Focus magazine subscription

[matt_thompson1]

A new Focus magazine is on the newstands....and still, no magazine in my mailbox since February. I have contacted the Better Business Bureau in NY in an attempt to get our money back since Mr. Spivak has completely ignored our previous phone calls and e-mails. Do you enjoy screwing people out of money? Either give us our money back, cooperate with the Better Business Bureau (and give us our money back!) or send us your &^@&^@^! magazine! Anything less is THEFT pure and simple. We payed for a product you are still not delivering. It doesn't matter how great the quality of your magazine is if we never get it.

[david_spivak2]

Hi Matt.

 

Please read the posts here that I've made before you make stupid accusations. The April 2008 issue was sent out 8/2 and the August 2008 issue was sent 8/8 to all subscribers. If you live on the west coast, this just takes a while. It took a week and a half for a copy to reach Western NY state from Queens, NY - obviously the further West you live, the longer it will take.

 

What I find interesting is that I don't have a "Matt Thompson" or even a Matthew Thompson on my subscribtion list, nor did I back in February or August of last year. After a bit of research I found that your wife did not subscribe under your last name, which caused confusion. Anyway, you're subscriber number 2563. I have no idea how long it takes a magazine to reach Fargo, ND but you are on the list and you've been sent the April and the August magazines. The 2008 Collector's Edition was mailed 3/6/08 from Exton, PA. According to your e-mail, you received it on 3/18/08. This post office was in a different zone, so I'd assume you should get your April 2008 issue this week - with the August issue arriving next week.

 

And I haven't ignored your previous e-mails. I responded to one on March 18, at 1:28 AM, which was 30 minutes after you e-mailed me. That was the last e-mail I received from you.

[dmarks]

David,that's right.Expect nothing less than the truth from me.You keep saying I get these mags but nothing shows up in my mail.How are you so sure I received the April issue?You keep blowing smoke out of your ass David.

Seems you want to keep slamming me for your screw-ups.Maybe you should blame yourself sometimes.

[matt_thompson1]

Do you make a habbit of insulting your subscribers? I tried to be patient and polite for many months, and you have been short and rude, or not replied at all. My wife and I both tried e-mailing you in late May/early June when I requested your e-mail address from other people in this blog (see May 30). You never replied to those e-mails, and clearly, if you were reading the blog, you knew I was trying to reach you, and yet you never directly addressed me. If it pains you so much to have such stupid subscribers, why not just give my wife/me a refund and be done with our stupidity? Yes, I was in error that it was my name on the subscription, and I hadn't realized that my wife's maiden name was on the subscription, but you made no attempt to "research" the situation for nearly 6 months. I LOVED your magazine up until this debacle, and you made no effort to contact your subscribers to let them know that there were obscene delays in when they would get their magazine. Now I get angry every time I see it on the newsstand. If our magazines really are in the mail, fine, I won't post another message on this blog, and you'll never hear another word from me. I've grown tired of dealing with you and trading barbs on this stupid blog. We just want our magazines or our money back, not excuses. If I have not received magazines by the end of August, will you promise to give us a refund? Despite what you might think about Fargo, N.D. we do have running water, electricity, and a real live post office system. You are not mailing the magazine to the little house on the prairie.

[pawel1]

David indicated that the April 08 issue was sent on 8/2 and the August issue on 8/8. He expects it take a bit longer to get to the west coast..... I live in the midwest and have yet to receive an issue. I have never worked in the publishing or magazine business, but my sense is that prepaid subscriptions would be the life-blood of any magazine. You can't afford to get this wrong. My sense is that David realizes this by now, but I am not sure that his solution is working yet. Please fix it.

[david_spivak2]

Don, yes I am sure you received a copy of the April 2008 issue unless you either A: Sent it back or B: moved.

 

Matthew: Absolutely no offense intended about Fargo, ND. All I said was "I have no idea how long it takes" and provided a past reference as to how long it took then.

 

I know Brooks Jensen has, in recent months, given many photography forum members a lesson in magazine distribution. Now let me give you all a lesson in magazine subscription mailing.

