mandpete

Back in February my daughter brought home a leaflet from school for the kids' magazine Highlights for Children. I sent the form back asking for 3 free copies to see if my daughter would like to have them delivered on a permanent basis. She didn't like the magazine so I never sent in the order for further copies. Each month HfC have sent me an order form with an invoice attached asking us to pay if we wanted further copies, I just threw them away.

OMG on Saturday I got a letter from a debt collection agency for $20.70 for non-payment of an invoice from Highlights for Children. This morning I called HfC and told them I was shocked at receiving a letter from a debt collection agency. The elderly lady on the phone told me I should have cancelled my order months ago and that she would clear my account straight away. I tried explaining that I couldn't cancel an order I had never placed. I asked her about the debt collection agency letter and she told me that it wasn't a real collection agency just another part of their own accounts department.

I was quite worried over the weekend about our precious credit rating being affected by the letter but in the end everything was OK.

anotherlimey

That's a scam used by many magazine publishers; FHM have used it in the past.

woodsey

We had the same thing happen last week with a publishing company, they were demanding $25 for something I couldn't remember ever receiving, they were saying it would be passed to a debt collection agency as well, I just rang them and said I'd no idea what it was for and they just cancelled it..makes you wonder just how many people pay.

USBound

we have a worse one ongoing right now.

Got a cold call from a travel agency place about a year ago. They were offering reduced plane ticket prices on regular journeys. At the time Jackie (my GF) was to be travelling to Austin and back with 2 kids every 2months (this has since changed.. long story). It was a 3month deal costing $49.99 at which point we'd review and take the yearly subscription if we wanted.
A month later the bumf arrived in the post. The deals were all crap (unless you travel first class that is) and essentially we'd wasted $49.99... I rang and cancelled .. thought nothing of it. This was mid august.

Around October time I noticed a charge on my account for $49.99. The ID was noticeably different to the parent company but key factors made me investigate further with the bank. They ID'd the company as the same company from August. I rang them and cancelled again asking for my money back. They apologised and said we'd receive a cheque in the post asap. Nothing arrived... Nov - more charges.. I rang again and filed fraud paperwork with BOFA and got my money back....

3months went by with no 49.99 charges.... then I happened to notice a random charge of 19.99 with a similar ID on the charge. I called Bofa again and they found charges in all the months I thought it had gone away. The ID was barred from charging my account.

THIS MONTH - a cheque went out... for 19.99.... apparently its a pre-authorised cheque. This company is now being purseued by BOFA as what they did was cheque fraud which is apparently far more illegal than simple fraudulent charges.

this matter is still not resolved and the advice from BOFA was... close the account.

neil

Never worry about letters like this from magazine publishers. It's standard practice to try and maintain their readership levels. There is a ceratin amount of time they'll try to get money from you and then they'll just give up. It's just an extension of asking you to renew your subscription, usually with a couple of friendly reminders that your subscription is about to expire and then notices telling you that you haven't paid. I always just ignore them.