told the woman on the phone that i wasnt interested in spending any money.. that apparantly didnt register, because she kept going. so i said screw it. im gonna waste this ###'s time.. i was at work, gettin paid by the hour. so no sweat off my back. so i kept going thru the process "yup, yup.. um-hum.. sure.. etc.." at the end of the call she was like begging me to put in a good word to her supervisor for her to get a raise or a promotion. talk about desperate.

the supervisor calls.. once again, i explained how i wasn't interested, and they kept rambling on.. so i let it ride.. again same ### 1 word answers.. i told her that the selections they had were crap and i wasnt interested... and again.. didnt register...got all the way to the end.. and she said that someon else was going to call me and that it was a quick 10 second call. now, keep in mind, im going on 1/2 an hour here easy between these two broads.

so the 3rd broad calls me.. gets just about to the final authorization.. and says something to the effect of "since we offer you this service, we do ask that you pay the 57$ a month for 15 months, is that ok with you? and i said.. nah you know what.. im not interested, you better go ahead and cancel this ###. and i hung up..

those mother###ers called me like 4 times after that, and i didnt bother to answer, figured they'd get the hint..

finally im outside on my porch, havin a smoke, its about 3 hours after the initial call, and the phone rings. now meanwhile, i was in the process of getting a car loan, so i thought maybe it was the bank or something. so i answered.

and the guy was like. "oh you were only 10 seconds away from completing your order and it seems like your phone died out on us"

i was like. Nah i told that ### to cancel, i dont want your magazines.. your recorder doesnt work? i thought you recorded that ###?

and hes like "oh well what is it, the price, or the selections, why?"

i said dude.. $800 for some ### magazines? come on, lets be realistic here. im not interested. in fact i said it within the first minute of the first call.

and he kept trying to suck me back in.. and i finally just let him have it. i cut him right off before he could get a word in edgwise.. i was like "listen buddy.. you must not be hearing me.. i dont know if theres a problem with your english skills, cus it sure as ### aint mine... IM NOT ###ING INTERESTED.. i dont want to hear about your ### offers.. i dont ###ing care. cancel the ###.. your not getting my money. end of story.

he tried one more time "well surely there must be some..." i was like "dude are you ###ing ###ed? dont call me agian. delete my info. i am not interested. your not going to sell ### to me. no comission for you ###" And i hung up

havent gotten a call back since.

### you viking..

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chris
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Sep 02, 2008 2:56 pm EDT

dose anyone know there phone num iv been trying to cancel but theres no way to get a hold of them please thanks

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Robert Watson
,
Aug 31, 2008 4:01 pm EDT

This company just called us, asked if I was Robert, I said yes,
then they hung up on me. It was almost like they just wanted
my "yes." I have read all these complaints and will not deal with
this company in any way shape or form. I don't know why they
wanted me to comfirm who I was!

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Anna
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Aug 19, 2008 8:05 pm EDT

I was just called by Viking Magazine. I thought I might like some magazines and it seemed like a good deal. After I hung up with the second call I googled Viking Magazine online and found a bunch of complaints and rip-off. So when the 3rd lady called me, and informed me that we were being recorded. I politely said I changed my mind and I don't want any magazines. She asked me why? and I told her I don't really like magazines that much and I changed my mind. She said I shouldn't give out my card number if I didn't want to order magazines, and I replied that I'm allowed to change my mind and I don't want magazines. She asked me if she could change the type of magazines or the payments, and I told her no. So hopefully since this was recorded they won't be charging my account.

We shall see.

