N.A. Subscriptions in Disarray

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N.A. Subscriptions in Disarray

This topic has 38 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 26 February 2010 at 03:23 by Robert Thomas 3.

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6 January 2010 at 01:14 #37411
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
Non-delivery of Subscribers’ M.E.
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6 January 2010 at 01:14 #47070
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
The situation regarding late delivery of the Model Enginert is out of control.

No. 4362 (23 October) was received in Eastern Pennsylvania on 26 December. Number 4365 is now on local newsstands, but even the previous issue has not been delivered to me, a subscriber of over forty years.

Tracing the newly-appointed North American delivery service (not listed on the M.E. masthead) finally revealed a telephone number in Montreal. I was assured by a representative there that, “The magazines are in the mail”. None less than The Editor himself has posted a similar, so-called assurance on this forum that, “The magazines are in the post.” How can we believe that?

A comparison of several 1938 M.E. cover dates to dates actually recieved by a subscriber near me shows a transit interval no longer than three weeks, and that is when it was sent across the Atlantic Ocean on a STEAM SHIP!

We are fed up with your aloof, inept corporate management. When will it stop?

Robert G. Thomas
6 January 2010 at 03:55 #47071
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
Correction to my previous post: The 23 October issue is No.4363, not 4362 as stated.

That change does not affect my view or the realities of the sad state of affairs with North American delivery of M.E. (and my Model Boats subscription, I might add). If a new re-mailing agent was contracted by the publisher, it is incumbent upon the publisher to then ensure that the new agent is performing to professional standards. The remailing agent is obviously incapable of that, yet the publisher does nothing — not even a letter of explanation (or apology!) after three months of frustration among readers who were here decades before the new corporate whiz kids took over.

Robert Thomas
6 January 2010 at 15:23 #47093
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi There

I have asked and have been told they are in the post.

What more can I do?

regards david
6 January 2010 at 15:49 #47095
Circlip
Participant
@circlip
Robert, I was a subscriber to both M/E and MEW for a large number of years and when the deliveries started going haywire even HERE in the UK a few years ago despite extra copies being “despatched” which didn’t arrive, my only recourse was to NOT subscribe any more.

Frustrating as it may be, although DC1 can only pass on your complaints and give a reply based on what HE is being told, your point of contact with subscription issues HAS to be with the agents/distributors on your side of the pond in the first instance and the Directors on our side of the pond.

In previous employments, when customers have rung firms I have worked at and asked to speak to me personally cos “He gives answers and doesn’t bullsh*t” one can only do as much as the Directors/owners will allow, DESPITE trying to keep all the balls in the air doing ones “Own” job.

Don’t shoot the messenger.

Regards Ian.

NO, I have no connection with the mags, but have been in Daves position in the past.
6 January 2010 at 21:26 #47112
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
David, Thank you for responding to my posts. You produce an incredible amount of highly skilled effort to make Model Engineer the stellar publication it is. I regret those efforts are diverted by a situation completely beyond the scope of your formal responsibility.

Your upper management has put you in an untenable position where you are patient recipient of subscriber complaints, yet you (and the subscribers) are obviously receiving no support whatever from Rebecca Blighton, Subscriptions Director or her subordinate, Heather Morrison, Manager of Subscriptions and Marketing. That situation exists, in part, because your email address and telephone number are conveniently published on the magazine’s masthead while the ones who could and should intervene to control their foreign distribution agents bask sublimely behind corporate annoniminity.

To illustrate how little ExpressMag, the Canadian agent, understands what they are doing, a letter dated 8 December welcomed me as a new subscriber to MODEL ENGINEERS [sic], a misnomer repeated three times in that letter, and overlooking the fact that I have been a subscriber since the mid-‘sixties.

Ian, whose comments I also value, has asserted that I should contact the Canadian agent (again?) to expedite delivery of M.E. and Model Boats. I heartily disagree; my contract is with the firm to which I gave approximately 120 Pounds. It is the responsibility of MyHobbyStore Ltd to ensure the magazines covered by subscription (our contract) are delivered in a prompt, businesslike manner and if they are not, to institute appropriate corrective action. Neither Blighton nor Morrison seem to know what is going on around the world or, if they do, they are ineffectual in changing it I might add, the previous re-mail agent, EWA performed with excellent reliability before they were terminated.

