Cooling off periods for Tax Newsletter

I don't want to name names here, but has anyone received newsletters from a certain tax periodical that has a cooling off period associated with it and then received heated phone calls demanding payment with threat of legal action because the newsletters were not returned within the cooling off period?

I and a few of my clients have received these newsletters. A few have paid under the threat of enforcement. The newsletters were received as the result of a cold call.
 
What did you agree to during the phone call?
Did they offer you a newsletter with no talk of cost or was a return time frame and a cost if you didn't return them discussed?

They may have recorded the conversation.

Gools
 
With respect to myself, I received the call just before my daughter was born and work started up for the new financial year. I was asked by a salesperson by phone if I wanted to subscribe. I said no. She asked if it was ok to send me some newsletters. I said no. She persisted and so I said yes, thinking I'd get em look at them in my spare time and I was off the hook. I received the package and open it up, notice wryly that an invoice was put in and put it beside my desk.

4 weeks later I get a call from them. My secretary takes it and she says they want to speak to me. I said to tell them that I was not interested. She comes back and tells me that we can't do that because we agreed to pay for it since the cooling off period expired. I look at the package again and discover at the bottom of the cover letter I didn't read fully was the cooling off period. I was furious. I stated I wouldn't pay and they threatened me with legal action. I got off the phone and made an online Office of Consumer Affairs complaint and mailed back the stuff they sent. Consumer Affairs talked to them directly and they cancelled the invoice.

Today at my office a client comes in and they did the same thing to him, except he paid because he was scared off by their threats. He also was not told about the cooling off period in the initial phone call. He was angry about the affair but I told him they have his money - its too late unless he wants to make an issue of it or make his own complaint.

I did a search on them and I saw that in 2002 they were fined $2,000 for "Asserting a right to payment for unsolicited goods or services without a reasonable cause to believe that there is a right to payment." A similar search on reverseaustralia also shows other people called similarly.

I am assuming that I and my client are not the only targets.
 
Sounds like you did the right thing. They wouldn't want to risk another fine by taking any further action against you. Bad luck your client paid their bill. What were they trying to sell?
 
A year long subscription to a tax newsletter for $580. I already had 5 subscriptions elsewhere and it was tailored for business owners and I prefer more in depth stuff.
 
A year long subscription to a tax newsletter for $580. I already had 5 subscriptions elsewhere and it was tailored for business owners and I prefer more in depth stuff.

So the business plan from what I udnerstand is somehting like: Do the hard sell then force people to pay by threatening them , cause neither the poduct nor our sales people are worth it
 
Terrible stuff. Fascist! Fight them on the beaches; Fight them in the towns, etc.

(Must confess though, I excitedly thought this thread was about a cooling off period on paying tax on scanning the incomplete title!)
 
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