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Calvin Shumaker
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Aug 05, 2008 2:41 am EDT

I just received a call from this company, and I think I may be one of the lucky ones that is if the "supervisor" I talked to on the second call took me at my word when I said I'd "changed my mind". To Hank, all I can say is I work in sales, and the bait and switch methods used by your company are at the least unethical if not illegal. When it was 5 magazines that I already buy at cover for less than 4 dollars per week I was interested. When I was led to believe that it would be about 14 dollars per month, I thought shoot I'll probably pay six months at a time. It wasn't until the second call and after they had my credit card number that they informed me it would be 59 dollars per month for the first 14 months. Are you kidding me! I can't believe anyone would find value in a service like that. This company needs to be shut down. And you can rest assured that if Viking does infact bill my credit card that I will use this posting as well as others as evidence when I sue them in court. I DID NOT FALL FOR THEIR SCAM.

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Mike Watson
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Jul 02, 2008 10:15 am EDT

I sent Hank an email... Hmmm... Is it the economy in Minnesota that allows for seven dollars an hour? Who would do anything for THAT? No wonder the people who work there are so rude and defensive. I think McDonalds starts at $8-10 dollars an hour, and you go there to EXPECT bad customer service. HAHA

First, let me say that I like the service you provide. Furthermore, I completely agree with what your saying about commiting to a product and following through on a payment agreement.

However.

When I was called, I was legitimately interested in the service. My biggest frustration was the completely ditzy, obviously uneducated person I intially talked to. You would have to agree that your sales reps really do suck, at seven dollars an hour. You're company should consider two things. First, pay more money for a better qualified, more educated individual to intially represent your company to the consumer. Second, pay more money to keep the better qualified employee.

The first sales rep I talked to couldn't even tell me how your program worked. I asked four very simple questions.

1. What is the total and all inclusive cost of the service?
2.How do I change my magazines, and give me an example of the process?
3. How often can I change my magazines?
4.What happens when I move; and what is the process for changing my address?

Sadly, this sales associate lasted all of about five minutes with this order. I was then passed to a customer service supervisor who could answer these questions and complete my order.

Why even put such a poorly trained, poorly paid individual on the phone?

Also, at seven dollars an hour, these customer service agents are rude and defensive. Maybe if you paid them more, they would be more polite and pleasant to deal with. I've come to expect bad service at McDonalds, which STARTs at $8-10 dollars an hour. You get what you pay for.

I placed my order on April 28th. When I called today (July 2nd) to inquire about my order, I was met with a very rude and disgruntled agent who answered the phone simply, "Customer Service". Ummm... How about a "Good Afternooon, my name is Grouchy."

I had explained that I had ordered the service, made two payments (over $100) and recieved nothing. She very defensively and agressively explained that I ordered monthly magazines and I needed to allow 12 weeksafter the first payment for the delivery of the first magazine. Let me remind you I'm a satisfied customer politely inquiring about a service I've been paying for two months with no return. There was ABSOLUTELY NO reason to be defensive, rude, and condesending.

It IS wrong of you to advertise the "evaluation" period. The 12 week delivery of my first magazine surely exceeds the fourteen day window of "evaluation" after first payment was made. I had nothing to evaluate. I still won't in the next month. I can see how some people feel scammed.

I have to say I don't blame these people complaining about the quality of service. It IS LACKING a cheerful, customer first, empathic attitude.

On the good note, the grouchy agent DID offer to suspend payment for one month to allow my subscriptions to get started. Fair enough I guess while Viking Collects interest on my >$100 for another thirty days until I get my subscriptions.

Hint, being a previous call center employee, I know it helps to answer every call with a smile. It'll start the call off on the right note. Furthermore, for the uneducated employees of Viking Magazine, tell them to take note that being overly polite is better revenge on an angry customer. It pisses them off more than the defensive and angry call center approach. That they are calling to argue with in the first place.

Also, you don't need to inform the customer the bill is going to collections. They already know what happens if they don't pay a bill. Most people who are delinquent on a bill already have pending actions in collections and they are well aware. It is the job of collections to get the money from them.

