Remember last year when Half.com ran a promotion where you get a free year's magazine subscription when you make a purchase? I got several of those from various purchases, as I'm sure many others here did as well. Well, I just checked my Credit Card account online and have about $150 in charges for various magazines. These have to be from the half.com promotion because I have no other magazines billed to this card (or anything really - I now use my Amazon card for everything). I distinctly remember that the terms of the deal were that they would send you a reminder card when your free subsciption ran out and give you the option to cancel before rebilling you.

To make matters worse, each charge has a different phone number listed, which just leads to a nightmarish automated system which does give you the option to cancel, but makes no mention of whether you will receive a refund or not. There is also no option to talk to a real person. Nor does it tell you which charge is for which magazine.

Is anyone else having this problem or had any luck getting the charges refunded? Any advice? - this is really starting to P*ss me off.

Also, does anyone remember the name of the magazine company that ran this deal with half.com - maybe if I can find them I can get in touch with a real person.

Thanks for listening to me rant,

Roy

I was close to encountering the same thing. I generally throw out junk mail without reading it. I received a small folded card with fine print that looked like junk mail. For some reason I opened it and it was the notice from the magazine company regarding my subscriptions. While I avoided having to call different numbers for each subscription, I did encounter the automated system that required me to go through a long menu to delete each magazine subscription one by one.

Yes, I almost threw mine out too.

The tricky thing is the card is folded up and glued so you have to notice that it needs to be opneed up. The notice is on the inside. Very sly!

I canceled about half of them but kept the few I actually enjoy.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Were the cards you guys got 3x5 type cards glued together that had your address on one side and a listing of magazines offerings on the other? If so, I do remember getting some of those but just assumed they were junk mail and threw them out. You were right, they did seem to go out of their way to disguise them as junk mail and not a renewal notice. Very, very sneaky. I guess I can't be p*ssed anymore since it's my own fault for not paying attention. Live and learn. On the other hand, I wasn't really looking for them since my subscriptions weren't due to run out for several months.

On the up side, I was able to find the name of the original company that ran this offer with half.com. (magazineoutlet.com) and through their website was able to find an 800 number where I could talk to an actual person. I was able to cancel the subscriptions and will (supposedly) receive a refund of the Credit Card charges. The Phone # is 1-800-884-3350 in case anyone else runs into the same problem.

Thanks Again,

Roy



[Edited by Roy28 on 04-16-01 at 07:05 PM]

I had a similar thing (though not through half.com) where I had signed up for several free issues of a magazine. I didn't receive a single issue of the magazine, so I didn't think much of it (I just figured my order didn't go through). When checking my credit card statement, I noticed the company had charged me for a six-month subscription.

Turns out, they had been sending the magazine to an address I hadn't had for seven or eight years (but coincidentally the address I had when I had previously subscribed to this particular magazine). I ended up deciding I wanted the magazine, and they extended the subscription so I would get all the issues I had paid for (but not the four free issues that was part of the offer, even though it was their screw-up).

When that term ended, I figured my subscription would just end, but the company simply charged my credit card again for another six months without bothering to ask if I wanted to renew. Apparently I've got a self-perpetuating subscription.

Personally, I don't like this brand of marketing.

(on the other end of the spectrum, I got a renewal notice for a different magazine I subscribe to. They were trying to convince me that I had to act now and renew my subscription or risk missing an issue. My current subscription doesn't end until January of 2004. I'm thinking I still have plenty of time to renew.)