VIDEO PROFESSOR - computer lessons on CD-ROM - also sent unsolicited items - was too late to return them

# 5 for May 20, 2002

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on May 19, 2002:

From: drew mcdermid [Email User]

RE: VIDEO PROFESSOR - computer lessons on CD-ROM - also sent unsolicited items - was too late to return them

In recent months, I responded to an TV advertisement by a Colorado-based company, VIDEO PROFESSOR, which was promoting its business by offering a CD-ROM computer lesson for shipping cost only. The lesson I received also included two additional discs, one classified as a "bonus" and the second requiring a "review" - the company required a response within 10 days. Otherwise, the item was billed to the recipient's credit card. In following weeks, new computer lessons were received, each at the price of about $60 each. These items were not solicited. Again, they would be automatically billed to the recipient's credit card. I suspect that this company's practices are legal, but it strikes me that there's a "catch", something misleading for consumers.

Unless one promptly scrutinizes ALL their mail (ESPECIALLY unsolicited items), and thoroughly examines their credit card statements each month, they may wind up paying a sizable sum for items they did not intentionally solicit. (I don't recall this practice of additional mailings being mentioned in the television advertisement - if it had, I wouldn't have responded.) Upon contacting the company to cancel these mailings, I was informed that the unsolicited items could not be returned, even if unopened. Many people are not highly organized, and it would not surprise me that a considerable portion of this company's profits come from such occurrences. The public needs to be informed of such a practice before they respond to this company's advertising.