Somebody stole my magazine subscriptions!

[MickeyD]

At the end of May, I stopped receiving two of the magazines that I subsribe to, ESPN Mag and Entertainment Weekly. At the time, I assumed that the subscriptions had run out. One of my credit cards had expired recently, so I assumed the subscriptions were on that and they were unable to renew. I didn't even think about the fact that I didn't get any of the "This is your last issue unless you renew now" type of notice.

Last week, right before I left for DL, a charge showed up on my bank account for the renewal of EW. I thought WTF!! I e-mailed their customer service about it, and as an afterthought e-mailed ESPN too. I got an e-mail back from EW that was absolutely no help. Then, this afternoon, I got an e-mail back from ESPN saying my magazines were being delivered in a timely fashion to an address that I don't live at! So I spent the better part of an hour calling the two magazines and having my address changed back to mine. When I called EW, they had the same address listed as ESPN. The weird thing is that ESPN told me they received the notification of the change of address from the post office. But I still receive all the rest of my mail!

I shred old bills. I shred credit card offers. I know people who black out or shred their name and address info before they throw out their magazines. I always thought that was because they didn't want some random stranger to know their address. I didn't realize it was that easy to change the address on a subscription. I throw my magazines in the trash. The same trash that I scoop used kitty litter into. There's a part of me that feels that because they were willing to dig through it...they want the magazines a little more than I do....of course, I'm still gonna shred the first page of the magazine from now on....

The funny thing is that the address is in a local city where, how shall I put it, a LARGE population of very poor people live. I know this because I used to be engaged to someone who lives there. But, curiosity of course got the better of me, and I entered the address in yahoo maps. It's actually in the "shores" part of the city, right on the beach. People who live in a place I could never in a million years afford to live stole my subscriptions. Nice. My best friend suggested I take my menacing looking brother with me and knock on their door. (It's tempting, but don't worry, I won't.....I've done enough bailing my brother out of jail to last a lifetime.)

The whole experience did skeev me out enough to sigh up for identity theft monitoring....mainly the fact that they said they received the notification from the post office is what bothers me.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Gah. That's nasty. Hopefully you will get your magazines now properly. Sometimes I just really can't believe people.

I wonder if the person has a similar name or account number or something to yours, and it got changed via an honest mistake.

Or maybe I'm cutting some jerk too much slack.
**hugs**
-kerry

[MickeyD]

Originally Posted by alphabassettgrrl

I wonder if the person has a similar name or account number or something to yours, and it got changed via an honest mistake.

No, I'm with you, that totally was my first thought to, except that it was two separate magazines. That's TOO much of a coincidence.

[€uroMeinke]

Ooo, what's their address - maybe I can get them to deliver my papers there

[alphabassettgrrl]

Originally Posted by MickeyD

No, I'm with you, that totally was my first thought to, except that it was two separate magazines. That's TOO much of a coincidence.

True.

[DisneyFan25863]

You could always retaliate by signing them up for a whole bunch of junk mail offers and the like...


But yeah...I'm starting to get worried about Identity Theft as well..my name is all over the net, and I get credit card offers and magazines in the mail...I always just throw them away though.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I shred everything with my name on it. My husband thinks I'm paranoid, but whatever.

[MouseWife]

MickeyD~ This is really a pain, I'm sure. But, your comment about them actually doing an address change at the post office brings to my mind that they may have more to gain than magazines. I am sure you receive credit card offers all of the time, as I do. Daily. So, I recommend {if you haven't yet} go to that post office with that address and put in your own change of address.

Also, isn't this a federal offense? If you were to report them {you have the address as well as your credit card bill and their info about where the magazine was going} I wonder what else they would find?

Perhaps teens that found a way to get free magazines or maybe something more.

Good luck on taking care of this mess.

[Betty]

Theft of mail is a federal offense. I would report them.

If you believe your mail was stolen, report it immediately to your local postmaster or nearest Postal Inspector. You'll be asked to file a formal complaint using PS Form 2016, Mail Theft and Vandalism Complaint. By analyzing information collected from the form, Postal Inspectors may determine whether your problem is isolated or part of a larger mail theft problem in your neighborhood--and it may help Inspectors locate and apprehend the thieves.


http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/tipthief.htm

Find the number for your postal inspector