I never ordered this magazine
Complaint
Barbara
Country: United States
I received a BILL from Better homes & gardens which says Pay this amount highlighted in yellow. It appears that the bill should be paid right away. The problem is....... I NEVER ORDERED THIS MAGAZINE!!!!!! I am livid that this company can send out BILLS to people that NEVER ordered their product!!!!
I would like to register a complaint. I truly believe this is FRAUD... Please advise if I should take further steps or if you need to see the original bill...
Thank you,
I would like to register a complaint. I truly believe this is FRAUD... Please advise if I should take further steps or if you need to see the original bill...
Thank you,
Comments
Some shady "magazine subscription services" have used similar ploys to claim you made some order you never made, and have to pay it, which would be mail fraud. They have also been known to "alter" alleged subscription agreements from sales representations, adding additional magazines, changing prices, claiming multiyear contracts, etc.
Some "subscription services" have also been known to mail out solicitations that appear to be either renewal notices or bills, to consumers who never had any contact with them. They appear to be trying to divert renewal business from the actual publisher, sometimes even at higher prices, or to otherwise scam an order out of a consumer. These may be for commonly ordered magazines which might have some chance to match an existing subscription, or they might be targeted based on consumer mailing list profiles (e.g.: computer magazines if you have subscribed to them in the past). There was even a case in Arizona a couple years ago where an inside employee of a publisher sold an actual customer list to one of these outfits to allow them to send "renewal notices".
Some publishers have been skirting the line by sending "reminders" that look like bills from collection agencies when consumers choose not to renew a subscription.
http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/shady/nat ... debt-270965.php
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/104/RipOff0104557.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/089/RipOff0089848.htm
Since this might be from either a "subscription service" or from a publisher, what company names and addresses are on the "bill", or on the envelope?
What wording does the "bill" contain?
Does it contain any fine print to indicate that it is a "solicitation"?
Does it contain any wording indicating that payment must be made by some date?
Does it imply "consequences" if payment is not made?
Does it contain any wording to indicate it is "from a debt collector"?
Mailing of "offers" that appear to be invoices is a violation of postal regulations. Furthermore, sending of unrequested and unordered merchandise places no obligation on you to buy it. Under postal regulations it becomes a gift.
Contact the U.S. Postal Inspector and file a complaint.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscod ... 0_IV_20_30.html
"U.S. Code TITLE 39 > PART IV > CHAPTER 30 > § 3001
§ 3001. Nonmailable matter
...
(d) Matter otherwise legally acceptable in the mails which—
(1) is in the form of, and reasonably could be interpreted or construed as, a bill, invoice, or statement of account due; but
(2) constitutes, in fact, a solicitation for the order by the addressee of goods or services, or both;
is nonmailable matter, shall not be carried or delivered by mail, and shall be disposed of as the Postal Service directs, unless such matter bears on its face, in conspicuous and legible type in contrast by typography, layout, or color with other printing on its face, in accordance with regulations which the Postal Service shall prescribe—
(A) the following notice: “This is a solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice, or statement of account due. You are under no obligation to make any payments on account of this offer unless you accept this offer.”; or
(B) in lieu thereof, a notice to the same effect in words which the Postal Service may prescribe.
...
§ 3009. Mailing of unordered merchandise
(a) Except for
(1) free samples clearly and conspicuously marked as such, and
(2) merchandise mailed by a charitable organization soliciting contributions, the mailing of unordered merchandise or of communications prohibited by subsection (c) of this section constitutes an unfair method of competition and an unfair trade practice in violation of section 45 (a)(1) of title 15.
(b) Any merchandise mailed in violation of subsection (a) of this section, or within the exceptions contained therein, may be treated as a gift by the recipient, who shall have the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender. All such merchandise shall have attached to it a clear and conspicuous statement informing the recipient that he may treat the merchandise as a gift to him and has the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender.
(c) No mailer of any merchandise mailed in violation of subsection (a) of this section, or within the exceptions contained therein, shall mail to any recipient of such merchandise a bill for such merchandise or any dunning communications.
