N.M.E. - National Magazine Exchange - Pat Haines ripoff Clearwater Florida

I'm not sure exactly what is going on with this company, but after doing a search for RANDY ROMANOW I find all these threads about this magazine company. Randy was a (supposedly, now we realize he was just a web designer) partner for the company I work for (IBD Marketing) and has just managed to rob us of $180,000 and lock us out of our own website (along with Scott Madden), so if he DID have anything to do with this NME, what these people are saying about it, I would believe. He is guilty of Tax Evasion, and now have warrants for his arrest. If you know where he is, turn him in ASAP and get your reward, he owes $10 million, so you'll get 10 % of that. And his mother is Pat Haines who he claims is dead, so I'd say it's just another one of his scams. Dont trust anything that has the names Randy Romanow, Melissa Waters, Scott Madden or Jennnifer (Jen) Hill attached to it.

Every year NME pushes hundreds of thousands of these subscriptions and other crap. These reports only scratch the surface of how bad this place is. They do everything they can to get your money.

Your heads would spin like a top if you could hear about the proposals for products and business practices and employee policies that get rejected by the thin layer that tries to keep the place just within the law.

People think hard before you crap away hundreds of dollars on magazines and junk.

Can anyone tell us what the "free mags" are that NME is currently giving away in their sales program?

Is their sales program now $69.95 for 5 payments?

Has anyone noticed that the employee rebuttals on this site have decreased since the previous legal counsel Ms. Leslie Stein left the company? Were the endless employee rebuttals really Ms. Stein?

How was SDP/NME 's year ending June 2007?

My my my Mr. A from Lakeland, you sure are busy posting all these employee rebuttals.

Let me point out a few facts for you that you can not deny.

NME was fined $535,000 by the FTC Federal Trade Commission because they sold memberships and people got ripped off people didn't get what they paid for. You might whine that it wasn't NME's script but that is outrageous baloney, NME used the script and NME sold the rip off.

Read through these postings and see that NME is an evil, aggressive, predatory sales company. Their creed in sales training is 'Buyers Are Liars'. They have motivational cheer sessions where the employees shout and chant 'Buyers Are Liars'. Doesn't that sound like an evil rip off company?

They sell mostly magazines but also push memberships to things like travel clubs at $10 to $20 per month, and lots of other crap that changes from month to month.

Also, not all the mags will last 4 years so you can count on lots of calls to renew them, even if you are on the no call list they are allowed to call you. Of course they will also aggressively try to sell you all the latest crappy memberships and other junk.

Those watches cost $1 dollar from Asia and the diamond is a speck of dust. You can guess that the address book is also a piece of junk.

Then they put your name on a LIST and sell it to other marketing companies. Whoopee isn't that fun.

Mr. A you will probably post a rebuttal that babbles that I am a disgruntled ex-employee that couldn't make it and babbling that the magazines are really a fantastic deal. OUTRAGEOUS BALONEY! BTW, half the sales trainees quit and run for the door. The other half usually lasts only a few weeks. NME has over 400% employee turnover per year.

Have a crappy day NME.
CLICK...

All these Ex employees with the added comments that makes NME look bad, I think they are Ex employees for a reason and are just bitter and I'm not trying to offend any one but 80% of this stuff just isn't true...

About what John said about the people sleeping in their cars in the back of the parking lots? Really? Because their's a guard on duty 24 hours of the day that reports people for doing things like that... as far as people "smoking weed and doing crack in their cars" that can happen in any job at all... And if you felt it necessary to call them out on it online where they cant' defend themselvs and you truly found something wrong with it, why didn't you report it to the proper authorities....oh... right...my bad... no balls...


Again, not trying to be rude...

But to the Customer, I am not going to call you a liar... I don't know you... I think you must of misunderstood. We have to go through several drawn out processes of confirmation before we process any of the payments...

