Thomas says:

Just wanted to shoot you guys and gals a quick note on how I am an idiot and hopefully others don't make my mistake. I was under the impression that the monthly charge of $7.99 for Xbox Live service would roll into a year once I hit a total of $50 in charges.

I was wrong. Dead wrong. Over the past year and a half I have paid $143.82 for Xbox Live. Almost the price for THREE FULL YEARS of service.

When I noticed this I called their support and asked why they don't just roll it into a year once a user hits the $50 mark, both representatives I spoke with said the exact same thing "You are signed up for a reoccurring monthly payment of $7.99" and could not comprehend why I would ask such a question... I guess as a naive consumer I am expecting to much from a company to give me the best bang for my buck automatically.

I accept full responsibility for this situation and hope others avoid this.

-Thomas

Oh dear, that really sucks. At least you learned a valuable lesson (check your bank statements) and are trying to help others avoid your fate.

Reader Karen says:

Yesterday, I got the mail and in there was a renewal form for my Wired subscription. I figured I must be getting towards the end and grabbed my checkbook (Yes, I still write checks). I looked at the price, $48, and thought to myself that Wired must've raised their prices due to the economy. As I was about to write the check, I remembered that in the past I had made the check out to "Wired"...

Suspicion kicked in and I turned the form over. Sure enough, this wasn't Wired themselves, but someone trying to become a middle-man between me and Wired.

I like to think of myself as a pretty savvy consumer so it was pretty sobering to almost "fall for it". I guess I let my guard down.

Thanks for the heads up, Karen. We're sure you're not the only savvy consumer to almost fall for this sort of shady marketing. Their business counts on it! Oh, and we checked. 2 years of Wired does not cost $48.

Anthony writes:

Called both Blockbuster and PayPal this morning and of course one pointed the finger at the other for the double subscription charge. So here I am with two charges and no way to resolve the issue since Blockbuster does not see both charges in their system and PayPal says I need to contact Blockbuster for resolution.

[Note: we edited the above screenshot for space, but we did not remove any figures.]

Has anyone else had this problem with Blockbuster's PayPal account agreement? It's a small amount in this case, but that's only because Anthony's plan is the cheapest Blockbuster offers; they charged him the full subscription fee both times.

New York Magazine pulled from their files the subscription card that authorized the subscription to New York Magazine (shown at the top of the post). The postcard was received on 11/19/2007. The card was sent to Keith's house by first-class, meaning it should have gone directly to them.

Tova Abrahmov, New York magazine's Retention Director, wrote via email, "Once the order was placed on the file, we then mail out seven invoices over a seven-month period asking for payment before threatening any collection agency action."

Keith says he got the invoices. What is unclear to me," he wrote, "is why I had a responsibility to respond to them at all. If neither of us initiated the "free trial", there can be no foundation for a claim that we are responsible for canceling a non-request for your magazine."

"I can not say with 100% certainty that she is the person who dropped that postcard in the mailbox," said Abrahmov, "...[w]e cannot guarantee that your wife is the one who "authorized" this order or mailed the order back to us (versus someone else in your household or even a neighbor, for argument's sake)..."

Keith wrote, "The proof that NY Mag sent was a blank postcard with two options (neither of which was checked) and no name or address on the card. Is this a joke?"

New York Mag was highly apologetic and canceled the subscription and waived all charges.

Then, two weeks after the parties finished corresponding, Keith and Stacy received another message in the mail from New York Mag. It was a letter thanking them for renewing their subscription.
After being notified of the error, New York Magazine's Retention Director expressed her deep sorrow, writing, "In requesting a copy of the original piece of mail through our fulfillment company, a clerical error led to it being processed again and treated as a new order. Needless to say, this order is being removed immediately."

PREVIOUSLY: UPDATED: NYMag: Collections Threatened For Sub You Think You Never Ordered

Has anyone else ever gotten a debt collection notice for a magazine they never ordered or received?

In response to this post, New York Mag's Communications Manager, Lauren Starke, said, "[T]he invoice in question was for a valid renewal order made for the magazine (which has since been cancelled through customer service and the subscriber won’t receive further invoices). I know it’s easy to lose track of everything one orders...Based on the name and zip code our circulation department was able to locate this customer's account. In this case, the specific code on the account was from a renewal offer that was mailed to her and mailed back to us."

