We learned in law school that if someone sends you something you didn't order, it's a gift. Even if they send you a bill.

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Who is going to be aggravated? You are. They really don't even know who you are. I can only speak for myself but they have the best customer service for a magazine. Hope they tell you to keep it, but if not , there is usually a return address included (with postage) Good luck.

Yes, annoying. Might be good to contact them before they send you a different cookbook. They're likely to keep 'em coming.

Keep it! Pass it on to a charity or women's shelter. If you didn't order it, it's yours to keep. If they send you bills, who cares? It just might make them wake up and take you off their customer list.

I suppose it is possible that someone ordered the book in your name... as a form of irritation or harassment.

I doubt that ToH just randomly sends out unsolicited cookbooks. I think I would call Customer Service & discuss the situation.

Now that you have the toll free number, I think that I would call and get to the bottom of it. I'd at the very least make SURE that you get taken off their mailing list.

Do you have any idea how they obtained your mailing address?

I once received a magazine that I did not order. I kept getting harassing payment notices and it went to a collection agency.
I never asked, but I think my cousin sent me the subscription as it was from a vegetarian magazine.
May someone sent it to you ad a gift.

I would definitely call and let them know you did not order the book. That way, you won't get aggravated by continued billing, more books, etc.

Since you have the customer-service number now, you'll be able to do the right thing, which was your instinct (and undoubtedly your nature) at the beginning. If they want you to return it, say that you'll need a postage-paid return sticker.

The other posters have good points -- you want to get off their mailing list, or ask if someone else paid for a gift item, basically how they got your address. And you don't want to be pestered by a collections agency down the line, even tho in some states, it certainly does qualify as a gift because you didn't order it. And there's no company in the world that feels aggravation about anything like this -- maybe when their profits slip, but not this!

Even though you opened the letter on the front, talk to your postmaster, tell them you did not order it, and tell them you are refusing delivery, because it was left on the front porch without your permission. You may have to insist, but make sure you document the return. That way IF they do return it, you can tell the company, you refused it, the PO returned it and you do not know what happened. I have done that before. If you have taken paper work out, photo copy, put it back, seal it up. My postmaster allowed this, don't know about other and she did go by the book.

I once received a cookbook I hadn't ordered--not from Taste of Home, I think it was Better Homes and Gardens.

I was aggravated thinking I had to send it back, but in small print, it said that I did not have to return it, so I just kept it. I think it was a gimmick to try to get me to sign up for a whole series of cookbooks.

They did not demand payment.

They are a reputable company I have never heard of them sending anything out for free or unsolicited so I don't think that is the case. Some how they got your name and info and apparently things got crossed up somehow. My mother in law has ordered some of their magazines for herself and for me in the past. They do offer cookbooks but they are definitely ones you have to order and pay for.

Calling their toll free number should take care of it and they may well tell you just to keep it. I would ask how this happened however.

I also know of a very evil woman from another forum I was on long ago that would do things like that if there was someone she disliked she would order subscriptions of magazines and subscribe them to every free online mailing list in the world. So juvenile and nasty, people finally caught on to her evil ways.

Be prepared. This probably won't be the last cookbook you will get from them.

Same thing happened to me several years ago. I got so po'd that I stopped my magazine TOH subscription...which I really loved.

After I sent back 2 cookbooks, I started keeping them. Eventually they stopped coming.

Either they are idiots or it is a scam. I think it's more than likely the last.

beeohio, I was thinking the same thing...this actually happened to my husband and me a few years ago. We were bombarded with magazine subscriptions and mail order catalogs some of a very questionable content. The hoax was perpetrated by my husband's EX.

I bet that you may have registered at the Taste of Home website and that's how you got it? Could this be the case? Either way, just contact them and tell you did not order it and you have no idea how they got the idea to send it to you. We had to call every single time we got something and tell them that someone was going around the internet signing us up without our knowledge. They really have zero safeguards against this sort of thing happening! Really anyone can sign you up for something without your consent.

I had a similar problem with "Birds and Blooms" magazine, the same company as Taste of Home. I got B&B for several years. They sent me a gardening book (I never requested) so I thumbed through it and gave it to a friend. They sent me about six bills for $29.95. I finally sent one bill back with the reply "I do not have this book to return to you. Please stop billing me." They gave up.

I know how they got my address-I get the magazine. But I never ordered the cookbook. It is a waste of my (precious) time to sit on the phone to straighten this out, but I will give them a call.

Years ago I recieved a cookbook from Taste of Home that I did not order. I called them about it. Their explanation was this: At some time along with my monthly magazine I had recieved an offer for their annual cookbook. I had to return the enclosed card to decline the book, or it automatically would be sent....and the subsequent annual books would also be sent automatically. I sure didn't remember that offer. They did send me a postage return label to send it back.

I have been through this same thing with Readers Digest.

They will send you a postage return, it could have been a mistake. Just return it.

"They are a reputable company"

"I have been through this same thing with Readers Digest."

Taste of Home, all the other magazines that used be be published by Reiman Publications are now published by Readers Digest. They are NOT like they used to be. :(

Be careful - if you keep getting bills for it, and they turn it over to a collection agency - it will be a big strike on your credit rating.

believe me if they have been taken over by readers digest you'll have a heck of a time...they're near bankrupsy status,and are probably doing anything and everything to keep going...

do a google search about junk mail sign-up...i finally had to do that for fil...when we went thru his stuff found dozens of envelopes with return coupons in them! thanks be he hadn't mailed them but did find a stack of the readers digest and cookbooks...(could have been from his wife who'd passed)

I used to order the cookbooks when they were owned by Reiman. I kept getting the cookbooks even though I did not order. Kept sending back the statements saying I did not order and do not send any more books. Finally worked. When Readers Digest took over Reiman publications, the magazines were published cheaply. Don't care for them anymore and cancelled my subscriptions.

Those offers that ganzania mentioned are very annoying. (The ones where if you DON'T reply they assume you want the item). Why should I take my time and effort to tell a company that I don't want their product.
Same thing just happened to me with my pharmacy. They put me on a list with a company wanting to do a study (based on a medication I take). They are calling me and I am resentful that I need to take the time to tell them to buzz off. I should've have the opt IN choice, not the opt OUT choice!