My wife has a subscription to Vanity Fair magazine, which I happen to like to read, too. Funny thing is, we keep getting these notices from National Publication Billing Services with offers to up our subscription, even though our subscription isn’t scheduled to expire until December of 2011! That’s just before the world is going to end in 2012, so why would anyone want to up their subscription beyond that?! Here’s what the notice looks like:
Admittedly, we fell for this scam several times in the past. That’s why we now have a subscription that doesn’t expire until 2011. About 10 years ago, before we were aware of what was going on, we automatically assumed that this notice meant our subscription was soon due to expire, so we dutifully wrote a check and sent it in.
One day (yes, I’m a little slow on the uptake), I realized that I had upped our subscription about five times in less than a year. I called the magazine, and they informed me that our subscription wouldn’t expire for another decade. They said all I had to do was look on the mailing label when I received the next copy of the magazine to find the expiration date for our subscription. Well, duh me.
The next issue we received, I checked the mailing label, and sure enough, it included the subscription’s expiration date.
If you’ve been suckered by this same pitch, I’d like to hear about it. If you haven’t fallen for this slick trick but you’re receiving these notices, contact the magazine and ask when you’re subscription is due to run out, check the mailing label on your magazine, or look up the expiration date on the magazine’s website.
Renewal Notice from Subscription Business Center (Click for Larger View)
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Received a notice in the mail for Wall Street Journal. I don’t subscribe to WSJ, but I have a subscription for Better Homes and Garden. I’m calling WSJ tomorrow. This is ridiculous.
I received a *renewal” for a subscription which coincides with my current expiration month. The amount they indicated for a one year renewal is 357% greater than dealing directly with the publisher!
Some agent fee. These people have no conscience.
I almost entered my credit card number on their website before it dawned on me it might be a scam. I think the design of their website made me question it. I received two notices from them for both of the magazines for which I have a subscription, so obviously they have purchased my information from someone. Very sneaky.
I got Readers Digest and I don’t even subscribe to any magazines! They sent me two copies of Readers Digest too along with a bill even though I’ve never signed up/authorized anything with Subscription Business Center (the company who claims to be their third party supplier). I was on hold for over 15 min and finally I was put into a mailbox where I left a message and then emailed them to remove me from their spamming list.
How about this: A couple months ago we noticed that the Wall Street Journal was showing up on our driveway. I asked my husband if he subscribed to it, and he said no, he did not. After a few weeks we received a bill for $138.00. I called the WSJ and told them I never ordered the paper in the first place, and please cancel it. They keep billing me for a year anyway, and now have turned it over to a collection agency! The nerve! I plan to NOT PAY this scam.
Men’s Health magazine once told me that NPBS was an unauthorized reseller, but there are too many coincidences for me to believe that story any longer. I did not pay attention either–and I “subscribed” to Men’s Journal and Men’s Fitness plus reupped to Men’s Health at an inflated rate. I have concluded that the magazines must be in cahoots with these slimeballs. How do they know I am subscribing to Men’s Health? How did they get my address? I want nothing to do with NPBS nor anyone using them. Consequently, if Men’s Health will not stop doing business with them, they will lose this customer.
Interesting… I just received one today and attempted to go to the website to tell them no thanks. But – the website is not there!
I have also just received a renewal notice for US Weekly, which I have not received in many years. I am not even going to respond to the notice. I have been scammed by these people a few times when they call in stating that they need to update thier information, then they get you to renew your subscriptions. I went to the website as well and was sent to GoDaddy.com.
My subscription was up for renewal for New York Magazine and I was delighted to receive a renewal notice for three years for a reasonable price (very similar to the price charged by the legit NY Mag). They cashed my check and much to my surprise I received a notice from NYMag saying my subscription was about to expire. When I called them to tell them they had cashed my check, they told me that “that was not them” and that I had been scammed. I changed all my banking information since then.
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