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Hank
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May 16, 2008 5:56 pm EDT

I work for Viking Magavine, and have for the last 8 years. I stumbled onto this page by accident but when I saw it I thought I'd give it a read and see what the complaints are. First off I won't dispute the aggressive nature of the sales people, but really that's standard for anyone that gets a comission and is to be expected from sales people in general. The thing I do take some issue with is the people saying they had no idea what they got themselves into. As one person above stated it's a three call process the final call being a recorded recap of the order where the customer clearly aggrees to all the terms or the order isn't processed. They don't take a simple "yep" either and call it agreeing the customer has to repeat back the payment amounts, the number of payments, the date they choose to start making the payments and the name of the company, also they are made to get a pen and write down the phone number in case they need to contact customer service. Can you think of anything else that you buy that goes that out of the way to make sure you know what you are doing? Not to mention the letter that is sent same day with all the same stuff again on paper.

As far as canceling an order goes I feel for some of the peoples stories on here but what it comes down to is that they are told they can't cancel past 14 days from the date of the first payment because that is when the company has to cover the cost of the customers service. So basically after that 14 days Viking buys the subscriptions and you are making payments to them to pay it back. So really what do you expect them to do just take the loss because you can't manage your money? If you spend all your money on something else can you call the bank and cancel your car payment? NO, and this is no different you made a comitment to make a scheduled number of payments and are expected to complete them. In reguard to the person who make some coment to the affect of "companies like this ruined my credit", you are what is wrong with America today. No one is willing to take responsibility for thier actions and blames every problem they have on something they "can't help". If you can't afford to pay the bills you have get a job or spend less money. You should have stopped some time during the process of signing up with all those companies and thought about how you would pay for all the agreements you made. If you have no job and have bills to pay, it's not your bills fault it's yours. YOU are the one who made the comit. It is not the job of any company in the world to go through your finances for you and make sure you can afford what you bought. As long as you are clear on the price and no one has lied to you (in this situation that's not possible, if you disagree call Viking they have the tape from your order of everything being explained to you they are kept till after your service is complete to avoid any confusion) you have no one to blame but YOU. Another thing you may want to try if you are behind on bills, call the company you owe and tell them what's going on and schedule a better time to pay. Most companies are happy to work with someone that needs help but someone that doesn't call and doesn't pay appears like someone that is looking to get away without paying the bill.

Finally, to the lady mad becasue someone called her the first hour she had her phone. Good job you tricked some high school kid because he didn't know what source the lead was from and can't read the answer given to him correctly. Congrats on tricking someone qualified to make $7 per hour you must be very proud of your progress in life, and the part where you got him to tell you your own number was really epic... what a plot twist... really?!?!? Was there just nothing good on TV tonight? Maybe you would benifit from some magazines you clearly have too much down time. I hate to burst your bubble but we most likely had the number on file already two days before you where called even though your phone wasn't hooked up yet, and the thing that really makes me laugh is the fact that you believe any number is "unlisted" and that you most likely paid them some extra amount of money to make it that way, but Viking is the one trying to "scam" you.

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Reva LC
, US
Dec 07, 2016 7:19 pm EST
Replying to comment of Hank

The reason why, we can't manage our money is because your company keeps taking it 😕

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Reva LC
, US
Dec 07, 2016 7:23 pm EST
Replying to comment of Hank

I just started and they already trying to get stuff out of me so heck no. Im trying to cancel my first payment after i realized they were charging me so much, but they wont let me. If they keep doing it I will report them. 😕

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Jessica
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Apr 23, 2008 3:32 pm EDT

I just received a rather nasty call from a lady from this company.

A few months back, my husband started receiving all kinds of magazines in the mail. The magazines he was receiving?! "Ok", "Us Weekly", "Oprah", "Rolling Stones"...magazine that he would never in a million years read. I asked him why he was suddenly receiving subscriptions to these and he replied that he had no idea. We weren't paying for the magazines and they we had just opened a new bank account which I check on every day-and nothing was being deducted from it so we just figured it was a mistake and once wherever they were coming from realized they weren't receiving a payment they would stop sending the magazines.

