So here’s a little update on my adventure with the magazine subscription salesman.

I followed my own advice.

I cancelled the check. I contacted my bank and closed my bank account. And I sent in the cancellation notice to the magazine company with a very lawyerly letter. (I should mention that throughout my childhood I worked in my father’s law office, so I have some reasonable experience writing lawyerly letters.)

I did not expect to hear from Mr. Magazine again.

However, in today’s mail was a single envelope from Interstate Subscription Services. Inside were two checks: one I had originally written for the magazine subscription and another one, made out to me, for the sum of $15.

Apparently, I had been a little too thorough in my lawyerly-ness. The original receipt I received from Mr. Magazine listed a final number that was $15 more than the amount I wrote on my check. Mr. Magazine assured me he would “take care of it,” but after reading the fine print, I fully expected the magazine company to debit that amount from my checking account. So in my lawyerly letter, I included the $15 in the total sum to be canceled.

I’m guessing that after receiving a priority, certified, return-receipt letter that cc’ed an attorney (my dad), I scared the bejeezus out of whoever was collecting the mail for the magazine company, and rather than risk a lawsuit, they sent me a check for $15.

If I hadn’t paid the fee to cancel my check, I would have made money on this deal.

Scammy scammers just got scammed. I think.

Of course, I’ll be returning the check. And I’ll be sure to include a very lawyerly thank you.