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Playboy Enterprises

Playboy Enterprises review: subscriptions to minors 70

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Author of the review
12:00 am EDT
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My son started receiving bills in his college dorm this past spring (2006) for a Playboy magazine subscription that he never ordered. He ignored the bills and now he has received the same nasty collection notice from Charles Martin that others here have mentioned. Charles is only asking for $10 for the subscription, so I guess his $17 and $12 scam solicitations aren't working for him. I don't recall
the exact P.O. box, but it is definitely in a city in Iowa other than Des Moines, so he's moving around, too. Let's hope he leaves the country and goes into another line of business before more innocent young people give up $10 in fear of having their credit damaged.

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70 comments
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Canada
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Apr 22, 2008 3:40 pm EDT

I also received the same letter about a sir Charles Martin for playboy reguarding me not paying a subscrition someone else filled out with the wrong last name saying that i havent payed my subscription for 6 months and the irs will be contacted, so i called the lady and got the subscription cancelled, they said personally that sir charles martin is fake and to disreguard the information, theywere trying to get my interenet money!

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Beth
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Apr 10, 2008 2:24 pm EDT

I discovered a card in our mail today offering my husband a subscription for $1 an issue. I, too, am livid at receiving this in my mail as I have teenage children who don't need to see this obscene literature. The phone number listed above was helpful. A very nice woman said we'd be removed from the mailing list immediately. My only worry is other porn-related businesses that have purchased the Playboy list.

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rick campbell
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Apr 09, 2008 9:22 am EDT

I recieved a notice from the charles martin guy and instead of disputing this I paid it last year. I wrote a letter to them saying to cancel it and now I have another auto renew from a R. DUNCAN. How do you get them to cancel or quit automatically renewing the magazine?

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Khan
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Apr 01, 2008 11:04 am EDT

My cousin even got a letter from playboy for the amount of $15.96. He hasn't order anything from playboy. this is probably a scam or as stated above that a friend might have played a trick on him. we'll surely call the number and find out.

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Jason Jones
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Mar 26, 2008 1:03 pm EDT

Playboy does not send out bills to people to try and get them to take a subscription to their magazine. If you're receiving a bill, then they have an account for you and an order for you. If you people would just do as much research on how to contact Playboy as you did to find this complaint website, you would easily find that their phone number is:

[protected]

Call them up, ask them why you got a bill, and the answer just might surprise you. Usually orders are sent in as a joke. Come on, who hasn't gotten an order card and filled it out for someone else as a prank? Also, you can order online and check "bill me later", that's an order too. Instead of vilifying this guy, you should look around and see who among your "friends" is playing tricks with you.

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Kawana Barnad
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Mar 13, 2008 12:54 pm EDT

I agree that it is not o.k.! Common sense tells you that with all the divorce rates and the growing misconduct between adults and children, there are just too many effects of decay caused by the immorality of it all. I have had my own experiences with it in my family and am truly an advocate of fighting it. I am not insecure about my self and am by no means unattractive. So none of this stems from my insecurities. I can truly speak from experience when I say it is morally decaying to a persons view about reality and responsibility. It's also obvious that they are not aware of the effects because they have already been brain washed into thinking it is o.k. so they really wouldn't know.

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John R.
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Mar 11, 2008 6:58 am EDT

I received an invoice for playboy magazine from "R. Duncan for Playboy" on 3/10/08. I never ordered this smut magazine - EVER! This is an obvious phishing scam. There is no correspondance - only a PO Box number in Harlan, IA. They tell you to send in your check, and don't even indicate who to make it payable to. DONT SEND THIS LOSER YOUR CHECK! Once he has it, he's got your signature, address, and account number. Your identity, and good credit standing will be in the hands of this bottom of the barrell ###. I have filed a complaint with consumer affairs, and I sent a letter to Harlen, IA authorities about this. Let's hope this crook gets what he deserves.

John R.

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me at home
guam, US
Feb 05, 2008 3:31 pm EST

the phone # is [protected]
I never ordered the magazine but was sent a bill anyway. After a lengthy search, I found this number. They were actually helpful, removing me from their subscription list and zeroing the account balance.

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Bill
Spam, US
Feb 02, 2008 3:43 am EST

1 buck? sweet jesus thats cheep!

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Brian Arnold
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Jan 24, 2008 9:30 pm EST

I recieved a notice thanking me for my order and telling me that they will start sending out merchandise that I didn't order. What a big scam. I will not accept any of that trash at my house. I will call that number to make sure that my children don't find that trash in the mail.

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fred barnett
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Jan 24, 2008 8:26 am EST

I got that same scam.

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Peter Lawrence D
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Dec 16, 2007 1:05 pm EST

Same with me. I was going to call Playboy to report the fraud but I figure they must be swamped with complaints by now.

