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Focus magazine subscription


dbltap4

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Hey

 

Last July subscribed to Focus magazine, as it looked like a pretty good rag.

Deal was buy two years, get third year free. Did it over the internet, got

confirmation #, charge was posted on my credit card bill.

 

Now the first of December, and still no magazine. David Spivach,

publisher/info guy, emailed me once, end of October, that present and back

issues would be sent the following week. Still nothing. Sent more e-mails but

they come back undeliverable because box is full.

 

Anybody else subscribe to this magazine, and/or having trouble with

subscription?

Jim

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You should call them directly - obviously they don't think much of customer service. I'm sure you can find a number. The other option is to post your question at the "Large Format Photography Forum" - I know that David Spivach hangs out over there daily.

 

Good Luck

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Hello, Jim. Our website has been transitioning (not voluntarily) to a new web server and the software upgraded... this caused complete chaos regarding e-mails. I apologize for any trouble this has caused you...I'm not sure what the problem could be. Feel free to give me a call tomorrow after 3 p.m. 718.360.4724. I will personally find out what has happened with your subscription.
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Jim,

I've also experienced significant delays in receiving my subscription issues, particularly upon first placing the web order. I've also sent emails in the past without response. I did succeed in contacting the editor by phone back in January where he explained that they could not respond by email correspondence. While I was able to appreciate that at the time, I've never been able to appreciate why it's typically several weeks after I see the latest issue on the newsstand before my copy arrives in my mailbox. Once, out of fear of missing an issue, I purchased a newsstand copy just to have my own arrive a day or so afterwards - a waste of money for me! I've grown accustomed to this behavior although I've always believed that it was "standard practice" for publishers to ensure that the latest issues of their publication(s) reach their subscription base before the newsstand. As I type this response, I've not yet received my copy of Issue 14(?) which I've been seeing on the newsstand for at least a month already! (What's going on David?)

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

hi Jim,

 

I did the same in April '07, but did not received any issue until now at all, and yes also my Credit Card was fully charged for the subscrition. Yesterday, after several attempts, I was able to get this Mr. David on the phone, he was yelling and shouting at me that I was an idiot (!) that I dared to call him on the telephone; and hung up..

Focus is a nice magazine to me and I still want a 3 year subscrition, but we probably have to stay far away from this 'David', he may need a good psycho..

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Huibert, are you the one that refused to accept any of the answers I gave you -- and kept calling and calling and calling and calling?Yeah, after a while that gets frustrating and annoying. Yeah, I'll yell at people who keep calling about 10x in a row. You need to accept the answer the magazine gives you and let us return to work. You know, folks, I run a magazine. I don't have customer service, ok? I'm customer service. I'm the publisher, do most of the sales, do all of the layout and design, run the magazine, do EVERYTHING for the magazine except editorial work. The December issue, as has been posted numerous times, had sporadic distribution amongst subscribers and thus was considered a NEWSSTAND ONLY edition. Every other issue, no matter what people paid for, they've received without fail. So, everyone's subscription, even those that received the December issue, was extended by one issue. You might think that because I have a nice magazine, I'm as big as Time or Newsweek or something like that where we have dozens of people waiting to help every one of you. The fact of the matter is -- I don't. I have spent every dime I have on making this magazine the BEST magazine possible out there. And you know what? It's worked. So, we missed ONE issue for subscribers. All subscription copies of the February issue are being mailed this week and I know for a fact that everyone is on it. So, I guess you need to sit back and decide "Hmmm... they missed one issue on my subscription, but my subscription's been extended by one issue. Maybe I'll sit back and wait for my next issue to come." or "Screw them, I missed one issue and who cares how big the magazine is, I should've received my subscription!" or whatever else you want to think to yourselves. I work at least 18 hours a day on this magazine -- I am obsessed with providing the highest quality content, reproduction and everything that this magazine can exhibit. So when people keep calling and calling and calling over and over -- yeah I yell at them. You would too. Don, I promised you a subscription copy weeks ago. I thought I sent it to you weeks ago and worked for over an hour to try to find your tracking number. When alas, there I had the envelope with your magazines sitting in a different room with your address on it. In the end, I guess I forgot about it -- I'm human. I apologize for forgetting about it. I tried to send it out Monday, but UPS was closed. It was sent out yesterday. I spent $60 on that. I promised I'd send you magazines -- I didn't promise I would send you magazines via UPS. I could have gone to the post office and probably spent 1/4 of that or even 1/8 of that. You would've gotten the magazines probably in 2-3 weeks from now -- but you would've gotten them as I promised. Instead, I made sure you got them as quickly as possible. Every subscription copy that was missed, even though it wasn't a subscription issue, I've sent either FedEx or UPS. Not mail like every other magazine will do. That's how much A: My word is my bond and B: I am dedicated to my customers who have financially supported this magazine. I work my ass off, once again, to make this the highest quality magazine on newsstands. And as soon as all of you get copies of the February issue -- you'll see that for yourselves.
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David,

Sounds like you come up with a lot of cheap excuses and many many wasted words.

