I'm printing my "No Soliciting" sign right now...
July 13, 2009 2:05 PM   Subscribe

OK, did I just get scammed? I just bought a magazine subscription from a door-to-door salesperson.

A young woman, probably in her early-to-mid twenties, just sold me a 2-year magazine subscription for $50. She's going door-to-door in the neighborhood, as part of a fundraising thing for a job training program for ex-felons which involves points and commissions and promotions. You get the picture. She was genuinely nice, and pregnant to boot. Looked like some of my neighbors had signed up for subscriptions too.

The program is called Step-Up, Inc, and of course I can find very little about it online. How can I find out if it's legit? I didn't see a listing on the BBB. I'm tempted to cancel my check, but if this is on the up and up, and she was being as honest as it seemed she was, I would feel bad.

(Also, I had no idea what category to choose for this...)
posted by missuswayne to Society & Culture (37 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I've gotten suckered into that a couple of times. At least once I never actually got the mags, but at least once I did get exactly what I ordered. Was it the cheapest route? Dunno, but for the order that actually got filled, I didn't feel particularly scammed.

It tends to be sort of high-pressure sales, though, which I don't love.
posted by restless_nomad at 2:07 PM on July 13, 2009


I'd cancel the check if I were you.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 2:11 PM on July 13, 2009 [1 favorite]


There's tons of scam alerts about door-to-door magazine subscription sales and a couple of good articles about how the kids doing the sales are horribly mistreated. Just take a look at some of the links from this google search.
posted by amarynth at 2:11 PM on July 13, 2009


It is possible that the woman at your door didn't know she was part of an organization that is running the scam.

I've been told that the parent company overcharges for the magazines by suggesting that that you are contributing to some charitable organization or cause (keeping teens out of trouble, providing training to folks who have a hard time getting a job), but they actually keep all the extra profit and underpay/exploit their workers.

I don't mean to alarm you or over-react but this site , which I found via Google, suggests some of that, but also (more frightening) that your home may be being targeted for a future burglary or similar. Googling door-to-door magazine sales brings up a lot of similar sites.
posted by juliplease at 2:16 PM on July 13, 2009


I did this once, and promptly canceled it because it seemed fishy. Look on the back of your receipt and you should have instructions on how to cancel. It won't be easy--you'll probably have to Fed-Ex a letter to the right office to get it canceled within the 3-day window--but it does work.

Also, check out this site:

http://www.travelingsalescrews.info
posted by magstheaxe at 2:16 PM on July 13, 2009


Agreed that the sales things are usually pretty skeevy. I'd cancel the check.

The individual door-to-door sellers can be cool people though. I got one a few months back who was selling some sort of organic cleaning fluid. We wound up hanging out in my kitchen, drinking blueberry tea, petting my dog, and talking about the inauguration.
posted by cmyk at 2:21 PM on July 13, 2009


Are you referring to something like this?
Check with local government, which will vary from the city up to the state level depending where you are. The search term "legitimate charitable organizations" yields like a million results, so put your state, then county, then maybe even city in the search.
posted by nj_subgenius at 2:26 PM on July 13, 2009


Scam. Mine was for a multi-year subscription. Cancel the check.
posted by jadepearl at 2:28 PM on July 13, 2009


FYI ... check out these previous FPPs about door-to-door magazine subscription sales:
That kid at your door with a magazine order form will tell you a story -- part sad, part hopeful.

Subscriptions for Disaster.
posted by ericb at 2:28 PM on July 13, 2009


Scam. I'd also watch your accounts and other identity theft prone areas closely for awhile depending on how much information (bank account number, full name, etc.) they now have from your check.
posted by meerkatty at 2:32 PM on July 13, 2009


Response by poster: Shit. I was really hoping that this was legit. She was really nice.
posted by missuswayne at 2:37 PM on July 13, 2009


Scam.

Who cares if she was nice? Still a sketchy operation.
posted by dfriedman at 2:46 PM on July 13, 2009


Read this.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:47 PM on July 13, 2009 [1 favorite]


The woman I bought subscriptions from was really nice too -- my guess is they just don't know the details of the organization they're "working" for... cancel the check. I don't buy anything at the door anymore, unless it's girl scout cookies from my neighbor's kids.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 2:51 PM on July 13, 2009


Happened to me when I was a teenager, I bought a magazine subscription that I never received. The 'receipt' I got looked official and had a phone number on it which told you to leave a message. By the time I realized no one was ever going to return my call, the check had been cashed. Luckily enough it wasn't that expensive, maybe like 12 dollars.
posted by SassHat at 2:54 PM on July 13, 2009


Or maybe they do know, per mudpuppie, and are just liars. Yikes.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 2:55 PM on July 13, 2009


I got a subscription from one of those kids. The subscription actually came through, though it was delayed by about four months. So one anecdote that they aren't all scammers. They're just a little... flexible with the truth.
posted by lekvar at 3:12 PM on July 13, 2009


I'm sure you've gathered that now, but for the future: just don't respond to any solicitation at your door, period - commercial, religious, social whatever. Doesn't matter how deserving the cause, what they want and what line they're peddling. Just don't. Don't even open the door. I use a speaker, and all I say is: "Not interested". Don't open the door, don't engage them whatsoever. Same goes for phone solicitation. Total boycott, no exceptions.
posted by VikingSword at 3:15 PM on July 13, 2009 [2 favorites]


Scam.

