tjhayko@THUNDER.LAKEHEADU.CA (05/04/90)
I thought I should post this, since I said I would, so here goes.
begin quote
IDG Communications/Peterborough, Inc.
80 Elm St.
Peterborough, NH
03458
Dear Publisher,
I am writing after a particularly annoying incident with
your customer service department.
First, being a caller from outside your 800 number zone, I
attempted to place a collect call to your customer service
department. I was informed that you do not accept collect calls
and that I would have to dial direct to your customer service
department, at my own expense, and was not even given the phone
number. Surely, a magazine that is attempting to represent an
international machine such as the Amiga should accept collect
calls from it's subscribers to the customer service department,
or at the very least, give out the phone number! After going
through my old phone bills to determine the customer service
phone number (I had the misfortune to have to deal with them four
times previously), I called you customer service department.
After inquiring why it was taking 6 to 8 weeks from the date that
AmigaWorld appeared on the newstands until I received a particu-
lar issue, I was told that my subscription had not begun until
February. Previously, when I called your customer service depart-
ment approximately one month after my subscription card had been
mailed, I was told that my subscription would begin with the
January issue. Second, I was told that payment for my subscrip-
tion had not been made until April. A payment was made, by Visa,
as soon as a statement of the account was received from your com-
pany. If a statement was not received until April, the fault
lies with your company, not with myself. I addition to this, I
was told that the address that the magazine was being delivered
to had been changed four times. I moved once. The reason for
the four address changes is each successive time I contacted
your customer service department, I was told that the address had
not yet been changed. Finally, I stated that I would like to
cancel my subscription. The customer service representive (I
didn't get her name), questioned why I was canceling my subscrip-
tion. I stated that I was tired of waiting six to eight weeks to
receive magazines that I had already paid for. She again asked
me why I wanted to cancel my subscription. I stated again that I
was tired of waiting to receive magazines that I had already paid
for. She iagain asked me why I wanted to cancel my subscrip-
tion. I then stated that I was tired of hearing the excuses from
your company and that I would like to please cancel my subscrip-
tion. Your customer service representive then hung up on me. I
immediately called back and was connected to another, (thankful-
ly) more polite customer service representive who canceled my
subscription and told me that I would be receiving a full refund
of my subscription price.
Copies of this letter and your reply will be posted to
USENET.
I would like a written apology for the rude behavior of your
customer service representives, including an answer to my origi-
nal question as to the difference in time between the magazine
appearing on the newstand and the time a subscriber receives the
magazine, better customer service and a complimentary subscrip-
tion.
Sincerely,
Tom Hayko
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* Tom Hayko * only the Amiga /// *
* tjhayko@thunder.lakeheadu.ca * (if only Commodore /// *
* tjhayko@LUSUN.BITNET * knew that) \\\/// *
* tjhayko@LAKEHEAD.BITNET * \XX/ *
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QUITdalka@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (kenneth.j.dalka) (05/04/90)
> I am writing after a particularly annoying incident with > your customer service department. I sent in a subscription card to Amigaworld around Christmas. It is now early May and I have yet to see a magazine. I assume they lost it and I figure if they don't want my money, I'm not going to force it on them. -- Ken Dalka (Bell Labs) att!ihlpz!dalka IH 4H-416 (312) 979-6930
hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) (05/06/90)
In article <15503@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> dalka@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (kenneth.j.dalka) writes: > >I sent in a subscription card to Amigaworld around Christmas. It is now >early May and I have yet to see a magazine. I assume they lost it and >I figure if they don't want my money, I'm not going to force it on them. >-- > > Ken Dalka (Bell Labs) > att!ihlpz!dalka > IH 4H-416 (312) 979-6930 Magazines are generally very quick about fulfilling subscriptions from those little tearout or fallout cards, IF they get the card in the first place. Don't make the assumption that becuase you mailed a card that it actually reached AmigaWorld's subscription dept. If it's been six months and you haven't seen an issue and you haven't been billed, then assume your card never made it and just fill out and send in another one. Check "bill me" on the card. You might even want to spell your name slightly differently ("Kenneth" rather than "Ken") or add a middle initial so you can track which card caused a subscription to happen if the issues start showing up. (You can also track who they've sold your name to such as catalog mailing lists this way). By checking "bill me" they usually will send you an issue and then start sending invoices. If you end up getting two subscriptions and two issues with the same cover date arrive, followed by two invoices, then pay one, and write "CANCEL" across the other and send 'em both back. The US Postal Service uses a lot of automated machinery to sort and handle the billions of pieces of mail which go through it every year... add to that the human element, bags of mail falling down freight elevator shafts (this gets discussed often in misc.consumers) and the fact that small cards get lost or eaten in the avalanche of letter mail, and it's really fairly amazing that the system works at all! The same thing goes for sending in software warranty/registration cards. They stand a much better chance of arriving at their destination if you stick 'em in an envelope first. Harv Plink: CBM*HARV