Also, we have a "quality assurance" department that works with LEGAL... that listens to every call to make sure we're doing our jobs... we have something called, "Code Of Ethics Violations" when anyone lies or charges cards without the consent of a customer...

if your card was truly charged, you authorized it... You have and had 90 days to cancel and recieve a full refund...did you take advantage of that? Or were you to busy running to ripoffreport.com because you were "worried"?? How is it a rip off if you don't know if they charged the card??

You and all these other people have to understand... We are all people working in a sales office... we are not scamming you... we are just doing our jobs... Everything we do is done legally...

Okay this is a break down... We have a sweepstakes... We offer lots of money... where do you think it comes from?? It's like the lottery... how long do you think the lottery could withstand every single person winning each week? In NY they have 4 or 5 each week... in florida we have 2 big ones... how quickly would a state go bankrupt because there were big winners every week??

We fund the sweepstakes by advertising and selling magazines...If you say, "I dont want magazines..." we ask you if your interested in a vacation deal from another SALES campaign that pays us to send you over to them... Every business does this one way or another... be it selling your information to companies, or advertising other companys... sure you may not want magazines but if you're planning on taking a trip to the bahamas and one of our sponsers offer it at a great deal, you're more likely to take advantage of that, and they know that...

Our sweepstakes is indeed real... Your chances of winning are clearly listed in your mail piece Annnnnnd... we tell you before we say anything about magazines, "There is never any purchase or payment required to enter or win our sweepstakes..." We actually SAY THAT TO YOUUUU.

So, at what point did you think, "Hey something wrong here," 18 minutes into the call when we FIRST ask for your card's expiration date, or after you were foolish enough to give out your credit card number?

I'm not trying to be mean here, but seriously, if someone could pressure enough that you felt you had to surrender your credit card number on tha phone?!!??
I just wonder how hard I have to stare at you to get your panties off... Again, not trying to be mean, but that's just rediculous...

This company is ethical, and it's fair... why do you think you get a 90 day money back guarentee??

We don't misuse credit cards and if it just so happens you were just knodding your head like, "uhh huh, yeah, sure... okay, that's great, i'll take it..." and not really listening to the details we are required to tell you by law, then that's your fault, but even still you can correct your own mistake by calling the number and cancelling... period...

When I was at SDP(NME) there were people that lived in the back of the parking lot and slept in their cars (wonder where their money was going?). Anybody could get a job there because they didn't do pre-employment drug testing. All you had to do was make your mag sales quota even if it meant selling to some poor half blind grandma. I wonder how Better Homes and Gardens would feel about that? A lot of people show up just to get paid for a couple training weeks.

And Alexandria is a typical SDP JERK. She is probably doing well and shoving unwanted bonus mags down Grandma's throat and yelling YIPPY KY YAH.

actually, alexandria does have one valid point. SDP doesn't allow it's employees to do drugs at their desk. it makes them wait for their break and go to their cars to smoke/ shoot up/ snort or whatever then stumble back to their desk so loaded up they are almost walking into the walls.

just thought i would clarify that.

SDP/NME had to pay a $535,000 fine to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). There is a reason for that and the details are plastered throughout these postings.

In another posting Alexandria states I have to provide for my family! When someone has children they have to provide a roof over their heads and food on the table ..
Now she says she doesn't have children. Which is the truth Alexandria??? GOTCHA

if people with a criminal record cant get a job at NME?

Answer that one for me!

thank you .. I take that as a compliment!
Yeah.. I am soo full of drugs and babies.. seeing as I have no children.. never have been pregnant in my life.. haha.. I find that funny. And I shoot herion.. hell while I am on the phone with you people.. cuz just any job lets you do that! hahaha...
yeah right..