When someone comes to my door, I inform them of my policy to never, ever buy anything from door-to-door salesfolk. (Girl Scout Cookies? We buy them from neighbors we know.)

When someone calls my phone to sell me something or beg for donations, I tell them that we never ever purchase or donate anything by phone, no matter how wonderful the opportunity.

These two policies make it easy for me to avoid all kinds of scams, even the ones that are designed to play on your guilt.
posted by mikewas at 3:24 PM on July 13, 2009


To contradict VikingSword a bit, the Census 2010 is going on right now. Not everyone who comes to your door is involved in some scam.
posted by girlmightlive at 3:37 PM on July 13, 2009


Same thing happened to me (for fruit instead of a magazine subscription, and band camp for poor kids instead of felons). He was also supremely nice. I was also a dolt and now have a "no money at the door" policy, ever, period, sorry.
posted by barnone at 3:41 PM on July 13, 2009


Response by poster: My check was for $50. To cancel it will cost $30 (thanks, Sovereign). Live and learn.
posted by missuswayne at 3:45 PM on July 13, 2009


To contradict VikingSword a bit, the Census 2010 is going on right now. Not everyone who comes to your door is involved in some scam.

Nor did I claim everyone soliciting at your door is a scammer. My policy applies regardless of the scam status. Do not solicit at my door for any purpose whatsoever - that encompasses the good, the bad, and the ugly... everything. That way, I don't waste time trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. I do my charitable giving after doing my research, on my own, without anyone standing around - same for purchases, services and so on. No exceptions. Door stays shut, phone goes to voicemail, junkmail and flyers thrown out, spam, chain letters, get instantly deleted etc. I find it greatly simplifies life and makes my use of time more efficient. Give "noise" the zero tolerance treatment.
posted by VikingSword at 4:01 PM on July 13, 2009 [1 favorite]


We bought a two-year subscription - similar deal. But we got the magazine (are still getting the magazine). It did take a while to process. It was also a sob story, though. So far (touch wood), no negative repercussions. Again, they don't all seem to be sob stories.
posted by clarkstonian at 4:12 PM on July 13, 2009


Response by poster: WCityMike - Yeah, I saw that, but the Step-Up Inc that I talked to today is in S.C.

Maybe it's another chapter or something, but it sounds like the same organization.
posted by missuswayne at 4:56 PM on July 13, 2009


i did this once. got a few different subscriptions. lost the bank account a couple months later, still received the magazines for something like 4 years at no charge.
posted by nadawi at 5:03 PM on July 13, 2009


I have bought magazine subscriptions from door-to-door salespeople and received the magazines with zero problems. The legit vendors generally have flyers with detailed information about the orders and a contact number for resolving issues.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:04 PM on July 13, 2009


I bought 3 years of Maxim (I know, I know, I was 23 at the time) from one these guys for something like $30. It wasn't a scam, but I didn't start getting the mags for almost three years! By the time Maxim started showing up, I had grown up and I also had a subscription to Harper's. So, the total douchebaggery of Maxim is canceled out by the intelligent commentary of Harper's. Sometimes they come on the same day :-)
posted by sideshow at 6:23 PM on July 13, 2009


The subscription actually came through, though it was delayed by about four months.

I've had legit subscriptions take that long. It's like they don't actually want subscribers.
posted by smackfu at 6:51 PM on July 13, 2009


WCityMike: Missuswayne, this appears to be the website of the company your visitor claimed to be from. That doesn't necessarily mean they're not scammers, but it's a jump-off point for more information, presumably.

Well, the thing is: this isn't a ‘scam,’ per se. mudpuppie's link is very useful in describing what's really going on. My experience, and my conclusion after reading other accounts, is that these outfits operate something like sweatshops or drug-running gangs; you're likely to get your magazines, since they have to do that, and it doesn't really cost them much anyhow. As far as I can tell, there are a few people out there who use this ruse as a cover to stake out potential burglaries, but I don't think that's really a common practice among these crews. At most, the only thing you're likely to be ‘scammed’ on is being convinced that these kids are actually from around your neighborhood or going to college next year.

