HandyMan Club of America / Scout.com review: frustrating and unauthorized membership! 270

Be sure to file a complaint with the BBB. It will direct you to their location. They have soooooo many complaints on file that if they try to put a mark against your creidt reports, the Credit company will talke them right off once you call and tell them what happened. They have a lot of complaints and can even give you more telephone numbers in which you can call the 800 number and they have to pay for those calls. As far as the books, I wouldn't open them, if you have.. keep them. Don't bother sending them back because you will never receive the pre-paid lables. These people really are crooks. I can't believe they haven't been shut down by the States Attorney's office in Minnesota. Maybe they need to hear from you as well. Look it up on the internet.. and tell them what happen in a letter.

I also wanted to add this to the list for folks to use if needed I finally found the company's report. Here is the URL: http://minnesota.app.bbb.org/report/2735
Again thank you Nancy, for helping me to resolve my issues with them.

I agree fully with the complaints here, I just went through a recent divorce, not to fret, it was a mutual agreement.
Anyway I went by to pick up my mail and found repeated Delinquency Notices, for two things I knew nothing of! Handyman Magazine, and a Fishing one both from the same, and repeated attempts to contact them by snail mail failed.
However, using the number " [protected] " so graciously provided by Nancy Sykes in a previous post I did contact someone there that for a moment couldn't even find my supposed account, but when he did he removed it and told me that they were on a 28 day billing cycle so I might receive one more bill but to disregard and it should be the last as the account had been terminated completely. He was extremely polite and courteous the entire time, repeatedly apologizing for the inconvenience .
So look there to correct any trouble you are having. Lastly I do agree that this type of telemarketing needs to be dealt with ASAP.

I have had the same problem.. so I just didnt pay the next bill. SOOO they turned me over to credit collection. So the only way to get this off my credit score is to pay it again?

After receiving several bills for a calendar that I did not order, did not receive, and would not have kept had it been received, I wrote "did not order, did not receive, and do not want" on the last bill and sent to back to them. My subscription, which had more than two years remaining, was canceled and my account was closed. I can no longer access my account via internet. This is unacceptable treatment from a company to whose magazine I subscribed for several years. Be aware!

this is not a club first they start saying free tip on wood, plumbing, and other projects. I have not seen nothing yet and than send a book that they want $30.oo for kept sending small gifts let key chains drill bits size not what I was loking for so sent back to book and the other things week later got a membership letter for $359.00 and letter saying thet want go away pay me tell you what stand in line you are not getting one red cent out of me rip off

PLEASE PEOPLE! File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I have and am currently in litigation. Also themagazine sucks.70 pages of pure advertisements

these people think they can scare enough people to cash in on free money. come collect from me at my home and see what you get... mr.K. Pope sr. vise president. this company is a scam and can't collect a dime. i never signed up for anything. and i will be contacting the BBB. Mr. Dailey

I do not and did not like for you to start sending a "book clu membership" unsolicited, under the pretense of sending e test tool of some kind, so I hereby request that you please stop my membership in your Handyman club at the receipt of this e-mail. If you want to have the package returned, please provide a free return USPS return label.

PLEASE go to the better business bureau and file a complaint. They did the same thing with me, they also sell all of your information to solicitors. I ordered their magazines and never received it, instead I got a package full of junk mail, about trains and coocoo clocks. No magazine, yet they send me a bill and threaten me with collections.

I posted a complaint about unauthorized billing in 2005. Unfortunately I put my phone under the company name. Please ignore that number as it is not the Handy Man Club phone number. Sorry about the confusion.

Like so many others, I was contacted by Handyman Club of America.
I doubted that they would live up to their promises, so I did not join their club officially. I never recieved any of the "toys" they promised, so I had my doubts, and never paid for any product.
I believe I may have recieved a magazine once back several months, but did not open it (if in fact it was their publication).
Since then, I have been billed and threatened with cancellation of my account and further reports against my "status".
Since there is no phone number or web page printed on their bill, I doubt that there is actually any real account or status to worry about.
I looked them up on line and "contacted" them to drop me from their harrasement mail.

If it seems to good to be true, well...

Was a member of HCA about five and a half years ago---stayed with them about a year and then just didn't renew. The most they ever sent for personal testing was a small bottle of glue and a set of screwdrivers that I already had tons of anyway.

From time to time they do in fact put out very useful information...but taking out life membership at nearly 400 bucks a pop is highly ill advised in this country's current economy unless you are some kind of nouveau riche with too much money for your own good or anyone else's and just want to blow it on an organization.

And for those of you who do receive unsolicited goods, tools or literature from the Handyman or any other club----under federal law (Consumer Protection Law) you just had Christmas, because you can keep or discard it and are under no lawful obligation whatsoever...as long as what you received was indeed unsolicited.

