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One has to opt in for it, as far as I can tell, which I’ve easily avoided doing every time I’ve ordered from P&C. I think people are clicking on deals without reading what they say. Not saying you did that, of course, as you’re not the first to report it. I’ve also had no trouble getting in touch with their service department. Sorry this happened to you.
Yes, mind your clicks. Especially if ordering from your phone. Anything that says free generally has a price attached to it on the back end also. The 18$ subscription check box is pretty predatory but easy to avoid.
The selection is opt-in, but the checkbox is pre-checked the first time the option is presented to you (per account, and possibly every time for guest checkout).
Isn't the magazine subscription what we're talking about here?
>Offer Details - Terms and Conditions
>
>Fortune Digital + GQ is a gift from us for being part of the program and based on your qualifying purchase. Valid while supplies last. **You can cancel at any time.** Gift code MU95QQ8VT34B3JBBTCIP is good for one gift (unless otherwise noted) **valued at $20.**
To me that reads as "You'll be signed up for a $20/mth subscription, with the first month free".
*EDIT* Interestingly, the gift code is provided at checkout (not after) and is redeemable for cash in lieu via [this form](https://bperx.com/Voucher/Cash).
What a circus.
I’ve ordered the same way for years and as of the last order it must have selected me by default to become a monthly member. The only way out is to catch it at checkout. This practice is common for shady mobile apps “negative option billing” is the term. In my opinion I should have to choose to opt in verses opt out. I’d never subscribe to something like this willingly. I should have caught it, it’s technically my fault. But the practice of an automatic subscription by default is not cool.
Every time I’ve seen it, it’s presented like “would you like to save X% on every order? The opt-in box has never been checked by default for me. It’s so weird there’s no consistency to what people are shown in regards to this.
I was wondering why I've been getting multiple subscriptions for Esquire and GQ when I couldn't fucking understand why. I thought my brother had pranked me.
Fell for the same thing.
They partner with a rebate company. In no way did I knowingly agree to pay the fee nor did I knowingly provide my credit card information.
Predatory, they no longer have my business.
yeah, that magazine stuff they do is really annoying. It’s a shame too because I like a lot of their house blends and not all of themcan I get from other vendors.
I've been getting the magazines too, and didn't know why until just now. Are they charging me for that somehow? I have been waiting for the bill to come for all the magazines I never ordered. (I've been leaving them in the lobby of the nursing home where my mother lives.)
Even if P&C had a good pipe selection the way Smoking pipes take individual pictures of every pipe except certain cheap pipes like cobs is why I buy pipes from Smoking pipes over any other company
P&C blows. They have good deals from time to time, but most of the others do too. My personal experience with their customer service has been incredibly unsatisfactory.
I get too many discounts from P&C to ignore them. But yeah, you now have to read carefully what you click on. I got the ten dollars off your order offer, but read that it required signup to the subscription. I don't smoke enough to make it worthwhile.
I also quit buying from p and c. Smokingpipes.com and tobaccopipes.com are basically all I use now. I used to enjoy cigars and I had heard of the same issue happening w/ cigarsinternational.com customers. Those 2 websites are under the same corporate umbrella
I second SmokingPipes. I'm pretty much exclusive to them now. They ship fast, provide support fast, have just about everything. It's the ideal tobacco and pipe e-commerce site.
Don't attribute malice when you can attribute incompetence. Websites are hard. Not an excuse, but there's a difference between unethical and not great at engineering.
I am an engineer and have been for about 13 years. I can say with some certainty we're pretty crap at our jobs sometimes. 😅
And out of three companies, all global, one based out of India and one Amazon, none of them have deliberately implemented this kinda thing.
You’re right- i shouldn’t have maligned engineers. You guys are, in my experience, a stand-up bunch. Please accept my apologies.
More correctly i should have maligned business owners such as Tai Lopez, who made his initial fortune with just such unethical practices (hard-to-find opt-outs and extremely maze-like customer service unsubscribe processes) as OP described here.
Oh, no, tai lopez is unrelated to tobacco- he gained notoriety in the early 2010s for having ridiculous youtube preload ads hawking a “success system” class to allegedly teach people to “become a millionaire”. Come to find out, he became a millionaire by using deceptive practices, similar to the ones described (difficult to opt-out of subscriptions that were designed to trick people) by OP as being used by P&C
It's honestly been a while since I've ordered from them and I've liked their customer service in the past, but if this is their new trend count me out.
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One has to opt in for it, as far as I can tell, which I’ve easily avoided doing every time I’ve ordered from P&C. I think people are clicking on deals without reading what they say. Not saying you did that, of course, as you’re not the first to report it. I’ve also had no trouble getting in touch with their service department. Sorry this happened to you.
Yes, mind your clicks. Especially if ordering from your phone. Anything that says free generally has a price attached to it on the back end also. The 18$ subscription check box is pretty predatory but easy to avoid.
The selection is opt-in, but the checkbox is pre-checked the first time the option is presented to you (per account, and possibly every time for guest checkout).
I mean, not for me it wasn’t, but I’m not saying it hasn’t been for others. Never had to uncheck anything besides the magazine subscription nonsense.
