Country Homes & Gardens/Bookspan Book Clubs

[scratch33]

I don't know if anyone else has joined Country Homes & Gardens Book Club online, but I did. They had offers through NetFlip and IWON and a website:

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I read all their info before joining, and there was no mention anywhere of having a membership comittment. They use a 'negative option plan', meaning they send you offers every so often and if you don't reply, they send you the book.

Country Homes & Gardens is owned by Bookspan, also known as Book of the Month, also known as Doubleday book club!

Anyway, when they sent my books, the return slip said I had a remaining comittment of 2 books! The rules in the 'Welcome' flyer said if I didn't fulfill my comittment in 1 year, they would charge my charge card for the average price of the books, plus shipping & handling, without sending me anything!

I emailed them, complaining--they didn't reply. I called them and finally got a person (my dime). He put me on hold for 5 minutes, then got back on and offered to reduce the comittment to 1 book. I asked for their email address to send them copies of the email info I responded to, and to ask them to tell me where on that info it said I would have a commitment.

The email I sent was returned, so the address he had given me was wrong. I called again and explained everything again. The lady said she is reducing my comittment to zero.

Meanwhile, I filled out a complaint form at the FTC (Federal
Trade Commission) website, saying that if this isn't illegal, it should be. They responded the next day, saying it was illegal, but they won't do anything about a single complaint. They wait to get lots of them.

Then I wrote a letter to Bookspan on Planet Feedback, saying I want them to reduce the comittment of everybody who joined on the internet to zero. Apparently, they only did it for me because I complained repeatedly, and they're getting away with making people think they have a legal comittment of buying more books when they don't.

I also wrote to IWON, telling them I thought the deal was illegal. I think they took it off, because I can't find it there anymore. It's not on NetFlip anymore either.

From the FTC:


What the Seller Must Tell You

Under the Negative Option Rule, sellers must clearly and conspicuously give you certain
information about their plan in any promotional materials. For example, the seller must tell you:

How many selections you must buy, if any

Sometimes sellers offer substantial discounts on your first selections, but then require you to buy
a certain number of additional selections at the club's regular prices.