Well, the magazines are still coming. Tonight, MY cell phone rings and a lady asks for my husband. I ask her who she is and she refuses to answer and starts calling me by name and says "This is his wife, right?!". Finally I tell her that, yes, I am his wife and she tells me who she is and that she's with Viking magazine. She then tells me if I don't give her a valid credit card or bank card number right here and now she's going to turn ME in to the collection agency because I'm responsible for my husbands debt if he doesn't make arrangements to pay it. I laughed at her and told her she was more then welcome to turn me into a collection agency...I'm eight months pregnant and not working...good luck getting anything outta me! She tells me this date that he supposedly agreed to this subscription and that it was for five years! I told her that none of this makes any sense. For one, the magazines we are receiving and definatly not something he'd subscribe too. And second, he's in the army and deploying to Iraq in early August...I am positive he would not set up a five year subscription to anything at this point in time. The lady still argues with me and tells me if I want she'll change the subscriptions to something I would like to receive, but she will not cancel the account because it is the 14 day cancelation. When I told her I don't want any subscriptions she then threatened to put on the account that I was refusing to pay and turn us both into creditors.

As far as I'm concerned, they can turn us both in to collections. I'm NOT paying for a service that we did not ask to receive.

Is there anything I can do or any way I can turn them in?! What they are doing is completely wrong!

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Alie
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Apr 12, 2008 10:12 pm EDT

Aw yes... Viking Magazine. I too got a phone call from this company. I am disabled veteran and was pulled into conversation with Viking Magazine. When a subscription was made, what I thought would be nice turned into disaster. I started to receive magazines I didn't have interest in, so I switched them out for different ones. When I did that, the rep ended up adding onto the subscription and didn't cancel the ones I didn't want. Consequently the bill came up to over $1000! Yes, I said a thousand dollars. AND it was mistakenly too late to cancel. Of course it was paid out of my savings, but now they are asking for more money. And after I paid the debt, a sly man called me up and said he was "updating" my account and I caught him trying to add additional $60 a month on these magazines (I had already paid for). He even challenged my faith when he saw that I received some inspirational magazines. I'm not joking. Just for future knowledge, PLEASE take caution and take heed to my warning, DON'T order from Viking. It may cost you money you didn't plan on spending.

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Kaeo
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Mar 31, 2008 9:45 am EDT

It seems these companies are like sharks - waiting for the next victim. I just started my phone service, had it bundeled in with internet, cable TV and phone. Well, the installer came to my place last Tuesday and put in all the cable boxes, modem and new phone. I should also point out, that I requested an Unlisted (private) number.

Much to my anger: The cable guy had been gone for all of ONE HOUR when my new phone rings... excited I run over (thinking it was the cable company checking the service) and I get this ### from Viking Mags blabbing about my magazine subscription. At first I was like "Umm, ok" then as they went on and on I asked them "Wait, how the heck did you get this number!?". They replied "It's the number we got from your previous enquiry".

Well, at this point the penny dropped. I realised they were liars and scammers, I replied to this person "You got this number from MY previous enquiry did you? When was that exactly?" Person says "Oh, it doesn't indicate when". I reply back "Well that's very interesting, because unless I made the enquiry in the last ONE HOUR your are a LIAR! I only had this phone number activated by the cable company ONE HOUR ago, the guy just left and my phone number is so new I DON'T EVEN KNOW IT! So how is it I "gave" you this number prior to ONE HOUR ago when I do NOT know what it is!?".

Silence.

I finished by saying they were scammers, that my number was supposed to be unlisted and that I was going on to the DO NOT CALL list immediately. I closed by asking this ###, "Before you go...do me a favor, I can't find the order form with my new number on it...can you give my new phone number please?". The jerk did. Too stupid to realise the irony of the situation!

They are TELE-STALKERS...avoid like the plague!