We asked Keith for a followup response to see if there was any way his wife had somehow forgotten that she sent in a renewal, or if they even had ordered NYMag in the past at all. He says, "My wife says that when she signed up for a website www.vault.com, she started to received New York Magazine. They never charged her for it (and we barely glanced at it). When I called them (NY Mag) yesterday (shortly before I e-mailed you) the representative said (in no uncertain terms) that the subscription was made through an affiliate (no doubt, vault.com). To be clear, she has never, ever, not even once ordered or paid for a New York Magazine (subscription or otherwise)."

Hi, I just read your article about Hollywood Video's policies and most of it is flat out not true.  It sounds like whoever wrote in initially has a particularly evil district manager who is instituting his own policies.

1. Store level employees covering at other stores: This is pretty much retail chain standard, especially in chains with a small number of employees per store.  Hollywood video will reimburse mileage, you just need to fill out a form.  As far as write ups for refusing, must just be that district, it's not policy.  

2. As far as the quotas go, yes and no.  At hire all employees are told that offering these things are "must see behaviors".  They can, and will, fire you for not offering.  There are quotas for Playguard percentage (somewhere in the range of 1.5% for employees, and 5% total for the store, off the top of my head), though employees can't be fired simply for failing to meet the number.  (You can't /make/ people buy stuff)  Store Managers /can/ be fired if their store fails to meet the target two periods in a row.  

3. There is no policy that prevents employees from telling people the money from Playguard does not go to charity.  I will admit it is pretty shady to just stop donating the money however.  

4. Employees can't remove late fees?  Weird, I did it this morning. This may be a policy local to a district if it was getting out of hand.  My best guess anyway.  

5. After 12 days the late fee does go to a separate screen, this has been true for a long time.  It's not to frustrate and confuse people however, and employees see both screens when an account gets pulled up, so if a customer is confused it's solely the fault of an incompetent employee.  The reason for the two screens is that after twelve days, only the store manager (or assistant) can remove or alter the late fee (IE you better have a good reason for being so late).  

6. Receipts don't print for cash transactions that only have rentals or concessions on them.  This is just to save paper.  An employee can print one if it's asked for.  

7. The EW thing never went away, they just stopped requiring employees to push it.  They're actively promoting it again. There's no "silence is acceptance" however, and we need to scan your credit card (an additional time) to activate the offer.

The conditions described by the previous tipster must be local, because I don't deal with anything like it.  I'd advise he go over his DM and talk to someone at corporate.

RELATED
"Is Hollywood Video Bringing Back "Silence Is Acceptance" Magazine Subscriptions?"
(Photo: Sister72)

Two years ago I purchased items for my grandchildren at KidsStuff.com. This month (March 2008) I found an $18.00 charge from them on my American Express card. I phoned the accounting department and asked what the charge was for. I was told that it was an "automatic" charge for "joining" the KidsStuff "club." Of course, I never placed an order to join any such club. The accounting department offered to reverse the charge to be effective in five days. I demanded a reversal show up by tomorrow and promised to advertise their automatic charges everywhere I could. Believe me, I am a big internet purchaser and this sort of rip-off shouldn't happen, especially after not having been on the site for over two years. The obvious lesson is to be sure you always go over every single charge on those credit cards. Those small $18 charges can add up to big money for unscrupulous companies.

C, we suggest you take a look at your AmEx statement from a year ago and see whether or not there's an $18 charge then, too. According to the KidsStuff.com website, you'll get a "free" three month trial with your first order, and then get charged $18 a year—so you may have been unwittingly paying for this "membership" for a while now.

Q: How Can I join?
A: When you place your first order, sign up for your FREE Three Month trial. You'll get the reduced club prices for every item on your first order and for every order you place for the next three months.

Q: What does it cost me to join?
A: As a first time Customer, you receive a FREE three month trial. After that, it is only $18.00 per year for these great savings. At the end of the three month free trial, we'll automatically charge the membership fee unless you tell us otherwise. If you forget to tell us and notice the charge on your credit card bill, just give us a call and we will cancel your membership immediately. We will also issue you a full refund as long as it is within 90 days of being charged.

