Disgusted With This Type of Advertising

[Joe Pack]

I received another unrequested CD in the mail this morning, this one from Woodworker's Journal. As usual, I was told that, if I did not want to keep it, I should return it so some other woodworker would not miss out on the opportunity. I was also told that, if it was any inconvenience at all to return the CD, I could keep it and simply ignore the friendly "reminders" to pay I would receive.

This type of advertising is disgusting to me. I am tired of it. I chose to let Woodworker's Journal know of my feelings in the only way they will understand.....the text of my e-mail to their subscription department is as follows:

............................

I received a CD in the mail today...one that I did not ask for. Thank you for the gift.

I also read that, if I do not return the CD, I will be receiving friendly "reminders" that payment is due.

This will NOT happen.

If I receive even ONE "reminder," AKA, "past due notice," I will file complaints with the USPS and with my state trade commission regarding being harassed by your company for payment for an item I did not request.

I despise this type of advertisement. To put responsibility on the consumer to return a product they did not order is despicable. To imply that, if the recipient does not return the CD, another woodworker may not have the "opportunity" to benefit from the product is ridiculous. To send "reminders" to pay for a product the consumer did not ask for is blatant intimidation; many will feel obligated, often believing they ARE obligated, to pay.

Your advertising certainly has caught my attention, but not the attention you hoped for. As of this date, I will have zero affiliation with Woodworker's Journal. I receive so many woodworking magazines that I do not know if my subscription to WWJ is close to expiring, or maybe has expired. In any event, please cancel my subscription if one is still in effect and refund any balance due to the address above. If my subscription has expired, please remove my name from your mailing list.

I cannot control how a company spends its advertising dollars, but I can control how I spend mine. And I do not choose to spend them with a company that "advertises" by attempting to make a customer feel guilty or intimidated into buying something, your disclaimers to the contrary.

Respectfully, a former subscriber,

Larry J. Pack

.................................

Yes, advertising DOES get a potential customer's attention.

[John Harden]

Wow!!!! I guess they really rubbed you the wrong way. I received the same thing and tossed it all into the trash. Their friendly reminders go there as well.

I do agree that this is annoying and not a smart way to get new customers.

Now you have me wondering who I'm depriving of their opportunity for higher education in woodworking.....

Regards,

John

[Billy Chambless]

Joe,

I hope you've inspired them to rethink their strategy, but really, I doubt it. I suspect that the old "free gift followed by a bill" trick works more often than not.

[Dan Gill]

Good for you! You are under absolutely no obligation to pay for anything you did not request, no matter what you do with it. Use it, trash it, whatever. It is wrong to do this, and I thought it was illegal.

My wife feels guilty using the address labels that some charities send out in their solicitations. I don't. I didn't ask them to send me anything, and I know that as the economics of mass mailings go, they'd stop if they didn't get money from it.

[Dan Gill]

Here's another one I hate: solicitations disguised as surveys. They are an insult to my intelligence. I have told various organizations I supported that I did not support this deceptive practice and would thank them to stop sending them to me.

[Mike Henderson]

Here's another one I hate: solicitations disguised as surveys. They are an insult to my intelligence. I have told various organizations I supported that I did not support this deceptive practice and would thank them to stop sending them to me.

Yeah, and the "survey" is so slanted that you could only answer it one way unless you're some extreme radical.

Like "Do you think driving drunk is okay?"

Mike

[Ben Franz]

I agree completely and applaud your response to WW Journal. They mailed me a "free" book shortly after I signed up for a 1 year trial subscription and, after 6 months, finally stopped the "friendly reminders". Because of this incident and the somewhat lame magazine (IMHO), I won't be renewing.

Another pet peeve (thread hijack alert?) is early renewal notices. I understand that a magazine has to be agressive to retain subscribers but I just received a renewal offer from Wood and my initial "3 years for 1" doesn't expire until Nov 2011. I think this one is going to lapse unrenewed as well.

[Bob Fraser]

Hello Joe,
Why not send them a small piece of wood that you have handcrafted,
something that will fit in an envelope like a veneer with a finish on it, and tell them thay they now owe and are obligated to pay you a couple of hundred dollars, and you will send them reminders?

It would be worth five or six bux in postage just to see what happens?

Maybe everyone on this board should do that?

bob

[Adam Cavaliere]

All I have to say is good for you! I like it when others are as infuraiated with the crap companies try to pull. Along with that, think about all of the resources they waste in their efforts. It really irks me!

[Rob Damon]

I have gotten a few of these as well and actually forgotten about them. When the first bill came in, I couldn't remember what it was for and the wife almost just paid it figuring it was "just another one of his WW magazines". I caught it before she sent it out. I went and found the original offer/CD and noticed what it said. The only thing that annoyed me was not that they sent it unsolicted or they sent reminders, but what they implied.

Does anybody really believe that if you return the CD that they would repack it and resend it out to another woodworker, scratches and all on the CD.

It would cost them less money to just send a new clean copy, than to try and verify that the one you sent back was still usable/readable. Clearly, that was deceptive and misleading in my opinion.

Rob

[Chip Lindley]

But there's really No Such Thing! We Pay one way or the other. Junk mail is a serious waste of wood pulp! But, now I am curious if there is anything worthwhile to view on the *free* Woodworkers Journal CD. I doubt it.

I guarantee you FWW is not sending out copies of their Archives DVD, just hoping someone may send them $150 rather than keep it for Free!

Ignore and trash the *friendly reminders* to pay for something that you did not solicit. You are under No obligation, whatsoever! Calm down your blood pressure! It's not worth your time or effort to fume over *FREE*!

BTW, a Christmas-time charity mispelled my name on the free return address stickers. I should have complained..but...oh well...

[Eddie Simmons]

I just received it, I have never done business with them. My question is how did they get my home address?
Ed

[Maik Tobin]

Hey, thanks a lot. Now, because you guys tossed the cd's out, I won't have the opportinity to benefit from them.

[Steven Hans]

Ditto on the CD and book stuff. I feel kind of bad for the actual wood workers that provide the content of the CD's. I am not sure if they realize how aggressive the marketing is. I met George Vondriska and he seems like a real nice guy. He was on the first and only CD that I got in the mail. Maybe I am naive but I would like to think the actual woodworkers that provide this service would disapprove.

[Karl Knoernschild]

I have gotten a lot of reminders from Woodworker's Journal to renew my subscription. This despite the fact that I have never actually subscribed to it. I do subscribe to several other woodworking magazines, and I assume WWJ bought my address from one of them.

This type of tactic is despicable, IMO. After reading this thread, I will be sure to never subscribe to Woodworker's Journal.