I just returned from a visit to my local Books-A-Million. Rarely do I ever go there, or set foot in a bookstore because I get a little crazy and want to buy everything. But after reading our latest edition of "La Cucina Italiana" there were a few books reviewed that I just had to have. First of all, the Cooking books section was a mess. It wasn't organized alphabetically by title or author. I couldn't make heads or tails of it at all. By luck, hubs immediately found the first book we were looking for and we had to have them order the second. So, we go up to the cash register where the girl tries to get us to sign up for their "club". She goes through the whole gag with the coupons and discounts and freebies. Only $17.50/year!!! Well, like I said, I rarely go to book stores. Now my mother at this point usually, politely cuts the person off to save their breath, but I still can't bring myself to interrupt. I know she used to be just like I am now (her response to me is, you're still young, you'll get over it). So when she finished - 15 minutes later - I said, "No, not tonight. Thank you, though!". To which she exasperatedly responded, "You're killing me!", huffed and puffed a little bit and went on checking us out. I don't really appreciate that, but whatever. If you shop on the Planet Earth these days, you're used to having credit card offers, etc. come your way every time you near the checkout. I've been there, I know you're required to ask and it's not you fault and you probably don't even want to do it, but don't act so put out when I say no.
This next part she clearly prefaces by "It's free! It's free!". Risk-Free 2 Month Trial of 3 Magazines! I figured why not, quite frankly because she made me feel a little guilty for not taking the club offer. Once again, I know I got this from my mother even though at this point in her life, she doesn't feel guilty about this kind of stuff at all! I chose my three, she took my address. I signed my *receipt(S)* and was on my way. I should have known better, and I actually did know better than to sign without reading my second copy, but I went ahead and did it anyway because, guess what? I feel guilty if I ever hold up a line. I know, I know. Get over it! So, as soon as I walked through the door I checked the receipt. Low and behold, I have just authorized them to give my card info to the company providing the subscriptions and automatically renew at the end of the free trial! My subscriptions would come to a total over $100 should I neglect to call and cancel.
Cheats! It's absolutely ridiculous! I know I should have read it, but if you're told it's free, why would you have reason to believe they're automatically going to charge you down the road? I'm not one to do this, but I will not be returning to Books-A-Million and I will be calling tomorrow to cancel my "subscription". Come to think of it, I'll be going elsewhere, too, to find the book they didn't carry.
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