FYI

I received an offer in the mail that would allow me to get 3 months (copies) of Gun Tests magazine at no cost and no obligation. I did receive two copies of the magazine in the mail and decided that it was not for me. The last issue arrived about 2 -3 months ago. Today I got an EARLY WARNING NOTICE from North Shore Agency notifying me of a $20 debt to Gun Tests!!!

Gun Tests turned me over to a collection agency, to which I must respond within 30 days or they will go after me for the money. In my 60 years on this planet I have never had to deal with such BS.

That stinks. I would definitely contact their customer service department and file a complaint.

It has happened to me in the past. Free magazines come in the mail, then the next thing you know, they have billed you for the continuing subscription. Then you have to find the customer service number to try and get it cut off and get them to drop/credit the charges. It was not easy to find the number and stop the subscription, but that is what you need to do. I think this is their business model. Most people just pay the bill or accept the charge.

Over the years I've read of many others posting on various forums of the same scam from Guntest Ragazine. I detest companies doing business in this fashion and never pass up a chance to inform others of scams like this. It's just plain BAD business.

You may want to see if you can involve the US Postal Inspectors, as this amounts to a misuse of the mails. The magazine is sent via USPS. This smacks of fraud.

Worth a try.

Do advise the collector that this is a false debt, and that you will deal firmly with them if they try to collect.

I'm at the opposite end of this. I keep getting magazines that I haven't subscribed to or only bought a one year subscription and now years later I still get in the mail. The only one I renew is GnA and yet four years later I'm still getting Peterson's Rifleshooter and few others. They aren't secretly charging my cards and I don't get why they keep sending them when I have even called them a few times to tell them so I don't get into trouble. And suddenly I started getting the Blue Press despite the fact I don't buy anything from them??? That one is more of a catalog than a magazine though but it's still not like getting the monthly Cheaper Than Dirt junk ads. I think Blue Press has a price tag on the cover. I hope you can clear this up and there isn't some fine print bit you missed saying you can get the three free months as long as you promise to pay the next three years worth or some such ...

I had the same thing happen to me. They are paid. I want no more of their magazines. It's not like the mag. is good or something.

The Blue press is I think the Dillon reloader mag/cat. you must have gotten on the mailing list, I have started getting it after I had them send me 2 powder hoppers for the square deal loaders that I have, I dont think they will dun you for them. Jeff

Just go here and call and e mail.

Not only is it bad business it's a crummy publication or review. It's not even a magazine.

Gun Tests: Contact Us

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Still Running Against the Wind

Purist, contact your state attorney general's office and if necessary file a complaint. Then Contact Gun Test, see contact info in post #9, advise them why you will not pay their fee and then advise them you have contacted the A.G.'s office, and if they, Gun test, have any questions they are can contact the A.G.'s office.

Best of luck,

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Always Stay Strong!

Just ignore it. It's not like they're going to hire expensive lawyers to collect the chickenfeed subscription fee, ruin your credit rating (you didn't agree to borrow and then repay any money...), or in any other way cause you any grief, unless you let them... They may have wittingly or unwittingly sold their cancelled subscriptions list to some sleazy outfit that's using it to trick or scare or bully you into paying up. In any event, you're well shed of what's probably the worst example of a "gun magazine" ever published. I'm amazed that they're still in business --- I guess P.T. Barnum was right...

I subcribed to them once years ago. Never had any billing problems but when they did a water jug test on self defense ammo and try to pass it off as gospel, I let my subscription expire.

Their tests are not worth the money anyway.

Yeah, they did that to me too. I never did pay them. Had something along those lines happen with some magazines that I allegedly ordered from publisher's clearing house too. I gave up trying to contact anyone at the collection agency and just throw the letters away.

The AG and/or Postal Service aren't going to care. At best you can file a form with them that no one will do anything with.

See if they included a post paid envelope with the bill, write no thanks on the bill stuff it in the envelope and put as much pf their other junk mail in the envelope as well. It will cost them several bucks or more just to get the envelope mailed back open it etc. I get offers for American express credit cards and I am very thought full and mail it back with on their dime with a big no thank you. Sounds like they are scammers.


Good luck

The AG helped me out with a similar problem. You never you.

I'm thinking of subscribing to, TV Guide via a card they put in their magazine. They offer something like 58 weeks, and bill in about three installments of about $6.50 each.

The catch is that some thick or holiday issues count as double issues, so the subscription isn't as long as it seems it'd be. Well under a year, I guess.

