Keep the DVD. Throw all bills and other such communications regarding said DVD away. Sleep the dreamless sleep of the innocent.
IIRC that’s exactly how the Law works in the UK.
An unsolicited item becomes yours after twelve months if you do nothing. Or if you tell the company to pick it up and they don’t, it’s yours after six months.
In the OP’s situation it’s not like the company is getting screwed. They knew this would happen. They expected it to happen.
Let’s say for each customer that subscribes they make about a hundred dollars.
They can offered to throw away a lot of 85 cent DVDs to sell a few subscriptions.
The bills are being sent with the same passionless automation that the DVDs were and I’m sure they expect the same range of responses.
Actually, i’d be tempted to keep the bills as well, and report the company to the appropriate authorities.
I knew that there was no obligation on the consumer to return the merchandise. I wasn’t aware, until i saw the cite provided by Dead Badger and Khadaji, that it was illegal for the company to follow the merchandise with a bill.
Sorry but this makes you sound like a complete idiot. Are you aware of the lengths and tactics companies will go to in order to sell you stuff? I wouldn’t send it back on the basis that this might incourage them into thinking that I’m not bothered by their scam (which is what it is) and am in fact open to unsolictited offers of crap - they may even helpfully sell my details to other companies in order to send me more stuff! You might want to consider that you help perpetuate this scam by not ignoring their crap.
I am with the OP - the DVD was a nice little gift, ignore the letters. If you REALLY want to burn a stamp, return the bill with a printout of the law.
For all they know, you tossed the DVD in the trash already.
I would also keep an eye on my credit report…just in case the idjits decide to report you for “nonpayment.”
I’m not saying that will happen, but they have your name and address…and you never know.
I think I would report them to the postal inspector. Depending on how much effort reporting them took of course (I’m a lazy slug, so if I had to do too much I would forget it.)
I ordered some Bacon Salt for my dad for Christmas. It didn’t come in the mail in the suggested timeframe, so I emailed the Bacon Salt guys and said “hey where’s my Bacon Salt?”
They said “The USPS keeps messing stuff up. We’ll send another right away!” and they did. Dad got his Bacon Salt for Christmas and all was well.
A week after Christmas, I got a box in the mail from the Bacon Salt people, which was exactly the same size, shape and weight as the box that contained dad’s gift.
First I thought “Ooh, maybe they sent me some free Bacon Salt for mentioning the SDMB!”
Then I thought “Maybe it was a mistake on their part because of the previous shipping hoo-ha.”
Then “I have learned from the SDMB that I can legally keep anything anyone sends me in the mail. Yay free Bacon Salt!”
Ultimately, my small business heart got the best of me and I emailed the Bacon Salt guys and asked if they’d sent it by mistake and since it wasn’t open should I send it back. They said yes, mark it “return to sender” and put it back in my mailbox.
sigh no free Bacon Salt for me.
(this really has nothing to do with Mama Zappa’s post but it’s about Bacon Salt and this is the SDMB so therefore it is relevant.)
I’m not sure, but I don’t think the ‘you can legally keep’ thing applies to legitimate shipping mistakes related to products you’ve legitimately ordered.
Mmmm… baaacon.
To the OP, you are doing the right thing. The last thing you want is to be put on some sucker list of customers who are willing to submit to the company’s bullshit demands. I would also report them to Postal authorities.
IMHO you are not required, either morally or legally, to pay for things people send you without your permission or request. So enjoy.
BUT, for all those people who think they’re accomplishing something by sending letters of complaint in the prepaid envelopes, or who send other stuff to get back at the company. While it might slightly increase their shipping charges, it won’t tel them anything. The company that sent you the merchandise never sees those envelopes. They’re opened by a company whose business it is to do that, to accept payments. They’ll throw all that stuff away and all you’re doing is annoying the people who get paid to open the payments, who have nothing to do with the thing that bothers you. Just working stiffs trying to make a living.
Just working stiffs trying to make a living, as accomplices in an annoying marketing scheme.
The OP did exactly the right thing. There is absolutely nothing unethical about not returning a DVD that the OPer never asked for and didn’t want. Nor, incidentally, is it unethical for me to use the return address labels that the American Cancer Society sends me each Christmas.
And the OP should definitely let the Train magazine folks know exactly why she wasn’t renewing. Because they are associating with a shady company.
Last January a friend’s father died. The family requested a donation be made to Catholic Relief Services, which is a respected international relief organization. Since donating that $50, they have sent me at least one solicitation letter every other week. At Christmas time, they sent one a week. Last month they sent their solicitation in a corrugated envelope to remind me that in the poorest regions of Africa, even cardboard is precious.
About 2 months ago, I started getting weird phone calls. They were form a 1-866 phone number and said “CNAT” on the caller id. Each time I’d answer, I got nothing but dead air. (The sign of a telemarketer.) They called two or three times a day. Finally a week or so ago, I actually got connected. It was CRS, asking for a donation. I declined and asked them to remove me from their list. Not three days later they called AGAIN.
I was absolutely livid. I don’t care how noble their intentions, it is absolute overkill to send so many solicitations out. They won’t see another dime from me thanks to their aggressive marketing tactics. And I let them know why when I returned their postage paid envelope with nothing in it save my letter of complaint.
Take it from a guy in the marketing business. If it suddenly became legal for people to send unsolicited product and bill for it when it wasn’t promptly returned, we’d all be in a world of hurt.
You’d be drowning in a sea of boner pills, self-help books and cheap kitchen gadgets inside of a week.
Are charities obligated to abide by the Do Not Call laws? I thought they were not.
Regards,
Shodan
I was under the impression that they do not have to use the national Do Not Call list, but do have to place you on their internal list if requested. Could be wrong.
This is just what I thought of as I read the thread. I used to feel guilty about those labels and stuff, but I get so many from March of Dimes and the Nature Conservancy, I finally got annoyed with the tactic and use the stuff with a clear conscience.
I also get irritated with repeated solicitation mail following every charitable contribution and “in lieu of flowers” gift I’ve given. I’m now on the mailing lists for MD Anderson Center, Children’s Tumor Foundation, St. Jude’s, Medecins Sans Frontiers, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the American Cancer Society. I really do like to give to a lot of these causes regularly, but sometimes the constant mail gets annoying. (To be fair, I have not contacted the organizations and specifically asked to be taken off - I’ll have to put that on my to do list.)
If it were a *commercial *interest trying to guilt/strongarm me into paying for unsolicited merchandise, I would be royally pissed, even if actually returning the item cost me little to no effort - I object to the practice itself, not necessarily the individual effort it takes me, as a savvy and wary consumer, to avoid being taken.
Is it my imagination, or have some magazine subscription companies gotten more aggressive over the years? I got an envelope recently from one of my favorites that proclaimed in big red letters that my subscription will be ending soon!!! And this is the third notice!!! I SHOULD RENEW NOW FOR THE LOW LOW MEMBER’S ONLY PRICE OF $19.95, THAT’S LIKE 6 ISSUES FREE!!!
Of course, my subscription runs out in July of this year. :rolleyes:
I never realized anyone felt guilty about using those “free” labels.
You are not just wrong, you are spectacularly, hilariously wrong.
Staff turnover costs money. Employing people to carry out an unpleasant job costs more. If one’s business model involves deliberately having one’s staff be rude to people who are (not unnaturally) rude back, and this makes one’s staff unhappy causing staff turnover, then one’s costs will go up. This makes one’s business model less successful. Boo fucking hoo.
Did you invoice them for ripped bodices?