The real tragedy of these things is the conditions these kids face and the awful shit they tend to get into when drifting around with these crews: not enough money, not enough food, crime, drugs, violence, etc. It galls me no end that these crews take names like “Step-Up Inc.”—as an emblem of their ruse, that ‘We're helping these poor folks out! We give them a job and get them out of the ghetto! If not for us, what would happen to them?’ Bullshit. To invoke the Frank Zappa curse: I hope that their shit comes to life and kisses them. Kids in those situations do need medical help, financial help, and some general supports; but the last way to give that to them is to send them galavanting off across the country with a bunch of strung-out losers who drive them like a chain gang and push them to sell paltry magazine subscriptions with lies and pretenses, all the while subjecting them to all sorts of crime, abuse, and maltreatment.

No one should ever support such an industry; in fact, there are those of us who feel as though it ought to be regulated all to hell, but for some reason the idea still hasn't gained any traction.
posted by koeselitz at 6:59 PM on July 13, 2009


cmyk: The individual door-to-door sellers can be cool people though. I got one a few months back who was selling some sort of organic cleaning fluid. We wound up hanging out in my kitchen, drinking blueberry tea, petting my dog, and talking about the inauguration.

Would that, by chance, be ADVANAGE, The WONDER CLEANER™? I had those people come by, too—I'm in Denver, Colorado. The teenaged girl who hit us up for stuff succeeded, mostly because my wife really got on well with her; but personally I couldn't help but be a little depressed by the whole thing; we met her down the block and brought her back up and into our house to hang out a bit, during which time she let it slip that this was her first sale in two weeks, and that we were really doing her a favor. When I thought about this in the context of what I was sure were their working and travelling conditions, it just made me very sad.
posted by koeselitz at 7:12 PM on July 13, 2009


Just turned away a very nice young man on Friday. He gave a spiel about trying to earn money for a college trip and media internship. I let him ramble on for a little bit because his story just kept getting weirder and weirder. He told me that he was the son of a neighbor a few streets over and mentioned her name (I live in the city and didn't know her, but nothing unusual there.) Then he said that he was trying to earn points by talking to strangers for a communications program that he was a part of and that he was very shy when he was growing up. Ooookay...

The clincher was when he told me that he signed up to do an internship with the BBC and that he was hoping to do his project with John Cleese, but John Cleese died two weeks ago.

"John Cleese is not dead," I said.

Yes, he is, he insisted. They're just keeping it a secret. For some reason. He didn't know why.

Then he whipped out the brochure with the magazines. I declined, citing my agreement with my husband that we never buy anything door-to-door without getting buy-in from each other. But if he wanted to drop by in a hour, my husband would be home. Not too long to wait since his mom lived so close.

As I closed the door, I caught a glimpse of him looking down the street at the row of houses along the block, looking deflated. I felt badly until I thought of the John Cleese thing, which I knew was a complete lie. BECAUSE IT NEVER APPEARED ON METAFILTER.

Two days later, I caught up on my podcasts of The Story and realized that Metafilter had saved me from a member of a pretty infamous magazine crew.

So, um, rock on Mefi.
posted by jeanmari at 9:16 PM on July 13, 2009 [2 favorites]


If you're getting the subscription for a reasonable rate and it actually shows up, then not a scam. But I would be surprised if you're actually getting it for less than you could elsewhere.

Plus, what are you going to do with 40 subscriptions to Vibe?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 10:06 PM on July 13, 2009 [3 favorites]


Wow, I had a kid tell me the same story about the BBC media internship, only without John Cleese. He seemed pretty genuine, and so I bought one just to help out... A couple hours later, I went online and realized how overpriced the subscription was – they said that $10 of the price went toward removing you from junk mail lists (?!). The receipt for the magazine subscription gave very, very clear instructions about how to cancel it if you decided (within three days) that you didn't actually want it, so I immediately sent out the cancellation, and they mailed me back my check a few days later. So, in my experience anyway, the company was shady, but they let me cancel without any hassle.
posted by relucent at 5:51 AM on July 14, 2009


Even this sign doesn't stop them all. But it's been the most successful so far.
posted by cairnish at 8:26 AM on July 14, 2009


Response by poster: I just called and canceled my order - we'll see if I actually get a refund or not.

I hate feeling distrustful and cynical about this.
posted by missuswayne at 12:11 PM on July 14, 2009


I subscribed to a couple of magazines from a young girl who came by about five years ago. I didn't need them (Rolling Stone, some food mag), but I was feeling generous that day and she was totally nonthreatening.

The magazines began arriving a couple of months later, and there were no problems afterward. I canceled them when I began receiving renewal notices, but never noticed any problems on my bank account or elsewhere. Just my $0.02.
posted by vickyverky at 1:19 PM on July 14, 2009


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