seth@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Seth Strumph) (05/08/91)
could someone send me the email address for nextworld magazine? or better yet, if someone reading this is affiliated with nextworld magazine, could you please tell your "credit department" to stop the threatening letters to people (like me) who agreed to the offer of a single free issue, not a paid subscription. i don't want or need a paid subscription. we bought enough nextstations that we should have free subscriptions up to our ears pretty soon (or do you plan to bill us for those too?) Seth Strumph Columbia University seth@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
cs19@cs.umn.edu (Scott Wisdom) (05/08/91)
In article <1991May8.143229.9184@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> seth@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Seth Strumph) writes: > or better yet, if someone reading this is affiliated with nextworld > magazine, could you please tell your "credit department" to stop > the threatening letters to people (like me) who agreed to the offer of a > single free issue, not a paid subscription. i don't want or need a paid > subscription. we bought enough nextstations that we should have > free subscriptions up to our ears pretty soon (or do you plan to bill us > for those too?) I too have recieved threatening letters. I paid for my subscription, but they keep sending me letters saying I haven't (even though they cashed the check). No number on the letters to call, so I can't clear this up. If they thrash my credit, I'll take 'em to court. -Scott Wisdom wisdom@heckle.cs.umn.edu
jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) (05/09/91)
In article <1991May8.143229.9184@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> seth@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Seth Strumph) writes: > >or better yet, if someone reading this is affiliated with nextworld >magazine, could you please tell your "credit department" to stop >the threatening letters to people (like me) who agreed to the offer of a >single free issue, not a paid subscription. i don't want or need a paid >subscription. we bought enough nextstations that we should have >free subscriptions up to our ears pretty soon (or do you plan to bill us >for those too?) Oh dear... sounds like the same sort of tactics MacWorld magazine used to ( and perhaps still do ) use.
petrilli@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Chris Petrilli) (05/09/91)
Seth Strumph writes: or better yet, if someone reading this is affiliated with nextworld magazine, could you please tell your "credit department" to stop the threatening letters to people (like me) who agreed to the offer of a single free issue, not a paid subscription. i don't want or need a paid subscription. we bought enough nextstations that we should have free subscriptions up to our ears pretty soon (or do you plan to bill us for those too?) Agreed. I asked for a "free" sample issue, and then sent them a nice letter explaining, that while the magazine was nice, it was not worth the money for 6 issues a year, especially since I get most all my magazines for free. I have since received 4 letters from tehm demanding payment, and have attempted to call to no avail. I will not stand for this harassment! I only wanted to see the magazine, not subscribe. It is nice, but not worth the money, especially when NeXT hands out issues at the NUG here (at least they did last time). Chris Petrilli -- + Chris Petrilli | Internet: petrilli@gnu.ai.mit.edu + Insert silly disclaimer drivel here.
torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie) (05/09/91)
petrilli@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Chris Petrilli) writes: >Agreed. I asked for a "free" sample issue, and then sent them a nice >letter explaining, that while the magazine was nice, it was not worth >the money for 6 issues a year. At least you got your "free" sample issue. Even that failed to make it to me! I immediately wrote Cancel on the first bill and sent it back to them, yet I've received 3 or 4 letters saying "Your account is overdue... Please pay [or else]". Are there real people in their Credit dept, or do they just staff it with zombies? -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Evan Torrie. Stanford University, Class of 199? torrie@cs.stanford.edu "Cold is God's way of telling us to burn more Catholics" - Lady Whiteadder
rjv21207@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Randal John Vose) (05/09/91)
