Telephone Scam. Need your help please.?
Today my wife received a call from someone claiming that we had been entered in a sweepstakes or something. Anyway, they ended up telling her we could get some great deal on a magazine. They called her and then had someone else call back and ask for a credit card number. Unfortunately she gave it to them and agreed to 70 bucks or so that was supposed to last 4 years. I love my wife to death but this is probably the dumbest thing she’s ever done and I’ve told her about 100 times to NEVER give our card number out over the phone.
She knew she’d screwed up right after she hung up the phone, so she went ahead and called the credit card company and cancelled our card. They said we could file a complaint later.
I told her to call back and cancel the subscription and the guy on the phone gave some stupid story about them already pre-ordering the magazine and couldn’t give her a refund. When I called to talk to them he said that she agreed to $70.00/month and we really owed them over $800 for the year she agreed to. They said they had the recording to prove it. I told them I had cancelled my credit card and that I would fight the charge. They tried to threaten me by saying I couldn’t win because they had a recording (he mentioned something about the laws in Florida???) and that I would end up having to pay the whole $800. I told them I was calling the better business bureau and would fight it with my lawyers if I had to. He then tried to make me some deal for only $99.00 for the whole thing. He wouldn’t let me off the phone and I had to hang up on him. He called back like 3 times trying to intimidate me by playing my wifes phone conversation, saying that the credit card company couldn’t win because he had her verbal agreement. My wife says she never ever heard them say anything about $70/month. And who’s ever heard of a magazine subscription that you couldn’t cancel and had to commit to for a year?
I have already cancelled the card, alerted the Credit Card Company, and will be calling the BBB in the morning.
1. Do they have any legal way to scam me out of the $800? We haven’t received any magazines and I have told them I was cancelling the subscription (probably never would have seen them anyway)
2. What other steps do I need to do to protect myself?
Thanks,
With any agreement (verbal, written, or otherwise), the consumer has a 3-day right-of-rescission, where you can cancel any agreement within 3 business days of entering into a contract (Saturdays are considered business days – only Sundays and Federal holidays are not business days). This is supposed to be in writing. But, since you don’t have any way of contacting the company in writing, your verbal rescission should do. Besides, if they can play back a recording of your wife ordering the magazines, where’s the recording of you cancelling?
The best thing you did was to immediately cancel the credit card. It’s useless to them now. And, if they somehow did make additional charges to the account, you can dispute those. When you called the credit card company, did you instruct them to nullify and not accept further charges from that specific company?
The next thing to do is to write down a log of everything that happened, including the times and dates of the calls you made, who you talked to, what was said, etc. This is your record to counter their recorded message.
Personally, I think that what’s going to happen is that they may send you bills or something for the magazines and demand payment. Keep those and don’t respond. Send the magazines back (on the cover, write "Unsolicited – Return to Sender").
Also, follow up with the BBB. There is also a website you can go to to file a complaint with the US Consumer Protection Agency. They do follow up on these things.
But, rest assured that you don’t owe those idiots anything. They operate using confusion and intimidation. And, again, you have the right to cancel any contract within 3 business days with no penalty.
I think you have it covered. I also don’t think they will push it, because it is fraud, and they don’t want to get caught. Make sure however, she doesn’t do it again. Good Luck!
References :
if they have a recording, it has to have been made with your wife’s knowledge and consent or it is not useable in court. It’ll say right in the beginning of the convo that it is being recorded.
call the FL Sec’ty of Agriculture’s office — I think they handle scams and consumer protection. Find number on their website [google for it].
References :
also a FL resident
With any agreement (verbal, written, or otherwise), the consumer has a 3-day right-of-rescission, where you can cancel any agreement within 3 business days of entering into a contract (Saturdays are considered business days – only Sundays and Federal holidays are not business days). This is supposed to be in writing. But, since you don’t have any way of contacting the company in writing, your verbal rescission should do. Besides, if they can play back a recording of your wife ordering the magazines, where’s the recording of you cancelling?
The best thing you did was to immediately cancel the credit card. It’s useless to them now. And, if they somehow did make additional charges to the account, you can dispute those. When you called the credit card company, did you instruct them to nullify and not accept further charges from that specific company?
The next thing to do is to write down a log of everything that happened, including the times and dates of the calls you made, who you talked to, what was said, etc. This is your record to counter their recorded message.
Personally, I think that what’s going to happen is that they may send you bills or something for the magazines and demand payment. Keep those and don’t respond. Send the magazines back (on the cover, write "Unsolicited – Return to Sender").
Also, follow up with the BBB. There is also a website you can go to to file a complaint with the US Consumer Protection Agency. They do follow up on these things.
But, rest assured that you don’t owe those idiots anything. They operate using confusion and intimidation. And, again, you have the right to cancel any contract within 3 business days with no penalty.
References :
I’ve had a similar situation with a company called GOAM media but it was in regards to a knock-off yellow pages ad. My front desk staff at my office made a recording authorizing the charges. They have called me at home, my cell phone and work about 45 times. They have now put a lien against my business under Wells Fargo Bank. Wells Fargo has no idea what I am talking about. But, I spoke to my attorney and if you make a verbal recording you have 3 days to cancel the agreement. This company is also located in the state of Florida. Florida must have some lax law in regards to this that they are exploiting.
References :
As long as you’ve cancelled that card, I think you’ll be ok. They won’t come after you because they operate an illegal scam.
It sounds like they might harrass you a bit though, so you might as well have a little fun with them until they give up 🙂 Tell them you’ve talked to your attorney and he wants, in writing, everything you owe. That your attorney will settle the bill with them. I’m betting you won’t get the bill, and you might even end the phone calls at that point. Or, tell them that the police have your wires tapped because scams of this type are illegal in FL, so if they don’t mind staying on the line for about 90 seconds, you’ll have all the info on them you need.
References :
contact your phone company and see if they can trace who owns the lines and get their names and business names and talk to your phone company about how to trace any and all of their calls. with my phone company if you punch *67 after their call it makes a note to them and logs the calls. ask them about something like this.
you can call the police for harassment if they keep calling and don’t hesitant to tell the company this. the next time they call them them to stop calling or the next call they will start having to deal with the police over harassment.
then call the state attorney general’s office with the phone number and if the phone company could give you the names of who owned the phone number. and report the situation to them.
other than that, like everyone else said, just send any magazines back and bills back, and write "return to sender, unsolicited/not authorized/cancel" on it and drop it back in the mail. (then they have to pay postage and return postage)
References :
My brother was scammed for over $6000 for magazines – unfortunately, his being handicapped made him an easy target. It all happened before other family members realized what was going on! He finally closed out his bank account today and we HOPE this will at least stop the 9 withdrawals each month, totaling about $400 a month! It is infuriating what these crooks have gotten away with!!!! He will no doubt continue to receive these annoying, intimidating phone calls – we are hoping, with a lawyer’s help, he can get some of his money back. Have any of you gotten money back??