I received a similar mailing. It asked if I would mind if they sent me free tools. It also said how many dollars worth of tools they had distributed and how many members had received tools. According to their figures, less than $10 in tools were distributed per member who received tools. I did not respond to them, but I will tell you my answer to their question: I would mind if I had to pay a $12 per year membership fee to receive less than $10 of "free" tools.

THANK YOU ALL! If it sounds too good to be true... you know the rest. I just received their tempting offer in the mail and due to the statements on the site, I have no doubts for filing this in the can. It sounds like I may need the contact info later, thanks again.

I have been a member for 8 years, I have tested many products, you just need to follow the system, and if you are not smart enough to follow simple directions, well the fault is your own...

I signed up for Handyman Club about 15 (?) years ago through a mailing solicitation. I later signed up for Lifetime Membership. It was $300.00 back then I think, I got a fantastic leather bomber jacket, a hat, a bunch of free throw away stuff and a lifetime subscription to the magazine. The club has decidely gone downhill in recent years but I have never had a problem contacting anyone or finding their huge website on-line. I think they are ok...I certainly got my money's worth, its sad to see them in this light. I guess when they got successful and were bought out they got 'corporate". If I saw these posts prior to joining I never would sign up.

If you receive any merchandise from this company that you did not order, that is called "unsolicited merchandise" and you can certainly check with The United States Postal Inspection Service for more details.
Good Luck!

It seems as if this is a regular business practice for the Handyman Club of America. I signed up as a member. After a short time, I cancelled my subscription. Later, I received a bill from the company. After contacting them, I told them I had cancelled, and I had received no products or magazines. Approximately six months has gone by, and now I recieved another letter stating that I was seriously past due on my account. This invoice has no phone number or contact information, just an envelope to send my payment to. There is not even an amount on the invoice to let me know what they THINK I owe them. This is very irritating! I would advise anyone I know to stay away from this company.

Oh god, am I glad I read this! I was getting ready to send in my dues invoice just now. I already read through the couple sample issues they sent, and they were fine, I guess. Pretty good for someone actually willing to take on such projects.

The plastic drill bit gauge I've actually used a couple times, and the other free gifts were going to become stocking stuffers next Christmas. The address labels are hideous, though. I'll not be using those.

The reason I was going to send it in was because of the $4o in gas rebates, which, as pointed out on the invoice, more than pays for the membership. (It must be some new thing they're doing because no one else has mentioned it.) Heck, a free magazine, some free stuff, what's to keep me from doing that?

YOU PEOPLE are what kept me from doing that! Thank you! Some free crap is something I'll be able to do without.

And as far as people getting threats from collection agencies? Ignore them. They aren't "real" agencies. Unless you gave them your Social Security number, they can't do a thing to your credit. They're just blowing smoke. And if you tell them on the phone NOT TO CALL BACK or you will file harassment charges against them, they will usually stop. By law they have to. Simply explain that any correspondence will now have to be done through the mail - OR ELSE! It is the law, and they are aware it, but they rely on the fact that most people DON'T know it. Then anything that comes from them, mark return to sender and toss it back in the mailbox. Eventually they'll get tired of wasting postage and it will go away.

I had a friend who worked for one of these collection agencies, in that wasn't a legitimate collection agency. All he did all day was call people and claim that they owed money to whatever magazine or book club or CD club whatever it was that had hired the agency. All they had was a name, address, phone number and a credit card number or checking account number, but you can't get to someone's credit rating without the SS number. The only real recourse they had was - get this - TO NOT ALLOW THEM TO FURTHER BENEFIT FROM ENJOYING OFFERS FROM THEIR COMPANY OR THEIR AFFILIATES! Boo hoo, eh?

Hope that helps someone as much as you all helped me. Thanks again.

How do I get rid of the subscription. I am trying to cancel without any way. they keep returning me a subscription form.

i paid for the three year membership and so far have only recieved one magazine and numerouse renewel request since i joined last october/

I just called to cancel and was told I would receive a refund check in about 30 days. No problem except she tried to offer me a few "goodies" to keep the membership but I declined 2 times and she then said she would refund my full 3 year $36 payment. Hope it comes. Also, I pulled an 800 number off this site above that was the wrong one. the correct number is [protected], then pressed option 3. (not 2679)

