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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My last magazine subscription was for Motorcyclist magazine which I ended in 1996, so I don’t recall ever having something like your experience happen to me.
However, something that my wife and I got hit on a few times (right after our daughter was born — also in 1996) were kids’ book retailers mailing us books along with a bill. When I wouldn’t pay, they’d normally send me another bill. At that point I would dutifully write a letter back stating that, since I never ordered the books, I assumed they were free gifts which I’d be happy to return if they covered packaging and postage.
This happened three times with three different companies if I recall correctly. Only one of them actually asked for their books back. I was always curious to know how many people would just pay for them.
Hey, this is to the first article on here…..I was scammed as well and I was wondering if you have the address of this place. I have reported it to my Sherriff’s Dept. and I am also going to write a letter to the Better Business Bureau and see if there is something maybe they can do to get my money back. Please let me know if you have it. I can’t make it out on the scanned copy of the reciept you show above. That would really help me out and I’m sorry that it happened to you also.
Thanks,
April Hubbard
Hi, April–
Here it is:
National Publication Billing Services, LLC
1525 S Escondido Boulevard, Ste D
Escondido, CA 92505
Hi Joe,
I received the same type of subscription renewal notice for Rolling Stone (it expires in Sept. 2010) on Saturday (8/8/09). I had not received this type of notification before, so I called the phone number listed (760) 561-1459 today (8/9/09). It’s a local call for me because the location is in the north county of San Diego and I live about 20 miles away from their address. A woman by the name of ‘Debbie’ answered (it sounded like she was talking on a cell phone). I told her that I received the notification and she told me that it states at the bottom of the renewal/order form it’s ‘NOT A BILL’. She told me if I did not want to renew my subscription that I could disregard it and throw it away. I asked her where she got my info. and she told me that they have a ‘huge list of people that have magazine subscriptions.’ I told her that this seemed shady to me and that I would talk to someone about this. I am going to contact the San Diego county’s, District Attorney’s office of the Consumer Protection/Fraud Division http://www.sdcda.org/protecting/consumer.php. I will also contact Rolling Stone. Of course, I will not be sending them a check to renew my subscription.
I hope this helps.
yes i just got one in the mail, and it states the smithersonian magazine. i have never gotten this magazine, i have no interest in it. i have tried to call but the voice mail is full. i can’t find the web page, to cancel this order. do you have the correct web page . thanks cynthia carroll
Hi, Cynthia–
I think National Publication Services has no website. If you’re asking about the website address for Smithsonian Magazine, here it is: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/. Not sure whether they can do anything for you. If you contact them, please come back and post what you found out.
Joe,
I’ve been receiving notices like these for years, and what’s even worse, the magazines show up in the mail even though I’ve never responded to one of these notices. I now receive five different publications each month that I never even ordered or paid for. This company has even contacted me both at home and at work to demand payment for a service that I never ordered! And we’re talking ridiculous sums of money here. (How they got my personal information I have no idea.) After finally speaking to a “manager” they finally agreed to stop contacting me for payment and that the magazines would stop. Six months later…they’re still showing up with additional notices to renew my subscription.
I’m now forced to write “Refused” on each magazine and send it back to the publisher, although this has yet to stop their delivery. This company is running a huge scam and there doesn’t seem to be any way to get them to stop, short of legal action. Please let me know if any of you have any luck with sending complaints to the Better Business Bureau…this needs to end! To all the others out there who might see this, do not ever send anything to this company. Once they’ve got your name and personal information the harassment will continue…
I’ve been receiving this garbage from these t**ds for YEARS! I just throw their crap in the waste basket, but I’m really curious as to how they know what magazines I subscribe to. I just got one today for PC Magazine for $140 for a two year term! The notices are always for magazines that I already subscribe to, so they have some way of ferreting out this info. You have to really look at this mailing carefully to figure out that it’s not a real bill. Seems like there should be some kind of legal recourse here. I’ll check to see if I can leave a complaint with the SD AG’s office, but don’t have much hope.
I just got one for Rolling Stone, a publication I haven’t received lately but ordered years ago throught a discount outfit that i came to feel was deceptive. So I think there is a connection between these scammers and a subscription service. Someone is feeding them the addresses.
