Subco Kafkaesque web of unsolicited magazine subscription dealers Fresno California

We started receiving US Magazine in the mail without having ever ordered it. We figured it was some promotional thing or a mistake that would go away after a while. But after a month or two, I logged on to US Magazine's website and discovered that in fact they had set up an account for us with an active subscription on file. Yet there was no payment method attached to the account! We checked our bank account and debit card, but no charges in the supposed amount due for the subscription had been made.

So I contacted US Magazine via email. They said, "oh, your subscription is through a third party, Subco, you'll need to contact them directly." 

OK, on to Subco. I wrote them an email, and got no response (shocker), so I called them up and waited on hold. After about fifteen minutes I chose the option to receive a callback. Hilariously, their callback came about 1 minute later. I listened to the callback message for about ten seconds before the other end hung up on me :)

So I called back again and waited on hold for twenty more minutes. Finally, a pleasant-sounding young woman answered my call, looked up my address and said, "oh yes, you have a subscription, it's through a third party, it's U.S. Subscriptions" or something like that. Notice a pattern? I'm sure if I called up US Subscriptions they'd tell me the offer came through a third party, I need to contact them. 

Anyway the woman at Subco agreed to cancel my subscription. She did tell me that it was part of a promotion and therefore our issues were unbilled. Which makes sense since we never gave them a credit or debit card. Finally, as other posters have commented, she did inform me that because the "labels" are "preprinted," that I might continue to receive a few more issues. When I reminded her that the magazines do not have labels, but addresses are printed DIRECTLY ONTO THE MAGAZINE COVER, she invited me to "Have a great day." 

As far as I can tell, their scam is on one level that of the drug pusher's: they give you a taste for free, and then hope you get "hooked" on the product. But on another level, I am quite sure that they expect to scare unsavvy and/or elderly users into paying for the subscription when the trial period ends, claiming that it is "due." This is exactly the kind of ripoff that my 84-year-old mom falls prey to.

I can't believe this company has been doing this for TEN YEARS and is still in business.