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Publishers Clearing House (PCH)

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Publishers Clearing House (PCH)

1.7
pch.com

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Publishers Clearing House (PCH) Reviews Summary

Publishers Clearing House (PCH) has a rating of 1.7 stars from 607 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Publishers Clearing House (PCH) most frequently mention clearing house, customer service and gift card. Publishers Clearing House (PCH) ranks 12th among Sweepstakes sites.

service
81
value
80
shipping
72
returns
60
quality
82

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Michigan
1 review
18 helpful votes
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Ripoff
March 1, 2020

When I first started playing online, one of my scratch offs said $10,000 and then screen went blank and then said sorry we're having technical difficulties! Yeah, right!

Date of experience: March 1, 2020
Iowa
2 reviews
18 helpful votes
Follow MELISSA T.
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I have won approximately $300.00 playing the games which is very great, however I have become increasingly frustrated due to the fact that the link to enter the mega prize drawing works less than half the time.

Date of experience: March 1, 2020
Pennsylvania
1 review
15 helpful votes
Follow Richard D.
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I have entered to win for more then ten years and guess what never won even a dollar' Sure there may be small winners but for the big sweepstakes they will never give out the winning number so there will never be a big winner. Something else when they show the little winers have you ever seen then at a house out in the middle of no where or at someone's house that could really need the money no it is all ways at a very nice house with people that all ready look like they don't need it. So for someone to win big they have to give the winning number out first.

Date of experience: February 29, 2020
Georgia
1 review
19 helpful votes
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Scratch offs
March 1, 2020

They said theres no record and i have 20 scratch offs worth $. Then they say you have to wait until gateways over... well gateway 1300 is over!

Date of experience: February 29, 2020
Texas
2 reviews
35 helpful votes
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VERY disappointed
February 23, 2020

The app is a very unpleasant experience! Loading forever and then after. 6 or more minutes of "play" it tells me to check my. Internet connection. This happens in my house and at.other locations! I HATE your app. I buy all the time and then my submissions still dont go through! Are you crooks or. Something?

Date of experience: February 23, 2020
Wisconsin
1 review
17 helpful votes
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Waste of Time
February 20, 2020

Seven years hoping to win big and $10 is all I won. Why can't they shell out small and frequent monetary payments. All you get are tokens. I suppose it'll take me another 7 years to win another $10. They keep asking me to do searches just so they can spy on your browser and bombard you advertisements, not to mention if you order from PCH, they charge shipping and handling fee per item in one one single order, which makes you have pay a very high payment. PCH is just in the business of scamming you out of your money and wasting your time instead of giving you more than $10 fort years of being a loyal customer. That pretty much sums up a waste of my time.

Date of experience: February 20, 2020
California
1 review
30 helpful votes
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I have played multiple PCH sweeps and games recently. I am getting emails from PCH about orders that I have made. I called saying that I didn't order anything. They said that at the end of each contest, there is a cart and that you are liable for what is in the cart. I said that I didn't order anything so there should not be anything in my cart. They said that it didn't matter if I ordered anything, if there were items in the cart (added by them) I was responsible.

Date of experience: February 19, 2020
Arizona
1 review
23 helpful votes
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Cheap crab from china
February 3, 2020

I got their "free" gift that I paid only $5 for shipping it was a crap set of kitchen towels you can buy at the dollar store for a buck quit trying to rip us off

Date of experience: February 3, 2020
Pennsylvania
1 review
11 helpful votes
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Crap
January 23, 2020

Ive been with them since 2016, i deleted this app. For the overwhelming emails they send me, not only that i stop playing then 4 months i stopped theysend me a ten dollar check in the mail, i don't know how that happened but its a trap so me being the idiot i am i re downloaded it again a week ago wishing to win something big, and i check all the time winners and noticed no one and i mean no one has won in lancaster pa our population is over 300 thousand so what does that tell you, and now they got Steve Harvey saying $#*! legit he should work in a old folks home, chewing there food lollll now thats funny any who i fell for it again in now going to delete it again, i have a better chance at playing scratch off on pa lottery which have won at least 250 in a yr so don't take it from me who been playing since 2016 peace out pch and stop stressing people with all those email butt wipes.

