HandyMan Club Of America Misleading tactics, annoying practices -- basically a major rip-off! Minnetonka, Minnesota

This is an interesting approach to marketing. You get an "invitation" to join this club, and they even pay for the subscription to their magazine. Not only that, but they are going to send you tools and products to try out and test, and you get to keep them - Sounds great, right?

So, I join the club...

A few weeks later, I get my membership kit. It has a small set of screwdrivers, like for watches and such in a plastic fold-over case. I looked at the local Dollar Store, and they had one with twice as many screwdrivers (for a dollar, of course).

They also included a book in the shipment. At first I thought "Cool another freebee!". Nope, it's like a book club. They end you the book, and you either pay for it, or ship it back to them. It was only $10, but after looking through it, it wasn't worth anywhere near that much.

I went back to the original stuff they sent, and there is absolutely no mention of any books that are to be sent, or anything else that is sent on a trial basis. I guess it's more a misleading method of advertising that a real scam, but they are obviously not telling the whole story until you're already on the "hook".

So I send it back. About a week later, I get another "Invitation" letter. I trash it. In another two weeks I get another Invitation, this time with a medallion, bronze look-ing pot medal thingy and another "check" to pay my subscription and membership dues for 2 years. This time I return the reply card with a big NO in read, and a message to remove me from their mailing list.

Today, I got my 16th or mailing from them. This time with a deck of postcard advertisements. I went on their website and sent a message saying to remove me from any and all lists they have.

We'll see, but the next bunch of cards I get, I'm going to contact all of the advertisers and tell them about the scam artists they are associated with.