I purchased a book from Debtfree for Life from a TV add advertised at $29.99. When I phoned in the order, I declined all of the additional offerings that come with any such order, especially those that offer free 30 day trials before billing as I had habitually forgotten to cancel and got charged. So about 2 years ago I began declining all such offers regardless of the props. When I received the book I ordered I took it from the package and began to read it. About a month later, I noticed a $79.99 charge on my credit card statement and quickly disputed it as I knew not the nature of the charge. After researching it, I was notified that the charge was for the 1st of 5 such charges for software that I did not return within the 30 day trial period. I flipped as I know I did not order any software. When I finally spoke with someone at the company, they informed me that they included a free 30 day trial of software with my book and since I did not return it within the thirty days, they are charging me 5 payments for $79.99. I went off course because they had no authorization to send me any software nor was I aware that they sent it to. I thought the literature with the book was all junk mail to get me to buy something else and never looked in the package after retrieving the book. Once I did, I noticed a sealed software cd. When I informed them that I did not order any software and did not want it, they told me it was too late to cancel because the 30 days had passed and they would charge me the $400. I disputed again with my credit card company and they sent some rebuttal in the form of a printout of an order that was keyed by someone in their office. My question is am I required to pay for software that I did not order, did not want and was not aware they shipped it until they billed me. I have since shipped the unopened software back to them.

The key here is whether you can prove you did not order the software. You are not required to pay for and in fact can keep without paying, any merchandise that you did not request. The problem here is that since you did order something, they could claim that you were aware of the trial offers.