Personal Experience – an Open Reaction with a Book Company

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My first email to the Book publisher:-

I have received a book from you which I have not requested and after that you are sending reminders to deposit money for the same. Why should I give money for a book which I have not ordered? Kindly Clarify.

I got a quick reply from them as follows:-

We thank you for your email.
 
In view of your mail please be informed, we have cancelled further shipments of Select Edition series to you and hence please be assured you will not be receiving any further dispatches from the series product in future.
   
Further, we would like to keep you posted that we do not ship a product unless we are specifically requested to do so. Please be informed that as a response to the order card received from your end wherein you had affixed “Two Seal” (i.e. A & B) from which the Seal “A” was pertaining for the “Registered Lottery Entry Number” & “Seal B” was pertaining to the “Special Discount Book Reward” on the “Official Qualification Form”, the first volume from select edition “Under Orders” was dispatched to you at the discounted price of $ 25/-.
 
Please note the bills for the outstanding payments are generated and dispatched from our end at regular intervals till the payment is updated in our records. Hence we would appreciate if you forward the payment at earliest to enable us settle your account and stop the billing.
 
We trust the above is to your satisfaction. Should you have any further queries, please contact our hotline number (Number) or E – Mail us (e-mail id).

I responded soon:

Thank you for your response. But this is cheating. Really you are cheating your subscribers by tempting them with the Lottery offers. This long offers will be going long and long and trapping the customers with such labels and fake orders. But I thoroughly say that I did not order any book which is specifically mention that I should pay handling charges or postage. Only one mistake I have ever done is that I have subscribed your Magazine for one year.

So please cancel the bill for $ 25/- Which I am not liable to pay.

Second Response From the Book Company

We thank you for your email.
In view of your mail, we wish to inform you that we conduct a yearly Lottery draw to create awareness of our products.
 
Our yearly Lottery runs for a period of 12 months from 1st January to 31st December every year.  Once the old Lottery is closed, the new Lottery is offered. A unique feature of our Draw is that all entries have a chance of winning, regardless if any purchases have been made or not.  Kindly note purchasing a product is not mandatory for participation in the draw.
 
 
We would like to clarify that the Lottery draw involves three stages. The stages are as follows:
 
1. Selection of the customer from several hundred thousand names all over the Country.
2. Issue of official Lottery documents by Our Magazine.
3. Receipt of customers completed Lottery entry documents by our Magazine.
 
Each time the customer returns these documents, his/her name is entered for the draw adding an additional chance to enter and win the draw.
 
Further, please note that the Lottery documents received by you now are pertaining to the Lottery Draw 2009. This draw has opened on 1st January 2009 and will close at midnight on 31st December 2009. The draw will be conducted on 21st January 2010. The winners will also be notified by registered mail. You can find the list of winner on our website after the draw date or else you can email us your request.
 
However as a special case, since you do not want to retain the product “Under Orders, we would appreciate if you could send the same back to us by parcel post to our below mentioned address. Upon receipt of the book, we will be able to stop the billing. 
 
We hope all is in order now and regret for any inconveniences you have experienced.
 
We trust the above is to your satisfaction. Should you have any further queries, please contact our hotline number or E – Mail us.

My Conclussion

What do you think about this? Should I send them the book back? Or shall I pay the money? What is your opinion? I decided to send the money. But I wish to know about your experience and also wish to know that do you have any such experience. Thanks and regards.