Usually I do not resort to name calling. But in this case I have to point out that you are a complete JERK. Anyone can see that NME is a Jerk organization. You are a jerk jerk jerk. PLEASE everyone do not call these clowns. I bet that either Alexandria or the daddy of all her babies or both couldn't pass a drug test. Bet that is why she works at NME.

did you recieve that conformation letter?? your supposed to mark the boxes.. maybe thats why you never got them?? I talk to people every single day that get their watches and they want more.
so if you didnt get it thats your own d**n fault.
and your supposed to mark the box next to the electronic organizer!

stupidity.. geez people open your eyes and read.. open your ears and listen.. maybe go to the store and get some q-tips clean them out.. maybe you will hear and then get your conformation and read and check the boxes.. and maybe you will receive your watches and organizer. k?

For your information.. NME is a legit company with a legit sweepstakes... if you are stupid enough to call in and enter and buy magazines then thats your own d**n fault.... you can cancel at any time you please...we tell you everything you need to know on the phones! We record everything.. for our sake and yours .. so you cannot come back and say that we 'ripped you off' with out your ok. If we did not authorize your payment correctly .. we do not take it outta your credit card or your debit card.
whine and complain.. oh pitty me.. shut up!!!

we dont rip people off! you get 5magazines for $67.08 a year? you cant find that anywhere you go.. and to get free gifts along with it? You people are just greedy bitches... and you are stupid.. and ignorant if you give out your card number then want to turn around and say we ripped you off and didnt get your ok. oh my God.... obviously you have nothing better to do with your time then to blame your stupidity and ignorance on a company. There is a reason why we have been here since 1984... and there is a reason why we wont be going anywhere any time soon. Obviously there are people .. millions upon millions of people out there that like us and our company and what our company gives.

For your information.. NME is a legit company with a legit sweepstakes... if you are stupid enough to call in and enter and buy magazines then thats your own d**n fault.... you can cancel at any time you please...we tell you everything you need to know on the phones! We record everything.. for our sake and yours .. so you cannot come back and say that we 'ripped you off' with out your ok. If we did not authorize your payment correctly .. we do not take it outta your credit card or your debit card.
whine and complain.. oh pitty me.. shut up!!!

we dont rip people off! you get 5magazines for $67.08 a year? you cant find that anywhere you go.. and to get free gifts along with it? You people are just greedy bitches... and you are stupid.. and ignorant if you give out your card number then want to turn around and say we ripped you off and didnt get your ok. oh my God.... obviously you have nothing better to do with your time then to blame your stupidity and ignorance on a company. There is a reason why we have been here since 1984... and there is a reason why we wont be going anywhere any time soon. Obviously there are people .. millions upon millions of people out there that like us and our company and what our company gives.

For your information.. NME is a legit company with a legit sweepstakes... if you are stupid enough to call in and enter and buy magazines then thats your own d**n fault.... you can cancel at any time you please...we tell you everything you need to know on the phones! We record everything.. for our sake and yours .. so you cannot come back and say that we 'ripped you off' with out your ok. If we did not authorize your payment correctly .. we do not take it outta your credit card or your debit card.
whine and complain.. oh pitty me.. shut up!!!

we dont rip people off! you get 5magazines for $67.08 a year? you cant find that anywhere you go.. and to get free gifts along with it? You people are just greedy bitches... and you are stupid.. and ignorant if you give out your card number then want to turn around and say we ripped you off and didnt get your ok. oh my God.... obviously you have nothing better to do with your time then to blame your stupidity and ignorance on a company. There is a reason why we have been here since 1984... and there is a reason why we wont be going anywhere any time soon. Obviously there are people .. millions upon millions of people out there that like us and our company and what our company gives.

