Guns & Ammo Magazine: Reaching A New Low To Get Subscribers

[dleong]

So I checked my mailbox a moment ago and noticed a letter from G&A, marked "Immediate Attention Required". I have never had dealings with G&A, and my first thought was that it was just another magazine subscription offer.

Imagine my surprise when I opened it and discovered it was a "Magazine Subscription Invoice" from their "Billling Center" requesting that I pay the "Amount Due" of $9 for a one-year, 12-issue subscription. The invoice goes on to thank me for my order, and indicates that I should be receiving my first issue soon. It also asks me to verify that my name and address are correct.

Hmm... strange. I do not recall ever having sent in for a subscription to G&A. And even if I did want to subscribe to a gun magazine, G&A would not even be a consideration.

It's quite obvious that this "Magazine Subscription Invoice" is nothing more than a deceptive marketing ploy to net unsuspecting subscribers. I'm sure G&A isn't the only magazine to have sunk to such lows to drum up business.

So what should I do with this "invoice"? Ignore it? Send it back in the supplied envelope (sans postage so they have to pay for it) with a tersely worded admonishment?

 

[Billy_H]

Glue the front and back of the envelope shut, seal it and mail it back on their dime.

Or, fill it with shredded paper (perhaps the invoice) before sealing it and mailing it back.

 

[Outlaws]

Or you could do this.....

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=junk_the_junk

 

[Detachment Charlie]

If they are paying for return postage, tape it all to a brick.

 

[El Tejon]

Nothing new. I get 10 or 12 of these a week at the office--internet, phone books, etc.

 

[Billy_H]

One of my other favorites was from a friend who was getting spammed at work via their fax machine. They had asked the company in question to stop faxing them, but they continued.

So he created a page on his computer that consisted of a not-so-nice picture (goatse.cx for the curious) along with a message to stop faxing them, all on a black background. He then set his computer to "print to fax" and faxed it to them a few hundred times.

I've also heard of people taping together a few pages of black paper and forming a loop in their fax machine and faxing that to the fax spammers.

 

[Green Lantern]

+1 on ripping it up and mailing it back to them in THEIR postage paid envelope! That's what I used to do with most credit card offers I got (after removing and destroying anything with my personal info on it...)

I'd say a lot of us are on the same mailing lists, it's what I'LL do when it comes to me!

 

[Sindawe]

So he created a page on his computer that consisted of a not-so-nice picture (goatse.cx for the curious) along with a message to stop faxing them, all on a black background. He then set his computer to "print to fax" and faxed it to them a few hundred times.

BWHAHAHAHAHA!! I'll have to remember that one.

Well, you could track down the home phone of the CEO of the parent company of G&A, them give that person a call late some night requesting that they stop sending you junk mail. I had to resort to that a few years back in order to stop the monthly junk mail catalogs one of their companies was sending me.

 

[DWARREN123]

Do the right thing. Go to their web site or use their envelope and inform them you did not order their magazine and why. Be nice, be neat but be firm.

 

[bakert]

Not sure about the ones you get but some of those type of letters are not from G&A but another company that sell mag subcriptions. I get them occasionally telling me my subcription is due to be renewed when I have another year or two to go. Aggravating but just junk mail.

 

[Limeyfellow]

+1 on ripping it up and mailing it back to them in THEIR postage paid envelope! That's what I used to do with most credit card offers I got (after removing and destroying anything with my personal info on it...)

I do the same thing with all these unsoliciated offers. If everyone did this it would soon get the message across or bankcrupt them. Unfortantly some people are always conned into taking the offer.

 

[lee n. field]

BWHAHAHAHAHA!! I'll have to remember that one.

goatse.cx is down, hopefully for good. If you never saw it, well, it ain't high road.

 

[MarineTech]

Not sure about the ones you get but some of those type of letters are not from G&A but another company that sell mag subcriptions. I get them occasionally telling me my subcription is due to be renewed when I have another year or two to go. Aggravating but just junk mail.