 

For the printing of the magazines, I am charged about $3.25 a copy, give or take .10 or so every issue. Then I am charged $1 per copy for all subscription mailing then I am charged the postage, which is around $1.50 a copy. For 6 issues a year, that's $34.50. The standard equation for subscription mailing on high quality art magazines is take the cost x 2. In order for me to cover all of my expenses AND make a profit, I would have to charge $69 for a one-year subscription.

 

I currently charge, via the subscription card in the magazine, $39.95 for one year $59.95 for two years and you get the third year free. I'm barely making any money on the one year and I'm losing money on the two years. So much so that I had to increase the costs if people subscribed online because the fees PayPal take out of the money I receive.

 

In order to make barely any kind of a profit whatsoever (83 cents profit per copy for a one year subscription) on the one year and to lessen the loss on two years, I have to spend the absolute least amount of money in postage possible. If my magazine weighed under 14 ounces, I could send the magazine first class. How much would that cost per issue? $2.46 per copy, which is almost a dollar more than I pay right now. Unfortunately, or fortunately, my magazine does not weight 13 oz. It weighs at least 18 oz. if not more. If I'm lucky enough to have an issue that weighs 15 oz or less, I can mail it "Standard Mail" and that would cost around $1 per copy. However, I haven't had a copy that's weighed less than 15 oz in a long time. So, then I'm left with bound and printed matter, which is what I used to mail out the April 2008 issue. I don't have a choice now - the issue is one pound 8 oz. and that is the absolute least expensive option I have to mail it. way I can mail it, without qualifying for Periodicals Class.

 

Using this new company, they applied for the Periodicals Class postage for Focus Magazine. It takes about 6 months to get approved and the amount of paperwork you have to fill out to apply for it would make doing your taxes look easy. If I'm approved for Periodicals Class, it would knock down my postage per issue to .60 cents per copy. But in order to meet that, there's a number of hoops I have to jump through. Hopefully, I'll qualify for it and I can begin to make a little bit of profit on my one-year subscriptions. This, of course, is all domestic. International is a whole nuther breed of monster.

 

Periodicals Class is something almost ALL magazinees use to do their mailing. It's inexpensive, but it takes a long time. I did not have this solution done until after the August 2008 issue was already on newsstands.

 

The October 2008 issue will be mailed out weeks before it's distributed on newsstands. So, hopefully, by the time you get a copy, it should be just rolling out on newsstands.

 

Hey, it took a week and a half for the April issue to reach me and I'm in New York City! It'll take longer for it to reach Los Angeles than it will Fargo, ND... I don't control any of this - this is the time the post office takes to distribute these magazines. If I could get overnight express for .60 cents an issue, I'd do it in a heart beat.

 

This solution IS working because people ARE getting magazines. This is the solution. The only other thing I can offer is an extra $5 per copy ($30 a year) if they want their copies priority mailed to them.

[dmarks]

David,you don't know what you're talking about.A: I didn't send it back and B: I'm positive I didn't move.What's C in your book.You're wrong on A and B.You're definately wrong on me receiving the mag.Thats 3 strikes against you in your last post.

[greg_hicks]

I live in Fort Lauderdale and have yet to receive anything more than one issue (which I got two copies of, one in December and then later again in the beginning of the year). And this is after buying TWO subscriptions. The first was never acknowledged, and after repeated attempts with email and phone, I decided to subscribe again. That was before I found this forum. I've more or less given up any hope of ever receiving another magazine. It has been mildly amusing to watch all the back and forth here. People complain to David, and he either responds in an abusive manner, or comes up with yet another excuse why he should be relieved of any responsibility to actually deliver a magazine to his subscribers on time, or at all.

 

I did receive one issue, so I assume that he has the records of my subscription. However, since I can never get any response to any inquiries, I can't be sure. I must be one of those people that help keep the subscription prices so low. I figure I've paid about $85 for one magazine, so he certainly made some money off me.

