The caller pretended to be from The Economist magazine — he said we had requested a renewal but not yet paid for it. I gave my credit card number (NEVER do this unless you’ve initiated the contact) and a few days later we received a cheesy-looking “receipt” headed “Magazines”, with the “terms and conditions” that you need to sign the thing and return it immediately “to insure no interruptions in service.” As it turned out, The Economist disclaims any connection with them, and we were up for automatic renewal. I managed to get through to someone at the number on the receipt (same phone and address as for Publisher’s Service Office, but you have to leave messages; no one ever picks up), who identified himself as “Jacob, ” but who sounded exactly like the “Bill” who had left an earlier message. When I began to ask questions, he became abusive, calling me a liar, and accusing me of trying to get out of paying. Although the VISA transaction cleared the day after the original phone call, I have cancelled my card and am disputing the transaction.
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