Sent to collections over a magazine subscription, are you kidding me?!
By maezee
@maezee (41985)
United States
February 4, 2012 8:30am CST
Here's the deal - it's ridiculous. I mysteriously got a Cosmopolitan magazine in the mail a few months ago - figuring it was just a mistake. I don't read Cosmo, much less any magazine, and I never would have subscribed. I figured it was a mistake when I got the bill, so I just kind of ignored it, figuring they would figure out they made a mistake and sent it to the wrong person... I've received random magazines before, never having gotten a bill (this happened to me with Blender & Rolling Stone about a year ago). So I figured, eh, whatever.
I get a letter ~2 days ago from an outsourced COLLECTION agency saying that I need to pay the $15 for the magazine subscription.
Are you kidding me?!
I just sent them a somewhat angry letter in the mail.. I have teh $15, obviously, but as a principle I don't want to pay for something I didn't order. Something I"ll never use- a magazine subscription. GAH!!!!!
I am still in shock that Cosmo sent that over to a collection agency. $15. It's like, are you freakin' kidding me? Especially when I didn't even ORDER IT! I feel VICTIMIZED! lol.
Have you ever had this happen to you???
3 people like this
8 responses
@sid556 (30953)
• United States
4 Feb 12
That happened to my daughter and with the same magazine! She was furious! she is a very responsible girl and pays her bills. Had she ordered the magazine then she would have paid for it. I told her to ignore it and she did. The problem as far as I know went away. I'm not sure it went to collections though. She did get a couple of bills from Cosmo. I think she may have called Cosmo to straighten it out. Another thing that could cause this is if you order something through the mail such as sending in a coupon for something free??? Sometimes if you read the fine print, you will find that in order to get that "free" gift, you are subscribing to something else. I noticed in your other discussion that you mentioned a coupon for free panties from victorias secret. Is that a possibility??
2 people like this
@maezee (41985)
• United States
4 Feb 12
Possibly? But Victoria's Secret sends me coupons all the time because I have a credit card with them, "an Angels card" or whatever, so I've been getting those for 2+ years and I've never really had any problems? This is the first? I generally don't sign up for anything online either... I probably should have done what your daughter did and called them right away and telling them it was a mistake instead of waiting for it to go to collections.
1 person likes this
@sid556 (30953)
• United States
4 Feb 12
I was just using your victoria secrets coupon as an example. I do know that a lot of free offers are really promos to sign up for other things and if you don't read the fine print then you could easily get pulled in. I'm not sure that is the case with you. It still isn't too late to call Cosmos and ask them what's up. If there was some sort of mistake then perhaps they could get the collector off your back. In the meantime...don't pay it. If you did not order it and don't want it then you should not pay it. If cosmos is doing this then they need to be alerted to it. In my daughter's case it was a mistake on their part and it could be the case with you as well.
1 person likes this
@ayumitakashi (4462)
• United States
5 Feb 12
That is just the most outrageous thing I have ever heard! Are they so broke that they are sending people to collection agencies for $15? I hope you do call them and let them now that you did not order it. We have to be careful in this day and age because it's so easy for people to order things in your name without remorse and then it's your credit that gets damaged. I had that happen to me where I received a Verizon Wireless bill that said I had taken out a cellphone and never paid for it, but I did the math and the date that I supposedly took out this cell phone would put me in middle school. I refuse to pay it, and even though I only received one letter with a bill I have not called them yet. I will if they start sending other notices because I shouldn't have to pay for something that I did not use.
1 person likes this
@crimsonladybug (3112)
• United States
4 Feb 12
My first question is aren't magazine subscriptions a pay in advance sort of thing? Why would they even send it without getting payment up front? Sounds like their dumb if you ask me. I have heard of people getting scammed over magazine subscriptions, those door to door help me earn a trip to the moon sales things but never legitimately through the publication itself. Too bizarre. And then to read more than one person has had it happen to them ... that simply amazes me.
1 person likes this
@flower21 (765)
• Philippines
5 Feb 12
no, i never experience it yet. f ever that happen to me my reaction would be the same things at you. at this moment avoid any debt. only spend my money on important things like buying grocery, food and paying bills like utility light and water. so as much as possible i need to save a lot for in case of emergency that do not need to borrow anymore which only gives me a lot of headache.
@bounce58 (17380)
• Canada
6 Feb 12
I think I may have something the same.
I won a free subscription for Popular Mechanics last year. I was thinking, yeah free so why not?!
Anyway, after I got my 4 issues, I received a letter for a bill, which it said I had to pay. Of course I ignored it thinking it was just a mistake. Anyway, two weeks ago, I received another letter with the same bill, which I ignored again. I wouldn't be surprised if the next letter I got was from a collection agency!
@HeresTheScoop (748)
• United States
5 Feb 12
I get those every once in awhile. A magazine will come in the mail and then later I get a bill.
I remember the first time this happened, they kept sending me bills. I didn't pay because I didn't order it. They sent a letter to me saying they would send it to collections if I didn't pay. I was so mad! I called them and was very careful of what I said. I told them that I never ordered the magazine so I don't owe them anything. They just kept telling me that I had to pay the bill or it was going to collections. At this point I didn't care what I said, I was very, very mad. They still insisted that it would go to collections. I never got another bill and it never went to collections.
I still get magazines (various ones) in the mail, then a bill a few months later. So now I put an X on the amount owed on the bill, write on it that I did not order this subscription, then use their prepaid envelope to send the bill back to them. I don't get any more bills after that.
@prinzcy (32299)
• Malaysia
5 Feb 12
It felt like a marketing trick (more like annoying marketing trick) They send you something and force you to pay.
I never experienced that. But a friend of mine was force to join an insurance scheme that she never agree to take and they billed it using her credit card. They even had her signature! She swore she never see the form. She filed a complaint of course but it was scary that something like that could happen.
@homeshoppers (6166)
• Philippines
5 Feb 12
its one of the trick actually, it happened most of the time if your not giving attention to details. like normally someone will call you for a free subscription then they will ask you for credit card details to confirm though it says there that free subscription will only good for sometimes 3 months then within 3 months you need to cancel it as if you completed the free subscription for 3 months then automatically they will charge you monthly from the credit card you give to them and they will tell you you’ve been inform about the services when you agree to give your credit card details. Most of the time they will offer you something for free without knowing their hidden agenda. Its not only for magazine but also in other things specially credit card insurance as they talk to fat to th point that you will only say yes just to finished the call and that’s it. So bottom line, don’t give credit card, debit card or other bank details without having more details about it.