I am in no way “shooting the messenger”. To quote David is cerainly not to assinate him. In fact, I am sorry that forces beyond his control — and apparently anybody’s — to implement the routine process of mailing the results of his efforts has failed for the past three, going on four months. How regretable for him and his N.A. readers.

Robert Thomas
7 January 2010 at 11:21 #47136
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi there
Subscription problem update.

Express Mags have just finished sending out the back log as of this week.
They have been waiting on 3 different couriers who didnt turn up to transfer the magazines from EWA to Express mags and then they have to get a postal permit for each mag to be approved by their postal system before they could send anything out. There is no wonder that there has been a long delay.

All should be ok now and readers should be receiving their back issues imminently.

regards David
7 January 2010 at 13:21 #47139
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
David, Thank you very much for diverting your attention from editing M.E. to following-up delivery and providing us with the current delivery status.

If nothing else, the strong reaction to the delay in receipt is an indication of the high value your readers place upon the Model Engineer!

Robert Thomas
20 January 2010 at 00:30 #47590
FREDERICK Townroe
Participant
@fredericktownroe41151
I have a different problem with my subscription. I ordered from EWA through your web site back in October. At the time the price was $59.00. I still have not received any issues and my requests to EWA have gone un-answered. Thanks to many helpful members of my machinists newsgroups I now understand that the subscription renewal has changed to Express Mags, but I still do not know if I have a subscription or not and if so when I will get my magazines. I subscribed through Express Mags this evening ( hopefully not a mistake ) because I really want to receive the magazine., but what about the monies that I sent to EWA?? Hopefully the moderator can unravel this mess for me.

Fred Townroe

Habana Del Norte (Miami) Florida
20 January 2010 at 03:38 #47592
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
Fred, To provide you with a perspective on delivery of M.E. in the U.S. I can report that No. 4364 (19 November) was finally delivered to Eastern PA on 15 January and 4365 (20 November) on the next day. None since. If you entered a new subscription you might have to count on the tradidional “Six to eight weeks for your subscription to begin.” in this modern computer age, compared to fifty years ago when it took two weeks at most.

I see that arrival of 4369 is presently being discussed among English subscribers. That’s four issues past the most recent one received here. Lucky, lucky English subscribers to not have your M.E. moldering in a New York warehouse! A number of us are so fed with this ongoing circus we are on the verge of reporting MyHobbyStore Ltd and Express Mag to the U.S. Postal Inspector General for investigation of non-fulfillment of subscriptions.

No. 4366’s masthead finally listed the telephone number and email address of the U.S. agent but, curiously, does not mention the name of the firm: Tel. 877-363-1310. email address: expsmag@expressmag.com Although not revealed by MyHobbyStore Ltd in any issues received to date, we have learned the company is Express Mag, P.O. Box 2769 Plattsburgh, NY 12901-0239.

Is your subscription for a six month term? I ask because the price you mentioned is substantially less that the Sterling equiivalent for a British resident’s one-year subscription. One year is approxiately $100 in the U.S.

Fred, I hope your subscription woes are settled soon and you begin to receive The Model Engineer. It is an absorbing, unique, wonderful journal that I’m sure will benefit you. If only delivery were as good as its content!

Bob Thomas

Blue Bell, PA
22 January 2010 at 17:29 #47702
Robert Blackson
Participant
@robertblackson80492
Abuse of USA subscribers continues, and it appears that Express Mag misinformed David Clark when, based on information from Express Mag, he wrote on 7 January, “Express Mags have just finished sending out the back log as of this week.” As of 21 January, M.E. No. 4365, 20 Nov.–3 Dec., is the last issue that I received, and it arrived on 15 January with No. 4364, 6-19 Nov. Meanwhile, No. 4366, 4-17 Dec., appeared on the shelves of the local Barnes & Noble Booksellers on 7 January, the same date that David wrote that the back log was mailed to subscribers and a full week before I received the previous issue No. 4365. I am still waiting for No. 4366. Because Plattsburgh, New York, the mailing location for M.E. in the USA, is approximately 500 miles, virtually the whole distance by Interstate Highway, from Reading, Pennsylvania, I should have received No. 4366, for which I am still waiting, before 21 January if it had been mailed on 7 January as Express Mag claimed. UK subscribers have received No. 4369, and I have yet to receive Nos. 4366, 4367, 4368, and 4369!

