ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) (03/18/86)
> This happened to me very recently with Horticulture magazine. I > suspect that it was not soneone else's idea to give them my name, but > that they got my name on a mailing list and decided to send me a bill > with the hopes that I would unquestioningly pay it. I wrote them a > very firm letter on the back of the bill and sent it back, but at least > two issures of the magazine arrived anyway, and I discovered that the > post office would not allow me to "refuse" a magazine (though I have > done that with books and other things). I find it astonishing that you would accuse Horticulture magazine of what is essentially criminal activity without any evidence to back it up. Of course you'd get several additional issues after writing to them. Virtually all magazines print up mailing labels several months in advance because it's much cheaper that way. They'd rather send a few freebies to people who cancel than have to worry about finding the right labels and removing them from the pile. Horticulture is a reputable publication. Whatever caused them to bill you initially (could have been some friend playing a joke on you, could have been a mistake, whatever), I'll bet that now that you've written to them, the copies will eventually stop coming and you won't hear from them again.