Are these "Free" magazine suscriptions really "free"?

[Hammyton]

I have gotten all kinds of junk magazines (Latina... etc) off of Hot Deals and I'm sorta wondering now if these magazines are truly "free".... will they start charging me all kinds of weird fee's if i dont cancel or something?

 

[Fingolfin269]

How? Did you give them credit card information or something?

 

[hevnsnt]

Latina? Seriously?

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

Are their hot latina chicks in the magazine?

 

[hdeck]

how can they charge you without your cc info?

 

[jhansen]

It seems like it...

 

[mattg1981]

Originally posted by: Shaftatplanetquake
Are their hot latina chicks in the magazine?

Of course they would be ... latinos are hot!

 

[lobadobadingdong]

where's the hot deal?

 

[TrentSteel]

I've been getting over ten free magazines a month for over a year, and I don't pay a cent for any of them. Once I got a bill for what was supposed to be a free subscription, so I sent it back marked "cancel" and never heard from them again.

In a word, yes, these subscriptions are free.

 

[wallsfd949]

wow, hot.

 

[mikeford]

I think I use freebizmag or something like that, and I have gotten half a dozen different mags free for 6 months to a year, typically they all send pay renewal notices, but I haven't paid a dime yet. Zinio is also cool, its free electronic versions that automatically download to your computer, and "look" just like the mag on your monitor.

 

[MournSanity]

The real question is, do they send you spam?

 

[Crapkilla]

Originally posted by: hypersonic5
The real question is, do they send you spam?

Only if you're foolish enough to give them your real address

 

[conehead433]

Free? Well they don't cost you anything with the exception of more Spam. Magazines adjust their advertising rates based on the number of subscribers and sales volume. So giving away subscriptions adds to their revenue in the form of increased advertising income.

 

[Wolverine27]

The subscriptions are "free" for a certain time period. After which, they send you renewal notices hoping you will renew your subscription and become a regular subscriber. Also, I think many of these "free" subscriptions are given out so magazines can tell potential advertisers that we have "x" number of subscribers so you should advertise with us...

 

[TrentSteel]

Originally posted by: hypersonic5
The real question is, do they send you spam?

Personally I only receive offers for other free magazines and haven't gotten anything besides that (from Freebizmag). The emails come about once every week or two, but that's about it. And the free magazines they advertise in their emails aren't so bad.

 

[OddTSi]

I don't really know if I get more spam as a result of the free magazine subscriptions because I have a seperate email account that I use for things when I expect them to spam me (that account gets LOTS of spam already).

Other than that I can tell you that I have gotten free "sample" subscriptions to magazines that I did NOT sign up for, nor would I. I assume my name/address was added to some list so they decided to give me a 2-4 issue subscription to various magazines attempting to whette my appetite.

 

[SurgicalShark]

Well my room mate agreed to start this Sports Ill trial, and after their trial issues he forgot to cancel the subscription. And probably after receiving one issue he requested a cancel. But acoording to company he agreed to pay for one full year, which he didn't so case is with some collection agency. Neither of them (collection agency or SI) have his CC number, so I guess he credit history is in geopardy.

Originally posted by: hdeck
how can they charge you without your cc info?

 

[swNYC]

Free magazines are called "Controlled Subscription", by giving the publication your demographics (e.g. income, job title etc), and requesting for a free copy, the publication can sell advertising space to potential advertisers, since they can claim they have X people which fits the profile. The cost of your free subscription is offset by the increased advertising revenue. These demographics are audited by publication audit bureaus. There are many magazines which rely solely on advertising income and the subscription is completely free.

Those 3-5 issue subscriptions are called "Forced Free Trial and Conversion", basically, they send the magazine to you and will bill you at some point, hoping that you will pay and continue the subscription. If you receive these invoices, simply cross them out and write "CANCEL SUB - DID NOT REQUEST" on it, and send it back.

Publishers are required to refund all remaining amounts in the account... i.e. you can cancel right in the middle of a subscription period and get the remaining money refunded.

 

[nycdude]

spam ridden promo. :|

 

[Ludacris]

I get so many free magazines it's crazy. I had to let some expire because it was filling up my garbage and I wasn't reading them.

I currently get:

Latina (for my wife)
Computer Gaming (or something like that)
TV Guide
Certification Magazine
MCP Magazine
Some other Console Gaming Type Magazine.
Windows Server Systems magazine (or something like that)

I canceled

Infoweek
Infoworld
and a couple other ones I thought were a waste.

I should have Maxim, Rolling Stones, and a few others on the way too. I love Anandtech Hot Deals. Defanitely a must-visit website.

 

[MYKnyte]

Course you wouldnt provide your real NAME for these subscriptions ..do you?

If they are free, it doesnt matter whose name you put it under, as long as you have the right address.
And should this 'free' magazine deal turn 'sour', you won't mar your good credit record. There is no 'mail fraud' issue because this offer was 'free'. Its as if they had a stack of magazines for free and you grabbed one...no?

Btw, PC Magazine, Playboy, Stuff, Maxim, Computer Gaming World, Electronic Gaming World are subscriptions I've signed up for free and never had issues. They will send you a renewal once the 'free' subscription expires, but ignore it and the subscriptions stop coming. No worries.

 

[Ludacris]

How did you pull a free playboy subscription? You need to hook us up with a link so we can get the hookup too.

 

[Special1Sauce]

Yeah I signed up for EGM and It came so I know its good thats why I believe that site.

 

[LedFusion]

that's brilliant man.
it's a magazine subscription. if they don't have your real addy, how will you ever get the mag?



Led.