Hearst Communications review: scam 62

Rodale Books is also the publishers of Men's Health Magazine, Women's Health Magazine and several other magazines. They do this same scam to their magazine subscribers. Sending unsolicited books and invoices for same and sticking them with the time and expense to ship them back in a timely manner. The label they supply online for that purpose is useless because it specifies a Book Rate which the USPS no longer even uses. Their fax number is always busy (I tried faxing them my invoice for my charges for the time and expenses their little stunt cost me). I canceled my magazine subscription with them, have Used CERTIFIED Priority mail to return their junk, and will be stripping all the postage-paid cards their magazines were loade with and dropping them blank in the mail to them. My next chore will be to file a formal complaint with my state's state attorney general's office, and the USPS Post Master. For good measure I am working on a Blog post to relate my experience more broadly. Maybe a trip to the local news stand for some more postage paid post cards to mail 'em.

I got a magazine subscription as a gift and after the subscription had ended, I got a box of 3 books. I had no idea why I got them or who they were from. It was right before Christmas so I figured they were Christmas gifts. When my brother came to visit he was reading them and I told him he could have them. A month later I get a bill from Rodale for $50.90 for the books. It states that I had 21 days from the time I received the books to return them in order to avoid having to pay for them. I called the number on the bill ([protected]) and stated that I got a bill for books I did not order and I would like them to remove me from their list so that I no longer receive books or bills. The agent informed me that when I subscribed to the magazine I elected to have some books sent to me to preview (I later confirmed with the person who bought me the subscription that they did not elect to have books sent to me). I told the agent that I never elected to receive any books and the books did not come with any paper work saying who they were from, no account information was included, and nothing was included that indicated I needed to return the books if I did not wish to keep them. I told her that I no longer had the books so I can not return them and I am not going to pay for them because I did not order them. She said that just this one time she would cancel the bill, as if she was doing me a favor. RODALE- Do me a real favor and don't send me anything I did not order!

A note on getting in touch with their 800 number ([protected])- I called and hit '0' to talk to an agent and was told that their call volume was too high and they hung up on me. I tried back 10 minutes later and got through.

My story is the same. I hate this company with a passion. They sent me unsolicited books. I haven't talked to a customer service rep yet. I don't have time for this garbage.

I am done with Men's health. I get books in the mail that are absolute garbage and now i have to return them at my time and expense? I saw the one book at a Borders outlet for five dollars! Trash. Absolute trash. Times are hard fellas, I have seen other decent companies pulling shady maneuvers.

I can't even believe this crap! My story is the same. I have a subscription to Womens Health and right around christmas received a packet of books, and a work out DVD. I thought I had gotten a Christmas present and opened it only to find an invoice. I packaged it up, sent it back and now I am getting an invoice in the mail saying they have not received payment- after I sent eveything back! Then when I called the 800 # it said due to high call volume they could not answer my call! I am on hold as we speak! What can we do to them?

I contacted Rodale December 3rd, of 2008, reference the books that were mailed to me without my authorization nor did I ask for them. The books were mailed back to them as per their instructions, however, I am still receiving bills for the books I hand delivered to my post man to send back. Even told him I am canceling all magazines.
I have asked the Prevention Magazine, that I want them out of my life and I will never, ever buy anything from them, nor any other magazine.
All of this has been very frustrating and I want to be taken off their list as well.

What ever connection Rodale has with prevention I feel it was wrong on their part to automatically send books I did not authorize them to send.
I took time out of my busy schedule to do the right thing and send them back, now they need to do the right thing and take me off the list. I did my job, now I want them to do theirs. And yes, it was around Christmas time.

Just the other day I received this e mail from Rodale:

As mentioned in the reminder letter sent to you, your previous purchase entitled you to a preview of this year’s edition. Please be assured we have cancelled that program effective today.
Return shipments take approximately 3 - 4 weeks for us to receive and process. As of this date, we do not have a record of your return.

This was my reply:

Entitled me? Or forced me. It takes 3 -4 weeks for you to receive and process and as of this date you do not have a record of my return? I hand delivered it to my United States Post Man Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008. It's been 10 weeks today the books were mailed back and you still do not have any record of my return? The company e mailed me a return label as she said that is what I had to do. I put all the paper work in the box as instructed. I went on the net today and found I am not alone in this manner. I did a copy and paste to this e mail of just a few comments. I did get information as what I can do if I continue to get a bill. Not only do I have the United States Post Man remembering me handing the package to him I have the web site of all the negative feed back.