I have been receiving the same type of mail, and this time I fell for it. I mailed a personal check back in June and have NOT received any magazines or notices from this company. I need to know what’s going on and how can I contact these people to get my money back or at least get my subscription(s)? Money is too hard to get these days and people scamming you out of hard earned money is cruel!!!! People are losing their jobs and homes and yet noone has compassion for the need of others. How can I make a “legal “complaint?
I need to know how to contact this company.
Hi, Patricya–
Unless they’ve changed it, the phone number is (760) 561-1459. You may want to contact your state attorney general if you can’t get the issue resolved directly. The National Association of Attorneys General’s Website has a directory of state attorneys general.
I received the same form recently, but not from “National Publication Services.” I’m now getting these notices from Global Publishers Center, PO Box 2337, Brea California, 92822, toll free at 1-866-340-0545. Same thing, different name.
Received their non-bill for National Geographic which we do not subscribe to and do not want. Shame they don’t include a prepaid envelope. Too many of these would be paid by corporations and small businesses not knowing it is a FRAUD.
Just received this one today for Popular Mechanics. Four things immediately made me suspicious. 1) I haven’t had a suscription to the magazine for 2 years. 2) What professional agency uses a Yahoo mail account? 3) Most magazines handle renewals in house. They don’t outsource to a third party. 4) The option to check “No Thank You” is just letting them know your address is legit. Kind of like clicking on ‘Unsubscribe” on a spam email. I call this Snail Mail Phishing.
Got a renewal for two years for a magazine my mother used to order. It expires in March 2011. My Mom died over 6 months ago. What a scam!
Same thing happened to me with Vogue magazine. The customer service number is unreachable and the website is false.
How can we report this??
I’ve been getting “Not a Bill” notices from those creeps at National Publication Billing Services for years, for various magazine I don’t want and have never ordered. One for Running Times showed up yesterday, 12/15/2009. An employee at Rodale Press (which publishes Running Times) told me in 2008 that this company is not authorized to sell their titles and Rodale has been trying for a very long time to get this stopped, without success. Rodale doesn’t like this scam any more than we do.
Don’t contact these people in any way, by surface mail, by email or by phone. It just gives them one more way to harrass you.
I just received a “bill” from them for three years of Gourmet. You will note that the last issue of Gourmet was published in November. The publication has terminated. What a scam.
Twice now I have received notice from these people that my subscription to Smithsonian Magazine is due for renewal. The first time I received this notice, I called Smithsonian to verify that I had already renewed my subscription and explained to the customer service rep why I was calling. He verified my subscription was paid up and he suggested that these people were somehow connected with Publisher’s Clearing House. I notified the US Postal Service of this fraudulent billing and received a post card (yes, post card!) form reply. A lot they care. Has anyone learned how they have come by our subscription information in order to perpetrate this hoax?
I get the same junk from
Magazine Payment services
Publishers Billing Exchange
My experience is very different. I received a check in the mail for $119.70 from National Publication Services, Inc. without any explanation why—just the check, nothing else in the envelope. Go figure! I have no clue why I got this. I haven’t cashed it for fear it might get me in trouble or be some new kind of fraud.
My mother received a billing addressed to my father for 2 years of Womans Day yesterday. My father died in 1987. I thought of sending them an change of address to the cemtery’s and see if they can get dad to pay for the subscription.
I used to subscribe to Men’s Health and got tricked by NPBS into renewing and also subscribing to Men’s Fitness. When contacted, Men’s Health denied any contact with NPBS and NPBS ignored my calls/emails. I finally got irritated enough to from all their “bills” that I refused to renew those subscriptions. The notices from NPBS stopped after a while. Dumb me. I recently re-subscribed to Men’s Health and here comes NPBS again. What an offer they make. Men’s Health offered 2 yrs for $29.99 and NPBS offers 3 yrs for $71.91. What a rip-off!! Beware this company. I shall call Men’s Health tomorrow. Either they stop sending me this NPBS scam (how else did they get my subscription information?) or they cancel my subscription immediately.
