United Sales Shawn, Timothy Salgado, United Sales MAGAZINE SCAM Houston, Texas

Between 3:00 and 4:00 pm yesterday a young man rang my doorbell, waking me up from a nap and I opened the door.  He began to explain to me that he was the grandchild of a neighbor several doors down the street, and he was raising money to study abroad in Italy as he was a student at Le Cordon Bleu. His personality was very friendly, but pushy.  He said that his grandparents were paying for his trip, but they were making him raise money for a fellow student to go on the trip.  His "instructor" Timothy Salgado had chosen his fellow classmate "Shawn" to receive the funds to go on the trip.  

He went on to explain that the way he was raising money was to sell magazine subscriptions, which we could either receive ourselves OR donate them to troops abroad.  I chose to buy 2 subscriptions for $146.00 to send to a nonprofit organization out of North Carolina called Soldiers Angels*.  After I gave him the check he rambled on about also working on his pilot licensee and having a patent on a toilet invention (I know, crazy.) as his "back up" plans.

Later in the evening after I had thought about how crazy this man's story was, and questioned whether I had made a good choice. Of course, you can see where this is going - I called my bank and the check had been cashed immediately after this man left my house.  

On the carbon copied receipt I have, it says I have the right to cancel within 3 business days and must mail my cancellation notice to:

United Sales, P.O. Box 62153, Houston, TX 77205 

I have contacted the BBB and evidently United Sales has an "F" rating:

http://our.bbb.org/Houston/Public/Reports/RR/Print.aspx?firm=90009930
http://www.bbb.org/houston/business-reviews/magazine-sales/united-sales-in-houton-tx-90009930/

Please DO NOT give these people money, evidently magazine scams like this are happening all over the country - http://instantnewskaty.com/2010/10/19/16783

*Please keep in mind that Soilder's Angels is a legitimate 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization, but they are not involved in magazine sales and they are aware that people are using their name to scam people: visit their website for more information: http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?mact=News%2Ccntnt01%2Cdetail%2C0&cntnt01articleid=395&cntnt01returnid=15