I should know better by now...always check online to see if a business can be trusted. I was a member of Garden Club of America several years ago and the only "product testing" was junk like packets of seed or fertilizer. The free gifts were total junk that didn't hold up to use. So, why did I join Handyman? I was skeptical on the testing products since I already went through that with Garden Club but I have found the magazine to contain some very useful things. They also sent books. The first, as someone else on here said, cost only $10. The next was closer to $30 but I kept it as it contained some good info (probably not $30 worth). I have a return label that I intend to use if they send one I don't deem worthy of $30. This was something I expected when I agreed to receive books: that, once you agree to receive a book they won't include a "return for free" label so I kept the first one and even made a copy. If they persist on sending books even after you say you don't want anymore you can refuse them and it goes back at their expense. I learned this from other book club memberships years ago. Just don't open the package and write refused across it. But, back to this Handyman scam. We have now received an offer to get the lifetime membership (as if they really only choose a few - I saw the ad in the magazine that's out there for anyone to see and join!). They included a "rebate of the $24 you paid to join" but, sorry Handyman, I actually paid $36 for 3 years so I wouldn't have to hassle with it for a long time. Huh! Lot of good that did! I can see that my suspicions were grounded. I won't join the lifetime membership (I doubt the $1300 worth of tools are really worth that much and look like they're cheap knock-offs). If the magazines don't live up to my image of usefullness I will use this site to call them and cancel. Another thing that I think is suspicious although I didn't see it mentioned by anyone else is that when you join the life membership they supposedly send those tools only after you pay a monthly payment. After one month they say they send the first, then another the 2nd month but the next (more expensive) comes after the 6th payment? And do you notice that the letter and literature mentions no cost at all for all this until the end of the letter that takes so long to read! I've caught on to that scam from many other of these types of "Great Offers".

I just recieved my last bill I think I called the number that eveyone said to call and it worked they took me off the list. I had received a delinquent notice and was fed up with them I never signed up with them and yet they say I am a member, even when I called them they said to me before I hung with them
thank you for being a member and I told them I was never a member, and hung up their just crazy.

Dang it, now what do I do? I knew I should've checked the web first, for I just mailed off their enrollment card today! Of course being a "product tester" sounded too good to be true and I know that's probably a big scam, but I figured I'd just cancel within a few months if things get out of whack. But now from what I'm reading that may not be so easily done. Sadly, I was already familiar with them as I had been a member before (about 9 years ago) and don't recall that I had any problems. In fact I liked the company back then and it was worth it. Oh well, live and learn. I think I'm going to call them and attempt to cancel even before my card reaches their building! It's horrible that they have so many dissatisfied customers. Thanks for all the input. Dave

Membership number [protected]. I have recieved two magazines now, but have not received the 3 'gifts". ?

My wife sent you the subsribiton for me. You have yet sent me the free gifts that were suppose to come with it. Now you want me to purchase your membership for more years when you have'nt done your part. I don't think so.

I tried to get my account number so I can cancel my membership and I did not receive the number.

Thank all of you for the great advise. I must admit they almost had me hooked! I think all of us that read these comments should call the 800 # and give them some of their own medicine. I wonder, could we send it back to them COD?

this will help me in my house

i do thing in my house. this will help me do them.

membership services is [protected]

I am so frustrated - we have never signed up for this magazine, never received a copy, nor do we want it. I keep receiving collection notices, and cannot seem to get a answer to the many calls . I don't know if this is a hunting club, home improvement... I actually don't care . I just want the company to stop sending stuff ! It Is Rediculous

The web site is messed up. I was logged in didn`t know it when they changed their site. I tried to log in was hit with authentication denied. I recieved 8 new passwords of which none worked. I cannot log out . I contacted them by email 4 times they could not help me

I signed my husband up for this club, what a mistake! We were offered one year, plus product tryout, for $12. I paid the $12 immediately and once the magazine arrived he didn't care for it. I wrote them and advised we did not want this membership and to please cancel and refund our money as promised on their sign up. I received a check in the mail for $24! BUT, there was a catch. If we cashed the check it kept us in the club and would agree to pay an additional $300 plus dollars to try out products! THIS IS A RIP OFF! After a year on writing cancel on bills received, today we received a dunning notice of collection for $24. Thanks to this site, I got the 800 number and called immediately, (the [protected] one). I spoke with a very polite and apologetic woman that cancelled us out completely. FINALLY! Thanks for posting the 800 number. Now we pray there is no further mail received from this company. By the way, the Home Arts Craft Club is run by the same people. BEWARE PEOPLE!

I paid for a membership, and all I have been receiving is magazines. Handyman stated that I would start receiving tools, etc. for me to test for them and to keep all that are tested and then let them know how I feel about them. So far I have received 2 magazines. They also stated that if I am not happy with the membership that I could (with no questions asked) receive all membership dues. Im getting there.

Call their customer service number @ [protected] OR [protected] and ask to have your subscription canceled.

** THANK YOU guys for letting me know about this company, I got their signup today and thought it was too good to be true! Nothing good like this "ever" comes my way, and now reading about 85% bad, and such a small amount of good on the company... THANK YOU! **