[Ntrails]

It reminds me more of the book catalogues. 5 books for a pound or something as a joining perk, but you then had to buy a book a month for 6 months or they would automatically sell you the default book etc.

I never thought that was a shady business model, per se, and whilst it wasn't entirely intuitive how they worked to a 14 year old, I blamed myself for screwing up by joining- not the company.

[ljf]

As a child my father had pointed out to me that those book offers (in the UK at least) were only for adults (18 and over). So I used to fill in the form without ticking the 'I'm and adult' box, and see if they sent me the books. Most did, though as I was a minor they had no recourse to ask for payment. If only you'd contacted them and told them you were too young to sign a contract!

[anonymouz]

But at least the book clubs (at least the ones that I know) make it obvious that you sign up for a membership and have to buy something (monthly or yearly).

This site seems to be entirely designed to mislead you into thinking you're just ordering one item, while in fact you are signing up for a membership.

Signing up for the first one (book club) may be a bad business decision on the customers part, but this second style simply seems fraudulent to me.

[htmltablesrules]

>This site seems to be entirely designed to mislead you into thinking you're just ordering one item, while in fact you are signing up for a membership.

Bingo!

[tedunangst]

When books you didn't order start showing up in the mailbox, you pretty quickly catch on to what's happening. Charges that just show up on your credit card statement are a lot less obvious to most people.