Customer can't cancel subscription to record store, sends packages filled with cement to get even: 'They wisely decided to cancel my account immediately'

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Feb 24, 2025 2:00 PM EST

Canceling a subscription is never as easy as it should be. Every service should understand that what seems like a good business idea in theory—that is, making it difficult to leave so that you'll just give up and keep paying—is actually a ridiculous notion in practice, as it will only result in viral, word-of-mouth stories about how phony the business is. 

I'll never forget how challenging it was to switch internet subscribers when I moved into my new apartment. Despite the fact that my name was also on the former account and that my credit card had been the one that was on record for over a year of monthly payments, I had to get my former roommate involved to cancel the subscription on my behalf simply because she had opened the account. It was a long and unnecessary saga of poor customer service that only could have existed because this company was, well, a monopoly in my area. 

Keep scrolling below to see how this customer got back at the folks running a local record store, who locked the customer into a 36-month subscription against their will!

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  • 01
    SIDE TWO STEREO 臨 DARYL STUERMER STEPPIN' OUT 1. ELECTRIC CITY 511 2NIGHT FLYER 606 3. 20TH CENTURY LADY 43 4. THE HIGHLANDS 454 GR-9573 Produced by Daryl Summer and Don Mumay Executive Produc and ananged by Day Sher Sound LASCAP Cave Grusin and Layo MANUFACTURED DISTRIBUTED BY OF RECORDS INC SEW E, NEW YORK
    via tinkerman
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    So this happened over 30 years ago when I was 16 in the 1980's. In those days there were adverts in the press for a record club (this is actual physical albums) where you could get some albums free by signing up and then get sent three a month after that which you had to pay for by a money order within 30 days or get charged interest. So I used it for a few months and it was okay but then there was less and less good choices and I wanted to cancel the
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 03
    subscription. Each month I got the albums I could return them in prepaid plastic envelopes, but for the first few months I kept the albums so had a load of spare prepaid envelopes (important for later). When the quality of albums. went down I just sent them back, but this was becoming a nuisance since it was getting close to when I was due to go to College and move away from home.
    via MMW_Oxford
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    I contacted the company to cancel the subscription but that's when they nuked me by saying that I'd agreed a 36 month rolling contract, from each agreed purchase. Waiting 3 years to get rid of this was not an option because I'd need to return every month to my parents to return the albums. I told them I was moving away, they were not interested thinking they had me and they did. They told me to send anything back I did not need each month and pay for what
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 05
    I kept and they would start the ending of my contract from when I stopped buying albums. I made it clear I had stopped, cue the Malicious Compliance. I thought about all the things I did not need, that I could send them apart from the garbage albums I was being sent each month. My Dad did building work on the side of his main job so we hard and cement in abundance, at the back of the house. So I got one of the first plastic prepaid envelopes and filled it with and wet cement waiting for
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 06
    it to set. It was almost too heavy for me to carry to the post office, but I got it there. The company had to pay by weight for whatever was in the envelope, so it would have cost a lot. I phoned them two weeks after that, I mentioned I had quite a few envelopes and they wisely decided to cancel my account immediately. If it looks to good to be true, then it is, I learnt that at 17.
    via MMW_Oxford
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    Cheezburger Image 10471451648
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)
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    TechnOght 9h ago I signed up for a service like this in the US when I was 14. When I didn't want to continue it because the selections were c py I told them they couldn't hold me to the contract because minors can't agree to contracts legally. They stopped.
    via MMW_Oxford
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    Dioscouri • 9h ago Your trick works well with any group that sends you unsolicited "return postage guaranteed" envelopes. Pro Tip: you don't need to make it fit inside the envelope, you only need the envelope attached so the address can be read. I've found tape works well for this. The post is legally required to send it, and the addressee is legally required to pay for it.
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 10
    You'd be surprised by what sort of interesting objects/garbage one can effectively attach one of those labels to. I suggest you experiment.
    via MMW_Oxford
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    . Georgeisthecoolest ⚫ 9h ago That's awesome. Did the post office people raise any eyebrows at sending a literal brick in the post?
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    lestairwellwit • 8h ago When I was in college, yes a long time ago, every piece of junk mail had prepaid envelopes. We simply took the entire advertisement, stuffed it in the prepaid envelope and mailed it back to them.
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 13
    My roommate was in a welding class and often had pieces of welded flat steel from class. He even asked for critiques on his welding style.
    via MMW_Oxford
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    bonniesue 1948 • 9h ago I also signed up for that when I was 16. My mom got on the phone when I tried to cancel, reminded them that I was underage, that they didn't ask my age when I signed up, or her permission. They cancelled it for her.
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 15
    Fixerguy415. 7h ago. I had a very similar experience with Columbia Music Club. With each returned album I included an architectural grade tab roofing shingle folded up to fit... Adding about 2 pounds
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 16
    After the 4th month they called me to inform me that I could keep any albums they had already sent and that they were cancelling my account immediately at my request. In later years I did the same thing with any mailbox spam that had a post paid envelope in it. My friends always wondered why I never got junk mail...
    via MMW_Oxford
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    SSNs4evr⚫ 8h ago I guess not living at a permanent address could have been a problem. I did Columbia House, and didn't mind it. I ordered what I wanted, and anything I didn't order, I simply wrote "Return To Sender" on the box. I never once had a problem with them (this was for cd's)....while I'm o,d, I'm not old enough to have participated in cassettes, records, or 8- tracks days.
    via MMW_Oxford
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    ShadowDragon8685 • 6h ago If it looks to good to be true, then it is, I learnt that at 17. If you were a minor, I'm pretty sure you could also have had a judge annul the contract and ream them a new one if they tried to keep playing their FAFO games with you - and the court.
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 19
    tcollins317 2h ago So, for a while, they had a get 10 free. Then monthly, but no commitment to buy more cancel any time. So I get the 10 and then cancel. A few days later I get a letter from them. "We're sorry to see you go, but if you came back, we'll send you 10 free. Then monthly, but no commitment to buy more cancel any time. So I get the 10 and then cancel.
    via MMW_Oxford
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    A few days later I get a letter from them. "We're sorry to see you go, but if you came. back, we'll send you 10 free. Then monthly, but no commitment to buy more cancel any time. So I get the 10 and then cancel. A few days later I get a letter from them. "We're sorry to see you go, but if you came back, we'll send you 10 free. Then monthly, but no commitment to buy more cancel any time.
    via MMW_Oxford
  • 21
    So I get the 10 and then cancel. And I never heard from them again. TLDR: they sent me 40 CDs with no obligation.
    via MMW_Oxford

  • This customer tried to explain to the workers at this record store that he could no longer return records in person every month, which was part of the expectations of his subscription plan, as he was going off to college in a separate area. Of course, the store employees showed absolutely no understanding and no willingness to consider making an exception for this special instance. This meant that the only way to get his point across would be by means of malicious compliance.

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customer service vinyl Music malicious compliance record petty revenge entitled people karma vinyl records funny store entitled people
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