call the postmaster?

[MELOC]

my mom has a subscription to Country Weekly, a country music magazine. the issue she got today states that it will be her last issue and that the remainder of her subscription will be transfered to another magazine as Country Weekly will no longer be offered via the mail, but at newsstands only. her choices were National Enquirer, Shape and Star. her subscription is paid until something like october.

unless there is some fine print in the contract, and who keeps a copy of a magazine subscription "contract" anyway, this is mail fraud. it may only amount to $10-$15, but dadgumit, she paid for a subscription to the magazine and if it is still being printed, she should not have to buy it at a newsstand. at the very least, they could offer her coupons for free issues to be used at the newsstand for the remainder of her subscription. who in the world would want to settle for one of the other rags listed above when they have already paid for what they actually wanted.

is this worthy of a call to the postmaster?

[arabian knight]

How in the world do you consider it mail fraud? It isn't the post office stopping the mailing the magazine now is it. It IS the magazine STOPPING the use of the mail service to Save money~! After all postage for even us will going up in a few weeks by another 2 cents. And a Magazine company is trying to save money in any way they can, and if that means selling them only at newsstands then so be it. But to blame the magazine for mail fraud is way overboard in my book.
And as far as those other mags, they may only have a contract to use those as a subscription substitute.

[DQ]

mail fraud is fraud that uses the mail.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_fraud

[MELOC]

i do understand the possibility of substitution and that is why i mentioned the possibility of "fine print" in the "contract". you will find many things fall into the category of mail fraud when the postal service is involved.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I think it's not worth getting one's panties in a wad. Write a letter to the publisher asking them to honor the subscription. Leave the outrage and the post office out of it.

[MELOC]

imagine the amount of "fraud" when you consider the amount of subscribers the publisher cheated out of their subscription.

[glenn amolenaar]

arabian knight,
How do you see the post office commiting mail fraud, maybe I'm reading wrong but I think it is the magazine that is cheating the customer, I do not see the P.O. refusing the mail.
Glenn

[shellycoley]

Send them an email stating that you wish to either recieve the full subsription or that they refund the remaining value.
Shelly

[fantasymaker]

Originally Posted by glenn amolenaar

arabian knight,
How do you see the post office commiting mail fraud, maybe I'm reading wrong but I think it is the magazine that is cheating the customer, I do not see the P.O. refusing the mail.
Glenn

Yep I think your reading it wrong the post office Investigates and prosecutes fraud commited through the mail . I think thats the question here is what the magazine is doing rise to the leval of fraud.
I think it does.

[zookeeper16]

Call the subscribers' service number at 1-877-566-5832 and ask for a credit. I've heard of other CW subscribers doing this.

[tab]

It wouldn't hurt to stroll into the post office and have a chat. That doesn't sound right to me either.

[homesteadforty]

Originally Posted by MELOC

is this worthy of a call to the postmaster?

No. For there to be fraud there must be an intentional act of deception.

The company made a business decision and offered a remedy. Likely... it is in the small print that substitutions may be offered under various circumstances. There is also likely a clause about no refunds.

It's worth contacting them to get a refund but don't count on it.

[MELOC]

so if you were to order an assortment of flower bulbs and i shipped you a few priority mail boxes full of horse manure fertilizer and told you to stop by personally and i would still sell you the flower bulbs, that wouldn't be fraud? that is assuming our contract made no mention of refunds or substitutions. as long as the amount of horse fertilizer equaled the value of the flower bulbs, that isn't mail fraud? if that is the case, i have a bright future shipping horse manure.

i could understand if they decided to stop publishing the magazine, but to offer it shipped, take the payment and then tell someone they need to purchase the magazine from a newsstand while they ship a magazine the buyer has no interest in is absolutely wrong. i think i may call the number and talk with them if i can get through, but i will definitely talk to the postmaster as well. perhaps this sounds trivial, but i don't take kindly to anyone stealing from my mother.

[beowoulf90]

Sorry I would leave the Post office in it....

The postmaster General made over $800,000 last year..... That alone is outrages..

[Nomad]

Seems to me that there was a contract for a certain amount of magazines and they were to be delivered by the US Mail Sevice. The magazine company is breaking the contract by not delivering the goods paid for. I believe they are liable for a refund of unsent issues. Of course that's just me, but that's how I would present it. It's the truth and they can't make anything else out of it. Somebody paid, order shorted, refund due. Even those pea brains should be able to understand your complaint.

Nomad

[DQ]

I don't think some of ya'll aren't getting what "mail fraud" is. you don't "go after" the postal service for "mail fraud". mail fraud is using the postal service to rip people off. it is simply a way to prosecute the magazine owner. like using a "hate crime" route or a 'war crime' route, in this case you might be able to utilize the "mail fraud" route. a crime has to be called something and different classifications are prosecuted in different ways and have different punishments. mail fraud doesn't invovle go after the post office any more than "money laundering" where people use money to commit their crime, involves going after the US mint just because "money" is in the label!

so I'm afraid that even if you are jealous of what the postmaster makes you wouldn't be sticking it to him/her by using the label 'mail fraud' while pursueing this.

[Danaus29]

Yep, mail fraud. Paid merchandise was to be delivered via USPS. Now the holder of said merchandise refuses to sent merchandise.

definition of mail fraud:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18...1----000-.html

AKA: bait and switch

[BoldViolet]

This isn't mail fraud.

Breech of contract, maybe. But not mail fraud.

[arabian knight]

And besides bait and switch is buying something Then Receiving something entirely different. This on the other hand Was being Delivered with what was ordered then the economy down turn. They "The Company" went with Store Sales only cutting out postage delivery. Saving them Money, and maybe even stopping them from publishing the magazine entirely.
But was going via the mail service for quite some time. Saying Bait and Switch and or mail fraud is pretty far out there. Especially when the magazine company has offered Other Magazines in place of being delivered by mail. So even That attempt won't get any action.

[MELOC]

Originally Posted by arabian knight

And besides bait and switch is buying something Then Receiving something entirely different. This on the other hand Was being Delivered with what was ordered then the economy down turn. They "The Company" went with Store Sales only cutting out postage delivery. Saving them Money, and maybe even stopping them from publishing the magazine entirely.
But was going via the mail service for quite some time. Saying Bait and Switch and or mail fraud is pretty far out there. Especially when the magazine company has offered Other Magazines in place of being delivered by mail. So even That attempt won't get any action.

this is bait and switch, AK. she bought one magazine and they wish to send another...something entirely different. fi the entire company went bankrupt, the "loan" of mom's money for product shipped in the future could be wiped away clean. in this case, the company intends to continue business, publish the same magazine but substitute a different magazine to fulfill the subscription.

imagine there are 100,000 subscribers who have all paid $10 extra for future shipments. that would amount to $1,000,000 worth of fraud.