Subscription Woes • Big Sky Periodicals • Big Sky Responds • Diversified Marketing • Magazine Source --- News • Direct Sales International to Pay $7 Million • Negative Option Marketing: When No Means Yes

This company has trifled with the law once too often. In March 2002 it was hit with a $39 million penalty for contempt of court. Jason of Jamestown, NY, writes:
Last year I was contacted by a representative of DMS over the phone who wanted to sell me a "deal" in which I would receeve subscriptions to 6 magazines of my choice. I do not recall the conversation entirely, but I am told that it has been recorded. I agreed to their proposition under the impression that it would incur a small financial burden, and be easily cancelled if I were dissatisfied.

After one attempt to have the service (i.e. the magazine subscriptions and consequential billings) cancelled, I was told that the service was prepaid and could not be cancelled. Recently, the charges to my credit card have reduced my available credit to less than their monthly bill, and they contacted me to resolve the matter. I informed them again that the billings (approx. $50 per month) were too much of a financial burden, and that is why my credit card had insufficient available balance. Again, I expressed a desire to cancel my subscriptions. They informed me that the publishers had been prepaid and the subscriptions could not be cancelled (although the subscriptions could be changed, which I'm inclined to beleive would require a cancellation itself).

I asked where I had given explicit written consent to such a binding contract, and they informed me that I had given verbal consent during the initial recorded telephone conversation. I believe neither that my subscriptions (and their billings) cannot be cancelled, nor that I was legally brought into this contract. I would like to see this matter resolved and prevent other consumers from being duped into the same situation.

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Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.