Not only should they be turned over to the BBB, Attorney General, and Senator they should be exposed to the News on ABC, CBS or whatever news channel.
Why should I pay $50.90 for books I returned and pay for poor record keeping this company evidently has?

I was upset too when i receive these books after my men's health subscription too (because I never asked to have them shipped). I too felt wronged because I thought i had to pay for the shipping to send it back to them. Wrote an angry email to this address www.customerservice@rodale.com, got this response... hopefully problem resolved. Hope this helps others so they don't have to pay anything out of their own pocket.

Thank you for contacting Rodale. When you ordered our Men's Health magazine, it stated that you would receive this book shipment each year. As mentioned in the reminder letter sent to you, your previous purchase entitled you to a preview of this year’s edition. We apologize if you were unaware of that. Please be assured we have cancelled that program effective today.

Below is an attachment that you can open to print the postage-paid return label for this order. Please make sure to place your packing slip in the package, so that we may properly credit your account when the order is received. It may take up to two weeks for us to receive the order. If you receive another bill in the interim please disregard it.

We will take your name, mailing address, and email address off our mailing lists immediately. It will take approximately 3 - 4 weeks before all of the company branches will receive your cancellation from our mailing lists.

We apologize if we caused any inconvenience. For more information regarding the Rodale Privacy Policy, please go to: http://www.rodale.com/1, 6597, 8-114, 00.html. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at the email address below.

Thank you for contacting Rodale.

Best of Health!
Rodale Books Customer Service
customer_service@rodale.com
For the newest health and fitness information please visit

www.rodalestore.com or www.preventionfitness.com

* Please return entire Email when responding *

Shanna

FURIOUS! I am located in Vancouver, Canada and am currently dealing with this exact issue. I purchased a one year subscription of Women's Health magazine, nowhere did it state that I would be receiving unsolicited items in the mail and the be charged for them at a later date. Rodale tried to mail me a hardcover book, but we never picked it up from the post office. The post office automatically mails it back to the sender in those instances. I recommend everyone do the same (if possible).

My boyfriend and I submitted our experience with the website [redacted]. It appears that many others are dealing with this scam both in Canada and the United States.

According to Rodale.com:

"Rodale publishes some of the best-known health and wellness lifestyle magazines, including Men's Health, Prevention, Women's Health, Runner's World, Best Life, Bicycling, Running Times, Organic Gardening, and Mountain Bike. "

Please keep those magazine and book titles in mind and avoid signing up with them for anything.

It is sad that this is the tactic they are resorting to. It seems to be problem for many. The best solution that came to our mind is to start a blog, website or petition that will help put Rodale's scam to an end.

I would post my email here publicly, but am so tired of spammers targeting my email, my home address and my telephone number.

But I will be contacting people in my area who can help with this problem. Rodale just sent me my second notice requesting payment for a hardcover book I never ordered.

Best of luck getting these guys.

I was being bullied by these fools for about 6 months. I yelled at them and the india collection agency they sent after me. After telling them I had contacted the Ohio State Attorney General (which I had) I NEVER got a single call again. It's been 7 months since their last call. DON'T GET BULLIED----BE A JERK!

My 81 year old mother keeps getting books she did not order she sends them back & they send more PLEASE stop sending them to her it is so hard for her to get around.
Why don't you just stop sending them to her and make it easy for the older folks out there.

Interesting. I've subscribed to Men's Health for five years now and have never received unordered books. My only complaint with them is they overcharge for their books. I've ordered 3 books from them (great books actually) and realized I paid probably double what they're worth.

My daughter just received an unsolicited book from this company. She has never subscribed or ordered any books or magazines from this company. Interesting part is the email address they have for her is a bogus address she uses for My Space. I've know about this company for a total of 10 minutes and I already hate them!

Unless they ship me return envelope they won't be getting their book back and I will contact our state's attorney.

http://www.lawcash.com/attorney/4379/rodale-lawsuit.asp

Stupid me. I agreed to receive a book that was completely different than the one I received today. Now it looks like I suscribrd to a series. I am 55 years old and way to late to worry about building firm ABS or firm ###. Trying to contact them is useless. If anyone has any luck contacting them, let me know. I am afraid they will send me more using my credit card and no I can't cancel.