Peter.

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Brandon L. Entsminger
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Dec 05, 2007 9:54 am EST

I received a letter and bill for 17.26 and sent back a letter saying i didn't receive anything from the company and do not want to receive anything from the company. I sent it Certified and got a signature back from Stacie Frederick. I don't know if that helps anyone out, but i kept the copy for my records. I will ignore anything else from the company.

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Stephanie
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Nov 17, 2007 11:57 am EST

I have the exact same thing! I've never ordered this & theres no fn # to dispute only a PO Box. Did you ever get it resolved & if so how? TYVM!

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Tamara Lewis
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Oct 15, 2007 4:56 pm EDT

I keep getting a letter in the mail by Playboy by a R. Duncan for Playboy saying they will send my bill to collection manager for mags I never even got! How can they send a past due bill to collection for a mag or item that I never even got or ordered?

This letter is coming from Harlan IA.

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Keeshound
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Oct 12, 2007 6:07 pm EDT

Except that this isn't a legitimate bill. There is no 1-800 number, and I have severe difficulties believing that Playboy would be patient enough to wait six months before threatening action. This is further undercut by the fact that about a week ago, I received a bill from the "National Credit Audit Corporation." Claiming that they were a collection agency contacted by Playboy to squeeze the $10 out of me, although in less coarse language. As has been previously stated, no contact information has been provided, other than the location which I am to send my "payment" to. There is no phone number, no email address, not even a website. Not to mention that as of now, a years subscription to Hugh Hefner's fine publication costs approximately $26.97. A whole year that I didn't ask for, for just two fifths the normal price? What a great deal. I have a great deal of difficulty believing that, even if we assume that this is part of a marketing ploy to bring in more customers. I also find it interesting how much the billing center moves around. Other potential victims have been informed that the billing center is in Des Moines. Sure, Playboy's a big company, but even Microsoft doesn't need two billing centers (mines in Harlan, where's yours!?). Also, I hope to God that real Playboy bills don't have "collection agency, or six months, or the next seven days or any bloody words for that matter," underlined for effect.

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Jenn Web
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Oct 11, 2007 1:18 pm EDT

I just checked my mailbox and found the same thing addressed to my husband. Fortunately, I got to the mailbox today before my 11 yr. old.

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Joe
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Oct 10, 2007 2:47 pm EDT

I too was frustrated with these collection letters, however if you call [protected] you will get playboy and if you follow the prompts through to customer service, they will cancel this billing.

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Amy Goff
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Sep 15, 2007 9:44 am EDT

My son recently got one of those post cards on the mail as well.And they are 3/4 nude. Very obscene in my opinion.And obviously Jason there does not know the effects of porn as boys are drilled from a young age that sex and looking at nude women are the norm and totally o.k. He does not know that porn encourages rape.There is a stong connection between rape statistics and pornography readership statistics.In 1983, to university of New Hampshire sociologists, Murry Straws and Larry Baron, studied the corrolation between rape and readership of pornography.What they descovered was indeed chilling.Studying the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report for rapes reported to and recorded by police, they found that alaska & nevada were number 1 & 2 in the nation for occuances of rape.Alaska & Navada were also number 1 & 2 in the readership of pornography.An interview with several known child molesters they reported a growing dependancy of viewing porn from childhood.And that is not even all the damage porn can and will do.But these porn places have society believing that it won't hurt anyone and its ok.It not and I agree with her, I am LIVID about it.

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cheez
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Aug 27, 2007 11:30 am EDT

[protected]

There you guys go... call and ### the poor girl out like i did. This number will cancel your subscription if you ask, and you can file complaints there. I suggest you do.

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adam
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Aug 17, 2007 4:05 pm EDT

Get a life, all of you. A young teen boy needs a few playboy mags every now and then.

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Josue Pereira
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Jun 26, 2007 9:51 pm EDT

I have recently received the same type of threatening letter from the infamous Charles Martin regarding my awful negligence about me not paying my playboy subscription that I never subscribed for. I live in southwest Florida, and this is the second letter from this scammer. I noticed the subtle peculiarities these letters possessed or lack thereof: No invoice number, due date and no phone number to reach their billing department. Frankly, I am not worried about this letter. Hope this ### gets caught!

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Jason Jones
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Jun 17, 2007 10:54 am EDT

More than likely your son is on a mailing list that Playboy purchased. Obviously they don't solicit minors as this is against the law (and I've seen the postcards you're referring to and they aren't nude, otherwise it couldn't go through the mail). However, if your son has anything in his name such as other magazine subscriptions or even if you let them use your credit card to pay for something in their name from BMG Music or Columbia House, his name will be on a mailing list that Playboy can purchase.

