CountryWide Periodicals
Complaint 341291 Details

One day I got a random phone call that a friend entered my name in a contest to win a substantial amount of money and a watch. At the time I was a full time college student, no job. The thought of money and paying tuition all at once was all I needed. They offered me a magazine subscription so I could be entered, I told them I was not interested since I really only read one magazine which I'm still subscribed too this day. I was explained how it worked, i received a letter with a list of magazines I could get and a piece of paper to sign for the watch...I got a really bad vibe about how everything went down to the new sales girl who spoke way to fast and switched me back and forth with her supervisor. They wanted to see if I had any kind of card whether it was credit or debit; also said I would not be charged for anything since I was not getting a subscription. So I stupidly gave them my information and I was instantly charged for $35 somewhere around much. I did not notice until the next day when I got a email from my bank when my card was over drawn. By then my account went -$65 because of the additional fees and I had to file about my card being charged without my permission, canceled my old card and got new one in a few days. I was re-credit the amount that was stolen from me. Since then I get about 5 calls starting from 8-9 a.m during class time. That they could not charge my card, I told them I didn't want their magazines and I could not afford the monthly payments, especially something they never sent me from the first charge. The representative would huff and puff, getting frustrated over the phone and would just hang up on me. This happened for a couple of months; I decided then to block the numbers they called from. I got more frequent phone calls, voicemails that I owed over $800. I was scared, I didn't know what to do...so I kept ignoring them....I picked up one day and they tried to offer me a deal that I only had to pay $137 to them and that was it. Again I was still in college and told him no, blocked more phone numbers...more voicemails...then I started seeing different area codes outside of Montana. Calls from a collections agency, saying I owe $87. At that point I just hung up...more calls, as expected. But now the voicemails were just empty..Now to this day July 9 I get maybe about 3 calls a day but now in a New York area code. Still saying I owe money and it has been 3 years blocking numbers, feeling paranoid to a number I did not know showing up. I never filed about anything, or who to turn to. I thought if it was serious I would have been taken to court by now...Does not make sense to this day to pay for something I never wanted or received, being harassed by their fake collections agency. I have tried to cancel within those 3 days, they demanded proof and the date of which I still kept a screen shot of just in case anything happened in the near future, as well as what happened to my bank account. On another note they called themselves western periodicals instead of countrywide, but in my bank account it was charged as countrywide periodicals. If anything does happen can I sue them for harassing me or them charging my account without my permission? They even threatened me since our conversations were recorded...