Has anyone subscribed to them, and were you satisfied?

I don't like paying $3.99 a week for it at the grocer. That mounts up fast! (I don't take the newspaper, so can't use their guide.) I usually don't get it unless they have a story I want or a roundup of new shows.

But if I can get it for most of a year for their sub. price, billed in such easy payments, it seems wise to take the offer. Unless...they keep dunning me to renew, or something.

Do your issues arrive in time to do any good? I don't want to get issues that are already out of date!

It has happened to me.
Simple solution-
On the first bill form you get, simply write CANCEL in great big letters and mail it back.
Worked every time for me.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

That's exactly why I no longer request "FREE" trial magazines anymore. Been there - done that! If I want to check out a new magazine, I can either find one at my gun club or at a news stand or book store. No hassles.

Chief38

I think Dillon provides the Blue Press magazine to any and all past customers free of charge. For that matter, they never charge me for anything related to repairs or updates and are the best folks you will ever deal with. I have received the Blue Press since it's inception and have never been billed for the magazine. It usually has a few good articles and it's fun to browse and drool over the new goodies.
The only "FREE" deal I ever tangled with was one of the old mail order "Record clubs" that offered a number of records for a few cents each, followed by a minimum purchase, and then a one a month selection at the club price. What they didn't tell you was the limited selection list. Anyway, after the trial period it was like trying to shut off Hoover dam with a wine bottle cork. It took nearly a year of nasty letters and phone calls to convince them I wanted to cancel and was not going to pay for all the records they sent, which were all returned....That broke me of "FREE" offers.

TV listings are available free via the internet and most cable and satellite providers. There is even a TV Guide channel. (I didn't know that the print version was even still offered.) The biggest problem with the print version that I'd found in ye olden days was that there was simply no feasible way to cover all the channels available.

But if you want it for the articles, they did used to do a decent job of getting it out in a timely manner, subject to the whims of the post office. Soap Opera Weekly - which I get free for business reasons - generally arrives in time (for me to throw it in the trash bin, but eh).

I'll go one step further-keep a copy!! When you are dealing with garbage like this something in writing is KING and trumps just about everything. Look at the NorthStarAgency letter and you will see an address to write to dispute the charge. The print says that if you don't dispute, it will be presumed valid and they will ding your credit report. It don't cost a thing and people would rathe pay the $20 to keep from getting dinged. Id they ding your report and you have written proof that you contested the debt, you are golden and you can sue them under the unfair debt collections act. The law mandates a $2000 hit for each infraction plus proveable damages. I love this law and have made quite a bit of money off of it. If you don't write something however , you're screwed.

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Forum consigliere

sounds like a plan to me counselor.
I've seen the gun test rag. That's why when something is advertised as free, I'm leary and usually don't take anything especially if required to provide my name, address, email, etc.

Similar thing happened to me a long time ago when GUN TESTS first started (the early 1990's?), but I never got a letter from a collection agency.

From what I remember I somehow got a "free" sample issue from them, and then another, and then another. Finally they sent me a bill and then another bill with some strong language in it that I needed to pay up. I just ignored it and that was the end of that, but I never forgot their sneaky tactics.

John Gross

Holy Cow === The TV Guide magazine for DirecTV has gotta look like the Chicago phone book.

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In dog years I'm dead.

I haven't subscribed to ANY magazines in well over 20 years.

I still get more stuff than I could read even IF it were something I wanted to read.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

+1 on "oldbear" and "cajun lawyer" comments. Wisconsin AG is
usually looking at scammers like the one trying to bill you.
If you don't deal with them promptly, it will show up on your
credit rating. You might as well have some satisfation out of
their little game. TACC1

Gun Test Scam:

Never submitted for any subscription and the name that appeared on this notice is only used for gun magazines. Guns and Ammo, NRA, and any others should immediately cease any association with this company or suffer even more subscription loss. received a notice from north shore collection agency for $20 early warning notice. Suck It!

1. call
https://ssl.drgnetwork.com/ecom/bel/...rg=BEL&publ=GT

2. tell them to go to hell

3. Next correspondence will be with Attorney General and harassment proceedings.

*gun tests bringing bad tastes to gun enthusiast
* Anyone who posts how good this magazine is, works for the magazine

Every issue of the Blue Press that I get has an insert in the middle where you can send a friends name in to them and they will get a free subscription. Maybe someone was trying to do you a favor? I would never do it unless I asked the person first (so I didn't do it to you) It's mostly advertizing but it does have some interesting articles, just ignore the sales part.