You should simply call their customer service number [protected]) and let them know to remove your son's name and address. Be sure to give them any nicknames your son goes by as those can come up as well. There's no need to get nasty about it, make a 2 minute phone call and it's taken care of.

You can also call any companies that send stuff to your son in his name and ask that they not sell his information.

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Jason Jones
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Jun 17, 2007 10:52 am EDT

More than likely your son is on a mailing list that Playboy purchased. Obviously they don't solicit minors as this is against the law (and I've seen the postcards you're referring to and they aren't nude, otherwise it couldn't go through the mail). However, if your son has anything in his name such as other magazine subscriptions or even if you let them use your credit card to pay for something in their name from BMG Music or Columbia House, his name will be on a mailing list that Playboy can purchase.

You should simply call their customer service number [protected]) and let them know to remove your son's name and address. Be sure to give them any nicknames your son goes by as those can come up as well. There's no need to get nasty about it, make a 2 minute phone call and it's taken care of.

You can also call any companies that send stuff to your son in his name and ask that they not sell his information.

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Jason Jones
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Jun 17, 2007 10:40 am EDT

This is a legitimate bill. If you took as much time to search for a customer service number as you did to post this complaint you would have found it [protected]) and easily fixed the problem. Playboy doesn't just send out bills to people; an order has to be placed to generate a bill. Usually when you order a magazine subscription, you are expected to pay the bill before your subscription starts. Some publishers will send you 1 or 2 issues and then stop until you pay but who expects to get a years worth of magazines and then pay AFTER the fact? That's just ridiculous thinking. Also, if you ignore the bills, nothing will happen. You will be sent to a collection agency, but if you don't pay them either, they simply close the account and write off the debt. No negative information is sent to any credit reporting bureaus.

Playboy sends out postcards to people to start a subscription and all you have to do is return the postcard back to them. You'd be amazed at how many people go through your mail and especially if you're in a dorm, ANYONE could send that card back in as a prank to you. I wouldn't be surprised if some unscrupulous post office employees even sent them back in.

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S.G. Hopkins
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Jun 13, 2007 12:58 pm EDT

This bill is not legit! Here is the deal... I have received this bill from playboy collection manager "charles martin" i never subscribed to playboy and would not dream of doing so. " I like real people not pictures ". So what i did was this, I went to the playboy site and ordered playboy with a false name and had it sent to a friends address. We waited to see what would happen and sure enough no magazine was sent but we received a bill from "charles martin" he threatened to go to collections and the whole bit! I just laughed because for one thing he never received any kind of information whatsoever ( except where to send a magazine ) on the person that he is sending this bill to! No ssn or anything like that and he would need this information to place anything in collections on anyone! So screw him and just ignore the bills and please send a complaint to the playboy headquarters in Hollywood calif. We all know that the small amount of money for postage on these bills does not seems to affect such a big corp. But when the owner or the accountant gets wind of it you can bet that they will re-think about what information they collect on someone that is ordering their service so that the thousands and yes i did say thousands of dollars spent on this form of collections is not wasted ( that is just for the postage not to mention the cost of printing these bills and the envelope & paper ). I'm sure " hef " would not enjoy hearing how his money is being wasted. It does add up believe me...

Good luck everyone and i hope this has helped you.

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Justin
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Mar 09, 2007 9:34 pm EST

It is definitely not a legit bill. I just received a second invoice for one I've never ordered, as has at least one of my friends. The fact that I was talking to about 5 people from my dorm and another one of them also received this means that it must be very common. I am planning on just ignoring them and filing a complaint with the usps. He can't actually send me to a collections agency, right? That would be a little to risky for him, I think.

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Overfiend
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Feb 27, 2007 11:17 am EST

You subscribed to playboy, this is a legit bill.

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Gina
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Jan 30, 2007 8:07 am EST

My son started receiving invoices from Playboy about 3 months ago. He called me from AZ (I live in IL) asking what to do about it. I asked him if he got the magazine and he said no, so I told him to ignore the invoice as they were probably trying to get him to subscribe. Last night he phoned me again saying he got a very threatening letter signed by Mr. Charles Martin. The letter said if he did not send $17.00 he would be turned over to a collection agency. However, there was no invoice number, no date of subscription, or account number...rather odd wouldn't you say? I told him to give me the phone number on the letter and I would call them. Imagine...no phone number either.

Wonder how many people have actually sent them money to keep their good credit.

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joe p
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Dec 13, 2006 3:06 am EST

I have received the same threatening letter from Charles Martin about sending me to collections, and like you, i also had not even ordered the magazine. they sent me one issue about 4 months ago and i have rec'd about a dozen other invoices with no address or phone number attached to call and complain.

What can we do to avoid this problem without paying the invoice? I don't want to be sent to collections over a measley $14.68 but this has to stop somehow.