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Lakia
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Mar 24, 2008 11:24 am EDT

I agree with everything you guys are saying, those people keep calling me and I told them from the very beginning that I did not want magazines because I don't read them. I hate those people, they wanted me to pay for some magazines I didn't even receive. The rep never told me about a 14 day cancellation period, that stupid lady lied. The stupid lady had the nerve to call me and telling me how to pay my bills, I told her to go to hell and hung up on her. Viking magazine sucks and their customer service is terrible! I do not want their magazines, I do not want them calling me. They need customer service training!

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latasha
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Mar 13, 2008 9:36 am EDT

This company is a ripe off the offer that they tell you is a lie i never once was billed for the low price that was quoted and the customer service is extremely Terrible but i guess after each ripe off sale to them they have something to smile about please tell anyone you no dont fall for this scam.

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frances Knight
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Nov 21, 2007 7:37 pm EST

You know, these companies are all alike. My credit has been destroyed by companies like this (and an ex husband). So when my boyfriend who is 11 years my junior, gave them my bank card number, of coarse I am panicking. He is 21 and I have taught him credit by my mistakes. This happened not even 10 min. ago. He didn't know about the lurkers who act as vultures on the less informed.
They roped us in first with the $3.50, then 5 subscriptions for $15. Cool, I thought and I asked about mags we were interested in. They had them, so I said "yes". Just then the boyfriend/ husband came home from the smokes run and I put him on the phone so I could finish folding clothes. All of a sudden it is $800 "about" dollars and 60 months! Well I don't have to tell ou how freaking fast I was back on the phone...wrinkled clothes be damned! I say I can't just pay the $120 for a year? I don't know if I even like these these mags enough to commit for 5 years! He says "no our offer is for 60 months only". I say okay then we are not interested, but you have our bank card number. Will you delete it? He says "of coarse" like I am a horse's ### for asking.
I hope this does NOT turn into some craziness as I am afraid I will not be able to keep a professional tone about it. I will go to court if I have to. I am sick and tired of being pushed around by these companies! They called after 9 pm even! That is illegal within itself! My number is unlisted and I am (as far as I know) on a NO CALL LIST.
So, to all of you who have been taken advantage of, here is what you need to do. First, report to the BBB (better business...) the have a BBB logo on their home page, the care about reputation. Next, and you can do this online, dispute with all 3 credit reporting agencies. You can do this for free, so do not fall for the pay a one time bull [censored]. They have an explanation section for each dispute, so Mom with the son in Iraq, dare them to find him and ask him if he really ordered it, or was it a girlfriend. Bread winner lady, I dunno what to say. The only thing I can think of is that you seem very surprised it is a $850 charge. So maybe they didn't tell you (like me) until after they got the card #. That is an arguement. And finally the first complaint. You did not pay attention to the calls and what they were saying. There really isn't a whole lot of hope about that. You are screwed. Sucks.

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julie murphy
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Nov 15, 2007 6:52 pm EST

Viking magazine started calling me about my sons over due payments of their services. My son has been deployed since sept. Of 07 and he has not received any magazines. To stop the harassment and not damaging his credit I gave them his credit # and I told them that they can have his address so they can send the mags to him over in Iraq and they said that he will have to call when he gets back and then start to receive the magazines. That angered me because he will be gone for another 13 months. Then told me that the bill was 550.00 Talk about getting ###ED.

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Justine
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Aug 07, 2007 8:12 pm EDT

I completely agree with you! I tried calling the company a few days ago. The $60 a month is getting difficult for me to keep paying and I'm not that thrilled with the service. My boyfriend and I live on our own and he's out of a job so I'm the main bread winner and I need to get rid of frivolous expenses. They told me there was nothing they could do and that they would put me in collections as well. I never received any paper work about the 14 day period to opt out and I signed up back in December. I also don't remember them saying anything on the phone when they dragged me into this mess. Have you gotten any answers on how to retaliate? I CAN NOT afford to keep paying - but it seems as if they'll run me into the ground anyways. What crappy customer service... I will tell everyone I know how poorly I was treated by this company.

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