For your information.. NME is a legit company with a legit sweepstakes... if you are stupid enough to call in and enter and buy magazines then thats your own d**n fault.... you can cancel at any time you please...we tell you everything you need to know on the phones! We record everything.. for our sake and yours .. so you cannot come back and say that we 'ripped you off' with out your ok. If we did not authorize your payment correctly .. we do not take it outta your credit card or your debit card.
whine and complain.. oh pitty me.. shut up!!!

we dont rip people off! you get 5magazines for $67.08 a year? you cant find that anywhere you go.. and to get free gifts along with it? You people are just greedy bitches... and you are stupid.. and ignorant if you give out your card number then want to turn around and say we ripped you off and didnt get your ok. oh my God.... obviously you have nothing better to do with your time then to blame your stupidity and ignorance on a company. There is a reason why we have been here since 1984... and there is a reason why we wont be going anywhere any time soon. Obviously there are people .. millions upon millions of people out there that like us and our company and what our company gives.

The previous writer gave some good advice, when you get a notice in the mail for ANYTHING that is in the nature of a solicitation, throw it away! Otherwise, like Alice, you will be going down a rabbit hole to an adventure that may not be to your liking. Although I am not an attorney and do not give out legal advice you may wish to consider and research the following for yourself. NME (SDP) is headquartered in Florida, is a Florida Corporation and as such it is directly subject to the laws of the State of Florida. An obscure 1850 law, still on the books, from what I understand, requires that ANY subscription to ANY periodical be UNDER THE SIGNATURE of the subscriber (in other words if I wrere you, you MIGHT want to question the validity of ELECTRONIC affirmations).

That is the purpose of the confirmation letter, the "gifts" are a red-herring, an inducement for you to sign and return the letter - that is how they get your SIGNATURE to legally lock you in - if you still have it, read the fine print. If you did not sign and return it, if I were you I might question their right to hang on to your money. Again though, I am not an attorney and do not give any sort of legal advice.

You may wish to check with your local Department of Consumer Affairs to check the laws in your state as well.

well, i also bought the magazines i have to say it is a good price for the magazines that we are getting, some are expensives and it will cost more to buy them from the store. but what i don't like is that people lie to me i would gladly buy the magazines if they were telling me the truth, some of you are right when you say that is our foult if we give out our creditcard number but they talk so fast that you don't even have time to think or tell them that you don't want anything and they are evassive when you first call and they transfer you to the mannager. They promess me two watches,a gas rebate card and a electronic organizer but i never got anythig i call them to cancell because i didn't get the magazines that i wanted and only like two issues of the one they keep talking and giving me ways to keep my suscription, and say that they will give my gifts and tow months later i haven got anythig so i called againg to cancell and get my refound but all they did was to cancell it and didn't give me my money back. Now i hope they don't bill me anymore and send me my gifts wich i doubt because they said i didn't get them because i never send the confirmation letter that i never got. i think this bussines is wrong and that they sould tell you that you are getting something when you are not getting anything if people want the magazines thell buy them but don't pressure people into buying somethig or offer them something if you are not going to do it. It is wrong and inmoral not all of the costumers are liars and the good ones always have to pay for it. I really hope you some one does something about this company and more like it.

Speaking as a former CSR working in call centers I would like to remind everyone that these people are just doing a JOB! They may or may not like the job, but usually the case is that is the only option they have to provide for their families.

I have worked for direct companies and sales companies in this role and will say that there are many ways to "save the sale" and these associates will do whatever they can to keep you if you have already signed up with them. I am glad to be out of that environment as it is very stressful and caused my family many hardships.

Don't take your anger on a company out on these people that answer the phones. I agree that the tactics employed by NME are questionable and you should take caution if you decide to call the number on the card. If they are doing anything illegal they WILL get caught eventually.

In the meantime, don't be a victim. Simply throw the card away and don't call them. Calling them gives them legal right to call you back and/or sell your information to other companies as part of a "customer database". Just remember that the CSR on the phone is just doing what they are required to do to keep a job.

As a Customer Service Representative for NME, I know for a fact that not only are we not allowed to say that it's impossible to cancel your order within a reasonable amount of time, but that we can be fired for doing so.

Our rebuttals are scripted and follow very strict legal guidelines. Most people that call in to cancel do not truly understand the order, or what they agreed to as they did not listen to the Billing Supervisor entirely.