Date of experience: January 23, 2020
Illinois
1 review
32 helpful votes
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Spam spam spam spam
January 17, 2020

Understanding that pch is advertised as a lottery having a slim to zero chance of winning, i gave it a try anyway.
WOW - has my phone been blown up with spam texts and email.
Keep in mind that everything you sign up for, you will eventually have to unsubscribe from if you want it to stop. & sometime unsubscribing DOES NOT WORK!

Date of experience: January 17, 2020
California
1 review
12 helpful votes
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Steer Clear of PCH
January 15, 2020

PCH is claiming I owe $111 in already paid for merchandise which is actually junk (all made in China), I have proof they are liars as I have check carbons and my bank statement which both prove they're lying - on my bank statement it clearly shows a debit from the checks I sent them that clearly show they deposited each into their greedy lying and scam filled accounts (debit has "PUBLISHERS CLEARING HOUSE" as the ones depositing those checks into their account). And they still threaten to send my account to collections! They do I can provide proof of their lies and their attempt will fail!

If you check them out on the BBB site you will notice they have a total of 451 complaints against them! With the most being for Problem with Products or Service (they mostly sell junk made in China and Customer Service is a joke) with 160 followed by Billing/Collection almost tied at 159 then at 103 Advertising/Sales and next to last 24 for Delivery Issues (people have had trouble their either with Magazine subscriptions or receiving things they never ordered or being billed for already paid for products, that either were paid in full or final payment paid a month or two before), dead last is Guarantee/Warranty at 5! That should tell you something right there!

Product/Service Issues
Billing/Collection
Advertising/Sales
Delivery Issues
Guarantee/Warranty

And yes, all you have to do is Google Reviews for Publishers Clearing House and almost all of them are complaints that include all of the above! Best advice I can give is avoid PCH at all costs! They may be legitimate but at the same time may as well be a scam because they sure operate like one!

Date of experience: January 14, 2020
New York
1 review
10 helpful votes
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I slaved for PCH for over 4 months all I got from them was only a $10.00 check + $10.00 on Amazon, not even on reward I kept on claiming them, I never received anything, I even finished the 12th buttons, very soon I am going to start a petition so the world will know the real truth about them. They are all very sneaky, they forced you to make purchases before you know it you will owe a lot of money on your credit card. Now they can look for their mother, father and family to enter these craps for them on their system stop believing in them, this is my first try, next will be the social media. They need to be stop they cannot even pay $2,500.00 per week now they are offering $5,000.00 week. This Congratulations that's you will get that it.

Date of experience: January 13, 2020
California
2 reviews
7 helpful votes
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Honest Review PCH.com
January 12, 2020

I have been playing PCH.com for a few years now and I have NEVER been forced to buy anything, in fact I have never purchased anything from them ever.

I am on PCH every day playing my games for free, entering sweepstakes, searching, lotto, scratchers and I am a elite vip.

Today Jan 1,2020 I got a email from PCH saying congratulations I was a winner. I won $10.00 and to watch for it in the mail.
Thank you PCH.com I was so happy when I spotted the letter in my inbox. I give PCH 5 stars actually 10 if allowed...

Date of experience: January 10, 2020
Massachusetts
2 reviews
9 helpful votes
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PCH continues to disregard their own regulations regarding cheating and fairness in their games. They are complicitous in felonious theft. Despite photos verifying the impossible on a supposedly random site revealing that the same players when two or three times per week, PCH continues to allow this cheating. I wish I knew the cheater's multiple WAYS of cheating. What Is most odd about this, is that PCH continues to cut 500 550 checks to the same people. You would think they would notice this. PCH you are sleeping on the job or you were getting kickbacks!
IT IS plumb DISGUSTING. U do not even deserve a one star.

