- Report: #707670
Complaint Review: Hearst Corporation - Harlan Iowa
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Hearst Corporation
Box 6093 Harlan, 51593 Iowa, United States of America
Phone:
515-283-2578
Web:
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Hearst Corporation Hearst Magazines deceitful renewal of Cosmopolitan & Redbook magazine subscriptions; fraudulent invoicing tactics Harlan, Iowa
I received several invoices from Hearst Magazines that I didn't think I owed. My husband placed a Cosmopolitan magazine subscription on line for me in April, 2010. Knowing him, I thought it odd that he would not have paid at the same time.
January 2011, I received an invoice for $16.02. Then "Payment Due" invoices started to arrive. There was even a letter from G.L Valk, Vice President, stating "When you ordered your subscription with the convenience of being billed later, we fully believed you would send payment upon receipt of your invoice...."
I also noticed that one of the invoices had a "first issue" date of APR 11, which indicates a future date!
There was no phone number anywhere on any of the invoices to call them. I went online and found a contact number. I had to call twice to get thru to a live body. (When prompted, say you don't know your account number and say "Customer Service").
A nice lady (Kay) took my call. I explained that I did not believe that I owed this invoice and suspected it was a scam. She looked my account up and advised that as an internet purchase, I was placed on an automatically renewing subscription.
I requested the subscription be cancelled and believe that the issue is resolved. I do feel that this auto renewal policy is devious and intended to generate magazine renewals in a fraudulent way.
If you suspect you are also being scammed, don't pay the bill -- call them and cancel your subscription.
January 2011, I received an invoice for $16.02. Then "Payment Due" invoices started to arrive. There was even a letter from G.L Valk, Vice President, stating "When you ordered your subscription with the convenience of being billed later, we fully believed you would send payment upon receipt of your invoice...."
I also noticed that one of the invoices had a "first issue" date of APR 11, which indicates a future date!
There was no phone number anywhere on any of the invoices to call them. I went online and found a contact number. I had to call twice to get thru to a live body. (When prompted, say you don't know your account number and say "Customer Service").
A nice lady (Kay) took my call. I explained that I did not believe that I owed this invoice and suspected it was a scam. She looked my account up and advised that as an internet purchase, I was placed on an automatically renewing subscription.
I requested the subscription be cancelled and believe that the issue is resolved. I do feel that this auto renewal policy is devious and intended to generate magazine renewals in a fraudulent way.
If you suspect you are also being scammed, don't pay the bill -- call them and cancel your subscription.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Barbara
Enoch,Utah,
United States of America
Thank-You
#2Consumer Comment
Tue, November 06, 2012
I just wanted to let you know that I also called the Invoicing Bureau in Harlan IA today after reading your report. As you I also recieved these invoices for Housebeautiful. I also was on some automatic renewal. I had a live person on the line in under a minute and she cancelled the supscription instantly. She was very nice and explained I might get one more invoice but to ignore it. I also asked her to check what other mags. I had with them. Everything turned out good. So the reason I am writing this is to Thank-You for posting your letter and to let other people who are going through the same thing to calm down (first!) then call Hearst .
