neves@uwai.UUCP (David Neves) (03/08/86)
I had this problem happen to me last week. I received some books from
a computer book club that I didn't order. At first I thought I was
receiving some free books from a publisher but found that wasn't the
case after looking inside the box and seeing the bill.
I called up the post office to ask what I could do. They said that if
I hadn't opened the box I could have refused it and it would have been
returned. I could also keep the books and when the bookclub contacted
me I could write them and ask for return postage to return the books.
I didn't want to keep the books around and didn't want to mail them
back at my expense either. So I placed a note in the box saying that
I did not order the books, carefully retaped it, and wrote REFUSED,
RETURN TO SENDER on it. I assume that the post office returned it.
Unlike the previous author I do not blame the bookclub. I doubt that
reputable bookclubs (or any for that matter) would find it profitable
to send books to people who did not order them. I assume that a
student ordered them for me as a prank. It was addressed to my home
address but the zipcode was the university one.
--
David Neves
Computer Sciences Department
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Usenet: {allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo,uwm-evax}!uwvax!neves
Arpanet: neves@uwvaxjtk@mordor.UUCP (Jordan Kare) (03/12/86)
In article <360@uwai.UUCP> neves@uwai.UUCP (David Neves) writes: >I had this problem happen to me last week. I received some books from >a computer book club that I didn't order. At first I thought I was >receiving some free books from a publisher but found that wasn't the >case after looking inside the box and seeing the bill. >... A couple of years ago, I received a fat "buyers guide"-type catalog for IC manufacturing equipment, something I have no interest in (I'm a physicist, but not in solid-state work). The catalog was a year out of date, and I assumed it was a freebie -- I'm on a few electronics industry mailing lists, etc. A month later, I got a bill for about $50 from the publisher, named something like Technical Publications. I called the company and they said to send the book back. I did so, although I didn't rush right out to do so; I think they sent me a second bill and that reminded me. Some time AFTER sending it back (at my expense) I got ANOTHER bill, now with big OVERDUE stamps on it. I called, and they said they had no record of my sending the book back. I wrote a letter saying a) I never ordered the book in the first place, and b) I had sent the thing back and if they couldn't find it it was their problem. What I got back was a letter with a xerox of my "order" -- a magazine coupon from a magazine I don't get, with my name and an incorrect address handwritten on it, not in my handwriting. At that point, I probably should have started sending off letters to consumer groups, postal inspectors, etc. What I did was send them another letter pointing out that the order form was NOT from me, and that any further correspondence was liable to result in drastic action on my part. I didn't hear from them again, but I was out about $5 in postage and considerable time writing and calling. My only remaining question is, where did that coupon come from? Did someone else send it in to annoy me, or did Technical Publications forge it (perhaps at some file-clerk level)? Tech books are more expensive than romance novels or even computer book club books, and a scam seems unlikely; IC engineers don't strike me as a good target, but who knows? Jordin Kare !lll-crg!s1-mordor!jtk