I received several invoices from Hearst Magazines that I didn't think I owed. My husband placed a Cosmopolitan magazine subscription on line for me in April. Knowing him, I thought it odd that he would not have paid at the same time.
January I received an invoice for $16.02. Then "Payment Due" invoices started to arrive. There was even a letter from G. L Valk, Vice President, stating "When you ordered your subscription with the convenience of being billed later, we fully believed you would send payment upon receipt of your invoice..."
I also noticed that one of the invoices had a "first issue" date of APR 11, which indicates a future date!
There was no phone number anywhere on any of the invoices to call them. I went online and found a contact number. I had to call twice to get thru to a live body. (When prompted, say you don't know your account number and say "Customer Service").
A nice lady (Kay) took my call. I explained that I did not believe that I owed this invoice and suspected it was a scam. She looked my account up and advised that as an internet purchase, I was placed on an automatically renewing subscription.
I requested the subscription be cancelled and believe that the issue is resolved. I do feel that this auto renewal policy is devious and intended to generate magazine renewals in a fraudulent way.
If you suspect you are also being scammed, don't pay the bill — call them and cancel your subscription.
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