Our subscription was payed for on April 12th, 2007 ! (for your information that is eight (8) months ago).

You took the money but we have not received any Focus Magazine at all, you did not give any answer you just yelled at me that I was an idiot..and hung up the phone; does not sound as too customer friendly behavior and leaves not that big an impresion that something usefull from your side will happen soon..

We will wait for another few days to see if any magazine shows up, if not MasterCard will start a procedure and will offcially report this as fraude to an international organisation who has authority over credit cards acceptances and pay-pal.

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Cheap excuses. I love the internet. Everybody's so tough over the internet...

 

Uh, you called me on a Saturday evening, I believe and when I told you to call a different day (I had company over) you didn't accept that and kept calling and calling and calling. Over 10 times. You're right -- I will yell at you for that.

 

I've never received ONE e-mail from you. Just several phone calls on a weekend evening when I was expecting a call from someone else who was hours late.

 

Huibert, you can call whomever you want to. We sent you two different issues. If you haven't received them, perhaps you gave PayPal the wrong PO Box. Now if you act like a civilized human being and send me a quick e-mail with your physical, not PO BOX, address, I'd be more than happy to send you out two copies. But you won't receive them this week... you'll receive them in however long the post office takes to go to the Netherlands.

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David, You just showed another example of your attitude problem; I called you on Tuesday 15th January around 3pm. This is not ?weekend? and not ?evening?. Six (6) e-mails were sent to your well published e-mail address. You are very busy? You seem to hang out quite well on various internet forums. For your information: NL is not a part of America, and we feel sorry for you that it might be quite a shock for you to realize that there is such a big world outside Brooklyn. Your short-sightedness is clear and embarrassing. We never had any problem with B&W, never had any problem with LensWork. We paid the full subscription fee for Focus so we are entitled to more than just the two issues. From April 2007, I count eight (8) months and you publish all your back issues on your website; so it is obvious what we expect to receive from you. When you simply do not send them out, fraud will be reported soon.
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ONCE AGAIN -- You are on the list. You have been sent magazines to your PO BOX in the Netherlands. Twice. Since your subscription, we've published four issues. The first and second issues have been sent to you. The third was not. The fourth will be this week. There is obviously an error in your address which is why you haven't been receiving magazines. SO ONCE AGAIN -- give me your PHYSICAL address and I will send you TWO magazines -- for the issues you missed. May and August. February is going out to you and all other subscribers this week.
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Ok, I'm done here. I offered to send out magazines to your address. You've refused to e-mail me your address. How is it possible that everyone else in Europe received their May and August issues and you didn't? This is a subscriber who refuses to provide me with a correct address. Case closed. I'm done giving you my time.
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  • 4 weeks later...

I've had similar problems getting my issues

of Focus Magazine. Currently, I'm trying to get

the Feb. 2008 issue since I've seen it in the bookstores

for the past few weeks. I've emailed the magazine

without any response from them. My next step will

be to cancel my subscription and ask for a refund,

which, given the track record with this magazine,

I might not get. I've had no problems with other

photography magazines, including one from England.

I recommend others to stay away from subscribing,

buy it on the newstand if you really want it.

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Hi All - I've been trying with no luck to contact Focus Magazine for the last few weeks and simply out of desperation Googled 'Focus Magazine' and subscription problems and found all these threads with people detailing their problems with the magazine.

 

I wish I'd known all these problems BEFORE I wrote them a check for $55, but it never occurred to me that such a esthetically good magazine would turn out to have such unprincipled and/or disorganized management.

 

So I sent my check off on the 10th of December, they cashed it later that month and as of today, February 25th I've not received an issue, or a simple confirmation that the subscription's been received. I've called and left messages and twice in the last week have sent them emails to the 'subscriptions@focusmag.info' address with no response. The phone number's just a recording drop apparently.

 

The Better business Bureau of NY currently has the following on Focus:

 

"Business Contact Information

Name: FOCUS MAGAZINE

Address: 77 berry st.

Brooklyn , NY 11211

 

"This business recently came to our attention. We are attempting to gather information on the business. Please check back in four to six weeks."

 

Report as of: 2/25/2008"

 

What's the next step? Are they Dishonest or Disorganized? - Does Focus' reputation extend to cashing the checks and not ever sending actual issues of the magazine, or will they eventually get around to sending the issues when it suits them and damn the customers?

 

It's a little crazy though - in this day and time companies try so hard to get the product right and fail often - Focus Mag got the hard stuff right - they created a great magazine, and the simple stuff, the answer the phone, return the emails, simply 'communicate with the customer' part - the easiest part - they failed miserably at. What a waste.

 

I wish I'd gotten the 'Black and White' subscription now.