>Seth Strumph writes: >letter explaining, that while the magazine was nice, it was not worth >the money for 6 issues a year, especially since I get most all my >magazines for free. I have since received 4 letters from tehm >demanding payment, and have attempted to call to no avail. I will not >stand for this harassment! >I only wanted to see the magazine, not subscribe. It is nice, but not >worth the money, especially when NeXT hands out issues at the NUG here >(at least they did last time). I did the same thing... however, I haven't been harassed with these letters demanding payment of some sort. All I did to let them know was to write the word "CANCEL" (in big, black letters done with a permanent marker) on one of the bills that they send. I mailed it back and haven't heard from them since... From the looks of it, the 29 cents was worth the effort... Randy Vose University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign rjv21207@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu rvose@suna0.cs.uiuc.edu
FHSJFC@BYUVM.BITNET (05/09/91)
I too have been harrased by these many letters. I too just wanted to *see* the mag. After this last letter which was particularly threatining I called directory assistance to get their number in boulder since *no* info is on any of their "bills" except for the P,O. Box. Not Listed. So, I looked on p. 4 of the April issue and found a toll free number for the subscription dept only to talk with a very nice and helpful person who apologised profusely and canceled my subscription right there. The number is 1-800-745-7002 and the E-Mail address is subscrip@nextworld.com. again, i found this info in NeXTWORLD and I am in *no* way affiliated with NeXT or NeXTWORLD. I just thoguht this info might be helpful to some. Jeff Carlson
rreid@DPW.COM (r l reid ) (05/09/91)
Not to mention it was such a fluff magazine. Steve Jobs on the cover? Boy, and here I thought I bought this machine because it was the most apropriate platform for the work I was doing. I didn't realize I was supposed to do it to save the world from all other computers, vendors, interfaces and to usher in the new world order. Because Jobs is god. Because IBM is evil and Unix is - well, we all know about Unix and DOS, don't we, snicker, nudge. The $3 I spent on NextWorld was poorly spent.
jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) (05/09/91)
>Agreed. I asked for a "free" sample issue, and then sent them a nice >letter explaining, that while the magazine was nice, it was not worth >the money for 6 issues a year, especially since I get most all my >magazines for free. I have since received 4 letters from tehm >demanding payment, and have attempted to call to no avail. I will not >stand for this harassment! > >I only wanted to see the magazine, not subscribe. It is nice, but not >worth the money, especially when NeXT hands out issues at the NUG here >(at least they did last time). Empty threats at best... Suggested recourse: 1) Tell them you will not be intimidated and to f__k off. 2) Threaten legal action. 3) Report their behavior to the BBB. 4) Send nasty letters to their editors etc. Magazine/books sales approaches have become VERY aggressive in recent times. A day doesn't go by when I don't get some 10 million dollar giveaway + magazine subcription junk mail or phone solicitation. Don't make it worth their trouble.
jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann) (05/09/91)
In article <PETRILLI.91May8194925@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu> petrilli@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Chris Petrilli) writes: > > Agreed. I asked for a "free" sample issue, and then sent them a nice > letter explaining, that while the magazine was nice, it was not worth > the money for 6 issues a year, especially since I get most all my > magazines for free. I have since received 4 letters from tehm > demanding payment, and have attempted to call to no avail. I will not > stand for this harassment! You might try to contact the state Attorney General's office. They are supposed to deal with this sort of nonsense. I've seen NeXT World at am not impressed at all. It's certainly not worth what they want for it. It's as bad as PC World and Mac World, it's sister magazines. Lots of glitzy stuff, little substance. I wish the folks who put out PC Magazine and MacUser (both of which have lots more substance than the "World" family of magazines) would produce a NeXT magazine. Jim Mann jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com Stratus Computer
kevinh@cmi.com (Kevin Hegg) (05/09/91)
> Suggested recourse: > > 1) Tell them you will not be intimidated and to f__k off. > 2) Threaten legal action. > 3) Report their behavior to the BBB. > 4) Send nasty letters to their editors etc. Seems to me that people are going overboard on how to resolve this problem. Why not try the simplest and most effective action. IGNORE THEM! You have no legal obligation to respond to anything they send you. They can't and won't take any legal action against you. By the way, NextWorld is not unique in this tactic. Virtually every magazine publisher uses these tactics. Kevin Hegg, EDS Corp - Center for Machine Intelligence 2001 Commonwealth Blvd., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 Phone: (313) 995-0900 Internet: kevinh@cmi.com Applelink: D5990
barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) (05/10/91)
I wonder if this discussion will make it into NeXT Worlds ``comp.sys.next'' column, which deatures the hot topics on this newsgroup :-). -- Barry Merriman UCLA Dept. of Math UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research barry@math.ucla.edu (Internet)
finn@theory.tn.cornell.edu (Lee Samuel Finn) (05/10/91)
In article <10428@etsu.CMI.COM> kevinh@cmi.com (Kevin Hegg) writes: >> Suggested recourse: >> >> 1) Tell them you will not be intimidated and to f__k off. >> 2) Threaten legal action. >> 3) Report their behavior to the BBB. >> 4) Send nasty letters to their editors etc. > >Seems to me that people are going overboard on how to resolve this >problem. Why not try the simplest and most effective action. IGNORE THEM! >You have no legal obligation to respond to anything they send you. They >can't and won't take any legal action against you. By the way, NextWorld >is not unique in this tactic. Virtually every magazine publisher uses >these tactics. > >Kevin Hegg, EDS Corp - Center for Machine Intelligence >2001 Commonwealth Blvd., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 >Phone: (313) 995-0900 Internet: kevinh@cmi.com Applelink: D5990 Ah, but if they think you owe them, and don't pay, they might report you to a credit agency. Wouldn't that be fun. No, I don't think it is necessarily wise to ignore things like this. In an ideal world, they would be unable to cause you problems, but this is far from an ideal world.
torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie) (05/10/91)
Well, I got yet anothr NeXTWorld Credit Dept letter today: "You received several issues of NeXTWORLD, but we haven't received anything from you since you placed your original order." In fact, I've received ZERO issues of NeXTWORLD. Who are they trying to kid?? finn@theory.tn.cornell.edu (Lee Samuel Finn) writes: >Ah, but if they think you owe them, and don't pay, they might report >you to a credit agency. Wouldn't that be fun. Not really. I think I will write back with a big Cancel (as I've already done twice!) and a nasty letter. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Evan Torrie. Stanford University, Class of 199? torrie@cs.stanford.edu "And remember, whatever you do, DON'T MENTION THE WAR!"
drin@nro.cs.athabascau.ca (Adrian Smith) (05/10/91)
seth@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Seth Strumph) writes: > > could someone send me the email address for nextworld magazine? > > or better yet, if someone reading this is affiliated with nextworld > magazine, could you please tell your "credit department" to stop > the threatening letters to people (like me) who agreed to the offer of a > single free issue, not a paid subscription. i don't want or need a paid > subscription. we bought enough nextstations that we should have > free subscriptions up to our ears pretty soon (or do you plan to bill us > for those too?) > > Seth Strumph > Columbia University > seth@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu I called NeXTWorld yesterday and told them exactly that. They claimed that "someone" had phoned in a telephone subscription in my name. While that may (faint chance) be true, it certainly wasn't *me*, and I don't *want* a subscription after seeing how the magazine handles delivery. I eventually convinced them to wipe the account and delete it. Call them voice and talk to them...that seems to work best... Adrian Smith ersys!drin@nro.cs.athabascau.ca Edmonton Remote Systems: Serving Northern Alberta since 1982
scott@nic.gac.edu (Scott Hess) (05/11/91)
In article <1991May9.173530.4148@math.ucla.edu> barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) writes:
I wonder if this discussion will make it into NeXT Worlds
``comp.sys.next'' column, which deatures the hot topics on
this newsgroup :-).
Those were the _hot_ topics? Sigh, I'm glad they didn't put in
some of the not-so-hot ones . . . I felt that most of the stuff
in NextWorld's comp.sys.next column was actually quite lame.
Maybe they only printed what the "censors" liked? :-)
Later,
--
scott hess scott@gac.edu
Independent NeXT Developer GAC Undergrad <almost out!>
<I still speak for nobody>blenko-tom@cs.yale.edu (Tom Blenko) (05/13/91)
Why don't all you people with a beef send mail to NeXTWorld? Site is nextworld.com. Relevant valid users (according to the NeXTWorld mag) are subscrip@nextworld.com (subscriptions), letters@nextworld.com (letters to the editor), and nextworld@nextworld.com (general). Tom