While searching for bank to open up my first checking and savings account, I decided to take WaMu up on its much-advertised free checking account offer. Unfortunately, that decision left me with a $5 monthly fee.

For some unknown reason, when I first opened up my account at a local WaMu branch a week and a half ago I was also simultaneously enrolled in the "Plus Package" program. I'm not sure if it's standard practice for bank representatives to enroll new customers in the program, but it's certainly an interesting twist on "free" accounts.

Within days of opening my account I noticed a $5 debit while reviewing my information online. The description read "PLUS PACKAGE MEMBERSHIP," which made it pretty easy to find out what was going on. I soon learned about all the fantastic benefits of membership from a terse entry on WaMu's website, including discounts on hotel accommodations and eyewear. No thanks

I went back to my local branch last Saturday and explained that I never consented to enrolling in the program and never received any information about it. The representative was very understanding and un-enrolled me from the program and refunded the $5. She speculated that the mistake may have been because they used to enroll people in the program for a free trial, a promotion which has since ceased. However, I would have also guessed that the old promotion at least included telling customers about the program — ya know, about the fees and benefits. Apparently not.

Unfortunately, I've also found out that there is a $10 early termination fee for leaving the program within 120 days of enrolling in it, so now I've gone from being out $5 to being out $10 for my new free account. I wrote an online message to customer service about the mix-up and a representative responded that there was "no bank error" and I would not be refunded. I've sent another message back in hopes of clarifying the situation and am awaiting a reply.

So far this has been a mediocre start to our new relationship. Way to go WaMu!

I was originally enrolled in this program without my knowledge and went back to my local bank less than a week after opening my account to un-enroll from the Plus Package program. The initial $5 monthly fee has since been refunded to my account but now I need this early termination fee to be refunded as well.

Thank you.

Dear Michael [redacted]:

Thank you for your email.

Washington Mutual takes responsibility for bank errors and will work with customers to resolve issues arising from those errors. Your concern has been researched, and as no bank error was found, the fee cannot be refunded.

I regret any inconvenience this may cause you.

(Photo:bookish in north park)

Last December I placed an order at art.com for a framed print which I intended to give as a Christmas present. I placed the order well within art.com's recommended time frame for delivery in time for christmas. During the order they promised delivery by December 17th. Well, as you may guess December 17th came and went with no package (they shipped it on the 15th via DHL.) December 24th came and went with no package. DHL finally delivered it on the 26th after I had been forced to go out and purchase another gift to replace the one that had not arrived.

In the end I let it slide. I had no desire to deal with telephone customer service the week after Christmas to get my shipping money refunded from art.com. I had better things to do with my vacation time.

This week I come home and find an issue of "Working Mother" magazine in my mailbox. Thinking it was delivered by mistake to my box I check the address label. To my surprise I find that it is addressed to me. Having all the correct Male parts it is anatomically impossible for me to be a working mother so I was puzzled as to how I ended up with this subscription. I refused delivery of the magazine by writing "refused" on the label and leaving it in my mailbox with the flag up. Next I visited their website and put in an inquiry via an online form. Surprisingly they got back to me very quickly. The verdict? Art.com had signed me up for a complimentary subscription for one year. I certainly don't remember clicking anything during my order with them indicating that I might be interested in 12 issues of a magazine that I will throw directly into the trash every month. If I did leave a box checked or something it must not have been very conspicuous because I usually catch stuff like that.

Working Mother magazine canceled my "subscription" in response to my message to them.

As a postal customer I'm bombarded with a pile of junk mail every month. Shame on art.com for adding this mountain of waste.

Brian

Here are the new rates:

• PREMIER™ $104.99/mo.;
• LO MÁXIMO™ $104.99/mo.;
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• PLUS DVR™ $62.99/mo.;
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• FAMILIAR ULTRA™ $54.99/mo.;
• CHOICE™ $52.99/mo.;
• FAMILIAR™ $45.99/mo.;
• PREFERRED CHOICE™ $32.99/mo.;
• SELECT $45.99/mo.
  

DirecTV's email to customers:

Effective February 27, 2008, the monthly price of some DIRECTV® programming packages will change.

