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Wired Strongarms Subscribers?

Posted by Zonk on from the better-than-the-jedi-mind-trick dept.

yali writes "Wired has apparently been sinking to some rather low tactics with ex-subscribers. Namely, siccing a collections agency on them. If you let your subscription run out, you might get one of these. Nerds beware." From the article: "First came the usual letters warning McMillan, 36, that his subscription was up and that he wouldn't get any more copies of Wired unless he ponied up some cash. Then Wired's correspondence took a different turn. In May, McMillan received a letter from North Shore Agency, a leading debt-collection firm. The letter, headed 'Please Respond,' said he owed $12 for his Wired subscription."

13 of 492 comments (clear)

  1. That's it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just cancelled my subscription.

    1. Re:That's it by rindeee · · Score: 2, Funny

      Me too (not that I read it). I can picture the meeting in which some junior exec concocted this idea. It probably began with "Okay, check this out guys."

    2. Re:That's it by IOOOOOI · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Listen to this one then; you open a company called the Arse Tickler's Faggots Fan Club. You take an advert in the back page of some gay mag, advertising the latest in arse-intruding dildos, sell it a bit with, er . . . I dunno, "does what no other dildo can do until now", latest and greatest in sexual technology. Guaranteed results or money back, all that bollocks. These dills cost twenty-five each; a snip for all the pleasure they are going to give the recipients. They send a cheque to the company name, nothing offensive, er, Bobbie's Bits or something, for twenty-five. You put these in the bank for two weeks and let them clear. Now this is the clever bit. Then you send back the cheques for twenty-five pounds from the real company name, Arse Tickler's Faggots Fan Club, saying sorry, we couldn't get the supply from America, they have sold out. Now you see how many of the people cash those cheques; not a single soul, because who wants his bank manager to know he tickles arses when he is not paying in cheques!"

  2. It appears they are... by The+Ancients · · Score: 2, Funny

    'wired' alright. Must be some pretty good sh*t too, by the looks :p

    --
    The Mothership
  3. So when... by ericdano · · Score: 3, Funny

    So when is Slashdot going to do that with their subscriptions?

    --
    It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
    I moderate therefore I rule!
    --
  4. Re:How do you get your magazines... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Duh, I steal them from the library.

  5. No time to read it?.. by Ka+D'Argo · · Score: 2, Funny
    Ok, I can imagine someone being really busy. School, or a full time job, family with kids or just spending alot of time with the wife. But how can you not spend like 5 minutes reading a magazine?

    I wouldn't even ask, but if you read the article, after it was all said and done, when it was settled he turned down a free subscription still siting "no time to read it".

    Seriously, does this guy like, not ever use the bathroom? I know reading in the can isn't for everyone, but damn. He could easily spend five minutes reading several pages every time he needs to drop the kids off at the pool. Unless he's one of those strange guys who goes for the "turbo shit" and like, completes the entire process in under something insane like two minutes including cleaning and belt bulkling...

    I really think dude is just full of it. I mean, he probably disliked the magazine and canceled cause of that. There are so many ways to read a magazine...

    - 5-10 minutes before you go to sleep.
    - While you eat a meal (unless he eats, while driving a truck...)
    - Bathroom (as said)
    - While doing menal chores such as waiting on clothes to wash/dry etc

    No time my ass

    --
    Aw Frell this
  6. Re:Balley Fitness does something almost as bad by Aeiri · · Score: 4, Funny

    At least I can use them to light a fire if I need to . Let's see you kids do that with your fancy email spam that's all the rage these days.

    We're all about automation now, my email server automatically lights on fire when I get get my fancy email spam.

    Beat that.

  7. Re:Easy to prevent this by almostmanda · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is a great idea. Another side benefit is, you get to see which magazines are selling your info to junk mail lists or signing you up for random catalog. And then you won't feel bad not paying your bill, because you'll know that Wired already made a killing selling your name and address to the highest bidders.

  8. That's some news! by Another+AC · · Score: 3, Funny

    The letter is dated July 11th, 2002!

    What's next on slashdot?

    Wired Magazine lists the 19 digital projection theaters in the country where Attack of the Clones can be viewed as Lucas intended?

    I guess I'll just have to switch back to my Doctor's waiting room for all my cutting-edge tech news.

  9. Re:Deposit in ATM! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Not that I would get an ass vibrator, mind you."

    Suuuuuuure.

  10. Re:How do you fight collection agencies? by Pathwalker · · Score: 2, Funny
    How do you stop a collection agency from calling you?

    The question I'd like the answer to is "How do you stop a collection agency from calling your cell phone over and over when you have no idea who the person they want to collect the debt from is."

    Some woman has been giving out my cell phone number as her contact number for about the past year.
    I've talked to:
    • a number of collection agancies
    • a bunch of places selling magazines
    • One pissed off ex-boyfriend
    • finally, just today, a friendly man calling her back to schedule a second interview for a job.
    I've developed a pretty fast method for getting rid of the collection agencies:
    Calling them back, and politely stating that they have been calling my cell phone over and over to collect a debt from someone I've never heard of, and that my attorney says he needs their mailing address so he can make sure they never call me again.
    But there has there be a faster way.

    Since it's not my debt, I've considered just yelling "Go ahead and sue me you bastards - I'll see you in court!", but I have to wonder if that might just result in more calls.

    Oh well. Hopefully the job interview guy keeps his promise to pass along the info that she's been using the wrong phone number, when he gives her the results of her "Phone Interview".
  11. Re:You are 100% dead-on correct by Hal_Porter · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dude, it might be THE freakin' NSA, that's why you can't find the North Shore Agency on the net. Hell, they probably posted the GP post just to trick people into thinking it was safe to fuck with them. It's all some sick game to destroy some hapless geek. I read about this sort of thing on that timecube website.

    Pay the money, unplug the phone, burn any magnetic media you have and put on a tinfoil hat when you sleep. Then you might just get away with it.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;