I received an email from Heather Thomas regarding the DVD collection and she was informative as well as reassuring this is NOT a scam, but a collective project of several well known quilt magazines. I have invited her to correct any skeptisim on this forum. I also addressed the three issues I have; the cost, the switch from a plastic case to cardboard/paper one, and the need of a legitimate web site to provide us information about the DVD collection and it's origination. Hope this helps those who might consider the offer and also those who have purchased them and wondered if we had been scammed. I personally do not think it is a scam, but it is very costly. Hope this helps clear up some of the questions.

I received one from Fons and Porter a couple weeks ago, and I sent it back. If and when I want any DVD I will order it, otherwise it gets sent back.

I received that same DVD yesterday. I am watching it today. I just ordered the Fons and Porter magazine and this came also. It does say that because I did not order it I am not under any obligation to participate nor do I have to pay for it or return it. I am going to keep it and refuse any more that may come. There is some good info on here and I consider it mine now. I don't mind a free gift now and then. :-P

I guess they have finally given up on sending me bills for it. They spent more money on postage for billing me than it cost them to make a million copies of one DVD. I didn't send it back because you had to pay for the shipping. There is some good info on it, but I can't be bothered to sit there and watch the whole thing.

I just received this and it doesn't state anywhere that you don't have to pay for it, but I won't be.

Yea, I got one and paid for it, got another, it was ok, but not as good as the first. Then the third one came, sorry I'm not into funky quilting with putting beads and bead rolls, and crunchy paper, string and crap on my quilts. I thought if I sent it back they would just send the next one in line, but I haven't received anything since I sent back the third one.

I got one, watched it then tossed it. Since then they have hounded me to death! I finally wrote them and said if they didn't back off I would be filing a complaint and charging them with harassment. Not I clue who I would file a complaint with, but so far have not heard from them again. They wanted me to either pay for the disc or return it.

No, I didn't get one.

I got one but am wondering as I saw others wondering where they got my name? From here? the one mag I get? Joannes? That what bothers me who is selling my info?
David

Good one!

Well, I just got mine today and watched the whole thing. It's very, very good and I will use it and/or portions of it in my recurring teaching and for background play at craft fairs, etc.

However, let me actually quote what the letter said as well as provide you with some contact information. I am personally impressed enough that I will pay them the $12.95 and will judge future DVDs on an as-received basis.

As David, I too would like to know who it is that has sold my contact info to them, but it could be something as simple as one of those "accept terms" boxes that we always check but we never really read the fine print. No biggie as my life's an open book anyway.

The letter and DVD: Arrived in a 6x9 windowed envelope containing the DVD in an attractive card holder. There was a red and white insert referring to the letter that said "Please follow these instructions only if you wish to return the DVD."

The letter opened with "Dear Jo, You must be wondering why we sent you [name of DVD]." They tout the advantages of the DVD, its high points, and in the last paragraph they say, "If you like it, send in your Reply Form with $12.95." Then they go on to say another will come every 2-3 months at the "regular price" (but they don't say what that price is). They DO say "You decide with each DVD whether to add it to your collection or return it . . . You can cancel at any time. No minimum purchases, no obligation, and no catch."

Then they say "if you'd like to return the DVD, please follow the directions . . . " which provide for a no-cost return. They DO conclude the letter with an emphasized, bolded type sentence: "Because you didn't ask for this special DVD, you don't have to participate or send it back and can consider it a free gift."

Contact information is right below that AND on the reverse of the Reply Form (which I will copy before I return it to them so that I have the information in my file):

"For Customer Service, call toll-free: 1-866-730-0862
or email: [email protected]
or if you prefer, send us a fax: 763-577-1298"

Where payment gets mailed in is to: Quilters Circle CS, PO Box 1592, Minneapolis, MN 55440

I hope this information will help those of you who are understandably frustrated. Perhaps I received more information than you did, but it does appear there is, in fact, a way to get in touch with these people.

As for me and my teaching, background play at craft fairs, etc., this is a very good presentation of the basics and more. I'll let you know in time if irregularities arise.

Hope this helped some.

I got it, and do like it but am not sure why I recieved it or how much the future dvd's will cost. I am tempted to keep it. I re read the letter that came with it and it does not say that it is free it says if I choose to keep it send $12.95 or if I choose not to keep it to return it in the prepaid envelope.
With the way things are today I would be afraid to keep it without paying for it. I wouldn't want something like this going on my credit rating. I personally would send it back if I wasn't going to pay for it. Just mho.
It is aggrivating that ppl send us things like this that we do not order.

I just got off the phone with customer service at Quilters Circle and requested to know how they got my address, no luck they won't tell you. You do not have to pay for the first dvd, but if you want to recieve any more it will run you around $29.00 with the shipping for future dvd's Just a FYI. I think it should be against the law for companys to sell, trade or loan your address to others when you subscribe to something. I know that is how they got my info, but they won't tell you that. :thumbdown:

I guess I got one. I finally opened one of the pieces of mail from them. It said I got a DVD. I'm pretty sure I threw away all their previous mails -- didn't recognize the return address. In their small print they say you do not have to return it or pay for it. It's almost a scam, but not quite. Just very misleading.