After telephoning Express Mag on 23 November to complain about the delayed delivery of M.E. and receiving no satisfaction, I wrote on 2 January to Ms. Blighton, with copies of my letter to Messrs. Harkness, Davies, and Clark as well as Ms. Morrison, to report the delayed delivery of M.E. in my mailbox while issues for which I was waiting appeared on the shelves at Barnes & Noble. In that context, No. 4364 appeared at Barnes & Noble on 17 December, but I did not receive No. 4363 until 24 December, and No. 4364 did not appear in my mailbox until 15 January, virtually a month after it appeared at Barnes & Noble on 17 December. I have yet to receive a reply to my letter of 2 January. Why is it that subscribers do not receive issues until at least two weeks after they appear for sale to the public? This treatment of subscribers is absolutely outrageous. I paid for all the missing back log of issues in advance when I subscribed. Periodicals, such as magazines, are time sensitive, and I have not been receiving my issues in a timely manner. I agree with Mr. Robert Thomas that it is time to consult the postal authorities.

When my subscription expires, I shall consider purchasing M.E. at Barnes & Noble where I can peruse the magazine and pass on issues of marginal interest.

Robert M. Blackson, Reading, Pennsylvania, USA
25 January 2010 at 11:34 #47815
Joseph Ramon
Participant
@josephramon28170
I have to express sympathy for Dave Clark, whilst understanding the frustration felt by US subscribers.

When the subscriptions changed from Wise Owl, it seems a poor choice of distributor was made, and attempts to remedy that situation are running into the sand.

I have dealt with mailing houses, and know just how much is gained from a trusting relationship with the manager of the mailing house. Now ME just hasn’t got the staff, budget or time to pop across and meet with its US mailing house.

Perhaps the ultimate solution would be if Magicalia could stretch to appointing someone external to the mailing houses to be their US Agent on behalf of all their publications (I know others have been affected). Perhaps 2 or 3 days work to straighten the current mess out, then an hour or two a month keeping in contact by phone and a half day visit every few months. It might seem a poison chalice to pick up right now, but it could be rewarding if they were sufficiently interested in the magazine.

Surely someone who lives within 30 miles of the mailing house and occasionally visits the UK on other business wouldn’t be that hard to find?
25 January 2010 at 16:12 #47836
Heather Morrison 4
Participant
@heathermorrison4
Dear Mr Blackson,

I received your letter on Friday the 22^nd of January; I immediately replied and sent your missing issues in the post so I’m sure you will be receiving them in a few days. I apologise for the delays in receiving your issues of the magazines. Unfortunately when we changed subscription bureau to Express Mags this created a back log for them to send out our magazine which were previously scheduled to be sent from EWA before they went into administration. The following magazine Issues were distributed from Express Mags on these dates and should take another 5-7 working days when entering the North American postal system.

MODEL ENGINEERS WORKSHOP

Issue 157    08/12/2009

Issue 158    04/01/2010

Issue 159    08/01/2010

MODEL ENGINEERS

Issue 4363 08/12/2009

Issue 4364 17/12/2009

Issue 4365 30/12/2009

Issue 4366 05/01/2010

Issue 4367 08/01/2010

Issue 4368 14/01/2010

Issue 4369 19/01/2010

Please be sure to let me know if you have any further problems after receiving these issues.

Kind regards

Heather Morrison
25 January 2010 at 19:05 #47841
Michael Gray
Participant
@michaelgray16785
Efforts are being made you know. ME4364 and 4365 arrived in British Columbia well after New Year. Then finally 4366 arrived in an ExpressMag package from Quebec.

As advised by David it was at this point I emailed that the only issue missing was ME4363.

I had an email straight back from Heather Morrison telling me she’d put the missing issue in the mail and that I should receive it shortly.

It arrived on the following Friday, 22nd January 2010, together with 4367 from ExpressMags!

