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Subscription Problems

... The way Dennis cut us loose I don't see the need to talk about the company now.

The overarching theme of last autumn's 'separation' agreement was dissolving and disclaiming any formal, espoused, or suggested affiliation between this forum and the magazine / publishers. This came from the latter parties, not from us.

As such, there's no reason to believe this forum enterprise can, should, or will be informative on matters pertaining specifically to transactions with those other parties.

Having said that ...

I seem to recall the advertised Xmas subscription offer specifically indicated the gift subscription would begin with the February issue.
 
The overarching theme of last autumn's 'separation' agreement was dissolving and disclaiming any formal, espoused, or suggested affiliation between this forum and the magazine / publishers. This came from the latter parties, not from us.

There's an entire sub-forum about the magazine. Should there be?
 
Do we even need this thread any more?

Good point. There has been staff discussion of issues relating to how we can portray, maintain, and enforce the agreed separation.

FWIW ... My own opinion is that we should revamp and / or reorganize some things so as to encompass a variety of Fortean resources above and beyond the magazine and publishers who were our previous sponsors and hosts.
 
Good point. There has been staff discussion of issues relating to how we can portray, maintain, and enforce the agreed separation.

FWIW ... My own opinion is that we should revamp and / or reorganize some things so as to encompass a variety of Fortean resources above and beyond the magazine and publishers who were our previous sponsors and hosts.

That sounds like a good idea, I think some sort of place for the mag is important, it's presumably brought most people here and it seems a far few still read it at least semi-regularly, it needn't be a whole forum though any more.
 
Good point. There has been staff discussion of issues relating to how we can portray, maintain, and enforce the agreed separation.

FWIW ... My own opinion is that we should revamp and / or reorganize some things so as to encompass a variety of Fortean resources above and beyond the magazine and publishers who were our previous sponsors and hosts.

That's a good idea particularly with the explosion of Fortean podcasts airing now.
 
Hey, let's not forget our origins...

That sort of sentiment died for me when Felix Dennis passed on. The magazine got thinner and peppered with more ads. The amazing folk who actually worked on the magazine just didn't have the resources to fight the internet age after that.
 
That sort of sentiment died for me when Felix Dennis passed on. The magazine got thinner and peppered with more ads. The amazing folk who actually worked on the magazine just didn't have the resources to fight the internet age after that.

I'm a satisfied customer who's had a sub for decades, don't mind the ads if they fund the magazine, and don't find staring at a computer screen the most desirable way to read a mag. I find plenty to interest me every month in the FT. In fact, I was so impressed I bought the company! Or was that Victor Kiam?
 
In fact, I was so impressed I bought the company! Or was that Victor Kiam?

You really should pay more attention to your purchases.

Take a second look at what you bought. Does it appear to be a functioning publishing company with premises and a staff or a deceased American entrepreneur?

They don't look terribly alike.
 
I understand that the forum is no longer related to the mag, but has anyone else in the US unending problems getting their paper magazine? When do you usually receive it? I'm on the verge of cancelling and finding somewhere to buy it.

Ed: I notice that there's a web site that offers it for much less than the paper sub to the US. Does anyone know if this is the whole mag and for real?
 
I understand that the forum is no longer related to the mag, but has anyone else in the US unending problems getting their paper magazine? When do you usually receive it? I'm on the verge of cancelling and finding somewhere to buy it.

Ed: I notice that there's a web site that offers it for much less than the paper sub to the US. Does anyone know if this is the whole mag and for real?

Contact Denis at this email address:

[email protected]


They're good at replacing missing copies. Explain your problems and give your sub number.
 
David Plankton said:
There's an entire sub-forum about the magazine. Should there be?

EnolaGaia said:
Speaking only for myself ... No, not unless it's one of multiple such sections within (e.g.):
Fortean Resources > Print Publications > Periodicals > FT


The way I see it David, emphatically yes: Fortean Times is the best known Fortean magazine currently extant, and certainly the one we're all reading, so why wouldn't we want a platform to discuss it and the articles/content it contains?

Mind you, EnolaGaia, I also agree with your suggestion that it would be equally valid to have subforums covering other magazines/periodicals, living or dead - INFO Journal, Magonia, Strange, for example. Even (shudder) Nexus, I suppose.

Concerning the disafilliation of this site and its former host, no bad thing in my view. I have believed for a long time that having one of the net's foremost discussion forums for Fortean topics at the mercy of the petty commercial whims of a publishing house, was not a particularly safe or tenable arrangement. To my mind CFI is the natural and proper home for a valuable resource.

Of course the clever bit now is how the mods choose to operate the Fortean Times subforum given its new context; whether to confine discussion to the content of the magazine, or continue to cover issues relating to subscription problems (not that anyone here is in a position to do anything about them any more).

Has there been any pressure from Dennis to filter out meditations on its generally abysmal customer service, etc?

PB
 
Has there been any pressure from Dennis to filter out meditations on its generally abysmal customer service, etc?

PB

Not to my knowledge. The publisher pretty much ignored the existence of the message board for seventeen years; the staff and writers sympathised with the lacklustre performance.

