AARP Dues - as bad as magazine subscriptions

Oldguy

Oldguy

New Member
Location
Tampa area
So, I pay for a gift of the Reminisce magazine...and they always send a bill like 3 to 6 months before it's due.
Now AARP is doing the same. I paid in May (which means it was due in June) after receiving around 4 or 5 notices.

and today, a new statement from AARP with my new cards arrived, and it shows 06/2019 (which would be the month and year it expires), but it doesn't say that on the statement (just like those magazine subscriptions are really tricky where they hid the expiration date).

So, has anyone caught them charging more than once a year? Are they trying to make their 2018 Christmas bonuses from 2019 subscriptions?
 

I dont and won't belong to AARP, but Smithsonian does that. What I hate is when one gets a low priced 3 month trial then they they automatically charge a honking big annual subscription to the credit card & have to get on the phone etc to cancel .
 
I got numerous renewal letters from AARP - it was really annoying. Also AARP life insurance, medical insurance and car insurance offers. They must not realize how much people dislike organizations that plaster us with unwanted mail.
 

Before I came here, I routinely posted on the AARP community boards about their practice of sending out renewal notices every month, or so, without showing an expiration date in a very clear way. To this day, some two years later, I still get "Kudos" from those posts. The AARP boards are the worst I've seen, online. Their software is from the 90's. I came here because I couldn't stand those boards.
 
Yes, they did that to me and I called them and complained. I also complained that they send too much stuff.
They apologized and slowed way down on what they send and gave me a one time reminder right before the expiration of my last card.
Ok, now I'll do business with ya :cool:
 
Hi Oldguy,everything you mentioned about AARP is true.
I stupidly make the mistake of joining when I retired.It was ok in the beginning,but a year later I started getting letters asking me to join,obviously not knowing I was already a member. I won't be renewing when my subscription ends
I was a regular poster on their website for 5 yrs,but left for good in 2017.SF is 1,000 times more friendlier than AARP will ever be
 
I joined aarp because I wanted the United Healthcare medicare supplement that they "endorse" last year, knowing I did not have to renew my membership to aarp after that.

I have since taken a medicare advantage plan with another insurance co, starting 1.1.19 and cancelled UH. Now I'm getting even more mail from aarp! It goes right into the trash. Someday, when I feel like sitting on hold for an hour I'll call to request a stop.

To my knowledge, you get discounts on certain hotels and motels and supposedly, they lobby for elder protections and anti-discrimination. There must be more but I don't know what.
 
Geezerette said:
I dont and won't belong to AARP, but Smithsonian does that. What I hate is when one gets a low priced 3 month trial then they they automatically charge a honking big annual subscription to the credit card & have to get on the phone etc to cancel .
Click to expand...

I dropped both Smithsonian , and Archaeology because of their billing/promoting ways. A shame really as I felt both were a good, informative magazine. I did not always read either cover to cover, but always found something to my liking/interest to read.
 
With hesitation I sent off a subscription to a cross stitch magazine. I haven't got the first issue yet. I put a note with my order NOT to share or sell my name with any other company. I hope it works and they don't badger me. I did a one year to see how it goes. I wouldn't have done it but cross stitch magazines are not popular as they once were and not very available in stores anymore.
 
As far as I can tell, they all do it :mad:. From personal experience, Consumer Reports, National Geographic, Reader's Digest. We finally let AARP go because of the supposed myriad of discounts, programs and what not, we never found one to take advantage of or that appealed to us. The only subscription we're keeping is Reader's Digest because we like having something compact to read in the resting room don't you know :). You would think once you're a subscriber, they would ease up on the constant barrage of 'early' renewals and give a subscription to a Friend or Family member. It borders on harassment in my opinion, so, for now, we'll just keep Reader's Digest. Don...
 
I found that "AARP" is a creature with multiple arms. Most of those arms are for profit corporations, such as insurance divisions. As far as being a "voice" for seniors, I really don't remember when they ever asked for my opinion. I feel as if AARP was an insurance company masquerading as a senior's issues group.
 
I like the AARP monthly magazine and AARP Bulletin. I find interesting articles and informative news bits.

With all the junk mail I get, the AARP mailings hardly make a dent. Donate to one type or organizations and you're flooded with all the others. And even the type you don't normally give to, you get those, too. I have cancelled many magazine subscriptions. Just no time to read them all, and then you get them all piled up.
 
I don't remember seeing the AARP magazine or the Bulletin in a bookstore.

But if you mean magazines in general, I do sometimes buy them off the shelf. Of course then you're paying three or more times the cost of a subscription. I just don't like it when I don't have the time to read them and also having to add them to the land fills. Newspaper here though they can be recycled.
 
I have never been solicited by AARP to join. They tried my husband but he turned them down. Apparently, if the man declines they don't bother asking the woman living at the same address?

Sexist pigs!
 
Geezerette said:
I dont and won't belong to AARP, but Smithsonian does that. What I hate is when one gets a low priced 3 month trial then they they automatically charge a honking big annual subscription to the credit card & have to get on the phone etc to cancel .
Click to expand...

I don't have any use for AARP, either. I don't think they really do anybody any good, except maybe their own board of directors. I think they are primarily a front for insurance companies.
 
AARP is one of the largest lobbying groups in the nation. In 1999, they changed their name from "American Association of Retired Persons" to "AARP" to reflect the fact that they no longer focused on the interests of retirees. Their political bias is decidedly liberal which, depending on your personal political views, can be a good or bad thing. For a "non-profit" they are a huge money maker, their CEO being paid nearly $2 million annually. They do whatever they can to recruit members because, in lobbying, numbers = political clout.
 
I dropped my AARP membership because of all those annoying "renewal" ads. But when I changed my cellphone carrier, I resubscribed because my new carrier (Consumer Cellular) offers a discount to AARP members, I think it's $2.35 a month, something like that. I figure that's good enough to cover my membership fee.

If they start getting annoying again, I will once again cancel.

Even more annoying is the constant dunning from organizations that I have never belonged to, reminding me that my membership is about to expire, and it's time to renew! Sierra Club is one of the worst offenders.
 
Even more annoying is the constant dunning from organizations that I have never belonged to, reminding me that my membership is about to expire, and it's time to renew! Sierra Club is one of the worst offenders.
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Wow, I haven't gotten that yet, but that is really bad!
 
I once gave a donation to Sierra Club, in memory of a friend who had died. That was all it took to get them up and running.
 
Geezerette said:
Speaking of email avalanches, I've given up signing any petitions, even if it's something I support.
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Ditto, Geezerette, I too discontinued signing petitions, not knowing who the petitioners were, or what they were actually doing with the information provided to them. You have no idea if what they're telling you has anything to do with the petition they're trying to get you to sign. So, I don't sign petitions either. Sorry, not sorry. Don...
 

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