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Report: #575357

Complaint Review: Readers Digest - Nationwide

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Bnefriends — Port Charlotte Florida United States of America
  • Author Not Confirmed What's this?
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  • Readers Digest Reader's Digest Road Nationwide United States of America

Readers Digest Sends unordered merchantdise Nationwide, Nationwide

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If you enter Readers Digest's sweepstakes or order anything from them, expect to receive unordered merchandise. I entered one of their sweepstakes in 2006 without placing any orders, and they sent me something I hadn't ordered with a bill. I just threw the bill away as companies cannot require payment for unordered merchandise or even require the recipient to return it. They later sent a bill threatening to report me for collection, at which point I actually forgot that they even sent it at all. Their idle threats were invalid because I was a high school freshman at the time! My now deceased grandmother was also a victim of this scheme. They conveniently do not include a phone number on the bills.


Note that I am very good at reading all of the fine print, and I know that I did not accidentally agree to order anything.

I filed complaints with the Office of the Florida Attorney General, Federal Trade Commission, US Postal Inspection Service, Better Business Bureau, and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (Division of Consumer Services). Both the BBB and FDACS forwarded my complaint to RD. I told them that I had not received any of the said merchandise because I honestly didn't even remember getting it.

They responded to both the BBB and FDACS, indicating that they would cancel the charges and remove me from their mailing list. I have not heard from them since.

Similarly, my grandmother had entered their sweepstakes, and she also ordered merchandise from them. She paid for the ordered merchandise, and then she received unordered merchandise with a bill. Rolling my eyes, I repeated the process of complaining to OFAG, FTC, USPIS, and FDACS. They responded in the same way they had in my case, only they asked that the unordered merchandise be returned using a prepaid return label. Although they paid the postage, they did not provide packaging; I had to package the merchandise.

Although they responded to the complaints in a satisfactory manner, I imagine there's several people that have paid for the unordered merchandise without contest. I would compare this scheme of their's to the Nigerian 419 scam artists that I frequently encounter. In my opinion, the government's consumer protection agencies need to fine Readers Digest for running such a fraud scheme. Unfortunately, I don't see the liberals currently in Washington doing anything about it; they'd probably just give them a bail out. Perhaps FL Attorney General should do something. I'm sure they've done this to more than just my grandmother and I.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/27/2010 04:58 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/readers-digest/nationwide/readers-digest-sends-unordered-merchantdise-nationwide-nationwide-575357. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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