Consolidated Media Services is a ripoff: they mislead & take advantage of customers. Atlanta, Georgia

I got a call from a company saying that I have won a diamond watch in the sweepstakes. I was excited. They told me that I would also get some free magazines, but I would also have to subscribe to some additional magazines. Because I didn't want to be rude, I listened to her highly insistent sales pitch. Even after I told her I wasn't interested, she continued and emphasized that I could get this complementary watch certificate by ordering the magazines, then cancel them before having to pay and keep the watch.

She made it seem like a way to get something for free. She was polite and it seemed harmless, so I hesitantly agreed. I gave her the information to process the order (i.e. credit card and address information). Soon after, I called and told the account representative that I would like canceling the subscription, even though I had not received the certificate for the watch. However, the representative told me that I could not cancel and a binding contract was in effect.

I pleaded with her and she said that I owed over $580 dollars on the account. At that time she told me that my credit card was already debited for two payments of around $56 dollars. I was outraged because I had not received a single magazine. I was unemployed at the time and told her that I could not pay; that there must have been some misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the product sold. She said the best that she could do for me was to reduce my payments and remove my account from the credit card. I thought that there was nothing I could do. I was contacted by a CMS representative demanding payment. By that time I had started to receive some of the magazines.

I told them that I hadn't even received any paperwork or contracts concerning this alleged agreement and that I wouldn't have knowingly signed up for six hundred dollars (approx.) worth of magazines. I don't even read magazines; I was in it for the watch! I told them again to please cancel my subscription or whatever contract they alleged I had made. I told them that wanted to see or hear this alleged verbal contract because it must have been misrepresented or I didn't fully understand the terms. Regardless of which is the case, I want out! Can you help me?

P.S. I have still have not received the recording nor the watch!

Tameka
Albany, New York