Complaint Review: Consolidated Media Services - Atlanta Georgia

Several months ago, my husband was woken early in the morning by a phone call from Consolidated Media Services offering him 6 magazine subscriptions every month for a year, for a very cheap $60 a month for three months. They made it sound like a deal that was too good to be true. And they had spoken so quickly in a manner that we believe was used to try and trick my husband to agree to something that he wasn't even sure of.(They failed to tell him that this deal was infact for three years and that his total bill was roughly $600) My husband tried to be polite and refuse. However they continued to be more and more persuasive offering him " A once in a life time opportunity " and he finally told them that if it was as good as they said, then he would agree.

Not too long after my husband agreed to this service, we were charged the $60 to our direct checking card and when I found the bill, I asked my husband about it and he told me about the "wonderful deal" he got for these 6 magazines. I was a little suspicious, so I called the number on my statement. When I spoke with them however, their story had completely changed. As my husband listened in on the other line he was shocked when they told us what "he really signed up for". My husband proceeded to tell them that that was incorrect and if that's what they claim, than they lied to him. After much dispute with a very rude employee, we asked to hear the tape of the conversation in which the deal was discussed. After some hassle, they agreed to let us hear it. We listen and immediately noticed their fraudulent statements. We pointed this out to them and they tried to dispute it, so we asked them to listen again. After several minutes of waiting on hold, they came back and played it for us, however this time, the tape seemed to be altered. We were upset about this and told them what we felt had happened and they basically told us too bad. We told them that we wanted to cancel the subscription and they then said that that would be impossible because they already bought the magazines from another company and could not return them. So after much arguing, I thought if I did not settle this, that my credit would be effected.

I was able to get them to lower the bill to a total of $400+ (minus the $60 I had already paid them) and I told them that I would make payments of $30 a month, but I would discontinue payments on my checking card, that they would have to send me a bill. After waiting to get a bill (and only getting 2 of the 6 magazines) I got a bill for the $390 amount saying that I must pay it in full, immediately. Then, not too long afterwards, I was contacted by a collection agency, saying that my account was seriously past due and they would take legal action against me if I didn't promptly pay the full amount. I told them that that was not what I had agreed to and that I had not even been properly warned of this action. I then spoke With CMS (once again, another very rude employee) and told them how I was conned into this subscription, but I agreed to pay $30 a month to pay off the balance,yet never got a bill or any of the other 4 magazines and that I would like to resolve this the way they had agreed to. They basically said there was nothing they could do to bring my account back to them so there was nothing they could do for me. I told them that they made that agreement with me, so that was the agreement that I would go by. Yet the employee refused this and I asked to speak with a supervisor, but she told me no. After several minutes of arguing with the employee, I believe the conversation ended when they hung up on me (which is highly illegal for a telemarketer to do). I knew that nothing more would come from speaking with CMS, and I didn't know how to get ahold of the collection agenccy, so I waited to hear something else about payment, but months passed and nothing. Then this evening, I received a harassing phone call from another collector who said that $390 was due now however, he could settle for 3 monthly payments of $85, yet this deal was only good now because as of the next business day, my file would be pulled and further action would be taken. He couldn't even tell me exactly what my "file being pulled" meant.

I am very frustrated with this company and their collection agency and feel that they acted in a fraudulent manner. I don't even want the magazines at this point, all I want is to break ties and cancel my subscription.

Sarah

Hanford, California
U.S.A.

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