+13
Date of experience: January 10, 2020
Washington
1 review
6 helpful votes
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Really sucks trying
December 24, 2019

1993 I've tried so many times to win buy buy buy they say your so close and down the street if you don't mail your entry they will win you have not bought any thing you need a customer stadus oh dontforget you will never win I've purchased many thing sss you will never win oh you will win really I've tried, we have have 100 winners from Oregon and not love the bull$#*! shipping charges I've been a customer from 1993 it LL BREAKES DOWN THE 2ND TIME YOU USE THE PRODUCT IT BREAKS OR PLEASE MAKE AN ORDER OR YOU WILL LOSE YOUR VIP IVE NEVERUSE THE TOKENS AND THEY KEEP TELLING ME YOUR A LOSER YEAR AFTER YEAR IVE WAITED ALL DAY AND NBC SAYS
WINNER THEY BOUGHT MORE THAN ME COSCO IS CHEAPER MY WIFE THINKS IM A FOOL

Date of experience: December 23, 2019
Texas
103 reviews
548 helpful votes
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Take Action Against PCH
December 22, 2019
Updated review

This is an update on PCH. I spent some time today looking over people's reviews of PCH-and I got again disgusted by their scam and fraudulent practices. I myself mentioned that I wished there was a Class Action Lawsuit we could enter against PCH. Many others also mentioned that. Today I tried to do something. On Google I entered "contact whitehouse". I got a website called "Whitehouse.gov". You can either email the President or a Federal Agency. I emailed Federal Agency and put in "Attorney General" or "Whatever Department Deals with Fraud" and explained what's been happening with PCH.
MAYBE NOTHING WILL COME OF IT. That's probably what will happen.
But, on the other hand, if enough of us who are totally disgusted with what PCH is doing will also use "whitehouse.gov" to complain about PCH and ask for an investigation, MAYBE something will be done. There are over 400 of us who have major complaints against PCH on this site alone. MAYBE WE CAN MAKE SOME CHANGES.

Date of experience: December 22, 2019

Update- Now PCH says I owe them money!
March 21, 2019
Previous review

I despise PCH and I wish I had never tried to enter. It started out as an email with no sign of PCH, saying I was chosen to win a $100 gift certificate from Walmart or someplace else by filling out a survey. This trick led to entering PCH. After all the turmoil i described above, now PCH's controller keeps writing me emails saying I owe money for some item I supposedly purchased from them. First, when you first start entering PCH, you are forced to buy 4 items, which are all cheap garbage from China. You have to give your credit card number in order to get this crap. Why I ever ordered anything is beyond me. But the thing is I HAD TO GIVE MY CC NUMBER IN ORDER TO GET THIS JUNK. So for the past couple months, I've been getting emails saying I owe money on an item. Which item it is is not described. And why they accuse me of not paying, when I had to give my CC number for anything I ordered, has to be a scam. I've replied over and over that I owe nothing and please stop bugging me. I called Customer Service one evening and actually got through. I asked to speak to this company controller so I could question him about my alleged bill. The Customer Service Rep was trying to find a supervisor to help me when I had to leave for an appointment. I am going to call back tomorrow.
I believe this is another scam aimed towards senior citizens in order to scare us into giving PCH money we don't owe. I'm a senior citizen, but I'm not all that dumb, except that I entered PCH's fraudulent contest. That was Uber dumb. Never again will I ever open any PCH email.

