Another Scam Alert for Magazines
 

I received an email about another magazine scam. This one was for a woodcarving magazine but others have had the same "bill" for other magazines. The bill in not from the magazine but from MBS, Magazine Billing Services. It asks for renewal at $89.95 for two years which is eight issues. Do the math! That comes out to $11.24 per issue! This for a magazine that costs $6.99 at the newsstands. The subscriber called the toll free number listed in the magazine to ask them about this. They had renewed their subscription with them last month for about $20 for the year. The magazine said that MBS is an organization the sends out bogus bills at exorbitant prices expecting that some people will just automatically pay the bill, whereupon MBS will keep the $30 extra fee for the yearly renewal.

You get your magazine but it costs you 21/2 times the regular subscription price. There is another company out of Palm Coast, Fla. that is doing the same thing. The magazine has tried to stop this practice but they are not doing anything illegal.

If MBS is doing this with this magazine, they are probably doing it with other monthly magazines as well. BEWARE! And be aware!!

Check all your bills when they come in.

Thanks for the information.....again someone is reaching into your (our) pockets is what I tell my DH..........calla

I avoid all subscriptions. If I want a magazine, I will just buy it at the store. I have more quilt patterns than I could ever make. I also just make up patterns to use up my scraps or to use the colors I want.

Thanks for the heads up!

Thanks for the heads up. My pet peeve is when you pay for a subscription. You get a renewal notice before the first magazine arrives!

I got tired of that so I no longer renew certain magazine subscriptions I have.

What do you know of the one out of Palm Coast? I had an e-mail from McCalls for a special rate and free first issue of the quilting magazine, so completed it on line. I still have not seen the first issue, but have received the invoice in the mail. It looks official from McCalls Quilting, but it IS from Palm Coast, FL-a PO box. I won't pay the invoice until I receive the freebie, even though I have had the magazine before and know what I would be getting. It's the principal. They tell you that you can decide after you receive the freebie...Should I drop it all together??

I get these "offers" all the time. I just tear them up. They must think people are stupid to think those super high prices are a good deal.

The stupid thing is that most of the billings are for magazines you have never subscribed to! They are usually something similar to your interests like other craft publications. Wonder how they get our names and what we do subscribe to.

Another legitimate scam is the automatic renewal charged to your credit card. I've had this done several times. The trick is that when subscribing at an introductory price, the fine print says it will be automatically renewed. I am now paying by check.

Laurafet, I don't know the name of the one in Palm Coast. I know I've had several bills from there but so far they were all legit. Hope this helps.

I receive those notices in my mail at least once per week. There should be some place we can report this scam. Usually it says my subscription is about to expire. Amazing since I haven't even subscribed to half of the magazines.

Exactly why I never subscribe to a magazine online using my credit card. I send a check so they have to come to me for a renewal instead of me trying to contact them to cancel. These are first-rate magazines pulling these shenanigans, and I think it's absolutely outrageous.

I have been getting these for years, they had a number and I called to be removed from their mailing list, didn't work. I checked them out, they are a million dollar year business with only 2 employees. The last one I got even had someone else's number on it. That alone tells you what kind of people run this.

I just got charged on my paypal account for that magazine, and I wondered why I would have ordered that. Now I guess I better contact paypal. Scary

Thanks for the update. I usually don't subscribe to magazines, but my dear friend on this board gave me two subscriptions for Xmas.

I've seen some good buys with auto-renewal. And there are a couple of magazines I can't find any other way except on the news stand. I'll just pass. It isn't worth the hassle to me. And they rope you in with a super low rate, then automatically renew at an exorbitant (to me) one.

I've noticed those renewal letters that look like bills and just toss them.

My pet peeve is when I do subscribe to a magazine and they send me 3 issues right away, two are back-issues! I always write to tell them to extend my subscription or I will cancel.

My grandmother used to send us subscriptions thru a service. The lady worked out of her home, it was kind of nice because she would look for the best deal for you. I had no idea what her cut was, after my grandmother passed away I continued with her. Then for some reason she called to tell me it was just too much work and I should do it myself. Not sure why she had such a reaction out of the blue but decided it was a sign and stopped all but one subscription, which is Sports Illustrated. No more using a middle man for me.

Please tell us more -- how did they get your PayPal account info to take the money?

I never pay the bill until I've received the first copy.

Some time back, I got an envelope in the mail stamped "Second Notice". Opened it up to find news I may have won megabucks and to call an 800 number. It was from some 'National Magazine Exchange' or something like that. Anyway, I did call the number and these smooth talkers tried to rope me into taking x-amount of magazine subscriptions - none of which appealed to me - for no less that 5 years at a time! The young lady had me talk to her supervisor to get my credit card info - he was even smoother than she was! - but something didn't feel right, especially when he really pushed for me to get my card...I repeated that I wasn't going to take the subscriptions after all and hung up.

Oh, and I might add...I hadn't even received a "First Notice" in reference to the above post!

If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer and same goes for emails. One thing one may want to make a mental note of, is if you get an email and the message subject is FWD; delete it. It can be nothing but spam. You also need to be careful it can contain a virus if you open it.