9 Magazine - Scam? Ripoff? Or just POOR/STUPID CUSTOMER SERVICE? (read)

[thebondman]

I paid $25 for a year subscription to 9 Magazine. I have only received one issue (April). Contact was made with a Brian Minson via E-mail(May 30th) in reference to my complaint. Here is his response:

William,

I will have John our circulation consultant look in
to it. We have had a few copies returned with wrong
zip codes. Not our falut! The mailing company we use
to handle subscriptions may have had a problem.

Never the less I will have John see if your copy was
returned and if so have him mail you out a copy
tomorrow via first class mail.

Thanks for letting us know!

Brian Minson
9 Magazine
http://www.9magazine.net


BTW - IT'S NOT MY "FALUT" EITHER.



Well, I think his response SUCKS!
Without proper Customer Service your Magazine is SURE TO FAIL.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Well, I got a certain amount of flak when I pointed out in a prevous post that the guy couldn't even spell his own cover blurbs ("Shinning your Porsche...") and now he reveals that he can't spell "fault" or "nevertheless" either. If you want a professional magazine, go to the pros. If you want what you apparently got, go to the amateurs. The same people who whine, "Hey, cut the guy some slack" wouldn't dream of cutting the same amount of slack for a mechanic who used a 9/16th wrench where a 14mm belonged.

Stephan

[JonT]

People *****ing about spelling in this forum need to get a life. This is an informal forum for sharing ideas and helping others. If the person's idea is understood despite the spelling error than the person communicated his thought well enough for this forum. Regarding the customer service letter the bottom line is they are researching the issue and getting the customer his magazine ASAP. Any english professor could rip to shreds every one of our posts for incorrect spelling, grammar use, sentence structure including the know-it-all's.

[carnut169]

You are not the only one... I have only received the 1st issue as well. I have not contacted the mag b/c I thought the 1st issue was so average that I have not been anticipating the next issue! Really had not even noticed that the next (May, June??) issues have not come.

Fool me once, I have been fooled. Fool me twice, I am a fool (they won't be getting another $25 from me).

[juan ruiz]

Well guys I have heard so much about this magazine that I had to go and look for it. after looking ALL OVER for I found it,In my opinion I BE SHAME of putting such of product,Forget the spelling Im one of the worst ones,But as a customer when I pick the copy from the stand I had to look twice to be sure that I had the proper magazine the quality of the pictures is VERY POOR,the article that I read was very poor no source from were the parts were obtain ect, I remenber this subject was post earlier and a lot of people came in their defence,but lets get real is a very poor magazine, my SUNDAY Comics have more colors,maybe in the future they be better but they have a LONG WAY TO GO! even if you take other car magazines new on the market they are MUCH BETTER. so Im one less customer to count with.
my 0.02

[thebondman]

Originally posted by JonT
People *****ing about spelling in this forum need to get a life. This is an informal forum for sharing ideas and helping others. If the person's idea is understood despite the spelling error than the person communicated his thought well enough for this forum. Regarding the customer service letter the bottom line is they are researching the issue and getting the customer his magazine ASAP. Any english professor could rip to shreds every one of our posts for incorrect spelling, grammar use, sentence structure including the know-it-all's.

I have an idea....JonT, just send me $25 and I will forward the Magazine to you when it arrives "ASAP".

[MarkY]

Originally posted by JonT
People *****ing about spelling in this forum need to get a life. This is an informal forum for sharing ideas and helping others

Nobody mentioned the spelling in this forum. They were talking about a "profession" publication and what was supposed to be a "professional" reply to an email inquire.

I agree with you about this being an informal forum and we shouldn't nitpick about spelling, however, extremely poor spelling and grammar tell a lot about an individual.

Now back to my life.

[Jdub]

I have read his reply to you several times and cannot figure out why you are not cutting a new magazine some slack as it gets into circulation. The response you received seems professional, sincere, and honest (grammatical concerns aside...).

Those seem to be the qualities of this 'board as well come to think of it!

John

[Kurt B]

You're nitpicking here a bit. It's an upstart. Objectively, I'd say you're nitpicking PROBABLY because you've gone out to your mailbox many, many times waiting for a magazine that (you just discovered via email) ain't on its way, and at this point, you're just plain p!ssed.

In that sense, I understand.

Inasfar as nine magazine writing. Haven't read it, but it sounds they need an editor. I will be that editor. Send the articles to me for proofreading, 9 Magazine, and I'll send them back ready to go.

[Doug Zielke]

Being a solid fan of Excellence, there was no way I was going to send these cats 25 *real* US dollars, but I still wanted to see what the mag looked like.

I had the chance last Saturday. Was in Bellingham, WA (hi, robfix) and went into a B&N. There was a single copy of 9 Magazine on the rack.

Pretty amateurish production, IMO. If it manages to exist beyond a dozen issues, I'll have another look.

[Paul_Heery]

I'm sorry, but I need to jump in on this one. No matter how you spell it, it is the fault of 9 Magazine that subscribers are not receiving the product that they paid for.

It is the responsibility of 9 Magazine to ensure that the their customers are taken care of properly. And, that includes any function of distribution whether or not it has been outsourced.

The response of "Not our falut!" is just indicative of the level of professionalism and maturity of the publisher.

[rfix'n]

I'm having a hard time understanding why "it's not my fault". Is the magazine not responsible for hiring the company that handles the subscriptions?

I work in the service industry and we have our share of mishaps, however, regardless of fault we apologize and try to make it right!

Hi Doug, thanks for taking the last copy so I wasn't tempted to buy it.

[Jim T]

1. Spelling and grammar have a time and place. On an internet chat board is not the time and place. Magazines and books are a different story!

2. The response from the mag is not horrible, IMO, but its not the response I would have given. "Its not our fault" is not a professional response. Does the guy who didn't get his mag really care whose fault it is?

Also, the part about "We'll see if it comes back to us in the mail, and THEN we will send you a new one" isn't very good customer service. What if it never comes back? What if it comes back a year from now? The response suggests the magazine doesn't really believe the customer. The magazine should just say: "Sorry that you did not receive your magazine. We are working hard to put out the best quality product and build up a readership. Thanks for your support, another copy has been mailed out today."

[LeeH]

As a former business owner, I find the attitude of "if your copy was returned... [we'll] mail you out a copy" hard to handle.

If customer service was truly a priority the response would have been, "Very sorry. Don't know what happened, another is in the mail."

[79930]

I'm glad to see that a few people have received their copies. I have been waiting for 4 weeks for my subscription. Service like this they are doomed to fail.

Kevin

___________


79 930
53 MGTD
84 CJ7 Rock n' Roller

[Sean Hamilton]

"Falut"? Well, he's copping a fair bit of it (fallout) now.

[speeder]

"People (asterisking) about spelling need to get a life".

I would agree that perfect spelling and grammar are not necessary in every field of endeavor, but if your livelyhood has anything to do with the written word, ie. publishing a magazine, these things would be your "life".

The most disturbing aspect of their response was not the spelling, it was the attempted sentence, "it's not our fault". Those words are never uttered, or written, in a service industry. Except by complete idiots.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by speeder
"it's not our fault". Those words are never uttered, or written, in a service industry. Except by complete idiots.

And those that want to be unemployed...unless they are in academia or government

[pwd72s]

I sent a check...have yet to see an issue. Check was written on 3-23-02, it has cleared my bank. Think the IRS will allow a loss declaration?

[montroe]

I had a similar problem when I began my subscription with Excellence. Not only did they send the missing copy via Express mail, they also extended my subscription an additional month free of charge. Two weeks later, the missing magazine arrived damaged by the USPS.