Got one for Golf Digest. It’s a scam!
Got one too for Golf Digest. It’s a scam!
Got one for Jerusalem Report. Its a scam. There are either many scam artists doing this, or these guys go under different names:
Billing Renewal Processing
National Magazine Services, inc
Publishers Distribution Services
Don’t send any of them money.
I am wriing them telling tham that the person has died !
I have also received this scam billing. Talk about annoying.
LISTEN UP EVERYONE. THE MEDIA KNOWS YOUR STUPID.
THATS WHY THEY KEEP BILLING YOU. EVERY MEDIA COMPANY DOES THIS DOUBLE BILLING PRACTICE!
I KEEP TRACK OF EVERY MAGAZINE I BUY, ITS THE ONLY WAY NOT TO GET SCAMED WITH THEIR “DOUBLED BILLED” TACTICS!
THE SCAM IS SIMPLE.
YOU PAY FOR SAY 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION.
ABOUT 9 MONTHS BEFORE IT EXPIRES THE SAME MEDIA/MAGAZINE SENDS YOU OUT ANOTHER BILL “WITH A DIFFERENT ACCOUNT NUMBER ON IT” CLAIMING YOU MUST SEND IN MORE MONEY OR YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WILL EXPIRE! SO STUPID AS YOU ARE YOU MAIL ANOTHER SMALL CHECK OUT TO PAY FOR ANOTHER 12 MONTHS WORTH OF THE SAME MAGAZINE. SO AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU ARE PAYING TWICE FOR THE SAME MAGAZINE.
MOST PEOPLE NEVER TRACK THERE SUBSCRIPTIONS SO THE MEDIA COMPANIES MAKE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON “DOUBLE BILLING YOU”
THE COMPANIES THAT HAVE DOUBLED BILL ME THE LAST 10 YEARS ARE THE FOLLOWING.
P.S. AND DONT COUNT ON DATELINE WITH CHRIS HANSEN OR ANY OTHER MEDIA COMPANY TO DO A SCAM STORY……..THEIR PARENT COMPANY OWNS THE DAM MAGAZINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MY PERSONAL OPINION IS THERE SHOULD BE AN ATTORNEY WHO WANTS TO TAKE UP A CLASS ACTION SUIT. THE CHARGES SHOULD INVOLVE: HARRASMENT, DOUBLE BILLING, MISSLEADING MAILERS/ADVERTISING, FALSE INFORMATION, AND FEDERAL MAIL FRAUD, EACH OFFENSE COULD PRODUCE JAIL TIME SINCE THEY USE THE US POSTAL SERVICE FOR THIS SCAM.
* AAA
* AARP
* ABC Club Tours:
* Bergen Record
* Better Homes & Gardens:
* Every Day With Rachel Ray:
* Food & Wine
* Good HouseKeeping:
* Ladies Home Journal
* Money Magazine:
* NAFC:
* National Geographic:
* NJPAC:
* NRA:
* NJPAC,
* Readers Digest: (Today Example I rec’d in mail!)
12/22/08 Paid via check 2 year for $15. Expires 12/22/10.
7-19-10 Rec’d “Final Notice” in mail, it claimed that my RD expires 8-16-10 and it gave a/c # . Like always, I mailed it back with note saying: “False information you provided. I am pd. In full till 12-22-10” “I am reporting RD to Federal Trade Commission for double billing.”
* Red Book Magazine:
* Time:
* Womans Day:
ANYONE A LAWYERS OR GOOD POLITICIONS OUT THERE?
CHRIS HANSEN…..WHERE ARE YOU NOW!!!
Thank you very much for posting this. I was confused as to why I was receiving a renewal on occasion when I thought I had a year or so left on one of my subscriptions. NOW it makes sense. I had always received renewals directly from the magazine publisher, but I thought they had farmed out that task to these folks. Now I see the trick. They’re good at what they do, no question. I have a renewal order form right in front of me now and it’s identical to the one you display. Unfortunately, I think I’ve been duped once or twice by this one over the past several years. Live and learn. Thanks again.
