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TALLAHASSEE - Attorney General Charlie Crist today announced that his office has finalized an $8.8 million-multi-state settlement between Time Inc., and 23 states over the company's improper marketing and billing practices. Florida led the settlement negotiations that resulted in an agreement for Time to refund consumers and reimburse the participating states for the costs of their investigation. Time Inc. owns many well-known magazines including Time, People, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Money, Southern Living and In Style.

An investigation into Time's marketing and billing practices revealed that the company's recent switch to an automatic renewal method misled some consumers into paying for unwanted or unordered subscriptions. When Time initiated the automatic renewal, many consumers were not adequately notified that they would have to cancel if they did not want their subscription continued. Time would then repeatedly bill customers and if not contacted by the customer, threaten to put their name in the "bad debt file" or refer them to the "consumer credit index." As a result, many customers reported that they paid for unordered subscriptions out of fear that nonpayment would result in damage to their credit rating. Time also mailed offers that appeared to be invoices and lacked the clear disclosures required by law. More than 1,300 complaints have been logged by consumers, with more than 200 coming from Floridians.

"Floridians should only pay for magazines they have ordered and not be forced to jump through hoops to cancel unwanted subscriptions," said Crist. "This settlement will now result in consumer restitution and require Time to clearly tell customers about renewal procedures."

More than 108,000 eligible consumers will share $4.3 million for magazine subscriptions that were automatically renewed between 1998 and 2004. Among this group are approximately 10,600 Florida consumers who may be eligible for refunds totaling $392,000. Over the next three months, Time will send refund letters and claim forms directly to potentially eligible consumers with instructions on how to apply for refunds.

Under the agreement, Time will give customers the option of automatically renewing their magazines and will ensure that customers are notified of all automatic renewal terms. Before the end of the subscription period, Time will send customers written reminders of the automatic renewal, their right to cancel the subscription and the procedure for cancellation. Time will also honor all requests to cancel subscriptions as soon as reasonably possible and will refund the subscription price if customers are charged for magazines they did not order. For new subscriptions, Time will give customers the option to select automatic renewal.

Additionally, Time will not mail solicitations that resemble bills, invoices or statements of accounts due, nor will the company submit unpaid automatic renewal accounts to collection agencies.

A copy of the settlement with Time is available at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-6N3MQ4/$file/TimeAVC.pdf