 

Tom Hebert

Atlanta, Ga

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First of all, it seems as though this is a system-wide failure of infrastructure. #1 - My internet connection via Time Warner Cable Business Class has been intermittent in the past 3 weeks. If I have 1 day with full internet, I'm lucky. I've basically had every single wire and piece of equipment that's possible replaced and still nothing. Unfortunately, I work out of a pre-war building... no, I don't mean pre World War 2, I think this building is pre-Revolutionary War. So, in order to give me a permanent fix, they have to tear up walls or something. #2 -- Even when I do have a connection to the internet, I download all of the e-mails. As I mentioned to Thomas today, I've never received an e-mail from him before today. #3 -- Subscriptions were sent out 3 weeks ago via presorted bound and printed matter. I still haven't gotten my copy and I live 2-3 hours away.... it's not like we're mailing these out of Bangladesh or something. And I have received a few querries as of late regarding this...

 

The overall problem is that this is the 3rd issue we've done with a printer who just doesn't handle magazines and we were very lucky to get involved with him... but it's been a difficult transition to this. We're both using a software that we don't fully understand, and the customer support team has been horrible in helping us. Mailhouses cost twice as much money as it is to mail the magazines out and just aren't an option.

 

So I ask, I beg for everyone's patience while I get to the bottom of this. The February 2008 was indeed a subscription issue and I did pay for this to be mailed out. Imagine your levels of frustration and multiply that by nearly 4000. That's my level right now upon discovering this week that something has gone awry with this. I assure you, whatever the problem is, it will be fixed and never ever again repeated. The April 08 issue just finished printing and is binding right now... it will be mailed out within 3 weeks to subscribers. Anyone who subscribed after January receives this issue as their first issue. For you, Thomas, as I said to you in E-Mail, your first issue is the Ferbaury 2008 issue.

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I appreciate Mr. Spivak's comments on 2/26/08. I've subscribed to Focus for 3 years starting on 2/07 and had difficulty getting Issue 14 (I sent several emails and a letter; the issue was finally mailed by hand to me). I've sent several emails to Mr. Spivak about not receiving Issue 15 and received no response. I would like him to tell me how I can get this issue. Do I need to write a letter to him rather than an email? Will I need to do that for Issue 16? Also, I would like to know if he will refund subscription money if I choose that route--it will be much easier for me to stop at a bookstore and buy the magazine. I would appreciate Mr. Spivak's response since he hasn't responded to me by email. Thanks.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I have finally found out what the bottom line was as far as the problems with the subscription copies of the February 2008 issue of FOCUS. As most of you will recall, in June of 2007 we switched printers to a more high-end printer. Unfortunately, this printer did not have any experience in subscription fulfillment and FOCUS was placed in the hands of a mailhouse for our August 2007 issue. The price to do this was even better than the price we paid previously to do this.

 

When our December 2007 issue was printed, the mailhouse quoted me, for what was a few hundred additional subscribers, 3x as much as they quoted me previously. It turns out there was some kind of error made in their previous quote to me and decided not to tell me about it. Why this is, I still don't know. The cost was completely insane and we could not afford it. This left me without a way to distribute my December 2007 issue to subscribers in a cost effective manner, which turned the December 2007 issue into a newsstand only issue. I researched different mailhouses and each of them gave me similar quotes... my printer, out of genoricity, offered me an opportunity to mail copies of FOCUS out of his location and he would take staff off of projects they were working on to do this for me. I bought very expensive software to help me presort my list and I bought a permit and paid for an application fee with the post office. My printer's staff pollybagged, labeled and took care of everything that needed to be done on their end and, I thought, everything was good to go 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately, the post office left out one small, completely insane detail for mailing out the copies of FOCUS to everyone. They never contacted my printer, nor me regarding this and the magazines have been ready to send out for weeks now.

 

So, I finally found this out today, took care of it and now I am promised that the magazines will be sent out on Monday to all subscribers. It is, of course, very late and I as angry as I am and as much as I wish I knew I could've done something to control this, in the end this is my fault. Many subscribers have been extremely patient and understanding with me, while others, understandably have been very upset.

 

So, what I'm going to do is add on an additional 6 issues to everyone's subscription starting with the April 2008 issue. If anyone's subscription ended in August 2007, it will now end in April 2009. Subscribers are the life blood of any magazine, and when a magazine cannot fulfill orders that subscribers have paid for, it becomes quite embarrassing. We never handled subscriptions with our old printer... they took care of all the paperwork and all I did was send my list and a check. Now I've fixed the problem and it will not EVER happen again. Our next issue, the April 2008 issue, should finish at the bindery by the 7th. I anticipate all copies being mailed out by the 14th. There should not be anything that will interfere with this since I've already taken care of all of the paperwork. I apologize to all subscribers about this and assure you that you are receiving one of the finest qualitiy magazines and that you will not be dissappointed again.

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