Customer Service Representatives will do everything in their power to keep the sales for the company. It's what we do. We don't tell you that it's impossible, we give you many, many different options to keep you happy with your order. And if it doesn't work we understand that the customer truly doesn't want the merchandise and not just that they are confused, and we cancel. Simple as pie.

I called the next day afteri signed up for the magazines and i was told it was impossible to cancel my account. There was no way to do this and i was stuck in it. Is that not breaking a federal law what you just did? secondly, i never recieved all my magazines. How is that legal. I never got my watch, never got my gas rebate, and i never got my electronic orgonizer. How is all of that legal. Your and the company you work for are a$$holes!!!

A few things about NME. First of all, if you get a mailing like that, common sense says you're going to get sold something.

Second, if you don't want anything, DON'T TELL THEM YOU WANT ANYTHING! And for Pete's sake, DON'T GIVE OUT YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER! Use a little common sense, people.

NME is a legitimate company. The sweepstakes is legitimate. There is a drawing and a winner every 2 years.

As far as cancellation goes, you do have 7 days to cancel. That is federal law. Beyond that, if local laws don't require a longer period of time, yes, you are stuck. And it is your own fault.

Quit blaming businesses for you being gullible!

The National Magazine Exchange is changing it's name to "New Times and Traditions", but usiing the same old tactics. Get the word out! I am not sure why this change is taking place, but would guess it is for legal reasons. The best thing you can do is to not call them when they send you anything, no matter what name they send it under. This company has recently cut the employee benefits and pay for all departments except management to the best of my knowledge. (another sign of trouble?) I have been there for more than a year, and would be happy to provide any information I can to those who have questions. The actual name of the company I work for is Special Data Processing, which handles the national magazine exchange business. When you call in to enter, they confirm your information (address, phone, etc.) and unless you specifically tell them not to, they will sell your information to anyone and everyone who will buy it. By calling THEM and giving them your information, you have helped them circumvent the national NO/CALL NO/MAIL registry.
The sweepstakes is real, but your chances of winning are so slim because of the amount of entries that are sent out.
Another thing that may be of interest to those who have legal knowledge, is that when someone tells the first representative they have a DEBIT card, that information is not passed on to the BILLING SUPERVISOR, so they treat it like a credit card, and bill it even though it may cause overdraft fees and wreck someone's checking account.

This type of assumption is allowed and encouraged by the company. Banks aggressively charge fees after allowing consumers to overdraw their accounts several times in order to charge them more fees. The N.M.E. knows it will be able to get money from a DEBIT card whether it is there or not, and cares little for the damage it does to the consumer. They tell CREDIT CARD customers who say their card is maxed out "if that is your only card, we can go ahead and take your card, all we do is submit the cahrge to your card company, they simply say yes or no. If they say yes, we process the payment, if they say no we will notify you by mail to make alternate payment arrangements." In fact if it doesn't approve that day, NME will run it for the next seven days to try and get money from it incase that person made a payment adn it posted. The amount of crap one has to wade throught with this company is tremendous, so it will be easier to answer questions if people post them here. Oh, the guy who started the company is named Bill HOOD, ironic isn't it?

The National Magazine Exchange is changing it's name to "New Times and Traditions", but usiing the same old tactics. Get the word out! I am not sure why this change is taking place, but would guess it is for legal reasons. The best thing you can do is to not call them when they send you anything, no matter what name they send it under. This company has recently cut the employee benefits and pay for all departments except management to the best of my knowledge. (another sign of trouble?) I have been there for more than a year, and would be happy to provide any information I can to those who have questions. The actual name of the company I work for is Special Data Processing, which handles the national magazine exchange business. When you call in to enter, they confirm your information (address, phone, etc.) and unless you specifically tell them not to, they will sell your information to anyone and everyone who will buy it. By calling THEM and giving them your information, you have helped them circumvent the national NO/CALL NO/MAIL registry.
The sweepstakes is real, but your chances of winning are so slim because of the amount of entries that are sent out.
Another thing that may be of interest to those who have legal knowledge, is that when someone tells the first representative they have a DEBIT card, that information is not passed on to the BILLING SUPERVISOR, so they treat it like a credit card, and bill it even though it may cause overdraft fees and wreck someone's checking account.

