How to cancel a subscription with Mountain Area Communications
So, you have found yourself paying for magazines that you don’t really want, you’ve received a gift certificate for a thousand bucks to a website that has nothing but junk, and now you want to cancel your subscription with Mountain Area Communications… but can’t. Don’t give up, there is hope yet.
In order to escape the clutches of Mountain Area Communications you must write them a letter. Yes, it is that simple, though very few of their employees will tell you that (some will, if you are nice). Write a letter kindly explaining that you would like to cancel your subscription and send it to Mountain Area Communications, P.O. Box 738, Sneedville, TN 37869. This address may change, so I would recommend giving them a call to verify it. I also recommend paying the extra couple of bucks for some sort of delivery confirmation, just in case.
Next, call 866-640-9631 and tell them you would like to cancel. This is a service called Benefits that Mountain Area Communications probably signed you up for, and you are being charged $34.95 a month for it!
Now, check your statements daily and jump all over anything that looks out of place. You probably won’t have any problems, but never assume. Good luck, and godspeed!
My daughter ended up getting involved with this company. I did not know about it until the second month of her ‘subscription’ when this company double charged her account for the monthly payment. This caused her account to go negative, and have 8 overdraft fees. When we called the bank, they said the company if definitely fraud, and to contact them to advise they have to pay the fees. We spoke with Paige, who was very rude, and told us we would have to speak to Cindy the next day. But, Cindy is only available for 6 hours a day… B.S.!!! I called back and was transfered to Jacqueline. She apologized but said that my daughter authorized a double payment, which was complete crap. She then said they would refund the duplicate charge, but that the bank would be responsible for all the overdraft fees when they realize it was an error. We called the bank, and they said MAC would be responsible as they caused the negative balance to begin with. I called Jacqueline back, and she asked why my daughter continued to use her card, and I told her flat out she was within her rights to use her card for funds she thought were available to her. She asked what bank it was, and when I told her Wells Fargo, she said to fax a copy to her so they can dispute it with the bank, because, according to her, they have had numerous issues with Wells Fargo paying back overdraft fees. We did send the fax, along with a nice letter advising they have 14 days to issue payment. If they refused to do so, they need to provide a letter stating why, as we would need to include that with our complaints to the BBB and the MN Attorney General. We received a call the next day stating they were issuing a check as they just don’t feel like arguing with the bank. Funny thing… That is exactly what the bank said they would tell us!!! They also stated my daughter could cancel with a $500 fee as she agreed to the terms of cancelation. I asked to see it in writing. She stated they have her on tape verbally agreeing. Verbal agreements are not valid in all states. When I advised her of that fact, she said because they are located in TN, my daughter goes by their laws. Absolutely not true. When this company does business in another state, they have to abide by that states laws. They agreed to cancel the subscription for two monthly payments of $49.99. We told them we will call them when the refund check is received. We have no intentions of paying them the cancelation fee. Our bank advised if they did turn it over to collections to dispute it with the fact that due to the problems they caused in her account, they should be able to waive the two $49.99 a month cancellation fee! I will be posting negative feedback about this company where ever I can. I am writing to the BBB, and the MN Atty. General. I urge anyone who has had issues with them to do the same thing. Get your State Atty. General involved!!! This company needs to be shut down for good!
My daughter is a new college freshman and I have noticed these charges on her account. Is this company targeting young people and if so what type of advertising are they using? Is closing this account the best course of action.
Thanks
I don’t think that they are specifically targeting young people, but I can see how the prospect of winning a gift card for hundreds of dollars could be much more enticing to a younger person. To the best of my knowledge they don’t advertise, but call direct. I haven’t been able to find any information about where they get their call list, but you should ask your daughter if she has signed up to win anything online. Some online games and contests collect information like names and phone numbers to sell. If Mountain Area Communications purchased a list with your daughters name on it they could have called her and set everything up.
The blog post above gives some information about writing a letter to cancel the subscription. I would call them at whatever number is showing up on the statements first to see if you can cancel over the phone. They will probably not allow that, so ask for the company address. It may be different from the one in this post, since it is easy to change a P.O. box. Keep a copy of the letter you send and get some sort of confirmation from the post office, just in case. This should take care of everything, but you can also close the bank/credit card account and open a new one for added safety. Make sure you wait until after you have sent the letter, though, so there aren’t problems with “missed payments” and collection agencies.
Once they have the letter they should cancel the account. Then it’s up to you if you want to call them up to try for the money that has already been paid. That battle could get expensive if you need to get a lawyer involved, and may not be worth it in the end. Good luck, and let me know how it goes.
I work as a route driver for a commercial laundry. Three or four days ago while driving to make a delivery I got a call from Mountain Area Communications. I couldn’t hear them very well on my work cell phone and had to pull over on the side of the road. They said I had been chosen for a thousand dollar shopping spree. In order to get my shopping spree I had to order some magazines whitch I really didn’t want but a shopping spree for a thousand dollars sounded pretty good since it was getting close to christmas. I explained to them that I couldn’t afford any money money taken out of my account right now because all I had was 40 something left in the bank to buy gas to get to work and I was trying to save for Christmas. They informed me that they would not take anything out until I got my papers in the mail and filled them out and sent them back. The next day I was on my way to work and started to run out of gas. I pulled over to a gas station and tried to use my card to get gas and my card wouldn’t work. I called the bank and they said my card was over drawn. Mountain Area communications had taken the $49.90 out of my account and caused me to have a negative balance. i had to call my daughter to bring me some gas so I could get to and from work for a few days. I called Mountain Area Communications back and told them what happpened and they said they would fax my main bank and have them take off the $49.90. Mountain Area Communications told me that the money would be put back on as soon as my bank got the fax. The fee was never put back on my account.
What kind of info should i write in the letter. I just don’t want them to say no because i didn’t put in the right info