Please click here (PDF) for pricing information in English and Spanish.

[...]

For seven years running, DIRECTV has had higher customer satisfaction ratings than cable, thanks to loyal customers like you. Thank you for your business.

Sincerely,
DIRECTV, Inc.

Q1 2007 and Historical ACSI Scores [American Customer Satisfaction Index]
(Photo: cmorran123)

I'm currently out of town on a long business trip, and my wife told me about a somewhat disturbing thing that happened.

While I've been gone, I started receiving issues of Entertainment Weekly (which neither I nor my wife have any interest in reading). The label had my name on it, so it wasn't a matter of us getting someone else's magazine. My wife, who is rather wary of such things, called up EW and asked what was going on. The EW employee with whom she spoke told her that Hollywood Video had run a promotion, where customers received eight free issues of EW. The next logical question, of course, was "what happens after those eight issues?"

My wife was told that unless the customer canceled, they would be billed for a one-year subscription of EW. Now, I had never heard of the promotion, and never would have agreed to receive the free issues in the first place even if they had been offered to me. I don't know whether this has happened to anybody else, or whether this is an isolated incident, but I thought it might be worth sending in.

Thanks,
Ammon

My wife recently set up an account at the local Hollywood Video branch. We haven't had this membership two weeks and today I got what looked like an advertisement from Entertainment Weekly Magazine in the mail. It was a glossy post card that I almost threw away. Instead I read it and noticed that it was a notice about my "subscription" to Entertainment Weekly and it had a Hollywood Video logo on the front of it.

Apparently when my wife signed up for the video rental account they automatically (as in without asking her permission) signed her up for a subscription to Entertainment Weekly. The notice I received said we would be getting 8 free issues and then they would bill our credit card $29.95 under the Automatic Renewal program if she didn't cancel. I wondered how they would bill a credit card number they didn't have so I went to the website they pointed me to, http://ww.ew.com/customerservice and logged in with the account number on the post card. Sure enough there was my credit card number and an outstanding balance of $29.95. I quickly canceled my "account" with EW.

I can't believe Hollywood Video would be so bold as to hand over my credit card number to another company without even asking first. If this isn't dirty I don't know what is.

Thought you guys might like to know.

Stephen

Has this happened to anyone else? Please tell us about it at tips@consumerist.com. Put "Hollywood Video" in the subject.

(Photo:Sister72)

DSI... either directly or through its dealers failed to disclose or misled consumers about the cost of magazine packages and individual magazines, and made weekly cost representations even though consumers could not make weekly payments for the packages.

[It also failed to] tell consumers that their credit cards would be billed for membership in a buying club unless they called within 30 days to cancel, and its failure to provide consumers with information that would enable them to cancel.

"Court Affirms Ruling: Magazine Seller Will Pay More Than $7 Million" [Federal Trade Commission]
(Photo: Getty)

The current plan calls for offering three magazines for $4.95 a month, five magazines for $7.95 a month or seven magazines for $9.95 a month — with about 20% of the available magazines priced at a premium.

"You pay by credit card and get charged every month until you tell us to stop," Mr. Wolfe said. "If you want to switch at any point, you can switch off Newsweek for Time or something like that. You go online and make these changes. It's a solution that really addresses more of what consumers want, which is control and flexibility."

Maghound: a Netflix for Magazines? [AdvertisingAge]
(Photo: emdot)

A loyal Howard Stern fan, Marc followed Stern to Sirius in January of 2006. He bought a $500 lifetime subscription—which, like Tivo's old "lifetime" subscriptions, refers more to the lifespan of the devices than to your own. Still, Marc quickly grew to love what Sirius has to offer, and bought additional products, each with their own monthly subscriptions. He was and is, in short, the perfect customer. And then the credit card number they had on file expired, and Sirius canceled all of his accounts at the same time.

The nice Sirius customer service agent explains that my entire account has been closed. All four service plans. But, there is Good News, because she can turn my radios back on. When I get home, I find that none of the home radios are working. I also get an email confirming a $399 purchase of another lifetime subscription. And, I can not log into my account.

What surprises us most about this is how little regard Sirius has for someone who's clearly an ideal customer: loyal, an advocate of the product, does repeat business. Why ruin that? Shouldn't their customer management software be flashing a big red alarm at Sirius HQ right about now?

