Hearst Magazines is Heavy-Handed.

I received a gift subscription to Popular Mechanics (one of my favorite magazines) for Christmas last year (2006). It was a great gift, and I was sad when I got the notice that I had received my last issue in December of this last year (2007).

I was considering renewing the subscription myself (only $12!) until I received the letter pictured in this post. It reads:

"Dear Subscriber:

Your delinquent account with us has been brought to my attention for collection.

'Subscription Suspended for Non-Payment', that's what our records reflect.

When when [sic] we agreed to bill you later, we anticipated that you would forward payment upon receipt of our invoice. A review of our files shows that you have failed to respond to our numerous requests for payment.

Take a moment now to settle your obligation with us and we will promptly reinstate your subscription.

Sincerely,

Steven Mitchell
Credit & Collections"

A couple of things here. First - this was a gift subscription; one would think that would have been clear, since the payment did not originate from me, my address or my credit card or bank account. Second - I never received any of the "numerous requests for payment." Why should I? I didn't pay for the subscription in the first place! Third - Keep in mind what I said in the second paragraph. I was actually considering renewing the subscription. $12 a year is a smokin' deal for one of my favorite magazines. I don't know what the newsstand price is, but I'm guessing it's more than a buck a month. But Mr. Steven Mitchell blew it with this bullsh*t letter, accusing me of being delinquent, failing to respond and not settling some obligation that they should know I didn't make in the first place.

I called the Popular Mechanics customer service line, and after negotiating through the annoying automated menus, I spoke to a woman who was actually very nice. I explained the situation, and she cancelled the subscription on the spot. She even apologized for the tone of the letter: "Yeah, I know those letters can be a little offensive. I'm sorry about that." She also said the subscription was "marked for automatic renewal." My guess (although I don't know for sure) is the person who paid for my gift subscription didn't mark it for automatic renewal if they had no intention of paying for more than one year. So I'm going to assume that's just the way Hearst encourages its subscribers to keep on renewing - creating an "obligation" with "automatic renewal" and then bullying people into coughing up another year's subscription fees by implying that the subscriber is trying to get something for nothing.

I confirmed that my credit report would not be affected by the surly Steven Mitchell, and the customer service lady assured me it was not reported to the national credit bureaus, it was just in their in-house collections system.

So F you, Steven Mitchell. Your accusatory letter backfired, and now Hearst doesn't have my twelve bones and I'm not enjoying the January issue of PM. You must have been very busy pissing off your "delinquent" customers, because you didn't even proofread your work. (First two words of third paragraph.) Jerk.