Tuesday, January 17, 2012
by Nancy King
On a recent visit to my eighty-six year old mother’s residence, she pointed out a pile of magazines (Shape, US Weekly, Country Living and W) and complained that she had not subscribed to and didn’t want. I volunteered to make the calls to ensure that she was unsubscribed and not billed.
Although I discovered the magazines were promotional and my mother was not expected to pay for them, they were still unwanted. Simply throwing them away was a chore for my mother and, as a child of the depression; the waste of throwing out a perfectly good magazine was difficult. This waste is further compounded environmentally by the materials and energy consumed in production and shipment.
Canceling proved to be an exercise in patience. When I called the number listed in the magazine for subscriptions, I was informed that the subscriptions were ordered through a publisher clearing house or magazine subscription service. (My mother did not recall ordering them.)
Several magazines did not list a telephone number, only a website. The unsubscribe page was simple and easy to use, but ineffective because the magazines were not ordered through the regular subscription process. I had to contact a subscription service and then call customer service to get the name and number of the subscription service. The name and number I was most frequently given was that of National Publishers Exchange. The agent at National Publishers Exchange stated that subscriptions are processed by their company but I would need to contact the subscription service directly. American Preferred Readers, Publishers Clearing House, Direct Reader Services are a few of the companies with whom I spoke. Many times they referred me back to the publisher or to National Publishers Exchange. I quickly learned to expect extended (often in excess of fifteen minutes) hold times. After many hours of doggedly calling and calling again, I think all were canceled (but we can expect 3-4 more issues before they actually stop coming).
Several years ago, my neighbor helped her elderly aunt move to a nursing home. She was shocked by the number of magazines in her aunt’s house. This, combined with my experience with my mother, leads me to suspect the subscription service companies target elderly to “dump” subscriptions in order to increase circulation. I understand that magazines are under siege due to changes in electronic media, but these practices to increase circulation are onerous almost to the point of being predatory when it comes to senior citizens.
The telephone process was confusing and difficult for me – it would have been impossible for my mother. Even starting the cancellation process could be challenging to a senior citizen in that:
* The masthead is sometimes buried several pages into the magazine
* The subscriber customer service information is in a tiny font
* Several publications do not list a telephone number…only website info.
What is to be done? I plan to write to all these publications as well as to my state and federal representatives enclosing a copy of this letter. It’s my hope that they will take action to investigate the practices of the magazine subscriber service industry and take action to ensure that their publications are sent only to readers who want to receive them.
Copyright 2012 NewCastleNOW.org