I wanted to use the word “scam” in the headline — and did in the picture filenames — because this thing sure smells very, very badly, but it is possible it is just some sort of overly aggressive marketing tactic that needs some closer scrutiny. Hopefully, I’m an isolated case. Here’s the details:

I’ve been a very happy PC Mag subscriber digitally via Zinio for two years. Just do a search on this blog and you’ll see me mention Zinio positively several times. Within the last few months I even signed up to promote Zinio via Linkshare and have run a few ads here. I like Zinio a lot. I think it is especially useful on a Tablet PC.

Now, I have had a few subscription problems here and there with Zinio with my MacWorld subscription (they would send me digital magazines and then send me print magazine and then digital again without me requesting any change for example) but I haven’t had any problem with PC Mag via Zinio. Never.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, my wife came into the room and showed me the white index “AUTOMATIC RENEWAL NOTICE” card shown in the picture above. It contained the following text (click the image to see a bigger, more readable image):

Your subscription will expire FEB0706 issue which mails on 01/03/06. As described when you ordered, we’ll automatically extend your subscription for another term and bill your credit card.

All that sounded fine to me. The last two years I’ve paid $9.99 a year for 22 issues. That price is fine with me, it’s worth that. However, that’s not the price they were planning to bill my credit card at renewal time for:

You’ll get 22 issues for $34.97, a savings of 73% off the cover price!

My wife saw this and said: “Hey, isn’t that kind of expensive?”
My response was, “yeah, that’s more than three times as much as I paid the last two years.”

Nowhere on the card does it give any phone number to call but it does give the service.pcmag.com web address for “service questions.” I went to that URL and put in my name, address city and zip code (same as the mailer) and it was unable to find my subscripton in their database. C’mon Ziff Davis, I’ve been a subscriber of yours for two years!

So next I went to Zinio and tracked down a phone number to call from there: (800) 289-0429. To my delight the call was answered on the third ring by a friendly, female operator. I didn’t write her name down but that’s not important here. What is important is how quickly she was willing to credit me back $34.97 if I only gave her my credit card number.

I said, “Wait, I didn’t say I was charged any money yet, only that this auto renewal card says I am going to be charged.”

She then indicated that she’d taken me off the auto-renewal list and I wouldn’t rececive any more of these postcards. Keeping my tone measured, I asked why I received one to begin with? I wasn’t signed up for a print subscription, I was signed up for a digital subscription (at 1/3rd the cost), so why if they wanted to send me an auto-renewal notice wouldn’t they do that by email?

“We don’t do that,” she replied.

PC Magazine doesn’t send out auto renewal notices by email? I don’t recall having these problems last year. In fact, I specifically remember following a link in an email to renew the subscription — for $9.99.

The customer service rep couldn’t give me any more details nor explain why they would send me a renewal price that was considerably more expensive.

“This seems very unethical,” I said, “what would you think if you were paying $9.99 a year for something and then was told how great it was that you’d be auto-renewed at over three times the price?”

Perhaps under fear of our every word being recorded, she could only say: “I can kind of see where you are coming from.”

The call ended politely with her telling me that if indeed I was charged $34.97 to just call that number and they would gladly credit me back. I was still very much disturbed by the incident.

First of all it looks and sure seems very much like a chance to auto renew subscribers at a much higher rate. If this is the tactic, then I question the legality of this. Not even porn sites renew you at more than the subscription amount! Heck, Playboy via Zinio is cheaper ($19.99) than PC Mag at $34.97 for 22 issues.

It sure looks very suspicious to me and seems like somebody might be trying to take advantage of their current subscribers. These kind of things irritate and alienate loyal customers. I don’t only subscribe to PC Mag, I also subscribe to their utility downloads. Yeah, maybe I’ve only been a subscriber for two years, but don’t send me something saying you are going to wack my plastic for way more than what I’ve been paying and make it sound like some kind of good deal. Yeah, 73% off the newstand price. Blow me, PC Mag, I’ve already been saving over 90% off the newstand price!

If anybody reading this is from Ziff Davis and/or PC Mag wants to delve into this more directly my phone number is under my name on the front page of this website and I’ll be happy to share my details without the whiteout on my name and address.

For Hmm readers who subscribe to PC Magazine digitally or otherwise, keep your eyes on your snail mail box for cards like the one shown above hailing from Boulder, CO, and be sure to call and tell them to get you off this crazy list. The customer service rep told me that we all get added to this auto-renewal list. I sure hope that’s inaccurate. Ziff Davis, please, if this is any kind of tactic, policy or whatever, stop doing this NOW.

Alert: we’ve now gone to magazine auto-renewal defcon 2!

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• Microsoft ASP meeting, voting and driver’s license renewal day
• Zinio annoyances include new Microsoft video ads