I have had similar experiences with this horrible company ! I also have had problems with Readers Digest, sending me their magazine ( unrequested by me ) and their insistence that I MUST have subscribed or I wouldn't have received it... I had to get good and mad before any one would fix the problem ! What is going on with these companies... ? !

There has been some class actions with regards to this business tactic by Rodale. The 3rd District ruled that individuals do not have a private right to sue for receiving unordered books. Which means that there may not be any more class action lawsuits in the future. But what is important is that people understand what Rodale is doing.

They are sending you free books as a gift, of which you have NO obligation to pay. They send you bullying letters and fake credit reporting letters to scam you into paying for something that they gave to you for free. Call them and demand that they stop sending you abusive letters and mention that you are aware of the past class actions against their company and they'll back off.

This is probably the most disgusting use of the law as a sword instead of a shield that I have seen in a long time. As much as I enjoy Mens Health, I am going to cancel my subscription because of their involvement with such a sleezeball company.

Unbelievable. They scammed my 89 year old mother. I made a complaint with PA BBB and PA Atty General. I've called Rodale twice. They are hounding her with a bill for junk she didn't order. All of this started because I ordered a subscription to Prevention Magazine for her. The customer service rep tried to tell me that when I ordered the magazine I also agree to take a book order, he said it was in "fine print." I know this is not true as I read ALL fine print and am very careful when ordering things. I don't know why any reputable magazine would be affiliated with Rodale.
Please make a complaint to Pennsylvania BBB and to the Pennsylvania Attorney General. Only then will they possibly change their tactics.

SAME STORY! i just subscribed to mens health and i got these 2 books in the mail so i opened it assuming it was a free gift.. and there was an invoice attached.. i call and they say oh i'm sorry please mail them back to us... But now i need to spend time and money for shipping it back to them for something i never requested in the first place!

OMG, I wish I had done a little Googling prior to ordering a book from Rodale. I received the book ordered, paid for it, assumed that was the end of it. Two weeks later, I received another book, unsolicited, with a note stating that "as promised when you ordered (book x), your free preview of (book y) has arrived!" And to make matters worse, they have enrolled me in an annual update series which I never asked to join! I sent the second book back, but now I am going to make a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and the California Attorney General's Office.

You actually don't have to pay the postage. You can call or email Rodale and they will send you a return label for you to return it free of charge. Also, books are only sent if there has been an order card filled out. If you did not order the book, then someone filled a card out for you. The order card states in fine print that by ordering whatever book or magazine sub. you agree to preview the annual book-if you like it, keep and pay for it. If you don't like it, you can contact them and they will send you a prepaid return label-and you can cancel out of the program. Many people claim they have not ordered the series, but really they did. They just failed to read the fine print. I'm not saying it's right, but you really did order it. If you want to order a book and not get the series-just cross it out and indicate you do not want the series when you order.

Crappy, but legal.

Good luck!

if it's legal why have they already lost one major court case dealing with this subject? it's ILLEGAL and a scam.

Just like the others who have posted on this site, I am upset at Rodale books. I clearly told them that I no longer want their sub-par products. I have twice requested a return shipping label, and I still recieve bills for products I didn't want. Additionally, the information that they provide in their materials is common knowledge (well, to me anyway), and is nothing desired or exceptional. What a terrible company all around!

I am currently fighting with Rodale books as well. My girlfriend got me a subscription to Men's Health as a birthday gift a year ago. I didn't renew the subscription because the magazine used to be three times as thick and now they break their old magazine into 3 mags and expect you pay for each one. They just recycle the same articles. How many ways are there to lose your gut? How many different ways can I bench press?

Anyways, the problem is Rodale has been sending me notices about 2 books I apparently received back in December of 2008. I never received any books nor would I have asked for any books. I got a letter in the mail the other night now threatening my credit and saying I would be sent to collections if I did not pay the $50.90. I never received any books, and I've tried at least 30 times off and on this week trying to talk to a real person at their office, but I always get hung up on or get a message saying they are experiencing a high volume of calls. I reported this obvious scam to the BBB and the FTC.

Has anyone ever actually been sent to collections with this scam and has it ever affected anyone's credit score?

I went through the same thing at the end of last year. I subscribe to Women's Health, and received an unsolicited hard back book before Christmas that I did not order nor want. I refused to pay to ship it back, and I could NEVER get anyone on the phone to get them to send a 'prepay' label. After a couple of weeks, I filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and got a reference number for the complaint. I then sent a registered letter to Rodale (text below). I never received another bill from them, and as I just refinanced my house and have recently reviewed all 3 of my credit scores, there has been no postings on my credit from Rodale. I guess if you let them know they can't bully you, they drop it.

