Hearst Magazines - House Beautiful Subscription Harassment Red Oak Iowa

September 2007 I received a billing for a subscription renewal of House Beautfiul. Since I did not want to renew my subscription I ignored the billing.

In October 2007, I received a lettered billing stating that I chose to be a part of a program called "Continuous Service Program". I marked the bill "Did not sign up for this" and sent it back to the company.

Later in October 2007, I received a "reminder" with my "second billing" statement attached. This time I sat down and wrote a letter (11-8-07) to them telling them that I'd never heard of the Continuous Service Program much less signed up for it. I also reminded them that my current subscription wasn't even up until February 2008. I also told them that I would never sign up for an automatic renewal program on any of my subscriptions and that I was troubled that someone had instigated a service in my behalf and would appreciate an explanation from them.

In January 2008, I received a "delinquent account" statement with a billing date of 1/5/08 from the Collections Department. I again sat down and wrote another letter to the Credit & Collections, Steve Mitchell whose signature appeared on the letter. I sent the letter to him at the address on the letterhead and to the address on the payment envelope that was enclosed. I sent him a copy of all the documents from my letter of 11-9-07. I advised him that I wasn't surprised that all my mailings have been ignored and instructed him to clear my account and that I did not want to renew my subscription.

I received another letter on 2/2/08 telling me that "my good standing with them is at risk" and that I can resolve this matter "quickly and easily" by returning the payment. UNBELIEVEABLE!!! This time the bill is dated 12/8/07 but the letter wasn't postmarked until 1-31-08.

Too date, I have not received one response from any of my correspondence with Hearst Magazines. I've also noticed that the same signature for a Stephen is being used with different last names and titles in different departments. You'd think that Hearst Magazines is a large enough corporation that they wouldn't have to sink this low to try to get someone to renew a magazine subscription.

This last billing is being mailed back with a notation that I'm ignoring all further correspondence from them. Everytime I respond it costs me time, aggravation and money to do so. Since my subscription has ended with the February 2008 issue, I will NEVER subscribed to this magazine again.

I thought this type of behavior was illegal? If anyone else is having this problem, could you please post something. If this goes to collection, I'm going to file a complaint with my local authorities and also see if I can file it through the post office as harrassment.

EM
El Dorado Hills, California
U.S.A.