Ignoring the Fine Print Can Cost You a Mint

I got something of a wake-up call last night. I like to pride myself on having some savvy about life overall, the Internet, and certainly about making purchases using a credit card on the Internet. I'm on here on the Net a lot doing research, updating the sites and zines I contribute to, and interacting with some of the workshops and creative support groups I enjoy. I write, therefore I also pride myself in reading the fine print on just about everything - especially everything I'm thinking of charging to a credit card.

Last night though, I saw something in a very respectable venue that offered an informational download for about $2. It was information about something I was very interested in, about which I'd actually begun to do some research on, and, quite frankly, something that looked like it might give me a 'leg up' regarding another venture I was considering. I looked it over thoroughly, I thought. I read it a couple of times and finally, satisfied, I processed the transaction and hit send.

Talk about a big mistake! That was a monster error!

Shortly after hitting the send button I started to get email confirmations that told me about all the things I had just committed to purchase. A membership to this for $39.95 that would be charged to my credit card, another membership for this that would be $39.95 monthly unless I canceled within a couple of days, something else that would be $7.95 monthly, and still something else that would be billed to my card monthly for another $9.95. What! I didn't order any of that - or did I? Did I really read the fine print like I thought I did, or did I just peruse it, assuming all was on the up and up?