TAS September Issue
-- Fri, 10/30/2009 - 21:13
Hi. I did not receive my September issue of TAS and was informed that no print copies were available to replace it and no more would be printed. I would like to purchase a copy from someone who does not save their copies. If anyone has one they would part with please reply here and I'll post my email address.
Thanks,
Tom
Tom,
I had the same problem with August until they sent me 3 copies before I got 1. I'm still waiting for October-November-December. I have been calling customer service weekly and got the same excuse you did. Waiting for copies. After enough calls they have finally set up a mail trace on my magazines that they said will take 6 weeks.
Finally this week I asked to speak to a supervisor who promised me I would have the October & November issues in 7-10 business days shipped in a plain envelope. The odd thing is Stereophile is shipped from the same publishers point and I have yet to have a problem with it. I am also fighting to get the most recent copy of Hi Fi Plus but the U.S. versions are shipped from Canada so they go by a different set of rules.
I find it incredibly hard to believe that we have to wait for magazines to be returned from vendors for a publication that I have subscribed to since inception. This response only started with the September issue. Another supposed problem is that the customer service changed computer systems.
I posted this concern back a month ago with no responses on the forum. I honestedly thought that someone from the Abolute Sound would have contacted me to aid in solving this issue but I guess everyone was busy covering RMAF.
Why not try downloading a PDF format online? It also gets released sooner than the print issue. Unless you only like paper format. I get both.
Customer service at one time offered to extend my subscription by 2 issues as a way to apologize. I said I have every printed copy since issue 1. I still want the missing copies but said instead of offering to extend my subscription 2 issues, for the time being allow me to get the digital copies I am missing for no charge. That was quickly denied as they had no way to allow that. I do not think I shoukld have to subscribe to the digital issue as well as the printed issue to get a printed version of the magazine. I subscribe to the Absolute Sound, I subscribed to the Perfect Vision while it was in print format (which I miss to this day), Hi-Fi Plus (which I am still waiting for issue 67 after receiving other issues on time) and I am a member of Golden Ears Club. Absolute Media or whatever its publishing name is gets enough of my money.
Once again though I still find it odd that no one, especially publisher or editor, who have and done commented on various topics in the past,. have chosen not to address this issue.
I am the owner of an 81 year old 4 generation business that would not dare allow this many calls go unanswered by managers or by myself. Perhaps that is why the number one reason people do business with my company list outstanding customer service as the number 1 reason they do business with us.
Quadlover:
For a quick fix, send your address to Susan Moore (smoore [at] nextscreen [dot] com) with a list of the issues you are missing and we'll send them out.
While I like the idea of digital issues to temporarily cover missing issues, please understand that our fulfillment partner has no access to the systems that would enable a digital copy to be sent to you. They aren't denying your request, they just can't do it as things stand. Of course, we also can't come up with a custom apology for every reader. But the idea of a digital replacement is good, and I'll see if we can figure out a way to make that work as a standard practice.
Quadlover, That's pretty poor "customer service", if it can be called that. If TAS had their "customer service" people find out why their subscribers aren't getting their magazines instead of giving them the runaround the problem might be solved.
Then, there's no excuse for not printing enough magazines to ensure that subscribers get a copy of each issue. That's why we subscribe!
Sam, I do prefer paper magazines. Yes we can buy a PDF copy, but I think that we should at least get it free of charge. I can see the editorials and reviews that an equipment manufacturer would get if he gave TAS this kind of service.
Welcome to the 21st century.
Tomcy7:
Thanks for your post. We honestly didn't realize there was an issue. Susan Moore, our director of marketing, will work with each of you to make sure we understand what your specific problem is. Since some of the comments above are from unregistered users, I have to ask you to contact Susan. She is at smoore [at] nextscreen [dot] com.
I should also be clear that we print more than enough copies to cover all subscribers. The fulfillment people may not have adequate copies to replace issues that are lost in the mail, however. This is, to my knowledge, a new issue and we'll check into it.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Tom Martin,
Thank you for your help. I have spoken with Susan Moore & Ronald Long twice this morning. Both seemed genuinely concerned with assisting in my problems. Hopefully my issues have been resolved.
Thanks again,
quadlover
Hi Everyone-
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. For a little over a month our fulfillment house has been trying to merge two operations. For a merger of this size it seems to have gone fairly well with a few exceptions.
I am here to help if you are experiencing problems with your subscription. Please contact me at smoore [at] nextscreen [dot] com. If you could also provide your mailing address in your email it will help us research your subscription.
To clarify, we have sufficient copies of all recent issues available. We are verifying that the extra issues are in the correct (new) location and that the customer service personnel knows how to access these. We are also conducting a customer service policy review with the appropriate management personnel which will hopefully prevent future "run around" situations that quadlover experienced.
Thanks,
Susan
Thanks Tom and Susan. I hope you get things sorted out with your fulfillment house soon. Your response to these postings is appreciated.
Tom
Tom and Susan, Thanks for your attention to this problem. I hope that you gget the problems with your fulfillment house corrected soon.
Tom
hello everyone!
i am elated to say that Kay (a supervisor in customer service), Mr. Long and Ms. Moore were able to straighten out my problems in getting issues that were late and December issue came as well by itself on time. I urge anyone that has a problem in receiving their issues on a timely basis to contact Ms. Moore at the email address listed above. I would be shocked if she did not resolve any legitimate issue receiving problems you may have in a very satisfying manner!
Thanks again also to Tom Martin for his post listing of Susan's address.
A very satisfied
Quadlover
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