Over the past year, hundreds of you have asked Whistleblower for help. While we can't investigate each tip, we want to share more of what you tell us. In 2009, we started publishing a few tips each week to stimulate online discussion and create ways for our readers to help each other. Unlike our news stories, we have not verified this information, so we do not include the names of the parties involved. If you have a tip, send it to whistleblower@startribune.com.
A subscriber to a hobbyist's magazine got more than he asked for in the mail. Over the past several years, he has twice received an instructional DVD with his magazine.
If the DVD isn't returned within 30 days, the subscriber will get a bill and be signed up to get additional DVDs — at a cost. It's a form of "negative option" marketing in which the consumer has to take an action to avoid purchasing a product.
The Federal Trade Commission has a rule covering unordered merchandise, which states that it is illegal to try to get payment or seek the return of unordered merchandise. To read more about the rule, click here.
"I didn't ask for it, I don't want it, and I don't think I should have to go through the inconvenience of returning it," he wrote to Whistleblower. "However if I don't, I'm going to get a bill for it and get additional crap from them in the mail. Isn't this a form of extortion?"
What do you think?