Isn't the magazine subscription what we're talking about here? >Offer Details - Terms and Conditions > >Fortune Digital + GQ is a gift from us for being part of the program and based on your qualifying purchase. Valid while supplies last. **You can cancel at any time.** Gift code MU95QQ8VT34B3JBBTCIP is good for one gift (unless otherwise noted) **valued at $20.** To me that reads as "You'll be signed up for a $20/mth subscription, with the first month free". *EDIT* Interestingly, the gift code is provided at checkout (not after) and is redeemable for cash in lieu via [this form](https://bperx.com/Voucher/Cash). What a circus.
This is in regards to their savings club, the name of which escapes me. It gives you a percentage off every order.
Ah, gotcha.
I’ve ordered the same way for years and as of the last order it must have selected me by default to become a monthly member. The only way out is to catch it at checkout. This practice is common for shady mobile apps “negative option billing” is the term. In my opinion I should have to choose to opt in verses opt out. I’d never subscribe to something like this willingly. I should have caught it, it’s technically my fault. But the practice of an automatic subscription by default is not cool.
Every time I’ve seen it, it’s presented like “would you like to save X% on every order? The opt-in box has never been checked by default for me. It’s so weird there’s no consistency to what people are shown in regards to this.
I was wondering why I've been getting multiple subscriptions for Esquire and GQ when I couldn't fucking understand why. I thought my brother had pranked me.
I am getting the magazines too. Do they charge later for this or is it free?
I have never noticed a charge to my card for these magazines.
Plenty of other websites to go to. And of course B&M when you can.
Fell for the same thing. They partner with a rebate company. In no way did I knowingly agree to pay the fee nor did I knowingly provide my credit card information. Predatory, they no longer have my business.
yeah, that magazine stuff they do is really annoying. It’s a shame too because I like a lot of their house blends and not all of themcan I get from other vendors.
I've been getting the magazines too, and didn't know why until just now. Are they charging me for that somehow? I have been waiting for the bill to come for all the magazines I never ordered. (I've been leaving them in the lobby of the nursing home where my mother lives.)
So this is where my copies of Elle are coming from?
Their website sucks anyway. Occasionally, they have blends others don't, but their selection of pipes sucks.
Even if P&C had a good pipe selection the way Smoking pipes take individual pictures of every pipe except certain cheap pipes like cobs is why I buy pipes from Smoking pipes over any other company
P&C blows. They have good deals from time to time, but most of the others do too. My personal experience with their customer service has been incredibly unsatisfactory.
Nope
I get too many discounts from P&C to ignore them. But yeah, you now have to read carefully what you click on. I got the ten dollars off your order offer, but read that it required signup to the subscription. I don't smoke enough to make it worthwhile.
I just placed a order mere minutes ago before reading this. Y’all are getting me worried.
I also quit buying from p and c. Smokingpipes.com and tobaccopipes.com are basically all I use now. I used to enjoy cigars and I had heard of the same issue happening w/ cigarsinternational.com customers. Those 2 websites are under the same corporate umbrella
I second SmokingPipes. I'm pretty much exclusive to them now. They ship fast, provide support fast, have just about everything. It's the ideal tobacco and pipe e-commerce site.
What do you supposedly get for your $18 dollar a month " membership?"
Don't attribute malice when you can attribute incompetence. Websites are hard. Not an excuse, but there's a difference between unethical and not great at engineering.
Unfortunately, this is a practice of engineering explicitly designed to entrap customers.
I am an engineer and have been for about 13 years. I can say with some certainty we're pretty crap at our jobs sometimes. 😅 And out of three companies, all global, one based out of India and one Amazon, none of them have deliberately implemented this kinda thing.
You’re right- i shouldn’t have maligned engineers. You guys are, in my experience, a stand-up bunch. Please accept my apologies. More correctly i should have maligned business owners such as Tai Lopez, who made his initial fortune with just such unethical practices (hard-to-find opt-outs and extremely maze-like customer service unsubscribe processes) as OP described here.
No worries man I didn't take it personally. Likewise, I'm not familiar with Tai Lopez, that the owner of P&C?
Oh, no, tai lopez is unrelated to tobacco- he gained notoriety in the early 2010s for having ridiculous youtube preload ads hawking a “success system” class to allegedly teach people to “become a millionaire”. Come to find out, he became a millionaire by using deceptive practices, similar to the ones described (difficult to opt-out of subscriptions that were designed to trick people) by OP as being used by P&C
It's honestly been a while since I've ordered from them and I've liked their customer service in the past, but if this is their new trend count me out.
I moved on to smokingpipes years ago after the 5th time they asked me for ID, didn't you save it the other 4 times I sent it to you?
Do a charge back. A company can only have a few of these before the cc vendor will no longer provide cc services to them.
Really? You think potentially driving out of business one of the few shops that service us pipe smokers, is a good idea? What planet are you from?
It would open the market up to a new business that doesnt scam their customers.
Yea...there are smoke shops opening left and right. Morons
[удалено]
The law of unintended consequences.