I, speaking personally, would be perfectly happy to set up a subsection that included other magazines of Fortean interest, but a lot of the productive content of the community has 'gone online'.

If you or anybody else has a title in mind--one you subscribe to or regularly read--please post the name(s) here for consderation.
 
Has there been any pressure from Dennis to filter out meditations on its generally abysmal customer service, etc?
As Yith said no, there hasn't. I'd pass along specific comments or queries to the mag when we were still affiliated, or when we encountered the occasional potentially sticky subject I'd speak with David Sutton, but even when affiliated we were largely left alone to get on with it. It was only the custard-spined legals that seemed to pay over much attention to us, particularly if anyone mentioned certain graveyards and certain Bishops (indeed, a whole thread was deleted at admin level, and not by me.)

Now, we have no link at all, so queries won't be passed along. Discussion is purely read-only these days.
 
Okay, it's finally time for me to make this post. I want to be very careful because I do not want to accuse anyone of anything wrong, so please understand this as more of a fact-finding inquiry.

I'm in the US and have to renew my subscription soon. The last three times I did it - in two-year increments - I used a credit card that I don't use very often. (A different card each time.) And each time, a few months later, I was the victim of fraudulent charges on the card in question.

I certainly don't want to pin the blame on IMS, the folks who provide the US subscriptions to FT. They are a reputable company who obviously do a lot of business and provide a great service to many people. But I have trouble believing this was a coincidence, and I can't help thinking there is someone tapping into them and stealing my card info.

So two questions:
1. Are there any other folks out there in the US with a similar story to tell?
2. Any suggestions on how I can bring this up to IMS without making it look like I'm accusing them of being criminals?
 
I'm in the USA, I've used IMS for my subscription for years and years, and I've always paid with a credit card.

I've never had reason to believe any of the credit cards I've used with IMS over the years have ever been compromised because of my IMS transactions.

The multiple credit cards I've had over the last 20 years that have been compromised were all determined to have been exploited on the basis of some other transaction (or theft).

Come to think of it ... The handful of times my credit card info has been stolen / spoofed / exploited the bad guy(s) didn't wait longer than a couple of weeks to strike. Usable credit card info has a short half-life.

Admittedly, this doesn't necessarily prove anything one way or the other with regard to your situation.

I'd suggest collecting the hard facts and discussing this directly with IMS, if those facts leave no room for doubting it was the IMS transaction that was to blame.

Did you renew by mail or online? I've done it online for a long time now.

Finally ... If it's this time of year when you've always renewed, your renewal would fall among the holiday buying season transactions. The holidaze is the season when card fraudsters / ID thieves traditionally do much of their harvesting.
 
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I need to renew and would prefer to read FT online, too many missing issues for an expensive subscription. I found FT in one app with dodgy reviews that seems to be run entirely out of India. Does anyone get it through a more respectable outlet? I think someone said they read it on a product I'm not familiar with, Google something? Thx.
 
If anything is capable of killing FT then it is it's incompetent distributor. They must know by now that the service doesn't work in many countries. I reckon the FT copies are being dumped rather than delivered.
 
Okay, it's finally time for me to make this post. I want to be very careful because I do not want to accuse anyone of anything wrong, so please understand this as more of a fact-finding inquiry.

I'm in the US and have to renew my subscription soon. The last three times I did it - in two-year increments - I used a credit card that I don't use very often. (A different card each time.) And each time, a few months later, I was the victim of fraudulent charges on the card in question.

I certainly don't want to pin the blame on IMS, the folks who provide the US subscriptions to FT. They are a reputable company who obviously do a lot of business and provide a great service to many people. But I have trouble believing this was a coincidence, and I can't help thinking there is someone tapping into them and stealing my card info.

So two questions:
1. Are there any other folks out there in the US with a similar story to tell?
2. Any suggestions on how I can bring this up to IMS without making it look like I'm accusing them of being criminals?

If you are using a public computer, or wifi on your own computer, to make the purcase, those might have had spyware on them...
 
If anything is capable of killing FT then it is it's incompetent distributor. They must know by now that the service doesn't work in many countries. I reckon the FT copies are being dumped rather than delivered.
I suspect that in the US they are waylayed in the post. My delivery address is a PO box. But at this point I"m happy with online.
 
I've just renewed my subscription for the next year along with another magazine I get.
It was a different person and he said it should be to the end of next year but I'm sure he hasn't charged me for the delivery.
Last year I asked that they alert me when the money is running out but received a bill in the mail saying it ran out at the end of October.
This one says it ran out in September.
I was almost going to cancel but thought I would give them another chance although the F.T. is always a couple of months slow.
Since they took over the deliveries have not been so great and they are nowhere near where I live so I have to contact them by phone.
 
Well that was easy. They have an app. Not sure if it's the whole mag but I'll give it a try in Jan.
 
Because I did subscribe to the on-line version I'm following up on this post. Yes, for considerably less $ you can obtain an on-line downloaded mage of the magazine monthly though their app that you buy thru google play. It's a little cumbersome to read on the phone, but at least it arrives every month. If I could download it onto my computer it would be ideal.
 
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