I got a letter in the snail mail today inviting me to join the National Association of Professional Women. The letter states “There is no fee to be included.”
They forgot to add the disclaimer “…until we charge your credit card. But by then you’ll have forgotten that you ever signed up for this and HA HA HA we’ll have your money by then, sucker.”
Their FAQ reads:
Every woman who applies receives a complimentary basic membership. Beyond that, we offer many different membership levels, which are customized to fit your unique needs.
OK, that makes sense. Basic membership is free; premium membership is not. That’s a pretty standard course of business.
If you read the Privacy Notice, though, it’s a different story:
The National Association of Professional Women provides many different tiers of memberships, all of which are annual. On your anniversary date, which falls on the 15th of the month one year from the date of your inclusion, your membership will automatically renew at the discounted loyalty rate of only $99.00.
Oh, but should that happen, you can just say “Ooops” and get your money back, right?
Wrong. In the FAQ, in answer to the question “Can I cancel my membership?”:
Depending on the status of your membership and account, certain fees and restrictions may apply.
Perhaps they should call themselves the National Association of Sneaky Women Hoping to Dupe Other Women into Signing Up for Hidden Fees.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Ashley Sue of Green Grounded // Jun 19, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Hehaheahe holy crap ~ not laughing at you, but the commentary on this situation is priceless! Love it, as we ALL have seen these types of kooks!
2 Paula // Jul 3, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I’m just doing a search on this organization, as I got a call from them and have ended up paying for a ‘higher’ level of membership ($300)…Their website looks very legit, and the rep was very smooth, but frankly I was uncomfortable during the call and should have known better than to respond to a hard sell. They even asked me if I wanted a special plaque (for an additional $100 something) inscribed with my name, affiliation, etc, to display, and asked if I’d take one or two? I said none, but that kind of ’selling’ is frankly awful.
I’m just worried that I’ve given them my credit card details over the phone. I’m amazed that they are so short term as to think that this kind of behavior won’t catch up with them. I’m going to write about what happened in lots of places and will warn off others as much as I can. I’m also going to take a look into what kind of organization they are - probably not a non-profit.
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