Sirius' corporate number is 212-584-5100, and their President of Sales & Operations is James E. Meyer. We suggest you "kick this up to Corporate" on your side and stop waiting for their day-to-day reps to deal with it. Also check out our "Be a Customer Service Ninja" post on how to seek executive-level assistance when customer service falls short.

Read this if you are thinking about buying a Sirius Lifetime Subscription [Sirius Canceled My Lifetime]

The guy at the counter told me that I had to show a driver's license and major credit card (perfectly reasonable), pay a $10 dollar fee (a bit much, but acceptable) and sign up for their Netflix ripoff, Blockbuster Online. Wait, what? I told him that I didn't want to sign up for Blockbuster Online, and he refused to let me start a membership without signing up. And of course I couldn't rent movies without a membership, so I was forced to leave without my movies.

I don't want to sign up for Blockbuster Online. I know I wouldn't use the service enough to justify the monthly fee. I know that canceling is likely to be difficult-if the company's this obnoxious about forcing you to sign up, they'll be at least as obnoxious about trying to keep you from leaving.

Blockbusted [Whose Faulty Vision]
(Photo: Maulleigh)

Of course I am all giddy because they have made an error right? Well, to my surprise they didn't. The guy on the phone is looking at my bill and tells me that most of the charges are from third parties. I'm like wtf? He says that although I may have unlimited text messages, the texts I am sending and receiving carry additional charges. Basically when I send a text to get my horoscope, they are registering me for some subscription for $29.99. I've sent out hundreds of those texts you see on tv. Now I'm pissed. moreso at these companies that don't tell you that you are being charged so much to get a fricken joke or something everyday. I tell the guy that I have unlimited texts and I should be able to send and receive all I want based on my text message plan.

Third party text packages advertisements can be spotted a mile away, screaming: "Text 'purple monkey dishwasher' to 5555 for your free ABBA ringtone, NOW!"

It's not Nextel's fault that people are gullible, but cellphone companies could help more. Currently, customers either get all text-messages, or none. By allowing users to block certain senders, and only allowing third-party vendors to pass along the charges for messages received, confusions like Treysdad's could be avoided.

Always read the fine print, and stay away from "text now!" services.... especially if purple monkey dishwashers are involved. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

I Just Got A $7,000 Cell Phone Bill [Tampa Forums (Thanks to Carlo!)]

Being a Consumerist reader, he gave back as good as he got, and then some.

Their delicate pas de deux, inside. — BEN POPKEN

Car and Driver sent Jim this:

PAYMENT PAST DUE

Dear Jim Ounn:

Frankly, I'm surprised.

Although we have sent you two invoices we have not yet received your $12.00 Car and Driver renewal payment.

If there is a problem with your order, please use the reverse side of this form to let us know. I'll see that the problem is resolved right away.

At your request, we have extended your current subscription by 15 issues. So please send us your check today. That way you won't miss even one exciting issue of Car and Driver.

Sincerely,

Kurt Trumbour

For Car and Driver

Jim wrote back:

Car and Driver
P.O. Box 51132
Boulder, CO 80322-1132

Dear Kurt Trumbour:

Frankly, I'm surprised.

Although I haven't sent you any indication that I wanted to extend my subscription to Car and Driver, you send me a pseudo-dun for a payment, slugged PAYMENT PAST DUE in big, "embarrass the daddy in front of the kids" type at the head of the letter.

I'm surprised that a big organization like Hachette Fillipacchi Media thinks this type of strong-arm tactic is the best way to get and retain customers. Granted, my piddling little subscription barely pays the morning latte straw bill for just one of the HFM VP's, but evidently, it's a significant enough amount that you felt compelled to send me a snotty letter and address a 43-year-old man in the tone you would a teenager who'd been caught getting the correct spelling of "vulva" from his next-chair neighbor during an anatomy test.

I'm also surprised that you think I've renewed my subscription, when I'd done no such thing. I was planning on renewing, since I consider Car and Driver by far the best automotive publication extant, but those plans went out the door when I received this disdainful letter. The customer might not always be right, but he is the one who signs the check. Torque him off at your peril.