Considering that thte mags have to be shipped to New York, forwarded to Quebec then put into the tender care of Canada Post, I don’t feel too badly done by at all.

regards, Mike in NorthCentral British Columbia.
25 January 2010 at 20:03 #47844
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi There

The posting above solves the problem why we changed subscription houses.

EWA called in the administrators.

Wish someone had told me earlier.

regards David
25 January 2010 at 20:48 #47849
Robert Blackson
Participant
@robertblackson80492
MyHobbyStore delivers to lace w:st=”on”>USAlace>, and kudos to Ms. Heather Morrison. I received in the mail this afternoon, 25 January, a packet direct from the lace w:st=”on”>U.K.lace> containing M.E. Nos. 4367, 4368, and 4369 as well as a very kind and gracious note from Ms. Heather Morrison who personally gathered the magazines and addressed them to me. As her note indicated, I also received in the post today M.E. No. 4366 from Express Mag via lace w:st=”on”>Plattsburgh, tate w:st=”on”>N.Y.tate>lace> I am most grateful for this service and thank you, Ms. Morrison.>>

>>

Because on 22 January I mailed a copy of my post of 22 January to Ms. Blighton and the other four individuals named in my post of 22 January, I am mailing to all of them a copy of this post acknowledging and applauding Ms. Morrison’s efforts on my behalf. I look forward, starting this evening, to enjoying the contents of these issues of M.E.>>

Robert M. Blackson, lace w:st=”on”>Reading, tate w:st=”on”>Pennsylvaniatate>, USAlace>.>>

> >
25 January 2010 at 22:24 #47852
nodaker
Participant
@nodaker
David and Heather,

As of today, January 25th, I am still in arrears magazine numbers as follows:

Model Engineer all numbers beyond issue 4363 and Model Engineer Workshop all numbers beyond issue 157.

Please forward to me Heather’s email or postal address so I may process a formal request for delivery of back numbers to my subscriptions.

I must concur with Mr. Blackson’s comments regarding Express Mags apparently misleading David as my mailing address is also a USA address.

I also recently subscribed to RCM&E and have received 2 issues of that magazine which have been delivered from Express Mag’s USA branch.

I can understand some of the delivery issues relating to issues involved with the transition from EWA to Express Mags but there should have been NO issues relating to delivery of magazines in a timely manner published after the effective date of the transition from EWA to Express Mags.

Please any help with delivery of back issues and delivery of subsequent issues of your magazines will be sincerely appreciated.
25 January 2010 at 22:36 #47854
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
Posted by David Clark 1 on 25/01/2010 20:03:36:

Hi There

The posting above solves the problem why we changed subscription houses.

EWA called in the administrators.

Wish someone had told me earlier.

regards David

Ever feel like as mushroom? they keep us in teh dark and feed us b******t!

Neil
26 January 2010 at 02:11 #47857
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
David,

The unfortunate aspect of this entire thread is, it would have been unnecessary if ExpressMag had initially stated there would be up to three months delay in delivery of subscribers’ magazines during the transition period following acquisition of their distribution contract.. I could forgive them for a delay, but not for the evasive way they contilually issued misleading statements and broken promises.

Let’s hope ExpressMag and the MyHobbyStore Ltd Subscription Department have learned from this episode. We loyal subscribers look forwqrd to on-time delivery of our magazines, and a prompt, forthright explanation when that is not possible.

The mechanics of delivery should be as excellent as the magazines themselves.

Regards,

Bob Thomas
26 January 2010 at 09:43 #47862
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi Bob

If Express had said there would be a 3 month delay in delivery, do you think they would have got the job?

regards David
26 January 2010 at 09:45 #47863
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi Nodaker

Please email me direct with missing issue details.

david.clark@myhobbystore.com

Add your name and address and subs number if known.

regards David
26 January 2010 at 16:50 #47880
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
David,

Touche!

Bob
28 January 2010 at 21:59 #47988
EdgeHill (8a)
Participant
@edgehill8a
Hello,

I would like to comment on being a raw recruit to model engineering.

I recently bought a copy of ME to learn a few basics and hopefully find a beginners project to set me on my way (not sure whether to start with a machined kit or start something myself on my second hand minilathe (which I’ve yet to learn how to use).