Date of experience: March 20, 2019

I'd like to give this a MINUS ONE TRILLION!
December 22, 2018
Previous review

This has to be the MOST DESPICABLE SITE on the whole of the Internet, and that's saying a lot. I remember the days when I'd only get Publisher's Clearing House snail mail. Those WERE the good old days. I got started with PCH this time by a phony scammy announcement that I had been chosen for a $100 Walmart card. Yeah, right- IF I FILLED OUT A SURVEY. The survey led me to the PCH site. From there, you have to pick 3 or 4 things to "try out", meaning BUY. But they don't tell you there are several pages of these items, so I ended up buying junk I didn't need or want from the first page. (OK, IM AN IDIOT).
However, that's only the start. To make a truly long story short, here is a recap:
1. You never truly know where or IF you really entered the sweepstakes for their contest. I BELIEVE THIS PART MAKE PCH A TRUE SCAM. That's the main point, and they know this because-
2. You get so many emails every single day, every day telling you that you didn't finish your entry yet and will miss out on winning because you didn't finish your application.
3. So you try to "FINISH YOUR APPLICATION" and have to waste huge amounts of time watching ads from sponsors so you can play scratch-off games to get tokens to add up for some unknown reason which is never explained, STILL NOT KNOWING IF YOU ACTUALLY ENTERED THE SWEEPSTAKES.
4. Your email gets filled up constantly, driving you half mad.
5. Then come the "SEARCH" emails, which make you search a category they provide you, such as Cable carriers, Senior Living, In-Home Care. You can't just highlight the category, you have to type it in. Then NOTHING HAPPENS. You are STILL wondering if you actually entered the sweepstakes.
6.5 minutes after nothing happens after you put in a Search item, something happens, and happens and happens. Your phone rings many times. You get calls from agents representing whatever search item you put in. These agents call from everywhere, and they call often. I just picked a search item because PCH told me to, not because I wanted anything.
7. Still, you keep getting numerous emails every day telling you that you didn't complete your contest entry!
TO SUMMARIZE: I am still not sure whether I actually have an entry to win anything from PCH, but at this point, I TOTALLY DESPISE PCH AND ITS SCAM LIKE, TIME WASTING, MONEY WASTING, GRUESOME, AWFUL INVASIVE TACTICS!
I'm unsubscribing from PCH!
Go back to the days where we got to pick a few magazines to order.
This whole PCH thing disgusts me and it seems to prey on elderly desperate people (like me).

Date of experience: December 21, 2018
Georgia
1 review
7 helpful votes
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I wonder if my claims are being deleted due to not purchasing, responding to too many claim or forfeit notices

Date of experience: December 9, 2019
New York
1 review
17 helpful votes
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I have been playing (I admit it becomes addicting) but I have come to the conclusion that no one actually wins, I believe the people shown are either paid actors or compensated for what they are saying. I won 5 bucks on the level up wheel never to receive it. I do enjoy the games but on the PCH app there are too few good ones. Also the apps work horribly more than they should period. If this is truly not a very big scam then I would like to see substantial truth. Funny how all the winners look sooo good and live in really nice homes, that just doesn't pass the smell test as they say. I would appreciate my 5 bucks I won but I guess that was just a scam... I do enjoy playing the games but I don't think there are actual winner's ie. Who won that car?, Or that beautiful million dollar home or even the $500,000. Dollar one? I am truly curious and would be honored to meet an actual winner. For now I am trying to cut down on the time I waste playing these games. Thank You, Sincerely Elizabeth M. Also please beware of their ads if you look up some of the things advertised they themselves are scams like the thing that reduces electric usage or even that robot mopping and vacuuming machine advertised under two or three different names? PCH should be checking their ads for scams but when they appear to be one why would they?

Date of experience: November 30, 2019
Washington
1 review
4 helpful votes
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I have bought a few items from PCH. I have returned a few of those items with no real problem other than the cost of shipping. I enter most of their sweepstakes. Several sweepstakes could not be processed for entry due to reasons that are probable due to either their tecnoolgy issues, my technology issues, or my computer systems. I simply choose not to enter the ones I cannot enter and go on to the next one. Have I ever won? No. Do I actually expect to win. Not really, although I do hold on to a slight glimmer of hope since it costs me nothing but time and I don't give it much of that. Bottom line: since I haven't lost and do stand a extremely small chance of winning I figure why not try, as long as I have the time. And I wish you good luck!

Date of experience: November 29, 2019
California
1 review
7 helpful votes
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I enjoy the dream idea of it. Love games THAT I CAN GET TO LOAD.
However after years. YEARS of playing I've not won one thing other than tokens and I played everyday for the SEVERAL hours you have to due to insanely long ads of which there are these long $#*! ads to even return to lobby. Its really to time consuming.
I'm a very lucky person. So I have to wonder if this is even a real REAL thing. I've bought stuff but will never again because I want to win sometimes to. Its to bad they dont let one use tokens to opt out of ads. Then I'd feel like a winner and it's worth the time for a happy dream at least. Crazy wacky site that causes a burn out give up feeling which sucks when we all just start thinking how get it would be to win pch. The knock at my door. Thx. Bye ya'all

Date of experience: November 27, 2019