Is MagazineCity.com a scam?

MagazineCity Scammers or Angels? You Decide.

In the last ten years there has been an explosion in web sites offering discounts on magazine subscriptions.

The business model is obvious. Sell subs and get a margin when you hand them on to publishers.

But using a middle man in the process leaves customers more open to fraud or just bad service as their payment disappears between pillar and post.

MagazineCity sells subs to US magazines and may be totally legit. But its handling of a recent complaint by IT consultant Martin Brampton leaves a lot to be desired: no mags, refunding problems, agent blaming the publisher.

It's all a bit dodgy if you ask me.

Why is it that middle men often think they have a right to hold onto your money when their trading partner fails to deliver the goods?

In short it took him six months to get things resolved. Would a reputable company put a customer through that?

Full story here:

http://blog.guru-php.com/2008/08/magazinecitycom-a-fraud/

Postscript: Eventually Martin got a refund, but only after complaining to the Better Business Bureaux (a sort of US Citizens Advice for business problems). The comments after his story suggest that MagazineCity has plenty of other unhappy customers.

If you type in 'Magazinecity Scam" into Google you see hundreds more warnings:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=magazinecity+scam&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that good discounts online from unknown brands CANNOT be trusted. I am not having a go at new entrants but simply saying that online selling without significant branding presence is being totally discredited by those who exploit the willingness of consumers to 'give it a try'.

As I highlighted in 2006, with the case of Vistaprint (Google "Vistaprint Scam" to see my story) it is all too easy to create websites that give the impression of trust, dependability, and friendliness and then to run some scam behind the scenes.

The beauty (from the point of view of the perpetrator) of these types of online scams is that if someone hollers loud enough you can refund them and get them off your case. Only the mountain of comment on the internet tells the real story because print publishers are loathe to cover these stories because they are so hard to investigate fully.

Comments

[E.A. Ennis]

I ordered a childrens' magazine for my nephew as his Christmas gift for delivery in 2009. As if March 16, 2009 none have been delivered to his Canadian address. Today's attempt to contact Magazine City has been futile to say the least. I had no notion that I should have GOOGLED the site to check for complaints but see this would have been a good plan...who knew! OIt has been an expensive and herartbreaking lesson for both me and my nephew.

Be warned....do not use this site for your subsricption needs.

[karim marouf]

Yes, Magazine City is a scam. They took $200 from me and I never got my mags. I tried calling, emailing, etc. and never got an answer. Does this constitute mail fraud? Should Icontact the post office? Please email me at karimmarouf@yahoo.com

[Clare Harding]

It never occurred to me that it was a scam (OK I am naive!) But I ordered a magazine for $40 for my daughter's late Christmas present and she still hasn't had a single magazine. Thank goodness the other mags I ordered were from another company. What can we do about this?

[Erin]

I ordered a magazine a year ago and still have not recieved it. The first time I called the rep on the phone appologized and said the order never went through and offered me a free magazine as compensation. A few months later, I still didn't recieve it, and was told that I would be refunded by Aug 28th. I still have not recieved the refund and now I can't get through via phone, the online customer service isn't working and they are ignoring my emails! Errrr

[CHW]

I placed an order on Magazine City for Scientific American as a birthday gift for my dad... back in august. Still have not received a single issue. Emailed them twice, no response. Called them many times... on hold more than 10 min each time, still no response. Called Scientific American, found out that they have no record of my delivery address or any record whatsoever. Now that I'm aware of the numerous customer complaints, I'm shocked this company is still in operation.