ColumbiaHouse !! please help!?

Question

a while back i filled out some surveys regarding a free t-shirt.

i stoped and didn't fill out any with credit card numbers or anything like that.

Just today Columbia House sent me a Dvd and in the package they say I owe them $5. I dont want anything to do with this.

I dont even like the Dvd they sent me!

please help me

Answer 1

bet you fell for that "freeibe scam

read all about

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Internet ScamBusters (tm)

The #1 Publication on Internet Fraud

http://www.scambusters.org

By Audri and Jim Lanford

Issue #192  August 16, 2006

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Hi Mark,

Today we answer a question that we've gotten from a lot of

subscribers: are the emails and websites that promise free

designer handbags (or computer equipment, or plasma TVs, or

video game systems, or other valuable prizes) legit? In other

words, can you actually get these prizes -- or are they all

scams?

We'll tell you the story of a friend who decided to find out

the real scoop -- and whether or not she ever got her free

designer handbag.

Let's get going with today's article...

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Can You Really Get Free Designer Handbags and Other Valuable

Prizes?

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Let's begin with a story: We recently spoke to a friend we'll

call "Emily" who complained about how many times she'd

received an email promising a free designer handbag worth

hundreds of dollars -- but she had always passed up the offer.

Emily said she thought it sounded too good to be true.

After all, she asked: "Who wouldn't want a handbag from

designers like Fendi, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Coach -- free?"

We advised Emily NOT to do what she wound up doing. But

against our strong advice and her better judgment, Emily

decided to see what would happen if she followed through.

Emily said she'd report her results -- so that if it was a

scam like we predicted, at least our subscribers could benefit

from her mistake. (Please don't try this at home -- you'll see

why as we share her story.)

Just Because They Say It's Free Doesn't Mean It Is

Here's what happened: Emily visited the link in the email and

was brought to a website where she was offered the choice of a

Fendi bag, a Marc Jacobs bag, a Gucci bag or a Coach bag.

The values of these bags ranged from seven hundred dollars to

seventeen hundred dollars.

The website asked Emily to select the bag she wanted and to

provide them with her email address.

She thought: "Doesn't sound like too much to ask for

considering the reward being offered, right?"

She thought that if her email address really was the only

thing they wanted from her, it may have indeed been a good

deal.

However, Emily dug a bit further and found out what that bag

would really cost her.

Get Ready For Spaham (misspelled intentionally)

Just for the fun of it, Emily thought she'd check out the

website's privacy policy before actually giving them her email

address or any other information.

It's a good thing she did.

It seems that the companies that offer these types of

promotions don't keep your information confidential.

In fact, the privacy policy states outright they'll share your

information with third parties. To translate this into

layman's terms, it means your information will be available

for sale to almost any party wishing to purchase it.

If you do provide your email address to one of these websites,

get ready for a boatload of spaham in your inbox. And if you

think opting out of the mailing list will save you

frustration, you're wrong.

The privacy policy of this site also stated that while opting

out will discontinue emails from the actual website, it won't

discontinue emails from the companies who bought your

information from the site.

Fortunately, Emily followed our advice from previous issues of

ScamBusters here: she used a "throw away" email address. And

that is exactly what she had to do with that email address!

But There's More

If you think a designer bag is worth selling your information

to strangers (especially using a throw-away email address),

there's a lot more you need to know about these offers.

To actually get the prize you're being promised, you have to

complete a survey.

The survey asks for your name, address and phone number and

then bombards you with dozens of online offers and asks you to

check a box indicating whether or not you're interested in

each offer displayed.

Emily said that getting through the twenty-minute bombardment

of offers was bad enough.

Then she found out that she HAD to complete a total of ten

separate offers to qualify for the bag. Accepting these offers

would involve getting phone calls or paying money.

It was becoming clear that this bag was not going to be "free"

at all.

Take It a Step Further

Let's assume you didn't mind your inbox being spahammed or

your information being sold and there were actually ten offers

you wanted to accept. You'd get your bag, right?

Wrong.

Not only do you have to complete ten offers, you have to refer

five people from separate households to the site and all five

of those people also have to accept ten offers.

Now let's say each of the five people you refer actually

complete ten offers. Then you get your bag, right?

No, not yet.

Those five people each have to refer five more people -- then

you qualify for the bag.

What are the chances of that happening? Probably almost none.

So Who's Getting the Prize?

These not-so-free offer sites don't always offer free designer

handbags. Some offer gift certificates to stores, others offer

gift certificates to restaurants, some offer laptop computers

and others offer video game systems.

The prizes change, but the end result remains the same.

When most people visit one of these sites they enter their

information, accept a few offers and then realize there is no

possible way they are going to actually get the prize. At that

point they exit the site.

The companies that run these websites count on people leaving

the site in the middle of the process. That way they don't

have to give you the prize.

The company now has your personal information and will sell it

to third parties for a profit. The company has also profited

from the few offers you did complete.

A Waste of Time -- At Best

Here's Emily's conclusion: "The website owner now has a bundle

of cash at your expense and you have absolutely nothing. In

fact, you've just wasted a bunch of your time."

The average person spends at least twenty minutes at one of

these sites before they realize the direction in which things

are going -- and that they will never get the prize.

One more thing: some of these sites are even worse than we

just described. Even if you miraculously managed to jump over

all the hurdles to get your prize, you still wouldn't receive

it -- since some of these sites are outright scams. And there

is no way to know beforehand.

So do yourself a favor -- avoid spaham and websites that offer

free designer handbags or other valuable prizes.

(And no, Emily never got her "free" designer handbag.)

That's it for now -- time to close for today. Wishing you a

wonderful week.

Answer 2

place the dvd back in the box, write cancel accorss the box and ship back you may have to pay shipping to send it back, i reccommned getting  confirmation in case they try to say you never returned it...

Answer 3

Return it along with a letter indicating you didn't order it, don't want it, and cancel any future shipments.  It might even be worth it to send it certified, return receipt.

Answer 4

Follow the advice of the 2 answers you already got. Don't get involved with this company. Once your in it's hard to get out.