This makes me realllllly irritated

[brewerbruce]

Ok, so I am an on again off again subscriber to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. It seems like there is so much advertising only in this rag and I let it lapse. Then later on we will give it another go for awhile. Last year we were at the Home Show and they had a both set up giving great pricing for a 1 year subscription. Fill out this 3x5 card with your name, address, and phone number and we could get a 7 day/52 week subscription for $95. Plus, if you paid with a credit card that day, you would also get a $10 gift card to the grocery store we usually would go to (Pic n Save). So we signed up and paid on the spot. Well as some of you know, I lost my job and we have been cutting back. The renewal came up and I threw it away. I would get phone calls and again I declined to renew. They continued to deliver the paper to us anyways for sometime after our 1 year was up. Today I get a phone call from a bill collector out of Minnesota stating that they were attempting to collect $9.50 that I owed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel company for newspapers I received and didn't pay for. He said that if I would have read the fine print on the renewal card they sent me in the mail, that if I didn't mail that card back, they would automatically renew my subscription. You can imagine what I told this guy and where he could stick his unpaid $9.50. WTF Guess you won't see my spending any of my money ever again on a MJS newspaper.

[Deleted]

I would tell them to stick too. Let them try to sue you over $9.50 (they won't)

[miracle]

Most companies, especially collections companies, will lay down after you've filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I have done so twice in my time -- and for similar circumstances as well.

A while back I subscribed to one of those online geneology websites. I thought it would be cool to have a generational map to give to my kids one day. I did the three month subscription figuring that I could invest a lot of time upfront and get quite a bit done. After I subscribed, I learned that all of the "good" features that were advertised for members came at additional costs. I got suckered and paid for one, a Swedish brith registry, and it wasn't too helpful. I stopped using the site and expected the 3-month subscription to expire. WRONG. All of a sudden I had a $180 charge on my debit card. I had been automatically renewed for a year. They refused to refund me because the auto-renewal was in the fine print and I never e-mailed to cancel it. I contacted the BBB and had my money refunded in a matter of days.

Sports Illustrated did the same type of thing to me as what happened to you. I verbally declined the renewal after 10+ years of subscribing and I kept receiving it. Then the $60 bill came (and I had never paid above $20 for any of my year-long subscriptions in the past). I ignored it and then got the Collections call. Once again, I filed a complaint with the BBB and ordered that a collections account had better had not show up on my credit report. I got my way and the billing ceased. Desperate bastards.

[thegreenmeanie]

I hope you can get them off your back. It seems like that's how everyone is going about their business these days.

[mag7ue]

Yeah, whenever it's a trial period for free I have to be pretty desperate to sign up because I KNOW I'll forget to cancel later and they'll try to charge me. The best option would probably be to put it on your electronic calendar so you can set a reminder...