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View Full Version : WW Guild Junk mail video!



Mike Olson
05-01-2014, 5:28 PM
I was about to toss some junk mail but figured i'd open it. It's from woodworkers guild of america "never heard of it before"
They included a DVD in there and they go on to say that if I don't want the video that i have to return it, else they will bill me for $12.95

This sounds like a total scam and really makes me mad. What if I had tossed this and got a random bill in the mail a few months later? Should I return it? would that tell them i'm gullible enough to open their junk mail. Is this even legal to force someone out of the blue to perform specific actions, else be billed?

Gha, this really irks me!!!

What do you think?

Mike

glenn bradley
05-01-2014, 5:49 PM
I'd toss it. I wasn't aware that WWGA was doing that sort of sleazy stuff. I have received similar garbage from other sources that got my name "somewhere". I just toss it; never heard a word about it.

David Weaver
05-01-2014, 5:57 PM
Throw it away. You have no obligation when you receive unsolicited mail. They can send you as many bills as they'd like to but that doesn't mean you're obligated to pay any of them.

Craig Matheny
05-01-2014, 6:00 PM
I get many bills for renewing my domain names from companies that I never heard of and the price is for a few hundred dollars, this is why shredders where invented :D

Judson Green
05-01-2014, 6:01 PM
You should return it with a bill for your time (1 hour minimum) plus s&h!

See how they like that!

Ryan Mooney
05-01-2014, 6:47 PM
The spam I got from them included a return postage paid envelope. You can return the CD plus as much gravel as you can stuff in the envelope.

Mike Olson
05-01-2014, 7:38 PM
The spam I got from them included a return postage paid envelope. You can return the CD plus as much gravel as you can stuff in the envelope.

now that is FUNNY! yes, i have a return postage paid envelop also... hmmm i wonder if I can find a few sheets of lead to slip in there...

I need to go to the post office tomorrow anyway so i guess i'll ask about this.

John McClanahan
05-01-2014, 7:52 PM
Keep the DVD and throw the bill away. They will send you a second bill, but on it, it will state that you are not obligated to pay.

I don't like the way they try to get my business.

John

Wayne Lovell
05-02-2014, 7:06 AM
If they just sent it to you it is a gift. If you have a good sized box handy take their return envelope and tape it to the box and use it to send them your garbage.

Dave Richards
05-02-2014, 7:15 AM
This comes up every so often and the WWGoA seems to be the common offender. They might oughta read what the US Postal Inspection Service (https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/investigations/MailFraud/fraudschemes/othertypes/UnsolicitedFraud.aspx) has to say about that sort of thing.

Jim Matthews
05-02-2014, 7:29 AM
The spam I got from them included a return postage paid envelope. You can return the CD plus as much gravel as you can stuff in the envelope.

Gravel?
You're much too nice.

http://www.419eater.com/

Jim Matthews
05-02-2014, 7:30 AM
The real question follows; who sold the WWGoA our names?

I can only think of one magazine I subscribe to...

Rich Riddle
05-02-2014, 7:41 AM
I have a dog with a human name, Walter. You would be shocked how much mail Walter gets related to woodworking. I only ordered one item with his name yet he gets the majority of woodworking related catalogs, etc. He never even reads them. One day he received a similar "gift" in the mail but didn't have a purpose for the gift so he ate it.

Dave Richards
05-02-2014, 8:03 AM
One day he received a similar "gift" in the mail but didn't have a purpose for the gift so he ate it.

After it was finished passing through you should have returned it to the sender. It would have been the polite thing to do. :D

David Weaver
05-02-2014, 8:15 AM
I'd take it to the postal inspector. Maybe if everyone did, it would get them shut down, which would be an improvement.

Jessica Pierce-LaRose
05-02-2014, 12:47 PM
I got the same DVD junk. It did mention somewhere in the fine print that you are not obligated to pay or anything. They squeezed in just enough to make it legal, I suppose.


The real question follows; who sold the WWGoA our names?

I can only think of one magazine I subscribe to...

I never got junk mail when I subscribed to Fine Woodworking; Taunton seems pretty smart about respecting your privacy. I have a lot of respect for the Pop. Wood folks, but FW Media, who owns them, seems to be much less judicious - it wasn't long after I subscribed to PW through FW Media's site that I started getting junk mail. Maybe I clicked a box wrong when I ordered, or maybe one of the contests I entered on the Popular Woodworking site triggered it. (and again, I'd assume in that case it was me not paying attention to a checkbox somewhere in the entry form) Either way - as far as I can tell, I think Pop. Wood / FW Media are the source of these.

Maybe I'm totally wrong and it came from somewhere else, maybe an order from Woodcraft or something. I never did the sign up with a slight variation of name thing that some folks do to trace exactly who signed you up.

I think the problem is, once your name gets on a list, even if it starts as Magazine A's fault, asking them not to share your info anymore probably doesn't help, because that list is out in the wild.

I don't worry too much about junk mail in the end, it doesn't really take my time. It's the occasional junk text or phone call that really irk me.

Larry Browning
05-02-2014, 12:55 PM
I don't worry too much about junk mail.
But it sure does waste a lot of paper!