(d) For the purposes of this section, “unordered merchandise” means merchandise mailed without the prior expressed request or consent of the recipient. "
I get a lot of junk mail so it took me a couple months to see a pattern going on and realized the better homes and garden magazines were showing up monthly and I never ordered any.
However, I did get the first one the same day that I also recieved my free samples of a latex free wound tape that I found online. I figured maybe it came with that but was separate as a gift or something because the wound tape company thought I was a dotcor and or thought the address was a doctor's office.
OR maybe because I am not a doctor ? This was a punishment ? Who the hell knows. Anyhow, I emailed the.contact listed for the tape company to ask if by chance there was anything I missed like a box to check off for a BHG subscription when I signed up for the samples, and she said no they don't do that.
In either this case, or the others, I would still report it to the postal inspector, as the surest way to document the violation. You might then send a tersely worded letter back to the source that you did NOT order this, and have filed a complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspector for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 3001.
If you find indications of a larger pattern of fraudulent activity, such as that this is from a company or address different from the publisher, you should also file complaints with your state Attorney General.
It sounds similar to this:
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/mg-jepamZwAXggjJfBfDwA
These people are a scam, their emails don't work and the only phone
number is to pay a bill you don't owe.
Well I just received a bill saying I'm now overdue. I AM FURIOUS! Of course there is no phone number on the bill to contact customer service. And there is no phone number on the website either. Can you say SCAM!!!! With some digging I have found NUMEROUS complaints of the same thing. They are definitely trying to pull of a sc-am here and should be reported to BBB. The- customer service phone number is 800-374-4244. The fact that they do not provide their phone number is VERY POOR customer service. And the girl who I spoke with wasn't very good either. I informed her the number should be posted and easily found on bills and the website. That their customer service was lacking and that I never renewed my subscription (nor do I recall subscribing in the first place). Her retort was that I was auto-renewed. Really? Without my authorization? WTF? People, do yourselves a favor and report any scams like this with Better Homes and Gardens to BBB (better business bureau) and post everywhere you can online so others are forewarned.
I ripped it up and tossed it. I hope other people don't fall for this scam. I never signed up for the magazine, though I received one copy of it in the mail about 4 months ago and pitched it (unsolicited).
I'll bet BH&G will be going out of business within the year since they're going to dirty practices like this.
After receiving numerous phoine calls from some company on my Caller ID called "Graven for BHG" I finally called Better Homes and Gardens today at 1-800-374-4244, Customer Service. I was told an outside third-party company was making the calls. The phone would ring, always in the evening between 7 and 10 PM, and when I initially answered the calls, no one would reply to my hello, or multiple hellos, or shouted hellos. Finally, I looked up "Graven" and found
712-560-3376
Country: USA
Location: Iowa (Council Bluffs, Sioux City)
The young woman at Better Homes told me she's fielded several of these complaints. I have a Do Not Call option on my phone # .....evidently for nothing.
I tried to cancel on line at www.bhg.com/myaccount and it funny that you cannot get the Cancel My Subscription to activate. If you want to order it activates, FUNNY HUH?
This is one of the reasons that I do not subscribe to magazines that you cannot cancel the VULTURES.
They are sending out fake collecton letters to "encourage" you to renew.
File a mail fraud complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspector.
Well, today I receive another BILL for $6.23, along with my magazine. I calmly called the phone number which I located easier this time. The representative said she would take care of it and that the problem had already been handled. One of the cross in the mail things, I guess. After several attempts to sell me another magazine, we hung up. My question, does no one say please and thank you any more. I did buy your product and paid you for it timely. Can you not say thank you and sorry for your inconvenience of receiving numerous unnecessary BILLS and upsetting an old woman, maybe show some gratitude toward a customer??? Guess not.
If they are trying to "upsell" you, then you can expect to be treated rudely, like some child being admonished by an "adult". Apparently, they have found that this "sales tactic" works.
You are looking at typical "con" tactics.