January 5, 2009

To Whom It May Concern,

I have not ordered any books from your company, but received a package in the mail around the Christmas holiday that contained the book “Women’s Health Total Fitness Guide 2009”. I did not order this book, and I do not want it.

After numerous attempts, I have been unable to reach anyone at your customer service number to discuss or resolve this issue. As a result, I have contacted the Federal Trade Commission and filed a complaint (reference number xxxxxxx). I am aware of my rights against unsolicited or unordered items, and it is against the law for you to demand payment or report my non-payment to any credit agency for this item.

Per the Federal Trade Commission, anything I receive in the mail that I have not ordered can be considered a gift and I am under no obligation to purchase or return the item. If you would like to send me a prepaid shipping label, I will be happy to return the book. Otherwise, I will consider it a gift. You may send me a prepaid shipping label to

I do not want this address used for any other purpose than to send me a prepaid shipping label to return the unwanted book, and to ship me my current subscription of Women’s Health Magazine. Do not, under any circumstances, use this address for any other direct mail of any kind or supply this address to any other company or third party.

This event has given me a very negative impression of your company and I will not be ordering anything in the future from you unless you can resolve this issue. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.

I want to cancel my agreement to purchase books. I have tried to find a way to do this on line but have had no
success. I assume I will have to write a letter and send it by registered mail. I only ordered the books for a
relative of mine who is stationed overseas, and I have no need or interest in them for myself.

Total scammers! They even threatened my credit report by sending the bill to a collection agency! I never ordered the book and they tried to put the burden on me to pay for it or return it. I will never subscribe to Prevention, Men's Health or Women's health (my wife) again. I am reporting them to the BBB and the Massachusetts Attorney General's office.

I just got another book in the mail from these guys. Who's running Rodale? The Mafia? This is nothing short of extortion. I saw a link to a class action lawsuit from 2005. This is the end of 2009. Anyone know of the outcome of this lawsuit? Why are they still running this scam?

If there is a lawsuit, class action or not, I'd like to be a part of it. I want this STOPPED. I emailed their customer support just now and threatened a lawsuit for fraud. We'll see what happens. I said I'd dropped the book in the trash. I may just put DELIVERY REFUSED...RETURN TO SENDER on it and drop it back in the mailbox.

Any help appreciated.

I called [protected]. The messaging system requested my invoice #, which I didn't have, since I refused to open the package with the book. I kept waiting and finally the system said to push 0 (zero) for the service rep. I had to confirm that's what I wanted, and then didn't have to wait very long before got a live person. I explained I received a book and wanted to cancel. He was able to find the account by the last name and address. He wanted me to print out a return label (or give me an address to send it to) but I kept repeating that I'm just going to put "Return to Sender, Item Refused" on the package and it'll get mailed back to where it came from. He finally agreed to that. He said the account was cancelled.

My father, who's 92, received this book in the mail. I know for a fact that he ordered a book from this company, because he told me he was sending for a particular book and I warned him if he did, he'd get put on a subscription for more books. (That's how it works.) He now doesn't remember even ordering a book in the first place (but I know he did.) Rodale isn't the only company that does this; I've had to cancel subscriptions from about 3 other companies too. My elderly parents just never read the fine print when they order a cookbook or health book or whatever--and Dad refuses to believe me when I tell him whats going to happen--and then he gets mad because unwanted books arrive in the mail!

This is a complete scam. They sent me letter after letter telling me to pay, eventually they sent a collection agency notice that they'd report me. I was livid. I called there number, they try to hide their customer support by not telling you how to access it. Press '0' after you get the answering service.

I just told the lady this was completely ridiculous, that there was a class action law suit pending against the company, they're been reported to the BBB, and that I would not be paying. I told her I had no obligation to return the mail as it was unsolicited.

She then removed my bill.

Screw this company. Do NOT ORDER MENS HEALTH or anything dealing with them. They will try to steal your money.

About a year ago, I ordered a book on Diabetes from Rodale. Rec'd it and paid for it. I checked my account on-line and noticed a statement about receiving other books for a trial period. I called Rodale and told them I did not wish to receive any further books or correspondence from them. They said they would cancel my account. A year later, I rec'd another book on Diabetes which was unsolicited and unwanted. I contacted Rodale four times over the next six weeks requesting that my account with them be cancelled and that they send me a postage paid label for returning the book. I finally received the label and returned the book.