I'm also surprised that a media company like HFM, with tentacles in various and sundry places including the Internet, would think that someone aware of the grass-roots nature of the Internet wouldn't forward this "You've been a bad boy" letter to sites like consumerist.com, which get thousands of hits each day from people just itching to find out which companies care about their customers, and which companies think "customer" is a synonym for "loser."

So, frankly, here's what I want you to do.

First: Spell my name correctly. It's Jim Dunn, not Jim Ounn, as C&D has been spelling it.

Second: Immediately cease with the threatening letters over a renewal I didn't request. In fact, unless it's to contact me to apologize for the ridiculously overwrought scare letter you sent, do not ever send anything to my address again.

Third: DO NOT RENEW MY SUBSCRIPTION.

Fourth: Deliver the rest of the issues I have on my current subscription.

Fifth: I will be sending the letter you sent me to consumerist.com. Maybe they'll post it, maybe they won't. If they do, however, HFM's bullying tactics will be there for all the Internet to see. One thing consumerist.com does is to post a company's actions if they attempt to make amends for their error. If you should decide that my business and goodwill are important enough to contact me and try to regain my business, I'll be glad to pass those subsequent make-up efforts along to consumerist.com.

Jim Dunn

Before:

After:

Fine work, fellows. Expect an official letter of congratulations arriving at your offices shortly by Pony Express.

"(Canceling) Match.com sucks no more!" [GoffSpot]

So when reader M sent us this comment regarding his difficulties in getting a subscription to Money Magazine at the rockbottom rates he "plays hardball" to get, we started off sympathetic, but he lost us.

M got them down to $9.95 for a year's subscription, but the magazine (or whichever company they contract to manage the subscriptions) entered it in as a 6 month term instead of 12 months. Intentionally? Erroneously? Who knows. But M called and they fixed the problem on the first call. Great! That's how customer service is supposed to work. Would it have been nice if they had billed him correctly in the first place? Of course! But we just can't get all hot and bothered by this.

The joke about paying "a visit to their call center with my .45 revolver" didn't go over too big here, either. Lighten up, man.

M's e-mail, uncut, after the jump:

I've been subscribing to Money magazine for at least three years now. I originally signed up for a one year subscription for $14.95, and was thrilled to get that price which is roughly half of the usually cost. Almost immediately, Money started sending me renewal notices stating that my subscription was about to run out (even though I had ten months to go) and that I could renew my subscription for the low, low price of only $29.95 per year. First, I refused to renew ten months before my subscription was set to expire. Second, I refused to pay their low, low price. I played hardball with them, insisting that I get the reduced price in order to continue my subscription. Over the years, they have usually caved to my demand since I would wait and let their renewal notices get more and more urgent as the months passed. When I get their "final notice" then I send in my check to renew for one year. Money has, for the most part, gone along with this game to see who would blink first, but always they came back with the premature renewal notices. Recently, I sent in my reduced check (which is now down to $9.95) to renew for another year, but to my dismay when I got my first magazine I found that they had only renewed my subscription for six months instead of the full twelve that make up a year. I immediately called their customer service toll free phone number, that is buried in microscopic print on their index page. I informed the phone rep that my subscription had been inexplicably truncated to six months. She had the nerve to say I had responded to a special offer of six months for only $9.50. This was untrue. I told her that never in my life had they ever sent me an offer to renew for only six months - that the minimum subscription has always been twelve months. She put me on hold for a moment and then came back to inform me that my subscription had been extended to twelve months. I told her that if they ever mess up my account again that I will pay a visit to their call center with my .45 revolver. (Just kidding. I did not say that.) I find this to be a very shabby way to run a magazine. They really are banking on their subscribers not paying attention to the details.

When she called to complain, Adweek agreed to the error but would only refund 3 months. They've been charging her for nine. "It's company policy" to only refund 3, they told Ochman.

Adweek picked the wrong gal to mess with. Ochman used to have a business where she complained to businesses and got customer service issues resolved on her client's behalf.

She's already, "wrote a letter reporting the fraud to MasterCard, looked up VNU Media and saw that Bob Krakoff is the CEO, sent him a copy, cc'd Elliot Spitzer, etc, etc." and won't stop until the bodies drop.

