Time Magazine Shady Dealings

This isn't really a scam, but it's damn close. I have been receiving Time magazine for a couple years now, and I've enjoyed it. But when my subscription expired in the spring, I decided not to re-up because they were charging about double what I had originally paid. My magazines stopped arriving as expected, but the renewal notices did not. Eventually last week I received a letter from Time saying in big letters, "IMPORTANT COLLECTION NOTIFICATION. Dear Mr. Campeau, YOU'VE LEFT US NO OTHER OPTION. To avoid further collection efforts, you must respond WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY."

So I'm freaked out that my credit rating is going to be affected over some stupid magazine that I didn't renew, so I almost sent in the money, but I decided to call Time first. They informed me that they had sent me 6 extra issues and had automatically put me in the auto-renewal program. I have never encountered this with a magazine before, and I thought it was pretty shady. Apparently a lot of other people do too because as soon as I called the nice Time phone rep immediately offered to take the charge off and stop collection procedures. And she apologized profusely for the tone of the letter. So if Time realizes that what they are doing is shady and harassment, why do they keep doing it? Obviously they're banking on people succumbing to the pressure and taking the path of least resistance and forking over another 45 bucks. I actually like Time and may re-up someday...maybe. I'll probably switch to the Economist, more news.