lol, once they started sending the "cd of the month," all you had to do was write "return to sender" on it, they wouldn't charge you and eventually stop sending them.
We once signed up using our dogs name, I’ll never forget sitting at our kitchen table and a collections agent called. My mom just said “x last name is a dog.”, she hung up. We never saw anything else for him.
I scammed em back in college. Lived in a dorm, used fake names. So many people did it that they eventually stopped accepting orders from dorms, frat houses and coops.
Also learned that their version or Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” on Legend fades out after the guitar solo. I didn’t hear the whole song until years later smh
For some reason, this reminds me of Homestar Runner...
"Thank you for calling The Internet! May I have your account number for identity theft, please?"
Y'all did this wrong, 'cuz I got so much stuff from them by following their T&C. There was a version called PLAY that didn't auto send you the monthly CD. They'd run buy 1 get 3 free sales every so often that counted towards the minimum purchase req. I got TONS of CDs that way.
I definitely got my eight CDs, then sent back 'no thank you' replies for years, receiving a few CDs along the way when I forgot, marking Return to Sender successfully and never being charged, finally getting them to stop after contacting the Better Business Bureau. A better world?
There was an order form you filed it out and mailed it in, then they sent you a bill for the order. The kicker: the terms were you bought more CDs at regular price for a year after the promo. You didn't even pay before you got the CDs. lol
signed up a few times using different names at each of the addresses my family had over the years - we moved a bit, so i joined at least 9-10 times.
always cracked me up that spelling my first name slightly different could get me a whole new shipment of "free" goodies to the same address.
Having my Dad explain this scam to me as a pre-teen was the first time I recall hearing the phrase that now almost universally defines contemporary business practices:
As long as you were good about sending back your monthly form to reject the monthly CD, you could get a ton of music for cheap. This is how I built my CD collection growing up!
I cannot tell this story enough: the deal was SO good that in ‘98 I mistakenly got the CD order for the Crown Princess of Brunei at my college dorm. She walked over and picked it up. The scam was solid.
Comments
When everything you see is a scam, how do you learn what to avoid?
Dude I have to sign up.
But it did kick start my prog rock phase (2112 and Larks Tongues in Aspic were among those eight tapes)
"Thank you for calling The Internet! May I have your account number for identity theft, please?"
always cracked me up that spelling my first name slightly different could get me a whole new shipment of "free" goodies to the same address.
"So this is how they get you..."
“How are you fucking us?”
Luckily a shady, but wise, family "role model" told me to send them a fraction of what I owed and that ended my relationship with Columbia House.
I tucked that experience away, but luckily have never had to use it again.