Don't Renew Your Wired Subscription -- Debt Collectors Will Bang Down Your Door
from the oops dept
It's been a long time since I last subscribed to paper magazines. For a while, I kept them around. The letters they sent as the expiration date of the subscription got closer and closer were more and more pleading (and the prices got lower and lower) and eventually I figured it was fine to pay for another year. However, at some point I realized that I wasn't reading them at all, and let all the subscriptions go away. The one exception, by the way, was Business 2.0, which kept sending me the magazine for years after I stopped sending them money. It's become pretty clear that I'm not the only one who's given up on paper magazine subscriptions, as the retention strategy is apparently getting nastier and nastier. Apparently, Wired Magazine has been upsetting a number of subscribers who thought they'd let their subscription go by sending them to collections agencies who hound the (former) subscribers to get their $12 -- and threaten legal action against those who don't subscribe. The details of the story show that certain promotional subscriptions from Wired Magazine included some fine print that says that, by accepting the promotion, you agree to automatic renewal. And the people who weren't paying up that automatic renewal got sent to a collections agency designed to scare them into paying. Of course, considering that most people know that magazine subscriptions require manual renewal, this seems a bit heavy-handed -- and, to their credit, when confronted with it, Wired Magazine admits it's a mistake and has promised to stop the practice. Still, from the sound of the article, this went on for a few years.
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No Subject Given
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Nothing new about that
The magazine kept coming. I sent another cancellation letter, and after a few months got a call from a purported collection agency telling me that I had to pay up. I think it was $19.95 or something like that. I explained that I had cancelled. They said I had not and had to pay.
I laughed at them. They said they'd take me to court. I laughed louder, and explained to them that I'd be happy to meet them in court for a $19.95 bill dispute. They then said they'd "ruin my credit rating", which just about put me into giggles: I have a long history of impeccable credit: there's no way a $19.95 dispute could affect it even if I didn't immediately dispute it with the credit bureau, which of course I would.
That was the end of our conversation, and sure enough, the magazines stopped coming, making me wonder if the "collection agency" was just the magazine's overly aggressive circulation department.
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No Subject Given
In fact, I had only been too busy but now I am glad that I was. Apologizing really is too little, too late. They should have had enough sense to never try this kind of stuff in the first place. If they feel like they need to strongarm their paying customers, I'll happily spend my twelve bucks elsewhere.
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Personal Experience with this One
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No Subject Given
BUT! if wired wasnt continuing to send the magazine after the lapse, then it is a totally bogus scam and they are rightly being crucified by this little story.
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Company
The fault instead lies with a few specific, key individuals within the company who first came up with the scheme, then moved it forward through the company to implement.
All that is needed to solve the problem and restore the credibility of the company in the public eye are the immediate terminations of those individuals responsible. Truly, it was unethical behavior beneath the reputation of the company, and the firings should be publicized accordingly.
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No Subject Given
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they're still doing it
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