This company is disreputable and a total scam. However, I did receive a post card from them confirming that my account had been cancelled. Now all I have to do is wait to see if they screw me and claim they never received the book I returned.

Re: Lollipop Girl's postings...
{You actually don't have to pay the postage. You can call or email Rodale and they will send you a return label for you to return it free of charge. Also, books are only sent if there has been an order card filled out. If you did not order the book, then someone filled a card out for you. The order card states in fine print that by ordering whatever book (in your case, flat belly) you agree to preview the annual book-if you like it, keep and pay for it. If you don't like it, you can contact them and tehy will send you a prepaid return label-and you can cancel out of the program. Many people claim they have not ordered the series, but really they did. They just failed to read the fine print. I'm not saying it's right, but you really did order it. If you want to order a book and not get the series-just cross it out and indicate you do not want the series when you order.
Crappy, but legal.}

Lolligpop girl you are so wrong! I am sitting here looking at two of the cards my 80 yr old mother recieved from Rodale in the past week alone. Niether the subscription card not the special Book card have any fine print telling her that she is agreeing to anything other than the actual item being requested. There is NOT a line about previewing anything. People (my mother) are getting things they didn't ask for. It is not only 'crappy' as you put it...but it is also Illegal!
Do you work for Rodale? That is the only thing that came to mind as I read your post. Many people are being ripped off - not because they are stupid, but because a very large company has become very good at scamming people. End of story. Rodale needs to be shut down.

I am a California attorney investigating a potential claim on behalf of my client regarding these alleged business practices. If you have information that you believe would be helpful in the prosecution of this case, please contact me at [protected].

I made the sad mistake of ordering "Prevention" magazine from Rodelle and have now received a book that I never ordered. I have tried to cancel all transactions with Rodale...Customer service is seemingly non-existent. I have sent emails and snailmail telling them to remove me from their mailing list from all departments and requesting a return label for the book. I sent my final email today telling them that I will file a complaint with my state's Attorney General if they send me another bill. I believe I will send a little letter over to the FTC as well. This is really poor business practice. I cannot believe it is allowed to continue.
PS...It DOES sound like Lollipopgirl works for Rodale. :)

Well. I hate rodale books more than anyone else here.

I was tricked the first time into paying 50 bucks for 2 unsolicited books after they THREATENED to send my bill to the crediting agencies. I yelled at them to remove me from their lists. One year later, i have just received another book from them. Well. I got on the phone and yelled at them and they were ever so pleasant and kind. But guess what. They are sending me a no postage necessary return authorization.

I'm gonna get the box that came with my 52 inch samsung lcdtv and ship that book back in that. on the label it says "postage due computed by acceptance post office". Have fun rodale.

Listen up everybody...Rodale has a new wrinkle...Now they are ordering magazines for you. I received an Organic Gardening Magazine in the mail with a renewal notice attached to the magazine. In the envelope there was a flyer note stating "unless you tell us to stop your subscription would automatically be renewed. Since I didn't order it to begin with...I called Organic Gardening and was told it had been ordered for me by another company namely RODALE! I didn't think that was legal? People better start checking these magazines sent to them, making sure they actually did in fact order them. Don't throw them away without looking carefully at the magazine. The one I received had the bill glued to the magazin. Someone needs to do something about these people.

Submitted by LadyRedhawk4909
darozl4338@gmail.com

I got a sketchy phone call from Rodale Inc. today claiming to be Runner's World magazine. The caller knew that I subscribed to that magazine. He began to share facts about the number of women now running and I interrupted to ask where he was calling from (because it did not seem to really be Runner's World). He confirmed (or restated his claim) that he was from Runner's World, but quickly thanked me for my time and said goodbye.

I couldn't figure out his angle until I looked it up on the internet...and now assume he planned to try to sell me something and I as a skeptic, I wasn't worth his time.

I DID NOT ORDER ANY BOOKS - I WILL NOT PAY ANY MONIES TO SHIP BACK THAT I DID NOT ORDER! SO WHERE EVER YOU GOT MY INFORMATION I DO NOT KNOW BUT IT WAS NOT FROM ME! AND YOU CAN TAKE MY NAME OFF YOUR LIST!

I just ordered a book from them then i stumbled onto this site. How can I get out of it because I have 2 small children and dont have time to deal this kind of crap? I have had other companies do this to me and its getting very old.