Do the research before placing order with unfamiliar firm

Denise Welding, Amesbury

A. City Circulation Group of Charlottesville, Va., which runs the site, agreed to sort out the situation. The company came up with a story that didn’t match yours. It talked about a check instead of a credit card, and an order placed with the magazine and not with the site. It’s enough to make your head spin.

But Devon Lyon, the company’s compliance officer, said it has sorted it out and your subscription will run from September 2011 through August 2012. The current issue will be sent by mail.

As you found in your research, the company has faced an extremely large number of complaints. More than 1,100 have been documented over the past three years by the Better Business Bureau, which gives the company its lowest rating: F.

“We have had literally millions of customer contacts. No inquiries go unanswered, and our goal is to resolve every issue to the subscriber’s satisfaction,’’ Lyon said. “Unfortunately, many consumers do not take time to read the information about when they can expect their first issues, which is on the site, and located on the confirmation page and e-mail that the customer receives after order placement.’’

A competing site, Magazines.com, by comparison, has logged 36 BBB complaints in the same three-year period and is rated A+.

Even when a company does work to resolve its complaints, which is a noble goal, it pays to do a little homework (it only takes a few minutes) to ensure you’re dealing with a business with which you can feel comfortable.

Mitch Lipka is a nationally known consumer columnist and runs TheConsumerChronicle.com. He lives in Worcester. You can find him on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/MitchLipka. He can be reached at ConsumerNews@Aol.com.