Book Mailer Settles with Irate Customers
A New York-based mail-order book club has agreed to pay $40,000 to settle customer complaints including undelivered merchandise and shipments that were not ordered.
Pennsylvania attorney General Tom Corbett’s office said Friday that Garden City NY-based Bookspan had been accused of not sending refunds for returned books, overcharging for merchandise and threatening to refer outstanding accounts to collection agencies if bills for incorrect merchandise were not paid.
“Hundreds of very frustrated customers claimed that their complaints were brushed off when they attempted to straighten out their accounts with company representatives,” Corbett said in a press report.
The attorney general’s office said that more than 450 customers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere were affected in the case, which Bookspan has agreed to settle without admitting any wrongdoing. The $40,000 will go to repay the state’s investigative costs, while customers who encountered billing and shipping problems with Bookspan will get rebates totaling $20,000.
