The other day in the mail I received a bill for Sports Illustrated magazine. They like to bill me in four easy installments of $19.46. THIS bill however was a little bit on the ugly side. They wanted to me to know that I had neglected to make the first payment in the time allotted. They had reconfigured the balances so I could successfully pay it off in the same amount of time. They are so thoughtful aren't they? The truth is, I hadn't told them I was going to renew the subscription at all. They have us on this automatic renewal system that just bills me before the old subscription is up. This note irked me. It was irksome indeed. I thought to myself,"Who do they think they are? I don't HAVE to buy their stupid magazine! AW come on, who am I kidding. I do have to buy their stupid magazine it's CCB's favorite bathroom periodical." (I talk to myself a lot.) So then I did some poking around and found that I could get the same magazine much cheaper than the $77.84 cent renewal price they were charging me! I could get it for $38.00! So I cancelled my subscription. Before I left the SI website I decided to check out what they were charging for their magazine. It was the same $38.00 I had found on another website! They wanted me to pay$ 77.84 when they were offering the same stuff for $38.00! I showed them.
On top of that I was able to renew my daughters subscription to her favorite Nick magazine NOT for the 21 dollars they were asking but for 13.98 on another website. Yes I'm feeling good about this too. I found lower prices on other magazines I enjoy as well. Hmmm.....
The point to all this rambling is that perhaps instead of just blindly renewing our magazines when they tell us it's time we should shop around to see if there is a better deal out there.
To get you started .
I'm just sayin.....
OH! And today I got a renewal letter for Womans Day. They said my account was expiring and that I had to act now to get their special discounted rate of 26.00 for 2 years. I looked up my account and I still have 5 months left! AND on their website they are offering a rate of 16.00 for 2 years. RRRRR......
6 comments:
Yes finding the best prices for magazine subscriptions is a great challenge. Reader's Digest gets real pissy with people who don't renew. Needless to say, after my mom's death, her magazine was dropped but Reader's Digest wouldn't take death for an answer.
The stores are full of magazines and I wonder who buys them at the per issue price? I wouldnt' pick a magazine off the shelf in a store for pete's sake.
You get a lot of magazines...
I'm a magazine junkie too.
Good for you for saving all that green stuff.
I am a magazine lover, but I don't like to subscribe; even though I know subscription is cheaper, I prefer to troll around the racks, checking to see if there's a new magazine (just found a Canadian new magazine called Zoomer, for the knowledgeable generation, which of course, to me, is mine)or if there's something outrageous I can pride myself on for leaving it on the rack. I buy books through an online club and save a packet, but since I also spend a packet every time I go in a bookstore, it all evens out.
Ooohhhh! I hate magazine renewals. They bank on the fact that most people don't keep track of when their magazine subscriptions expire and so they send you bills months before they need to. I am fairly certain they charge people multiple times without them knowing and I am almost certain that I've been a victim of this scam. I am ON IT now! And when i see those "Renew Now" letters I make sure I wait until it's really necessary before I send them any more money. GRRRRRR!
I'm glad you did your homework and got a better deal!
Years ago we cancelled our cell phone account because of the same thing. They were offering a new plan at about half the price we were paying but they wouldn't give us the new rate....So I just cancelled altogether and went to a different cell phone company.....
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