Suit: Retailers Hoodwinked Entertainment Weekly Subs

A class-action lawsuit filed on Tuesday charges that Musicland Stores, parent of Sam Goody, Suncoast and Media Play, deceived consumers about the terms of an offer to receive Entertainment Weekly. While EW parent Time Inc. is not party to the suit, the marketing arrangement in question again illustrates the lengths to which magazine publishers will go to build their rate bases.

According to the plaintiffs, more than 1,000 of Musicland stores did not tell customers who signed on to receive eight free copies of EW that their credit or debit cards would be charged for a full subscription unless they called a number to cancel.

James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich, one of the law firms representing members of the class, cited greed as Musicland's primary motive. The suit alleges Time Inc. gave $7 to the stores for every customer that was charged.

The suit also alleges Musicland put its own profitability ahead of the privacy rights of customers, says James, Hoyer attorney John Yanchunis. "We have reviewed hundreds of complaints from consumers who never authorized disclosure of their credit- and debit-card data.

Calls to Musicland's Minnetonka. Minn., corporate offices seeking comment were not returned. Musicland Stores Corp. was owned by Best Buy Co. until June 2003.

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