What to do about sudden deluge of unsolicited 'trial' packages
Q. I have received six packages sent to my home unsolicited from companies. They say "Trial" on them. My fear is that I will receive a bill for these items if they are not returned. However, to get a receipt of returning the item I must pay for the postage with receipt. I had done some ordering online for Christmas, and my husband thinks my address got on some list. I have not received any bills yet, maybe because I returned them, but why should I have to pay to return something that I did not request in the first place? And if I had not returned them, why should they assume I want them when I did not order them? Is this a scam hoping I will not return the items? What are some of my options?
Sheryl Ellis, Hollis, N.H.
A. Your husband is probably right. You most likely ended up on a list. The next step is figuring out what you signed up for that could have triggered this.
Sometimes, in signing up for a service or a subscription, consumers in their eagerness to complete the transaction check boxes or overlook details of the sale terms that can include getting products such as those being sent to your home. Using information from one of the packages - if you've retained any - or from the next package to arrive, contact the sender. Ask them why you are receiving the product.
It also is not beyond the realm of possibilities that you did nothing to deserve this. It was a fairly common practice among magazine publishers to send additional products after a customer ordered a calendar or a video, for example. The item would then arrive for the consumer to reject. This so-called negative option has been deemed a deceptive practice because it puts the burden on the consumer, as you have experienced, to get rid of something you didn't want in the first place.
If the items are indeed being sent unsolicited, you are under no obligation to return them. But, if my suspicions are correct, you are better served at undoing the mechanism that is triggering these packages being shipped to you.
Should any of the senders demand payment, you should contact the attorney general's consumer protection office and the US Postal Service inspectors. It has already cost you in aggravation. It shouldn't cost you money, too.
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