"Soon after I received many more calls "confirming" my information," says Anya.

Sometime later she checked her checking account. Over $200 a month she had no idea about was being withdrawn. Multiple companies kept calling her up saying she owed numbers between $800 and $8,000 a month for magazines.

Anya closed her bank accounts and "settled" with the smallest one for $600.

Today, the same company called her and says she owes over $270 but will "settle" for $150. She wants to know if we have any ideas for getting rid of them when they call. Sure we do, inside...

1) Tell them fuck off.
2) Report the calls to the police as harassing.
3) Check out our posts (1 and 2) about dealing with bad collectors.
4) Get a lawyer to send them a cease and desist letter.
5) Change your phone number.

Anya... please don't buy anything from a telemarketer. You were completely scammed. All those "confirmation" calls were somebody or somebodies recording you as they tricked you into saying "yes" and handing over your billing info. They then went and signed you up for bogus magazine subscriptions. We're sorry that this happened to you but now you need to buck up and stand up for yourself.

Her full letter below.

Hi, I have signed up for this company one unlucky day as I answered the call of a telemarketer. Soon after I received many more calls "confirming" my information. They had all my info except my debit card. The amount I agreed to (I don't exactly remember now) was somewhere between 14 and 44 dollars a month.

When I finally checked my bank statement - I had close to 200 dollars a month being withdrawn from my account. I closed my accounts and began receiving phone calls from what ended up being like 10 different companies each stating that I have a balance with them between 800 and 8000 dollars! For Magazines?!!!!!

Finally I decided that I am not answering any more phone calls. The only one I agreed to pay out was the above named company which also had the "smallest" amount of supposed debt. I was shocked to find out that I owe them supposedly over 700 dollars!!! It was a very tough time for me and I did not have the time to think through all that was going on. It was easier just to pay the "settlement of $600 even though I had to put that on credit card. That was about 2 years ago.

Today I was once again contacted by the same company saying that I owe them over $270 but they will settle for $150. This is getting ridiculous. I wonder if there will be any way of getting rid of them. If you have any suggestions - please help. Your advice will be greatly appreciated. (I don't know what to do. I destroyed all records after getting married because I have not heard from them in about 2 years and I thought this nightmare was over!)"

For example, this amazing account of someone trying to cancel their Sky cable television subscription in the UK. In this case, a fast-talking CS huckster named Eddie actually started a discussion on inflation and economics when the stated reason for cancellation was "I can't afford it."

'What do other people in the house watch?'

'That doesn't matter,' he ties to butt in so I just talk over him, 'I didn't ring up to argue with you, just to cancel.'

'I'm not arguing Mr. X, just trying to help; as you have been with us for some time.'

'Well, not any more.'

'You want to cancel because it's too expensive? But everything goes up in price,' I wonder where he was going to go with that, but I was annoyed and cut back in.

'Listen, I'm really not interested in arguing with you.' He tries to talk again, 'Lets move this to the next stage.' He pauses and, I'm guessing, senses his bonus flitting away. He sends me back to muzak hell without saying another word, four minutes later Eddie is back and Sky is cancelled.

Why should it take more time to cancel a service than it does to sign up? Easy: they want to aggravate you into submission.

Canceling your Sky TV Subscription [Creation Robot]

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Don t worry, it s absolutely free. We re doing a special promotion a Best Buy cashier allegedly told Chelsea Tulin at checkout.

After getting home, she checked receipt and saw at the bottom Best Buy had given her credit/debit info to Time. They also gave Time permission to charge her card after the 8 issue free trial for 24 issues at 24.95 and to auto charge renewals every 6 months afterwards.

On Time s website you can get 84 issues for $29.95

Dawn Bryant, a Best Buy spokesperson, told the SF Gate that, the reasoning behind this promotion is for us to give customers things they can appreciate. It s to best serve the customer.

Tell that to the attorney generals of Wisconssin, Ohio and New Jersey, who all filed suits against Best Buy for deceptive practices.

Chelsea canceled her subscription once she saw what was happening. "It shouldn't be up to consumers to have to stay on top of these things," she said, "But it is."

Magazine Offer Not a Best Buy [SF Gate]