This type of assumption is allowed and encouraged by the company. Banks aggressively charge fees after allowing consumers to overdraw their accounts several times in order to charge them more fees. The N.M.E. knows it will be able to get money from a DEBIT card whether it is there or not, and cares little for the damage it does to the consumer. They tell CREDIT CARD customers who say their card is maxed out "if that is your only card, we can go ahead and take your card, all we do is submit the cahrge to your card company, they simply say yes or no. If they say yes, we process the payment, if they say no we will notify you by mail to make alternate payment arrangements." In fact if it doesn't approve that day, NME will run it for the next seven days to try and get money from it incase that person made a payment adn it posted. The amount of crap one has to wade throught with this company is tremendous, so it will be easier to answer questions if people post them here. Oh, the guy who started the company is named Bill HOOD, ironic isn't it?

The National Magazine Exchange is changing it's name to "New Times and Traditions", but usiing the same old tactics. Get the word out! I am not sure why this change is taking place, but would guess it is for legal reasons. The best thing you can do is to not call them when they send you anything, no matter what name they send it under. This company has recently cut the employee benefits and pay for all departments except management to the best of my knowledge. (another sign of trouble?) I have been there for more than a year, and would be happy to provide any information I can to those who have questions. The actual name of the company I work for is Special Data Processing, which handles the national magazine exchange business. When you call in to enter, they confirm your information (address, phone, etc.) and unless you specifically tell them not to, they will sell your information to anyone and everyone who will buy it. By calling THEM and giving them your information, you have helped them circumvent the national NO/CALL NO/MAIL registry.
The sweepstakes is real, but your chances of winning are so slim because of the amount of entries that are sent out.
Another thing that may be of interest to those who have legal knowledge, is that when someone tells the first representative they have a DEBIT card, that information is not passed on to the BILLING SUPERVISOR, so they treat it like a credit card, and bill it even though it may cause overdraft fees and wreck someone's checking account.

This type of assumption is allowed and encouraged by the company. Banks aggressively charge fees after allowing consumers to overdraw their accounts several times in order to charge them more fees. The N.M.E. knows it will be able to get money from a DEBIT card whether it is there or not, and cares little for the damage it does to the consumer. They tell CREDIT CARD customers who say their card is maxed out "if that is your only card, we can go ahead and take your card, all we do is submit the cahrge to your card company, they simply say yes or no. If they say yes, we process the payment, if they say no we will notify you by mail to make alternate payment arrangements." In fact if it doesn't approve that day, NME will run it for the next seven days to try and get money from it incase that person made a payment adn it posted. The amount of crap one has to wade throught with this company is tremendous, so it will be easier to answer questions if people post them here. Oh, the guy who started the company is named Bill HOOD, ironic isn't it?

I would be willing to bet that they will charge your credit card and keep charging it at will. I would call the 'customer service' number and inquire about the status of your account. If you did place an order, you will recieve a confirmation letter in about 5-7 days. What ever you do, don't sign that letter. Try calling your credit card provider to see what charges were recently placed on it. In the future, throw that S**T out, and tell everybody you know to do the same! I worked for them for about 4 months, until I got tired of tightening the screws on callers like you. I quit without even having another job to go to, but I really felt strongly about divorcing myself from those crumbs! It turns out, I now have two part-time jobs, and my combined income is twice as much as when I worked for those dirt bags.

I wish you all the best. Please pass the word about these criminals. Just as a side note, I have been investigating the history of this company, and I sincerely feel that the noose is closing around their scrawny little corporate necks!