Collections for Completing Offers

So I have recently been contacted by four services that I did offers for. I Grew tired of canceling so many offers every week and eventually stopped. These offers fall under those that I never canceled. Charmonix, StopSmoking800 and Smoking Resolution as well as SuperFoods RX.

Now, If I still have these trial products can I return them after the 30 days or whatnot has expired?

Are the threats to go to collections serious, can and would they go after me for $50 - $100?

What if a minor signs up?

A buddy of mine did one of the StopSmoking and he is only 16, the terms and conditions require someone to be 18. Does him being underage make their contract void or would it just be collected from his parents?

Any suggestions on how to avoid these payments? Besides canceling any more offers I do on time.

Ummmm ... normally we don't discuss canceling offers. And there really isn't any ways to avoid payments for things, sorry.

As to your friend being underage, it is possible that it will void his offer. Guess you will have to wait and see.

Any suggestions?

Wait, you were contacted by the companies ... why? If you are still a paying member of those 4 things, then they should still be taking your money. If you haven't been paying them, they could come after you for it, since you legally would owe them.

As to your friend, my only suggestion is ... well, I would say to just be prepared for him to go red (assuming he did that as a ref for you).

Good grief. You simply decided to stop paying them? More like, you tried to use a gift card and they caught up with you, eh? Well, that's the way the cookie crumbles. You are legally and financially responsible for your debts, and the offer companies can and should resort to any (legal) means necessary to obtain their money, as is your 'friend" (for the most part).

Many offers use collection agencies to recover their missing monies. It costs the offer company nothing at all to refer a delinquent account to a collection agency, as the collection agency simply keeps a portion of what is recovered, and the offer company gets back more than they have now.

Is your young credit, that which will influence your credit for the rest of your life, worth $200-$400? If not, I'd try to contact the companies and work out some sort of payment plan, or discuss your options.

Do everything you can to get them paid BEFORE they get sent to collection agencies. Once it goes to a collection agency it may show up on your credit which could mess things up for you for the next 7-10 years. And yes $50 is more than enough for them to go after you.

After the initial contact the credit agency will simply start charging you collection fees as this goes forward. Your $50 could easily be $300 by the time this goes to small claims court (which you can count on that happining, you don't want to be sued).

Not dealing with subscription offers you signed up for would be an example of a bad idea.

As for your 16 year old friend, you should probably just pay that one too since it will go red otherwise and possibly screw up your status at the freebie site. They may not be able to go after him/her on a collection status, but the may be able to go after his/her parents which would be rather upsetting for them.

And chances are they won't take back the sample after the 30 days.