I have been receiving these annoying notices and I am tired of it.
ann burt
i do not remember asking for a renewal of any publication of this
i don’t remember receiving why i must renew, i am blind, i can’t read this…thanks to help from a neighbor
I got one recently and when I called to check on the expiration of my existing subscription, I found that the phone number is out of order! Luckily I knew my subscription was not up yet!
Hi, I guess I’m the latest “stooge” to have fallen for this scam. Mine was for Reader’s Digest. But, my subscription WAS expiring & these people had a lower renewal rate than RD’s, so I sent a check. Now of course, RD is billing me for it too. I’ll be reporting it to my state attorney general, but I don’t really expect my money back from anyone. Lesson learned!
The best way to deal with this is to file a US Postal complaint, if they get enough of them, they may just investigate and stop them. As of today the complaint website address is -
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/filecomplaint.aspx
Thanks! You saved me getting ripped off! I subscribed to People with one of the screaming deals that comes around now and then. Called and paid with CC, then this bill comes for MUCH more. I believed that the company I purchased the subscriptions had changed the terms and were trying to bill be for more. When the company name is National Publication BILLING Services, you automatically assume it is an invoice. Thanks, again!
So why doesn’t someone who lives near Escondido pay a little visit to some of these people and break some kneecaps???
I got some friends in low places that would love to pay them back for their scams.
I just discovered that I have been scammed by the National Publication Billing Service. I just thought that this National Publication Billing Service was now doing Charisma billing.
I wrote checks so I don’t know I can do anything. What a shame!
Hi,
I feel stupid for saying this but I just, did it!
Can you please tell me WHAT can I do? how to cancel that?
any help please…Good thing I don’t have much on my back debit account right now…
Can I call my bank? what should I do?
Should I cancel my bank account? PLEASE help!
They’ve also called me from a local number…
thanks
and yes I gave my card information, I was barely awake after a long night, I should have gone to the computer and do a quick research…I hope someone can help me out.. :’(
Just got ripped off by these crooks. Paid for a subscription and the magazine company said they never received a payment from NPS nor do they know them. Called them and just got a recorded message of yada yada yada. They then tell you to call the customer service number, so I did. Only to hear the same yada yada yada. Sent them an email and got back an automated reply with, you guessed it, the same lines they give you on the phone. It also said that they are under staffed and can not return phone calls or answer emails. Then they tell you that you must contact them in writting. I can only imagine what you’ll get back, if anything. I totally agree, there should be a Class Action Law Suit against them. If anybody can find them that is.
I’ve been a victim with billings from this operation and also now Global Publication Service for SUNSET magazine. I would hope that SUNSET would do something about this absurd practice and also state/federal attorneys general should be taking some action to stop this outrageous practice.
NEVER, EVER send any money to 216 Lemmon Dr #357, Reno, NV. It is a scam, pure and simple. They tried to sell a $140 subscription to the WSJ for $499.95. “One of the lowest rates available!” If the US Postal Inspector is worth anything at all, this guy will go to jail.
If you read the fine line on the bottom, it states, “PLEASE KEEP THIS PORTION FOR RECEIPT OF OFFER — NOT A BILL” It isn’t a bill. The fuckers sent me an offer for WSJ for 499.95. Like, really? Who on earth would be stupid enough to subscribe for that amount.
you would think the gov’t would get off their @#$%^&* ass and do something. I’ve wriiten the post master general & got no where. He’s an idiot too.
Mine came today with a bill for $499 for one year renewal of my Wall Street Journal subscription. I just renewed with WSJ directly for $610 for TWO years. The one year rate was something like $360. Incidentally it is now Subscription Business Center in Reno, NV. I guess the heat got too much in CA.
I just gone one the other day from “Publishers Billing Exchange” for the Economist, which I’m subscribed to, but of course the subscription doesn’t expire for a year. It says to email customerservice@subscriptionbusinesscenter.com for questions…. what idiots. They want $179.95, even thought it’s “not a bill”. Isn’t someone from the feds or something on top of this stuff?
They are still operating, only now out of Reno. I figured this was a scam because the price was exoribitant and it did not come from Good Housekeeping. i am filing a complaint with postmaster and sent the information to the magazine.
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