This is a scam! Do NOT send money. They send out UNSOLICITED dvd's; then tell you you should return the DVD or pay for it.

And they have the nerve to keep billing you if you don't send back the money or the DVD.

You are under NO OBLIGATION either mail the dvd back or send money.

Someone is selling your names and addresses to this company; that's where they get your name and address. It is NOT from a quilting magazine, survey, or workshop!

Feel free to report them to your local Attorney General's office.

DVD in the mail; SCAM!
 

This is a scam! Do NOT send money. They send out UNSOLICITED dvd's; then tell you you should return the DVD or pay for it.

And they have the nerve to keep billing you if you don't send back the money or the DVD.

You are under NO OBLIGATION either mail the dvd back or send money.

Someone is selling your names and addresses to this company; that's where they get your name and address. It is NOT from a quilting magazine, survey, or workshop!

Feel free to report them to your local Attorney General's office.

got it returning it don't want to get into billing fight w/them
Probably got our name(s) from mag subscriptions
Names and address sold all the time.

I've been putchasing this series of DVD's and enjoy them very much! They always include a rtn envelope should you not like any particular one, but I've enjoyed them all. Besides, once they're yours, you can watch them anytime you want in full or in part. I have about 14 of them now.......not sure how many will complete the set of if they will continue as things, and technics are changing all the time! :)

I agree; I would have loved to have gotten a free DVD in the mail to watch and hopefully learn.

I got one about 6 weeks ago and in the fine print it does say that you don't need to return it if you don't want to sign up for more. I kept it and did not respond to the mailing. Just this week I got another letter asking if I was sure that I didn't want to sign up for more DVD's, which I ignored. I found the information on the DVD very elementary and not nearly as informative as the ones that Jenny does on YouTube.

You're probab;y on a mailing list like the rest of us are! :)

Just remember, any time you are offered something free on the internet -- YOU are the product. There are databases with all our information, what we like, what we have bought,, etc. as well as our addresses. It is a fact of life in the 21st century.

One way to trace this is by using different names for each of the magazines you actually subscribe to. Maybe put in a middle initial or use a different spelling for your first name. That way you'll know immediately who sold your name.

I received one last year and then got a bill for it a couple of months later. I complained and kept it because I did not order it.

I haven't gotten one, yet, but thanks for the informatin

Haven't received one...not too broken up about it...

I apologize if someone has already said this (I didn't read the entire thread) but be careful ... I got an unsoliticed CD once and it was infected with a virus. Luckily I thought to run a virus scan on it before I opened it. I sent it back with a not-so-nice note about not appreciating receiving an infected CD and never heard a work from them.

Suzy

my sister got one a couple years ago and trashed it without opening it and then was hounded for payment. So when I got one I knew enough to open it and return it. Also a couple years ago I got something that looked exactly like an invoice for Fons & Porter's mag, which I didn't remember (re)subscribing to, but ... Anyway, in the corner in very small print it said "not an invoice." I guess they were hoping people would think they had subscribed and had forgotten about it.

Be careful with magazine subscriptions also. BH&G and GH both keep sending mags after the subscription has run out and then hound you for payment. In small print so you dont notice it they say they will extend the subscription.
So far no quilting mags are doing this that I know of but I will never subscribe to the above mags again.
I have gotten the Fons and Porter dvd just recently and another time long ago. Did not send them back. They are hounding me once again.
Ive been upsett with F&P since they bought Qnntv and started charging for it. It was free before.

Yes, Fons & Porter did the same thing. If they send you something that you did not ask for, you have no obligation to return it or pay for it or do anything. Don't let their threats scare you. By the way, Fons & Porter, the quilters no longer own their magazine. It was bought out by a conglomerate who are into a variety of businesses, by crafting seems to be one of the interests

I received one UNSOLICITED, so did not return it and have not viewed it. They have sent two letters and say they are surprised I haven't decided to sign up. I will keep on ignoring them. That is a sneaking way of doing business IMHO and I don't like it.

Amen to that! When I picked up quilting again three years ago I learned very quickly that a wealth of information and videos is right at your fingertips....FREE! I shy away from buying books, too....from my experience they pile up and hardly ever get looked at again.

Yes, I recieved one and sent it back the same day it came. They are wanting your money. I did watch the DVD, but it had nothing worth paying $12 or more for. Be careful.

there was a deal like this a couple of years ago. I kept the cd, paid nothing. you are not obligated to pay when you didnt order it. On that other deal, they kept sending invoices for it. I threw those away.

Please be aware, however, that there are pattern sites on the internet which have bad stuff on them. When you do a search on Google for, say, teddy bear quilt patterns, some of the sites will be infected and will infect your computer.

Stick to sites you have heard of (quilt shops, quilt magazines, etc.) and beware of sites with generic sounding names like "free patterns for everyone". (just made that up).

And have a good anti-virus, real-time scanning program that can tell you if something bad is trying to get on your computer.

I wouldn't put a DVD that I didn't order in my computer!

I received one of these DVD's and immediately returned it...A year or two ago I got caught in this unsolicited DVD and paid for several and was determined to not be "scammed" again. Grannie J