I came home tonight to find mail waiting for me. A smallish package from McCall's Quilting. Cool, I guess--a quilting DVD. My gift for subscribing to the magazine, maybe?
NO! Not hardly! What McCall's sent to me--unsolicited and with absolutely no advance interest expressed by me--was an "Inspire - Design - Create" Quilting DVD, and they gave me the option of paying $12.95 to keep it (along with more $$ each time they sent me a new DVD) or I could send it back. And if I wanted to send it back? They provided detailed instructions that they've cautioned me to follow carefully: "Remove the disk from the case and insert it into the white Merchandise Return Envelope, along with your Reply Form. Detach the postage-paid Business Reply Label from the enclosed letter and also insert it into the envelope so that the label shows through the envelope window. . . . DO NOT return the DVD case. You may keep, recycle or discard it."
Really? You're really making me go to all this trouble, McCall's, to send back something I never ordered in the first place? And I want to continue subscribing to your magazine . . . why?
You know that guy at Netflix who raised the rates, drove away customers, and practically killed the company? Do you suppose he's been hired by McCall's now?
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29 comments:
Oh I HATE that kind of thing! Happened to me with Disney books once. I think they do it so you'll think paying them would be easier than returning it. Never heard of the Netflix guy, but it sure sounds like he just got a new job!!!
This also happened to me once. A terrible, horrible marketing ploy.
What are you going to do? Shish!
Thanks for the warning.
Since you work for lawyers, you can check, but I don't think you're under any obligation to mail it back or pay for it. We had a discussion a while ago on the about.com quilting forum about this. Thanks for sharing.
cindy
I've heard war stories about McCall's even turning people over for collections on these! I hate it when they do that. You just reminded me why I unsubscribed from their magazine a loooong time ago! Ugh!
I received one last January from them and waited until summer to mail it back. I think somewhere in there are the words you are not obligated to send it back and I didn't hear from them during those six months. What nerve they have! Florence
Thank you so much for poring this Kim. Since I did not order anything from them if I get one I will just drop it back in the mail with return to sender. Thank you again Kim, I hate these schemes.....
Here, Here! I got the same super annoying package. I stuffed it all back in the envelope...which, by the way, wouldn't open correctly so I had to wedge the label in crooked. I was afraid I was going to rip a hole in the envelope. I felt like telling them that next time I'd find a way to attach a brick to their postage paid envelope and let them pay for that!
And to think.... I was thrilled about the mystery quilt that begins a 3 part series in the Jan/Feb Issue.
I also understand that if you didn't order anything and something is sent, you can keep it. But my quilty friend was just telling me about McCalls turning her over to a collection agency. She never got the magazine so never paid for the subscription in the first place.
Pam
I hate that as well!! Oh, and I subscribe to Netflix and they made me angry when they did that, but i did kind of get over it because I never really took advantage of the DVD's anyway so we just went to streaming and now pay $1.99 less than we used to, so it all worked out for us!
That kind of thing makes me so angry. Let me warn you about something else. My college age daughter got sucked into a book club a few years ago, Literary Guild. She was so naive and did not understand the consequences. She ended up getting books she did not want and did not send back and it ended up ruining her credit.
Grrrrr!!! Doesn't it seem that this kind of thing should be illegal? Can't believe that McCall's does that. We, too, had the drama with Netflix. I wonder how many customers they lost over that one?
I agree that there may be no legal obligation to pay them, but they will do everything they can to collect. Thanks for posting so I can just put "REFUSED" on the unopened package. They have sent me books in this manner so not too surprised.
I received a similar package several months ago, but the letter stated if I did not pay for it or send it back I would not get future mailings. I did not pay for it or mail it back and have not heard from them at all. It seems they may have changed the marketing on this item in the last several months. I am not new to watching quilt shows so I had seen all of the techniques before, although some were in more detail than on the quilt shows. I didn't feel it represented anything I would be interested in. I often judge a future product by the amount of value I get from the introductory product.
Wow, what a great way to screw up relationships with their customers. Thanks for posting about this.
I have the same DVD sitting at my house that I haven't returned or payed for. I hate this kind of thing...I didn't ask for it, why did they send it. Another bad company to do this is Highlights Mag. for kids...grrr...so frustrating.
Can you imagine how many people don't read the fine print. Very slimy in my opinion.
On another note, happy new year!
As others have pointed out, you are under no obligation to pay for OR return something you did not order. But what a nuisance! Thanks for the warning -- the rest of us can just write REFUSED and send it back.
I love your last line...isn't that the truth!
I'm with you on this one~ I don't like mail like this either~ and I'll let them know it too. :-)
Hope you have a great day!
Earlier this yr this happened to me. I realized before I removed all from enveloped that I had not ordered this. I put everything back in original envelope carefully glued the flap closed & wrote w/ black marker in big bold printing "return to sender, did not order!" Although my mailman did pick up I found same envelope back in my mailbox the nxt day stamped w/ "postage due" by usps.Of course, I made quick trip to local po & explained the situation. They informed I still owed postage if I wanted to return because it was obvious to usps I had opened. I did add the required postage w/ additional note on envelope requesting to be removed from their list & that I promised I would never subcribe to their quilting magazine again, ever! Never heard or received another things from them. also, did not renew subscription to McCall's Quilting Magazine! Wonder why this is allowed?
Thanks for the information!
I really dislike tactics like this!
Makes a person not want to subscribe to their magazine!
This same thing happened to me last year from Fons and Porter. It really should be illegal.
In Michigan, you are under no obligation to return anything that is sent without your approval. Could be the case for you, too.
Unless they have your credit card number...you can keep any unsolicited item without any problem...and I will not subscribe to this magazine due to this. Awful!
A different quilt magazine company did this very same thing to me a few years ago. I threw the DVD away. I had zero interest in viewing a DVD that had strings attached. Then a month later, they sent me a letter asking why I hadn't returned the DVD. I could hardly believe it.
I thought there were rules about that sort of thing. If it arrives unsolicited, then it's yours! They have nothing to say about it.
Exact same thing happened to me. I finally had to resort to a snippy email threatening to cancel my subscription if they didn't stop sending me bills!
I received this same DVD in the mail, watched it and enjoy the series very much. They only come about every other month and it says you can send back any you do not want. I am somewhat surprised at everyone being so incensed by this? I am always interested in learning new things about quilting and this series is quite informative. I also enjoy the magazine very much and wouldn't consider unsubscribing from it because they sent me unsolicited mail.
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