Most of your message is not even worth replying to because it wouldn't be for your edification....in other words, I'm not looking to start an argument with you.
I am looking to inform you that it isn't an absolute that Americans are dumb. I may be gullible, and I may want to believe that people who call me and tell me that they are checking to see if my magazines are coming in (and that they are essentially the exact same company that I am already subscribed with) that they are telling the truth.
Fraudulent business practices that people fall into don't necessarily reveal those peoples' intelligence levels to be low. I am a recent college graduate majoring in Cross-Cultural Studies and minoring in Philosophy, Youth Ministry, and TESOL. I'm not an idiot, plain and simple. Not saying I'm a genius either...but my point is, fraudulent business practices reveal the hearts of those working in a company and the heart of the company itself, not the intelligence of (or lack thereof) of its victims.
Additionally, your voice verification means nothing to me for a number of reasons. 1: The voice recording information could be changed--I mean, a person answers yes to virtually every question, it wouldn't be difficult to make it sound as though they were saying yes to something completely different; 2: In my case, I wasn't allowed to NOT confirm after it had been recorded and I didn't want to go through with it (and they already had my information after recording the first time); 3: If you don't understand the terms they still refuse to explain them with any degree of clarity that would even begin to benefit any human on this planet; 4: they lied about the terms in the first place by claiming to be something they weren't, nullifying the agreement and the purpose of the agreement.
I was duped because they LIED to me, not because I'm stupid for believing them when they pulled up my card information, address, and "my" magazine information.
As for the letter, I received mine AFTER this cancellation period you mentioned. But you know what's odd about that? It wouldn't have mattered if I had actually received it on time anyway, because everyone that I spoke to claimed that it wasn't possible to cancel the order---ever---regardless of whether or not it fell within a specific time frame.
Also, MC's website claims: "We will cancel your order and refund your account per your request." So what's the problem? I spoke with probably 3 different people who apparently haven't gotten the memo.
What's more, albeit on a completely different vein, your company doesn't know the meaning of customer service. When a supervisor refuses to give me information about their boss and refuses to give me a website, phone number, time to call (whether a day or a range)....and then hangs up on me, there's a problem. When someone tells me that they actually will send out information about a company and doesn't, there's a problem. When 166+ people have virtually the same complaint about a company, it's probably legitimate.
Even if all Americans WERE stupid (hypothetically), it still seems suspicious that they all seem to have the same problem under just about the same circumstances. And...that hypothetical is ridiculous. More plausible--ignorance about the ways that magazine companies like yours deceive, threaten, harass, and exploit their potential customers. Also plausible: some people weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. But 166? Thousands? Percentage of likelihood is dropping quickly.
I received a call from another number: 406-852-8229. They called themselves Magazine Connection when they called my husband and I on August 21, 2010 at 1p.m.
There is a real "Magazine Connection" company in Colorado. It's real number is 303-623-3199 and they would greatly appreciate anyone who is scammed/attempted to be scammed by the above numbers to please call them with all pertinent information so that they can persue their own investigation and prosecution of the people falsely using their company name. I spoke with a supervisor named Amy. I also verified that they were a "real" company using the BBB website before I called them and gave them the information I had.
The same thing happened to me today. They were VERY nice and polite, but clearly there was something fishy. All of my magazines are paid for by someone else for my business. I told them this and they finally hung up on me. I did call the number of Magazine Connection listed above (303-623-3199), but they acted like I was crazy. Never give out any info. They wanted to know my age, if I used a credit or debit when eating out, etc.