 

Greg Hicks

[dwight_magee]

Well one year has passed and still not one copy of the eight issues of Focus Magazine published since then –

despite all of the promises made by Mr. Spivak. All I have to show is wasted effort sending email which is

unanswered and phone calls where I have been fed another line of BS by Mr. Spivak. My friend even said that he would

have his lawyer contact me over the disparaging comments made by myself in this forum. Even that was BS

because his lawyer never even phoned me to invite me to a lunch date.

 

Well Mr. Spivak in 45 days here is what I am going to do; that is unless you clean up your act and carry through on

the promises made to the subscribers in this forum and presumably countless others who haven’t found this forum

yet. Either start refunding our money or send us the magazines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also filed a complaint with paypal over your practice of using them to collect and remit money to

you under fraudulent terms

 

The ball is in your court my friend.

 

Dwight

[david_spivak2]

You gotta love the internet.

 

You don't send out magazines, you get bitched at.

 

You do send out magazines, you get bitched at.

 

Dwight, do you have a lawyer? I suggest you get one.

[david_spivak2]

Let me further this conversation. If you're here to attack me, to try and spread false rumors about me or my company, you open yourself to liability and I can and will vigorously defend my name and my company. The internet is a cesspool of vermin who like to do nothing but attack people for no reason. Largeformatphotographyforum has them and photo.net has them.

 

For the facts - everyone was sent out copies of their issues dependent upon when they subscribed. Dwight, your name was on both domestic lists for some reason and not on the foreign list. I'm going to find out if somehow they were confused about this and if they were, I will re-send you both copies via ups global priority mail. that takes 6-10 days to arrive. if you spread false information on this or any other forum, you will be like the other internet vermin who have tried and failed to hurt me. i take this VERY personally.

 

Interestingly enough, after Michael Gordon received a phone call from my lawyer, he shut up.

[mike dixon]

I don't think the bitching is about you sending out magazines. It appears to be about people not receiving their magazines.

[mike dixon]

<i>if you spread false information on this or any other forum, </i><P>

This is a key point in cases of libel. Unless the claims that magazines have not been received are false, there's nothing libelous (in the US) about those claims.

[david_spivak2]

Don Marks' claim is FALSE. I contacted my distributor, the one who handles my subscriptions, about his subscription today. They told me his name was on BOTH lists and he was sent BOTH issues. The first one was sent Global Priority Flat Rate, the second one was sent international media class. The first one takes 6-10 days to arrive. It's past 10 days. I've gotten several e-mails from other people, some in Canada, some in other countries, who have confirmed the receipt of their copies. How is it possible that someone on here who bitches 24/7 about my publication, whose magazine was sent to him, has not been received? It's not. He received the magazines and is lying about it. I already had a conversation with his post office in his postal code who recall the package being delivered last week. He's lying.

[mike dixon]

Considering the number of times in the past that I haven't received magazines, have received them a month late, and have received them torn and tattered, I think you'll have a difficult time proving that someone who says they didn't get a magazine in the mail is, in fact, lying. In any case, your implied threat was directed at Dwight Magee, not Don Marks.

[david_spivak2]

Unless you have a different address then what's on your website, you're not on my list, Mike.

 

The problem is then, Mike, anyone can lie and say they haven't gotten copies of the magazine when in fact, they have.

[mike dixon]

I didn't mean to imply that I wasn't receiving magazines from a Focus magazine subscription (I'm not a subscriber). I was merely pointing out that sending a magazine is not equivalent to proof that the magazine has been received. If you're threatening to sue your customers for libel, you'll need to provide evidence that will stand up in court that they are lying. Your company's history of many customers, over a broad area and over a long time, not receiving their magazines will lend credibility to additional claims that magazines haven't been received. If you want to win a libel suit, the burden will be on you to prove that the complaining customer did, in fact, receive the magazines. Unless you're sending magazines through registered mail, that's going to be very difficult to prove.

 

Before telling customers that they should get a lawyer, perhaps you should have a discussion with your own.

[bobatkins]

"The problem is then,..., anyone can lie and say they haven't gotten copies of the magazine when in fact, they have."

 

But why should they? Are they just trying to scam a (free) second copy out of you?

