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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Michael Although there is surprisingly good consumer protection in America, there are occasionally some bad apples that spoil the bunch. One day, I received an offer in the mail to subscribe to the magazine "Fortune" for a year at the unbeatable price of $10. I'm always up for such bargains, so I quickly sent back the form with a check for $10 to Fortune magazine. For a year, I threw the issues away every month. Who has time to read such economic drivel! When letters eventually arrived begging for a renewal of the subscription, I ignored them just like the countless other offers that fill our mailbox day after day.
Until one day the threatening letter from illustration 1 arrived. It came from a not very trustworthy sounding institution called "The Billing Center" and inside it said "You've left us no other choice" and mentioned that I somehow owed someone 10 dollars. You have to be careful with such things because they can be reported to the American credit bureau and affect the credit report (Rundbrief 05/2004).
Someone less argumentative than me might have just paid the 10 dollars in God's name, but I got on the phone and to get to the bottom of it. Turns out, the Fortune Magazine crooks felt guilty about these aggressive fee collection methods and immediately canceled the whole thing. What I had overlooked is that the slip originally sent back with the check included a fine print clause stating that the subscription would automatically renew.
This is actually uncommon in America, although recently more and more companies are adopting this approach and enticing customers with extremely favorable conditions. Until now, magazine subscriptions could be paid annually by sending a check by mail, and if the check wasn't sent, the subscription would automatically lapse. Are we soon going to have German conditions here, or what?
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