Does anybody know anything about the Readers Service?

So I got a call the other day on my cell phone. It was actually the third time this call came in, but with no number, just "Call" displayed. When they finally got me on the phone (Wednesday night), this guy (very nice, but it's part of his job) wanted to wish me 'Congratulations' on being selected to enter the $100,000 grand prize drawing on May 1 or 31 or something. He said he was located in Phoenix and was from the 'Readers' Service' however, I didn't learn that until I got a second calll.

Basically he kept me on the line for 10 minutes and said he would give me Car and Driver, Men's Fitness, and 3 other magazines of my choice, Spin, Rolling Stone, and ESPN all for $3.36 a week.

Oh, and he said I've already won a "men's or women's Geneva diamond watch," my choice. I was told this by the second guy who called to confirm and wanted my credit card number. He tried calling a few times and I either didn't pick up or did something ingeniously this morning -- I said he woke me up from a nap...at 9:30 AM. Sad thing is he bought it. But then I told him to call back since it was a crazy night and I didn't know where my wallet was (slightly partially true).

The thing was, I'm 99.999% sure it's a scam, but it almost didn't sound like it was. The other thing is they claimed I was contacted because I was a 'preferred customer' of Visa, Mastercard, or Discover.

Well, I do have a Visa in my name linked to the parents' account at the home address, but they contacted me through my cell phone. I can't imagine how or when or why I would have anything with my home address with my cell number as opposed to the house number or address down in Miami.

So can anybody advise me as to whether or not I should buy into the scam or tell them to f*** off?

 

I'm ALWAYS in a ****ty mood in the morning; this is my spring break and today was the earliest I've gotten up all week. Sad. Truly sad.

The only other detail he gave me was that I can "change magazine subscriptions to different magazines anytime I like". Still not worth it. I didn't add up how much it would have been, but I figured it would liekly be in the hundreds at that price...for 48 months!

Chances are it's a decent watch, but a.) I never use one since there's a clock on my cell and b.) the "$3.36 a week" really goes toward the payment of the watch considering (as many of us know from our free subscriptions of Spin, Maxim, Stuff, or others; thanks again for whoever sent those links) publishing companies get their $$$ from ads and will give away free subscriptions to increase numbers in order to get more $$$ from companies wanting to sell products in them.

Thanks for the advice y'all! Now the question is, should I lead him on just for fun as long as I can? I'm going to see if they will persist in calling me for another week or so.

Now what would you tell the guy?

 

UPDATE!

So they JUST called again, but instead of calling my cell, they reached my dorm phone...not exactly sure how. Must've been when I signed up for that fake ID...wait, what?


Anyway, so a woman tells me I am a "preferred customer" for using a Visa, Mastercard, or Discover card and I am entered in a contest to win a $100,000 grand prize drawing and as a special bonus, a smaller, $25,000 drawing PLUS a Jeep Liberty! I'd rather have a Geo than a Liberty!

So here goes the conversation:

WOMAN: What type of credit card are you using?
ME: MasterCard (I don't own a MasterCard)
WOMAN: And what year were you born?
ME: 1983 (Also a lie)
WOMAN: Well I'm here to let you know that you've automatically won a men's Geneva watch with a real diamond on the 12 --
ME: [Interrupting] I'm sorry, did you say Neil Diamond?!?!?! I LOVE (also a lie) Neil Diamond!
WOMAN: [Nervous chuckle] No sir, a real diamond watch --
ME: So do you have one of these watches?
WOMAN: Unfortunately sir I'm not as lucky as you and I'm not a preferred customer.
ME: Well considering I'm a college student, if I'm a preferred customer, how the **** aren't you? Why don't you just steal the watches if they're free? I'm sure you would make more money if you sold them on ebay rather than sitting down all day and calling people. Oh, I guess your manager wouldn't like that.
WOMAN: [Realizing the conversation is recorded she quickly goes back on topic] Anyway sir, I'm here to offer you the free watch and your choice of magazines (random list of magazines) for only $3.45 a week.
ME: Uh huh, and for how many weeks is this?
WOMAN: It's 60 months.
ME: Wait, 60 weeks or 60 MONTHS?
WOMAN: 60 months sir.
ME: [knowing the price was ridiculously expensive, I had my calculator tool ready to figure out the final price] Umm, okay so you're telling me that I get a FREE watch and ALL THOSE magazines for only $828? I mean wow, that's kind of expensive, but damn, I'm so glad I'm getting a free watch out of it!
WOMAN: I'm not sure how much it is sir, I don't have a calculator in front of me --
ME: Oh I do. Yeah, I've got $828 right on my screen.
WOMAN: Well you can change your subscriptions to any of the other magazines at any time during the 60-month period.
ME: So let me get this straight; you're saying that I get all of those magazines and a FREE Neil Diamond watch for only $828? That's amazing and it sounds fantastic and I'm not being sarcastic at all.
WOMAN: [Nervous mini-laugh, followed by brief pause] So sir, are you still interested in the magazines?
ME: Hell no.
WOMAN: [Noticably pissed off] Well sir you have a good --

END CALL

That should be the end of that.

 

Okay, so I'm definitely not a math major or anything, but tell me why what I got is wrong -- oh I figured it out.

I did 3.45 x (60x4) = $828 (Assuming every month had exactly 4 weeks; son of a b****).

Appreciate it, but competing for "best" [stand-up] comedian on the board while sitting at my computer is like competing for Ms. Wheelchair.

You know, I thought about this, but then I realized that I enjoy wasting their time more since my time is absolutely worthless. For instance, I'm writing a reply on an internet message board when I have a full 5-page essay revision due in, oooh, 6 hours.

---

One of my favorite moments while talking to a telemarketer/operator is:

CONVERSATION
Automated message: This call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance.
Operator: Hi sir, how may I help you today?
Me: SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! [in very low voice] They're listening to us.

The operator will either find it funny or the stupidest thing ever; the latter is more often the case if the operator is an ESL.

 

Most likely yes; 60 months multiplied by 4 (~weeks per month) is how I arrived at what I got.