Readers! Have I got a life lesson to share!
Today, I learned the sad truth, or well part of it, of the ever expanding world of scamming. I want to share this story with you all because I believe I narrowly avoided making a mistake that could have cost me thousands of dollars.
I’ll start with the very beginning. In October, I heard an ad on the radio for American Value Grocery. This company asks you to pay a onetime fee of $20 and in return, they will send you coupons to use at your local grocery store. The purpose of the coupons, as I understand, is to track purchases in various locations and by people of all ages to provide data for marketing research. Having earned an A in the marketing class I took here at UF, I viewed this offer as an opportunity to help and hopefully save some cash down the road.
As it turns out, most of the coupons provided are advertisements for weekly specials, or they are for items I don’t necessarily need, like Pillsbury Cinnamon Buns- tasty but really, do I NEED those calories? No. Surprisingly, I’ve saved over $20 using the coupons that do work for me, but I’ve since stopped trying so hard because couponing is no easy task! I’ve gotta respect those “Extreme Couponers”. Along with the offers provided exclusively by AVG, there are links to other bargains and deals as well. They also offer great deals on gas if you have money up front to spend. All in all, the company seems pretty harmless.
Ok so if they seem pretty harmless, then where am I going with this? Hang in there…
I’ll fast forward to December. One afternoon of my break, I fully immersed myself in the task of wrapping presents on the family room floor. As I sat there, tying bows and curling ribbon, I received a phone call from an unfamiliar number. I answered and was asked if I my magazines were routinely being delivered to my apartment in Gainesville. Confused, I asked “what magazines?” The man on the other end stuttered a bit and replied “your magazines.” I proceeded to ask to what subscription he was referring and he simply responded with “your magazine subscription.” Thank you for clarifying that you were referring to my magazine subscription, as if he hadn’t said the word “magazine” ten times already. I wasn’t sure if we were talking about my drug subscription or my subscription contacts. Frustrated, I continued to question what the heck he was talking about and finally he hung up.
Naturally, I called the number back, but to no avail. The number belonged to an out-going only line.
I assumed the call had been a mistake and moved on with my life. Lately, I’ve been receiving calls from random numbers, only I always miss them. They really like to hit me up during class I guess. Today, fortunately or unfortunately, class was cancelled and I took the call.
The call began like the first one; a man asked me if I have been receiving my magazines. We played the whole “what magazines?” “your magazines!” game for a few minutes before I finally found myself speaking with a supervisor. “Have you recently signed up for any benefits programs?” he asked. “Not to my knowledge, sir I never ordered any magazines.” I answered. “Well ma’am it appears you have. No discount programs you can remember?” Thinking back, I recalled my little experience with AVG. “Oh, I did sign up for some grocery coupons, why? What does that have to do with magazines?”
“Well when you signed up on that company’s website, you were asked which magazines you enjoy reading were you not?”
Trying hard to bring to mind the day I signed up, I decided that he could be right. I know I’ve been asked this type of thing before, but I always choose the “No Thanks!” option. “Okay, I think so, maybe?” I said.
“When you did that, you signed up for a free trial, as well as a year’s subscription. You had 60 days to cancel, but unfortunately you neglected to do so. Now I am just trying to make sure you’re getting your magazines.” He proceeded to recite my current address.
Woah back it up. “Sir, I did not sign up for any magazine trial. If I did, it was an accident and there was nothing on the page that blatantly explained what you’ve just told me.” I started to get angry.
“Ma’am I’m sorry but regardless of whether or not the information was displayed blatantly, you agreed and did not cancel. Now our account also has you committed to pay for a subscription for the next 5 years. I can remove this if you wish, but you are still obligated to pay for one year. I can also discount your subscription so it is at a not for profit rate.”
I continued to remind the man that I never signed up for anything as he continued to remind me that I was locked in for a year and there was nothing I could do about it. Furious, I asked to speak with his supervisor or whoever he reports to. “I am the top supervisor, there is nobody above me.” I decided to ask him to go ahead and uncheck whatever little box on his computer commits me for 5 years. He politely requested I verify a few security questions and account information, a necessity in the case of an “account update”. These questions included my name, my age, my occupation, my address, and, of course, my credit card information. As for my name, age, and address, they clearly already had that information as they previously asked me for it. “I just need you to verify your credit card information- a Visa card beginning with the number 4?” I have no idea how they knew this, but before I could answer, the man asked me to read the card number.
I then asked if I could call him back. “This is an out-going line only ma’am I’m sorry. The best I can do is call you back at a certain time as long as it’s today. Do you not have your card available?”
Visa in hand, I lied and said no. “How about an email address? I can then email you a time to call.”
“We don’t use email ma’am, it is a threat to our company’s security.” As if the phone thing wasn’t sketchy enough, what company doesn’t use email? Come on. “Ok fine, can you call me at two?” He agreed.
“Before I hang up can you remind me your name sir?”
“Jason.”
“And your company?”
“Coastal Reader Service.”
I’ve spent the last hour researching my situation. I began with a Google search on fine print and the legality of online contracts. This search resulted in lengthy articles and much legal jargon. Anxious for quick, “what to do” user friendly advice, I changed my search to online magazine scams, the simply magazine scams. I read a few accounts of people who are stuck paying for magazines for years. Quite terrifying. I began to panic, believing that this company could come after me for so much money if I refuse to pay. At least I can get out of the five years I thought.
Hoping I could maybe find a number for the “Coastal Reader Service” I Googled the name. Thank God I did. This company, if you can even call it that, is very much in the business of scamming. A number of complaints about this company have been made to the Better Business Bureau, FTC, and more. I ran across a forum full of accounts exactly like mine, only, the majority of people did give their card information. Thankfully, I did not.
A previous employee of the company left a detailed description of how the company works. Basically, the script begins with the whole “we want to verify you are receiving your magazines” ordeal. They will try and make it seem like you signed up via another benefits program. They have NOTHING to do with AVG! I even called AVG and asked if they had any affiliation with Coastal Reader Service and they denied any such thing. The man at AVG even asked if I’d like to speak with his manager to ensure I was satisfied with my grocery coupons. I didn’t feel the need.
The truth is, I really never signed up for any magazines and I’m certainly not liable for these payments. They only want the number on my card.
I wanted to share this story because I was so close to making a huge mistake. Those guys are good liars and very convincing. Even though looking back I see many red flags from the get go, I admit they are not easy to recognize!
Moral of the story- only buy magazines at the grocery store! Just kidding, but seriously be smart about your personal information!
