I purchased some electronic supplies at Best Buy a few months ago. I paid using my debit card as a credit card (so I wouldn't get charged debit fees by my bank). As I was signing for my credit card on the electronic plastic box, the cashier told me I get a free magazine subscription with my purchase and which one did I want. I told her I didn't want either of the choices, I don't read magazines. She said they were free and that I would get them anyway. I was really annoyed at this and when I got the first one (which was addressed to my husband, not me!), I searched it for a phone number to tell them to stop delivering it. There was no such number on the magazine. So I figured I'd just let the free subscription ride itself out. Meanwhile, every issue went into the trash before it even entered the house. It was Entertainment weekly which is absolute filth. Last week, I checked my bank statement and find that Entertainment Weekly charged my debit card $24.85! I immediately called the bank and told them I did not authorize this charge. They said they'd have to file a dispute.
I immediately contacted EWeekly (the number was listed on the bank statement) and explained that I did not order this magazine and did not authorize them to take the money from my account. They said that when I signed my receipt at Best Buy, I signed two lines, one of them authorizing them to charge my account after the 8 free issues. They said the receipt also said that if I didn't want to be charged I should have called the number BEFORE the 8 free issues were up. I said "How was I supposed to know that?" They said the cashier should have told me and also that they supposedly sent a postcard with that information on it. I was not given that information and of course I didn't get any postcard. I certainly would not have knowingly signed something authorizing an unwanted magazine to charge my account! The man I spoke to eventually hung up on me when I insisted on speaking to his supervisor, who conveniently was on the phone with another consumer. He told me there was nothing I could do because I already got 11 of the 24 magazines that I was charged for. Of course I am still disputing it. When you purchase something from a store and sign for the credit card, you should be able to trust that you are only signing for the credit card and not being tricked into fraudulent credit card theft.
I would like to press charges further but I don't know what to do. I don't even have the receipt anymore because when I used the items I purchased, there was no reason to keep the receipt. I had no way of knowing that I had been scammed. I had no reason to suspect it. Furthermore, I can not get them to stop sending the magazine. Today, one showed up with a naked picture of Lindsay Lohan on the front. My 11-year-old daughter idolizes her and I had to throw the magazine away immediately so she didn't see it. I have tried three times to get them to, not only refund my money, but stop sending the magazine. They refuse to do either. I don't know what to do, but I should have some rights, shouldn't I?
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