On the afternoon of Wednesday, February 4th, I opened my front door to let my cat go outside and was met by an aggressive and friendly young woman who, it turned out, was selling magazines. I told her I didn't have much time to read the magazines I already (willingly) subscribed to but this didn't deter her. She told me I could buy susbscriptions and donate them to a battered women's facility, a children's hospital or military veterans. I repeatedly told her to go elsewhere. She refused to leave. Her name was Yasmine Brower (Brawer?); I still have a copy of the customer receipts she gave me.
While I tried to convince her to leave, my telephone rang and I excused myself to answer it. It was a telemarketing call and I didn't answer it but waited then returned to the front door to find her still waiting. I told her I had a long distance call and that she should go elsewhere. She didn't believe me (yeah, I lied but I did it to try to defend myself against this predator) but I left and went to hang around the telephone for a while, figuring she would give up and go away. She did not.
I finally purchased one subscription for $63 (!) to be donated to military veterans. She never mentioned that I had three business days to cancel the subscription but she did give me two copies of a customer receipt that stated the cancellation policy in no uncertain terms. Does the fact that she didn't verbally inform me of my right to cancel mean the company broke the law? Are the customer copy receipts enough to comply with the law?
I filled out one of the Notice of Cancellation receipts and included a hand written letter, explaining that I had filed a complaint with the Florida State Attorney General (I did) and explained that I was cancelling due to Ms. Brower's incredibly aggressive behavior. I mailed it via Certified Mail with a Return Receipt the next morning, Thursday, February 5th. I have my portion of the Certified Receipt, which was metered and proves—according to my credit union and the Post Office—that the Notice of Cancellation was postmarked within three business days of the transaction.
I phoned the number on the receipt but got a recorded message.
I also put a stop payment on my check but cancelled the stop payment order on Saturday after I read numerous stories of other people having done this then receiving letters from collection bureaus! Apparently, they are able to get away with this and not only get payment for the subscription but another $25 fee! FRS simply prints an electronic check and a stop payment order won't have any effect on protecting your account.
Belo Kellam owns Fidelity Reader Services and is probably behind this latest "incarnation".
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