My initial impression of the magazine was that it made no concession to beginners such as myself. I didn’t understand many of the terms used and the engineering drawings might just as well have been written in Chinese !!

I don’t wish to sound this negative, but I would feel that the mag would most definitely benefit from a ‘beginners section’

I recognise that ME is a first class publication but I feel as though I’m looking at it through a plate glass window,with no way in !
29 January 2010 at 04:18 #47992
Robert Thomas 3
Participant
@robertthomas3
Although the above post on special accommodation of new model engineers is Off Topic for this thread, I would like to reply anyway because it represents a sentiment that seems to often be prevalent among some newcomers. Perhaps the Moderator will move them to another thread.

First, I want to welcome Edgehill to the ranks of model engineering, even with what I’m sure will only be a temporary feeling of isolation. Next, it has to be said we were all newcomers at one time. Some benefitted from on-the-job training while others (myself included) were fortunate to grow up with a machine shop and a talented parent right in our home. That makes things easy, but it does not excuse an individual’s personal responsibility to engage in supplementary self-education.

Edgehill should note that MyHobbyStore publishes more than FORTY books devoted to in-depth, practical explanations by accomplished experts, covering every conceivable topic related to the fundamentals of model engineering. A list of those books is published frequently in M.E. and The Model Engineer’s Workshop. Gradual acquisition of a library of such publications would provide the needed background for anyone entering the hobby. Additionally, reading all articles and studying the illustrations in Model Engineer – even if everything might not be completely understood at the time – will gradually impart a wealth of knowledge to a newcomer. Finally, the Editor is currently describing construction of a stationary engine in terms that should be understandable to a tyro.

Entry to any field requires intense desire, observation, study, gradual acquisition of skills through practice, and accumulation of colleagues with like-minded interests. Joining a club, and attending some of the plethora of rallies, exhibitions and other events (British model engineers are especially fortunate in that regard, as evidenced by activities throught the country reported in every M.E.).

The foremost requirement of a model engineer is patience, and that applies to the lengthy process of acquiring the knowledge and the physical skills to successfully pursue the hobby. It will not happen over night anymore than learning how to write or speak can be acquired in a short time. In the end, given sufficient time and effort, appropriate abilities will become second nature. In order to stop “looking through a plate glass window,” why not try to explore the numerous time-tested entry doors to the hobhy as described here?

Summarizing all of the above leads me to the conclusion that there is already copious information available to newcomers, and diversion of valuable space in a fortnightly publication, beyond that which is already generously offered, is inadvisable . Cheer up, buy one or two books or borrow them from a library, join a club (they are always looking for new recuits), try some simple mechanical operations on your own, keep reading M.E. and/or MEW, and in a short time you will be at ease and feel like “one of the gang!”

Bob Thomas
29 January 2010 at 10:28 #47997
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi There

Chinese is not a difficult langauge, after all, at least a billion chinese people read it and speak it.

Perhaps though, they had to make an effort to learn it?

I doubt many if any could read Chinese as soon as they were born.

I learnt engineering from Model Engineer, reading it in the school library.

I also read other books on enginering.

It must have been hard at first but gradually you become aware of what others are writing.

Slowly you begin to understand.

I think any beginner needs to read about his hobby. You can’t pick up a lathe and sharpen a tool and produce something without putting in some effort.

I susgest all beginners invest about £15 in Peter Wright’s book A Foundations Course in Model Engineering. Then you would get a very good grounding in the basics of model engineering.

I am not sure about the Stuart series.

It was intended to be a guide to how I would do it having spent some 40 years in the engineering industry. However, I have had complaints that it is too dificult to understand. When I wrote it I made it as easy and simple as possible to understand.

Fine, not everyone knows what a wobbler is for.

So, ask someone, read a book, find out what it is.

The same happened with the CNC series in MEW. I told readers how to set up and work from X, Y and Z zero using offsets.

Most readers did not have a clue as to why this should be done or how to do it.

Even after reading simple instructions in the article and the reason why.

I am quite prepared to give readers some of my 40+ years of machining experience but they will still have to put some effort into learning for themselves.

Fine, you are stuck behind a plate glass window.

Go to your local ironmongors or B&Q and buy a glass cutter.

Figure out how to use it.

You will make a break through eventually.

regards David
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