"The Nation" magazine pissed me off with deceptive practices.

[Kingshakabobo]

I subscribed using one of their "free" promotion give-aways. Anyway, I didn't care to continue receiving the magazine as I never have a chance to read it. I thought I missed the bill asking me to subscribe after the promotion ended. Maybe I missed it, maybe I never received a bill. I don't think I received a bill but I'm not sure.

What I did eventually receive was a collection notice. Being a credit-score minded person and someone who works in the consumer credit industry I figured I better suck it up and pay "the bill" before my credit gets "bruised". Luckily, I decided to call before sending a check to the "collection agency" in their pre-paid envelope. Their collection agency is a scam that doesn't report to the credit bureau. It is there to strong-arm subscriptions. I know this because when you call, you receive a prompt "to cancel free offer" or "pay and continue subscription". After you prompt to cancel, it says "thank you, and please be assured we do not report to any credit bureaus". The "collection notice" doesn't say any of this. As a matter of fact, the letter threatens your credit rating. In other words, it's not a real collection agency; it is a sales tool.

end rant.

[RagingInMiami]

1. Every magazine does that

All you have to do is call them and tell them you're not interested.

[Kingshakabobo]

2. I guess. I don't ever remember receiving a collection notice though. n/t

[RagingInMiami]

5. I don't think they should have sent you a collection notice

From a "collection agency". Usually they just keep sending you bills until they finally get the message that you don't want it.

[npincus]

14. I was going to say that... subscription is automatic unless you contact

them.

Same goes for book clubs and CD/DVD clubs that reel you in with fantastic offers.

[endarkenment]

3. Please write the nation a letter.

I am pretty sure that they are not interested in taking your money this way. They are good people, but like everyone in the brutal periodical business, they use various services to get their subscriptions. let them know what happened.

[Stanchetalarooni]

4. Creating a false reality. Creating their own construct.

It is the essence of how man tries and succeeds in getting over on his fellow man.
You are not allowed to fuck people out of their money by force but you are allowed to fuck them out of their money by using any and every false construct.
There may be a sucker born every minute but I swear they are being taken advantage of by slick motherfuckers.

[underpants]

6. Question

How did you know it wasn't a collection agnecy? DO they have to tell you?

Just wondering.

[Kingshakabobo]

9. Big red letters "COLLECTION NOTICE"

From some made-up company....National Credit Collection Service....or words to that effect.

Edit: I mis-understood your question... If it was a collection, I would have owed the money regardless of my intention to continue the magazine. They wouldn't give me the choice to continue the subscription and they would report to the debt to the credit bureaus.

[pitohui]

7. all magazines do it

it isn't the magazine, it's the central subscription service that does it, magazine editors have no control over the practice

[LostinVA]

8. I've worked in the business before -- it's standard practice

[DBoon]

10. I got this with the LA Times

They make it almost impossible to cancel a subscription. I did so in writing, then got this threatening letter about reporting me to a credit agency for not paying my bill.

[mattclearing]

11. Read the fine print. n/t

[Kingshakabobo]

12. Read my post. I did. Nowhere did it say- We will try to collect from.....

....you and coerce you to re-subscribe by using a "fake collection agency".

[mattclearing]

13. It was probably automatic billing...you have to cancel or they will bill.

[Kingshakabobo]

15. I don't have a problem with a bill. It's when they mask the bill to look..

like a collection I think they cross the line. This is the kind of thing on which class-action attorneys make their living. In five years I'll keep an eye out for a 3 cent settlement. :)

[silvershadow]

16. Thanks for the info. This happened to me.

After spending several years informing myself about how credit reporting works and carefully taking steps which eventually raised my credit enough to by a house, this very thing happened to me with The Nation and the "collection letter". When I received it I was devastated. I have been too upset to look at my credit report yet, fearing that it would show an $18 collection for the next several years. It is good to know that is not true. I worked to hard to rebuild myself to have something this asinine on my report.