This company sends us an 'invoice' each year for $49 for an annual maintenance fee, due on receipt. I have called each year to question the invoice, and been told it is not really a bill. At that point each year, I have requested they stop sending these to us unless we have actually ordered the maintenance service. This year their customer service person (who sounded like English is her first language) told me that it's not a bill, it's an invoice, and that means we don't really owe it (really? So an 'invoice' isn't really something you owe, only a 'bill' is?)
In actuality, it is a SOLICITATION.
Title 39, United States Code, Section 3001, makes it illegal to mail a solicitation in the form of an invoice, bill, or statement of account due unless it conspicuously bears a notice on its face that it is, in fact, merely a solicitation. This disclaimer must be in very large (at least 30-point) type and must be in boldface capital letters in a color that contrasts prominently with the background against which it appears.
This notice does not appear anywhere on the invoice, not even in the fine print somewhere.
This is blatant fraud, but if you thought someone at your company ordered the service, of course you would pay the 'invoice' - and then you would be out $49.00
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