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Minimize the variables

There are no free magazines.

I get some FREE magazines.

They are related to my profession and will NEVER be found on any magazine rack for sale. Direct mail to qualified subscribers ONLY!.

Their advertisers are paying for the targeted distribution to potential customers working in the profession. This is less expensive for the companies than buying a mailing list and sending advertizing directly. And the get their ads in front of customers with every issue.

Bekeart

just write on the magazine "refused" and put in the mailbox with the flag up.Mags are considered 2nd class mail and can be refused and returned for free.They will soon get the message you don't want them ,after you have read them of course !

For those of you with an evil side:
Take their postage paid envelope these jokers include and tape it to a box loaded with rocks. Make sure the box weighs less than the USPS postal limit which I believe is 70 pounds. Haul it to the local post office and send it off to them!
Jim

From 1985 - 1997 I worked for a magazine and this is a common practice among them. Best advice is if you send in for a free issue or two or three is make a copy of what you send in because they will try to bill you down the road for something you did not agree to. Go to the post office and they will go after them for mail fraud. It happened a time or two where I worked back then and the publishers do move on to someone else they think they can intimidate into paying.

Some magazines I subscribed to 10+ years ago send me magazines telling me final notice to renew subscription. Then they call on the phone, make it sound like you are a present subscriber and give a great deal to 'renew'. I think they are just counting on people forgetting or getting the other spouse to say ok because they don't know if you had it or want it. This is just normal business and like your are saying, the magazine subscription thing can be a racket.

Also, it's hard to believe a company would turn a $20 debt over to an agency but they have aggressive people well trained in bullying people to make them pay up.

I was unimpressed by Gun Tests; it seemed the bulk of their tests were of $2,000+ 1911 Gov't models.

Anecdote: When Dad was lying comatose in a hospital, we received a small invoice from an unfamiliar firm. A call to the 800 number gave a rep who said they provided phone service to hospital patients in their rooms. I inquired how my Dad could have requested phone service since he was in a coma... Company apologized and cancelled the bill.

Gotta be careful.

Fell into the same trap....I have written a letter to North Shore Agency, Filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, and sent an email to GUN TEST Subscription Services.....We will see what happens

NOTHING is ever really FREE !!

I just sent off a Gun Test coupon for 1 free magazine and a Gun Buyer's Guide, to keep, either way. I'm instructed to write cancel on the invoice and send it (and the magazine) back, to stop everything. I understand that if I keep any of it, I'm obligated for further issues. YMMV

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USMC Life-GOA IDPA A10051

Gun Tests follows the same procedure as other publishers in regard to "free trial issues." If you don't write cancel on the bill and send it back they assume you agree to the subscription. It may not be completely honest in our minds, but it is standard practice in the industry - and others - ever called one of those gold or silver advertisers?

I've subscribed to Gun Tests for a few years. I won't say it's the best magazine ever, but it's not quite as bad as some have described. The only other gun mags I get are Shooting Illustrated from the NRA and Dillon's Blue Press.

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Or something like that . . .

It wasn't a good magazine when I subscribed to it briefly thirty years ago. Perhaps it has improved. Had no idea it was still published.

Wow . . . I just noticed this is a zombie thread. OP is 7 years old.

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Or something like that . . .

probably some fine print there somewhere. "Try this magazine for free for the first couple of issues, if you don't like it, let us know and you will be charged nothing." That is code for we hope you forget to cancel this after you approved it. When these deals are presented I stop the salesperson immediately and tell them I am done.

The CIA should hire Blue Press to track down terrorists. They've tracked me over several address changes. When I've called to plead with them to stop, the person on the other end of the line always promises they will, but still they come, like the Printed Dead.

I don't remember ever buying anything from them, and because of this, I never will. I know their products and customer service have a very good reputation, but if you won't honor my right to be left the heck alone, I'm not going to give you my business.

Yep. 2011 origin. This one has been resurrected twice, once in 2014 and again yesterday.

I worked at a molding company that made parts by the millions. We'd get a call from someone wanting to send us stuff to try for 30 days like air hoses if we kept it we bought it. I'd tell them fine but I wanted to send them a million cable ties for 30 days to try if they used any of them they bought the lot. Never got any takers or free hoses.

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Expert at not being an Expert.