As he said, there's no guarantee that Guns & Ammo sent it. I renewed my subscription about 5 months ago for 3 years with G&A directly. And since then, I've gotten 2 of the same letters. I read the invoice in detail and did some research, and found that it's a subscription company that sells hundreds of different magazines at their own prices. I just dump them in the trash.

If you feel upset about it, contact G&A and let them know what the company is doing and that you feel it's very underhanded. If G&A gets enough complaints, they'll stop providing magazines to that particular company for resale.

 

[field70]

Just write "CANCEL" on the invoice and send it back.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

I would avoid spamming faxes to folks. That'll cost you more than it is worth.

 

[Delta608]

Send it to the Consumer Affairs Division. It is a deceptive practice devised to screw the elderly for scripts they have not ordered...Schemes (which it is) like that has been dealt with before....

 

[Cosmoline]

The gun rags are all but worthless now anyway. They've degenerated into shills for the ad men. I only get handloader and shotgun news. Backwoods Home is also nice, though not directly gun related.

 

[Diamondback6]

Guys, I've seen this as a mail-fraud technique before. Somebody claims to be publisher or authorized rep thereof, wants you to renew through them, then you never get anything. Air & Space used to be very good about alerting their readers to these things...

So, be wary if you get one.

 

[dleong]

Thanks for all the responses. The reply envelope is not postage-prepaid, and I'll be damned if I'm going to spend $0.39 to return a cancelled invoice to stop a subscription to which I never agreed in the first place.

As someone here has suggested, I'll just return the invoice with the word CANCEL on it. However, I shan't put a stamp on the return envelope, and leave the sender block empty. The invoice will probably still be delivered to G&A, but with postage due.

And I'll never, ever, buy a copy of G&A.

 

[Billy_H]

I would avoid spamming faxes to folks. That'll cost you more than it is worth.

I agree...the fines for fax spam are very hefty. But, I see nothing wrong in responding back to a company that has repeatedly faxed their unsolicited offerings....just as many times as they have done it.

 

[moewadle]

Another thing to be aware of is the

practice of making you cancel a subscription or it is automatically renewed. A few months ago I ordered a new subscription of a popular magazine. It was an internet offer and quite inexpensive for a new one-year subscription. However, I saw the fine print stated that it was my responsibility to cancel the subscription before the end of the year or it would automatically be renewed. So, I did pay for the offer but I have already notified them once (This happened last Feb.) and will notify them again very soon. Such as, tomorrow, because my last issue should be the Jan. issue of a monthly mag.

 

[jhco50]

Just ignore it. If you haven't signed anything and they want to send you free magazines...oh well. I had NRA do that to me one time. They sent me a video I didn't order and then a few weeks later, wanted me to pay for it. I used the old ignore and enjoy it. Haven't got another one since.

 

[bakert]

jhco50, I still am and will remain an NRA member but I remember that damned video. Really P--ed me off. I returned it with a letter telling what I thought of that kind of practice and if anything else was ever sent would throw it in the trash. No reply and no more things sent. I'm not sure which smart young man thought it up but imagine they got plenty of replies like mine.

 

[Green Lantern]

^^^ You two - that sounds EXACTLY like the crap AOL used to pull on me before I dumped them some years back!

Also, either DirecTV screwed something up, or they were telling the truth when I called and asked "whassup wit dat?!" -

A while back they had a Showtime "free preview" weekend, which I knew nothing about. Til I got the bill next month for the Showtime package! I called and told them I didn't ORDER those channels! They CLAIMED that you had to call and "opt out" after the free preview weekend...

Some days I think marketing people actually sit around and THINK of ways to tick people off. There oughta be a Dilbert character or something (if there isn't already) - like "Possum-bert, evil marketing director!"

 

[ORAG]

IT ISN'T THE PUBLISHER

For some reason unknown to the rest of the world, there are companies out there that somehow obtain lists of subscribers and they send official looking bills to "renew" the subscription at new and low prices. My wife and I were alternating who paid the bills and I found a Super Chevy renewal and thought it looked familiar. In fact, both my wife and I had renewed it once in the last year. I will read it until sometime late in 2008 but I damn sure won't read it after that. I have been the recipient of renewals from three different sources for the same mag. How can Editors sleep at night.