Here is my story regarding Sunshine Readers and the fraudulent bill they sent me a year ago.
I got a call from someone claiming to be an employee of my magazine subscription company. I was half asleep at the time of the call. They gave me the last four digits of my bankcard number and asked me to give them some information to update my records. As I was half asleep I didn't think before I gave them the information they requested.
A month or so later I got a call from my actual magazine subscription company. They said they were calling all their customers to notify them that there was another company calling around. This other company was claiming to be them, and asking for information to update computer records. They said they were calling all their customers to warn them not to give anyone claiming to be part of their company any information. I had actually forgot about the first call, like I said I was half asleep, and my memory has never been to good. For example I soon forgot about this call as well.
Some six or so months later, on October 7th, I received a bill in the mail from a company called Sunshine Readers. I had never heard of them before. It said second notice on the envelope even though I had never received a first one! They claimed that I had ordered magazines from their company and that I owed them over $1,000!!!
I thought this bill must have been a mistake, an oversight, or a case of identity theft. I had had issues with identity theft in the past, after using my bankcard to buy something online.
Needless to say I did not feel that I should be held responsible to pay this bill. First, as I said I had never even heard of this company. Secondly I already had a different company that I was getting my magazine subscriptions from. Lastly, I would never order that many magazines! $1,242.60 (the amount they were billing me for) is a lot of money to me. I have two kids, and neither my husband nor I have been able to hold down a good job for a while now. So you can understand how that would be a lot of money to us.
I didn't make the connection between this bill and the phone calls until after I had mailed Sunshine Readers my response to their bill.
That response was a request to close whatever account had been opened in my name. I explained how I had never heard of them, let alone ordered any magazines from them. And that any money they were claiming that I owed them was not my responsibility, as I had not opened the account nor placed any orders.
I did not hear back from them. And I had included their bill in my letter. I had not thought to keep a copy for myself. And the only website I could find for a company called Sunshine Readers was not an actual website, just a reserved URL. So I wasn't able to contact them to follow up on the issue.
Today, September 8th, just shy of a year later, I checked my mail to find a letter from a collections agency that Sunshine Readers has contacted to collect the money I supposedly owe them!
This is a completely unfair accusation!
So, I guess I will be writing a letter to this collection agency, disputing the validity of the bill. I have 30 days from today to do so. I don't have $1,200 to pay them, even if I felt I ought to. I also don't have any money to hire a lawyer. Right now I don't even have money to pay bills I legitimately owe! We are living month to month right now. And I don't need these false accusations to remind me how poor we are! When we do get money (we have borrowed a lot from our family to stay alive) we have more important things to spend it on than magazine (like food for our children!).
I did another web search today for "sunshine readers" and found some reports here on this site about them. Just figured I would add mine. Since they are causing me plenty of trouble with this fraudulent bill.
I hope the more victims speak out about evil companies like this, the less we will have.
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