I’ll never forget my first lesson in personal finance. I was twelve years old. I got a letter in the mail. I was still at the age when getting mail addressed to me was fun. It was one of my first pieces of junk mail, but I had no idea it was junk. I opened it up, and found that a music club was offering me 13 free CDs.
As a kid with with parents who didn’t believe in giving an allowance, I was elated. I had a little bit of money saved from my birthday, but it was enough for maybe two CDs. And even at that young age, I knew CDs weren’t worth blowing all of my savings on.
I ordered music. Lots of music. Music I liked. Music I wanted. Music I knew my parents wouldn’t like. Some music I didn’t even know.
I did it without telling my parents. I knew they wouldn’t let me do it. I didn’t know they would have a good reason why.
I got my box of CDs in the mail a couple of weeks later. I was so excited. My mom asked me where I got the money to order all of that music. I elatedly informed her that this music club gave them all to me for free. She didn’t have a happy look on her face when I went back to my room to unwrap disc after disc, sitting in my room listening to my very own CD collection for hours.
I got to the bottom of the box. I saw a piece of paper and pulled it out, hoping it was my pass to my next batch of free product.
“INVOICE.”
I’m not sure if I knew the word yet. But I had definitely never seen one with my name at the top. I unfolded it and found an itinerary of all the glorious albums I had just listened to. In the price column there were thirteen beautiful zeros. But there was another column. “Shipping and Handling.”
$19.95. That was the number that was written 13 times. My heart stopped. The number at the bottom was $259.35.
I cried. Through my tears I thought about all the future birthdays and Christmases I’d have to donate my money to my misguided mistake. I felt fear as I envisioned the police coming to get me because I clearly couldn’t pay. (At this point I thought debtors’ prison was still a current phenomena.) I felt anger because the company had pulled one over on me. I felt stupid because I had let them.
I had to tell my parents what had happened. It wasn’t pretty. But they did get that I was messing myself up about it more than they would have in the first place. My mother assured me they don’t still send people to jail for owing money. My father assured me I’d be paying them back every penny as it came my way and that the company would hear about this.
Luckily I started babysitting not too long after this, so I was able to actually save some of my Christmas and birthday money for stuff I wanted. It was my first lesson in so many things; debt, gratitude that my parents’ weren’t charging me interest (because they made sure I had a full lesson on how much it would have been otherwise,) how companies make their money on “free” products by charging an arm and a leg for shipping, to always, always read the fine print, and that nothing in this life is truly free.
Looking back I think a lot of my good financial habits probably come from this single experience. It may have also caused some of my neurotic aversions to any type of debt and buyers remorse, but, hey, I’d rather have that than twenty grand plus in debt in my twenties.
So thank you, music club, for screwing me over when I was twelve. You just may have saved my credit report.
was that Columbia House? I did the same thing when I was a kid… pretty low down business model.
It was BMG. I remember Columbia House, too, though. Did you ever wonder how they got your address so young? I sure do.
Ha! I remember those BMG music clubs. It could be a good deal if you did it right…but that’s crazy that shipping was $19.95 per CD!
I don’t know that they were ever a good deal, but then again I’m a little biased against them.
I did that when I was like 18. I never ended up paying them back. That is such a scam!
Good for you! Haha even at twelve I was worried about being reported to creditors, though.
I love this! I totally remember those but I don’t remember S&H being so much. I do remember you could actually tape a penny circle for your first 13 cd’s or something. Actually I’m dating myself even more by saying I used to get cassette tapes that way. I guess the lesson is if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
Exactly. Maybe my S&H was so high because I didn’t even pay that stupid penny.
I absolutely remember those CD clubs. And much like Tonya, I remember being able to tape a penny to the returning postcard. 🙂 $19.95 in shipping and handling is insane, especially per CD! Honestly, because of the clubs like these, I’ve always been extra suspicious of any product that automatically wants to send new products every few weeks. Or free trials. Been burnt too many times!
Me, too!
That’s absolutely horrible you had to go through that at 12! What a scam. Nearly $20 for S&H is insanely expensive. I really like the ending of your story though – sometimes a bad experience leads to being wiser down the road!
At the time, $20 for a CD was pretty on par or a little below the norm…but that was for the CD, not S&H. Which is I’m sure how they labelled them “free.” And thanks! Sometimes bad things can lead to good.
OMG. I’m actually angry that they would even offer that to a 12 year old! So crazy. Scammers like that should be fined!
Isn’t that messed up?
my first lesson was between my dad and I. we went to the park, and we stepped up to an ice cream vendor. he made me look at the prices, and told me how ridiculously expensive they were .
Ha! The ice cream truck in my neighborhood was the same way, but we were allowed to do it anyways.
That had to have been a horrible experience. I would have cried for a very long time, and have tons of anxiety too. I remember being so tempted by those music warehouses when I was younger! But I’m glad it all turned out well in the end and you learned a valuable lesson. Many people who made that mistake are still making the same mistakes 10, 20 years later.
This is truth.
Where did your blogroll go?
It’s on its way back! Should be up today or tomorrow.
This is terrible, and so unethical that companies ever do this. I used to order music from a company like this too, when I was younger, but the bills never came to that much. I too was sucked into the “free music!” vortex.
I know, right? How could you turn down free music?
I remember this happened to me when I was about 11 or 12. It wasn’t cds but um cassettes and for a penny. I felt for that and got a nice bill. I never paid it nor did I tell my parents. 🙁 I was so scared.
I’m loving the blog design. It looks great!
Oh my gosh, I remember those (though I’m so old, they were offering tapes in my day). I had the same shock and remorse, as well, and it was definitely a learning lesson to read the fine print. Thanks for bringing back a nostalgic, but traumatic, memory! 😉
HAHa this happened to me. I can’t really say i learned my lesson though because I totally screwed up when i got to college. I’d say Im a stubborn learner. This post took me back though and also made me smile. Congrats on the new layout.
I almost got caught on those fake CDs too, luckily my brother warned me..
I think just about everyone fell for those free cd’s when they were a teenager. My original “albums” were free, but I had to purchase so many additional albums in the future. Also there was an album of the month and if you didn’t send back the card saying you didn’t want it they’d automatically send it to you with an “invoice.” I don’t think they can hold a minor liable for these types of programs though. Your parents should have been able to contact them and had your transaction voided.
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