Celebrity Justice
O No!! Lawsuit Alleges Fraud

O MagazineAn angry O Magazine reader has filed a class action lawsuit against the mag and the publishers, alleging a scam designed to "trick, deceive and scare" subscribers into paying money they don't owe.

According to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ, Linda Hall claims that in December, 2005 she ordered two one-year subscriptions to O Magazine -- one for her, the other a gift. She says she paid in full for both subscriptions the same month she ordered them.

In April, 2006, Hall claims she received a letter from Hearst Magazine, informing her she was "past due" and threatening that if she did not pay for the subscriptions, her credit standing would be put "at risk."

Hall claims she paid the invoice even though she had already paid for the mags.

Hall alleges the letter and invoice she received "are part of a nationwide scheme and artifice designed and implementedOprah photo gallery: Click to launch by defendants to trick, deceive and scare their subscribers into paying money to defendants for subscriptions which subscribers have already paid for in full."

Hall's class action lawsuit asks for compensatory and punitive damages, as well as an injunction barring the alleged practice.

In addition to O Magazine, the Hearst Corporation and Hearst Magazines are named as defendants. The talk show queen is not personally named as a defendant.

Calls made to O Magazine and Hearst were not immediately returned.




Filed under: Celebrity Justice, Oprah

Reader Comments

(Page 3 of 3)Previous 15 Comments

31. ALL OF YOU OPRAH HATERS ARE JUST MAD BECAUSE ONE OF THE RICHEST AND THE MOST POWERFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD IS BLACK AND SHE USED THE WHITE MANS MONEY TO GET THERE! A TOAST TO YOU OPRAH! YOU GO GIRL!!

HATERS, EAT YOUR HEARTS OUT!

Posted at 7:55PM on Dec 3rd 2006 by Tommie

32. This woman and her rediculous lawsuit are in a "nut" shell (pun intended) everything that is wrong with this country. How is it even possible that nonesense like this is allowed in our court system? Might I suggest that this woman get a life and a job at the same time and quit looking for ways to make a "con-job-buck". Life is complicated you putz - get over it! People like you jam the court system for people with legitimate problems.

Posted at 11:23PM on Dec 3rd 2006 by sickofsuers

33. That lady is stupid, why would you pay for something you claim you already paid for? All she had to do was call the office to let them know that made a mistake, bu tshe wants to be stupid and pay for something she says she already paid for, some people just don't have a clue. I've never done that and never will. I never had problems with magazine subscriptions except for columbia house and bmg music services, they don't leave me alone but they are not sending me information that I need to pay them as well. That lady should handle her business more carefully.

Posted at 11:19AM on Dec 4th 2006 by diAnA

34. Who actually still reads Magazines?!?!?

Posted at 3:54PM on Dec 4th 2006 by Steve

35. Lawsuits of this type should be filed. While this is about a different company Time Life is a division of Time Warner, a very large corporation it is about a magazine subscription. I decided not to renew a subscription to Money magazine and threw the bill away. Now months later I find that they have 2 types of subscriptions. All I remember from the original subscription is that if I kept renewing I would receive a favorable rate of some type. Now I find several years later that I had to cancel in advance. Other people can just let a subscription run out. This rule was not obvious to me at the time. They kept sending invoices that I viewed as solicitations i.e. junk mail and discarded. I do not recall how many magazines they sent after I decided not to renew but it was not many. Now I find they have reported me to the credit bureau and are impossible to deal with over $39.00. When I cosigned a car loan for my son I found out that Bank of America declined me credit. Quite amusing in itself because my mortgage with them is always early per their report to the credit bureau. Well Time Life did not completely ruin an otherwise impeccable credit record of mine because I still got a good rate but Bank of America refused it based on a report of an overdue/delinquent account. All other creditors’ reports indicate paid early or paid as agreed. Seems one needs an attorney to read the fine print when subscribing to a magazine. Someone needs to put these corporations in check. They make millions in advertising, the subscription rate barely covers the printing, handling and postage but they are prepared to spend unlimited funds to litigate this. These companies are not reasonable like some here have suggested. I do not take kindly to deceptive, immoral business practices and refuse to pay no matter what the cost.

Posted at 3:33PM on Dec 11th 2006 by Jack Heinlein

36. Lawsuits of this type should be filed. While this is about a different company Time Life is a division of Time Warner, a very large corporation it is about a magazine subscription. I decided not to renew a subscription to Money magazine and threw the bill away. Now months later I find that they have 2 types of subscriptions. All I remember from the original subscription is that if I kept renewing I would receive a favorable rate of some type. Now I find several years later that I had to cancel in advance. Other people can just let a subscription run out. This rule was not obvious to me at the time. They kept sending invoices that I viewed as solicitations i.e. junk mail and discarded. I do not recall how many magazines they sent after I decided not to renew but it was not many. Now I find they have reported me to the credit bureau and are impossible to deal with over $39.00. When I cosigned a car loan for my son I found out that Bank of America declined me credit. Quite amusing in itself because my mortgage with them is always early per their report to the credit bureau. Well Time Life did not completely ruin an otherwise impeccable credit record of mine because I still got a good rate but Bank of America refused it based on a report of an overdue/delinquent account. All other creditors’ reports indicate paid early or paid as agreed. Seems one needs an attorney to read the fine print when subscribing to a magazine. Someone needs to put these corporations in check. They make millions in advertising, the subscription rate barely covers the printing, handling and postage but they are prepared to spend unlimited funds to litigate this. These companies are not reasonable like some here have suggested. I do not take kindly to deceptive, immoral business practices and refuse to pay no matter what the cost.

Posted at 3:38PM on Dec 11th 2006 by Jack Heinlein

37. I just got off the phone. I had a one year subscription with Oprah mag. I let it run out because it didn't appeal to me. I started getting threatening letters signed by a Peter Hayes. I called and talked to a "Rita" tonight who informed me that the subscription I agreed to was a revolving one and that it was on the subscription card I filled out. I told her I never saw anything like that and she quickly changed the subject and said she would just note that I was cancelled and that there will be no further letters sent to me.

I sure would like to get some money out of this...Sign me up! I still have the letter and will keep it for evidence! It's about time these A$$ wholes stop thier tricky methods of screwing with people. Like I don't have enough crap to deal with...

Posted at 10:34AM on Jan 31st 2007 by Deb

Previous 15 Comments

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