You receive an unsolicited magazine in your mailbox stating that this is a trial offer. Or you send in a card for a free trial offer on a magazine, and when it arrives you decide you do not like it. It said “No obligation”, so you pitch the magazine in the trash and are surprised when a month later, another copy arrives with a bill. Ah!!… the fine print!! Might have looked at that more closely… There may have been instructions about writing to cancel if you did NOT want to continue receiving the magazine. The idea here is that you need to be proactive. Begin the process immediately to cancel the subscription. (You cannot wait until you have received six copies of the magazine and then try to cancel without paying). If you have a copy of the offer or sales agreement, read it carefully and follow any instruction for cancelling the order. Make sure to keep documentation (and copies if you can) of any correspondence.
At this point, immediately return the bill and write “Cancel Subscription” clearly across the bill. It would also help to include a note that you wanted a trial issue only and are not interested in the magazine, requesting them to cancel the offer. Most of the time, this will stop the order.
However if you get another copy, return everything unopened and mark very clearly on the outside, “Refused, return to sender- Cancel order immediately”. As long as you do not open the package, the post office will return it without having to pay return postage. If the first step did not work, this one should take care of it.
If you continue to receive a bill and magazine, I would call the company’s Customer Service number and make efforts to stop it that way. Document who you talked to in Customer Service as well as the date and time of the call. Explain to them what has happened so far. Mention that at this point you will consider any magazines received as gifts. By now they should be getting the point that you are not interested in their magazine.
You probably should not have to take it this far, but as a last resort if nothing else has worked, contact the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov or call 877-382-4357, and ask for help getting the company to stop billing you.
Sources: General life experiences and “Solve Your Money Troubles”, Nolo Publishing.
Joel Reimer Peer Counselor I Powercat Financial Counseling www.k-state.edu/pfc