Background:
I subscribed to CGW back in early May of 2007 upon the demise of Computer Games Magazine. Then they changed CGW to Games for Windows, no biggie. Then back last spring they cease print publication of that and promise subscribers a substitute mag. It takes them nearly 5 months to get my first issue of PC Magazine to me. A couple of months after that, oops, they cease print publication of PC Mag, and tell me I can access future issues digitally. I politely tell them to cancel my subscription and send me a refund: I didn’t pay for a digitally delivered magazine, dammit.
Get the brass balls on these people: they have the fucking audacity to come back with an email asking me for my credit card statement from nearly TWO YEARS AGO and to fax it to them so they can issue me a refund for unsent issues. WTF!? Whatever happened to just prorating the cost of a subscription and cutting me a damn check for 10 bucks or whatever. It’s not the money, it’s the principle. I paid them for a product and they didn’t deliver on their commitment. I wrote them back telling them they could go to hell, and I’m avoiding any ZD products in the future.
It’s hard to imagine how the company will survive in a glutted marketplace with a gutted brand portfolio. Cutting overhead is great and all, but they’re still saddled with mounds of corporate debt, and they’re putting all their chips on PCMag.com and Extremetech.com?
Update: well, I guess my ranting email to them (essentially stating the above, sans profanity, and saying good riddance) convinced them of the error of their ways–they’re sending me a refund for unsent issues after all-- I should see it in “4-6 weeks” but I’m not going to hold my breath.
As I wrote, it was the principle of the thing, and the fact that they ceased print publication of not just the magazine I’d subscribed to, but the one that they signed me up for by way of compensation (and which took them nearly 5 months to switch me over to). I didn’t appreciate being jerked around like that. If no one speaks up, who’s going to keep them honest?
I have had this happen at least 4 times over the last 10 years. About the only way I have found to deal with it without it becoming the ridiculous time sink they are trying to foist on you is to never subscribe for greater than a 1 year term. It still stinks too loose the money, but at least you minimize the loss.
The only magazine that treated me well when they went defunct was Computer Games when they gave me credits to CGW. I know CGW did what they could, but ZD…yeah…
I’d email their customer service address (or even better, a 1-8xx number) and ask for a refund of unsent issues. It’s bullshit if they think they can just unilaterally fail to fulfill an obligation like that. Unless they’ve formally declared bankruptcy they’re supposed to be on the hook for all of those subscriptions.
These are the choices for former PC Magazine subscribers: Blender, Computer Shopper, Discover, Home Theater, Maximum PC, Motor Trend, Maxim, Popular Mechanics, Shutterbug, Smart Money and Stereophile.