[dwight_magee]

Well my friend as I said the ball is in your court and you can bring on your lawyer. I look forward to the conversation (as if it would happen anyway) because I will explain to him or her the following true statements:

 

1) You are in breach of contract. Fact - I responded to your offer of a pay for two get three year subscription. Earlier in this forum this is the first time you even admitted that my name was on you subscription list.

 

2) I have not received a single copy of your magazine despite emails and four phone calls to your magazine – the second time I phoned I ended up talking to you and you completely refuted what I was told previously by one of your employees. You even went so far as to suggest that I was lying. I never received a call back from anyone at your magazine despite phoning two more times to attempt to rectify this situation.

 

3) Pay attention David because this is where you can save the lawyers fees and start using that money to refund myself and others in this forum My claim is based on truth. What is your claim based on? I would suggest that reading the complaints of other members of this forum my claim is not alone and I suggest that there are other subscribers whom you have wronged, many who have probably not bothered to search the web to try and learn about the practices of your magazine.

 

4) Money has been paid to you via paypal by myself and others. You have never honored that commitment and that is fraud pure and simple. Unfortunately you have used paypal as your collection mechanizm and presumably they have unwittingly become involved in your subscription scheme. On the face of it; by using paypal it appears that you have no intention of honoring payments collected through them on your behalf.

 

5) On the website (focusmagazine.biz in 45 days it will simply state “ Before you consider buying a subscription to Focus Magazine please read what other subscribers have to say in these forums”. It will then link to this site and others mentioned. There will be no disparaging remarks made against you or your magazines on this webpage. The viewers can link to these forum sites and then make an informed decision whether to trust you with their money or not. There is nothing libelous about this. Libel is the spreading of untruthful information of the making of false claims – nothing I have said is false.

 

So my friend bring on your lawyer or if you wish, this can go away – simply refund the money paid by myself and the other good people on this forum who entrusted you with their money. Given the poor track record of broken promises I don’t think there is a person here who has the stomach to trust you to deliver on your commitment of delivering future issues anymore. I suggest a year from now it would only be some other excuse and then we start all over again.

 

Forty five days is plenty of time to accomplish this.

 

Dwight

[michael_dingley]

As an Australian subscriber who has had no magazines since subscribing in late 2007 I have just received my first copy (April 2008). Thank you and I hope this is the new beginning!

Mike Dingley

[dmarks]

David,I repeat.I didn't get a magazine from you.I stand by that.NOTHING was delivered to me from you.NOTHING.I have subscriptions to many magazines from both the US and the UK.You don't see me saying anything about them do you?You on the other hand keep making claims that you are sending issues to your subscribers but they don't get anything from you.

 

Dwight,Robert Farnum and myself are from Canada.We can't get an issue from you at all.You keep blaming everybody but yourself for this.Robert,as of yesterday,didn't get anything from you.Dwight haven't received anything from you,and you keep telling me I received something from you but it's not true.Robert lives in Ontario,just next to you.Dwight and i live on the opposite ends of the country.If anyone should've received one it would be Robert but nadda.I guess we're all receiving them and lying about it.

[dmarks]

"I already had a conversation with his post office in his postal code who recall the package being delivered last week. He's lying."

 

David,I'd also like to talk to them about this matter.Can you give me the number to the postal office you called?I'd like to get this straightened out asap.If I did get one,I'd like to know where it went.So,again,please give me the number.

[robertfarnham]

David, will you check your subscription list to see if I'm on it? I understand that mags get lost/stolen on occasion,

and I understand that you've had distribution issues that you feel have been rectified. Sh@t happens. I'm a poster

boy

for Sh@t happens. Right now, as a first step, I just want to know if I'm on the list. Thanks.

[david_spivak2]

Robert, you live in Ontario, Canada and have a postal code of N2J 3P6. Is this correct? Are you telling me that you haven't received a copy, either? You're the 4th person from Canada to say so.... hmmm

[robertfarnham]

That's me, though my address just changed last week. Maybe the border guards are rabid lovers of fine art photography...but that's an entirely separate issue. I've heard of other magazines that have issues with cross border shipping - so much so that they have hired Canadian distributors. Can't recall which mags, but it was a while ago. <br>

Thanks for checking. I'll keep my eyes open for April.