johnk@UCB-VAX.ARPA (09/24/84)
Dear UNIX/WORLD Reader: I owe you an apology. In the last six weeks we have received complaints that some of you were being invoiced unfairly. At first when the numbers were small, we were not surprised. It's not unusual to receive a few complaints from people who simply do not remember requesting the magazine. (Some of the complaints have indeed come from subscribers from whom we've received valid, signed subscription cards.) However, as the numbers swelled, and inquiries began showing up on the uucp network, we quickly looked into the problem. What we have found is that almost all complaints are coming from potential subscribers who have attended one of several trade shows this year: UniForum, Usenix, Comdex/Spring, and Computer Faire. I developed a plan with my staff for these shows to give anyone who was interested in Unix/World an opportunity to receive the magazine on a trial basis and then choose to subscribe or not. I thought that the instructions to my staff and the signs we placed in the booth were adequate to explain how this promotional offer was to work. Obviously from the complaints we have received the offer was not clear. We were going to accept a business card from you, send you a free issue of the magazine, and follow it with an invoice for a one year subscription. If you found your free issue of Unix/World useful you could pay the invoice and continue receiving Unix/World for an additional year at a great discount with very little effort on your part. If Unix/World did not meet your needs you could simply write "cancel" on the bill and we would remove your name from our trial subscriber list. It's clear that I made a serious mistake in judgement. My staff and I sincerely regret any misunderstanding that may have occurred. We want you to know that we genuinely value all of our readers in the Unix system uucp network, even those who are not subscribers. I am taking a number of actions to rectify this situation. First, and most importantly, we are discontinuing this procedure at future trade shows. Secondly, I have ordered a halt to the invoicing of past trade show participants. (A few of you may receive an additional invoice after receiving this letter due to postal delays. If this should happen, simply ignore the invoice.) Once again, please accept our apologies for inadvertently creating this misunderstanding with you. We hope that at some point in the future you will reconsider subscribing to Unix/World. Sincerely, John M. Knapp President/Publisher UNIX/WORLD Magazine ...!ihnp4!vortex!u-world!johnk ...!ucbvax!dual!u-world!johnk P.S.: Apparently a number of people are concerned about paying $.20 for first-class postage. Simply ignore the invoice. I hate to give away the tricks of the trade, but virtually all magazines send three invoices, and no one ever attempts to collect on them or report them to credit agencies. Again our apologies for not explaining the offer clearly to those who have been sincerely concerned about their credit ratings.