Posted on 07/09/2005 6:27:44 AM PDT by John Jorsett
Wired magazine, the bible of the tech set, may have its finger on the pulse of all that's cool. But the San Francisco publication has been using decidedly uncool tactics when it comes to getting some people to renew their subscriptions.
San Francisco resident Bob McMillan discovered this after choosing to allow his longtime subscription to lapse late last year. "I like the magazine, " he told me. "I just didn't have time to read it anymore."
First came the usual letters warning McMillan, 36, that his subscription was up and that he wouldn't get any more copies of Wired unless he ponied up some cash.
Then Wired's correspondence took a different turn.
In May, McMillan received a letter from North Shore Agency, a leading debt-collection firm. The letter, headed "Please Respond," said he owed $12 for his Wired subscription.
"Our objective is to clear your bill quickly and fairly," it said. "Your payment will reinstate your subscription."
A more assertive letter from North Shore, headed "Request for Payment," arrived last month. "You must realize that we want you to resolve your account in the amount of $12," it said.
Then, the other day, a third North Shore letter arrived, headed "Account Status: Delinquent."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I used to read Wired articles as part of the AvantGo service on my Pocket PC. No more. They're a couple of notches to the left of the LA Times or the Chronic on most things. Half their articles were basically some pimply-faced nerd screaming "oh noes! Teh Patriot Act is teh sux! Bushchimpyhitler! John Ashcroft is teh debil!!!!1!!1one!"
Schadenfreude feels good in the morning.
}:-)4
Pfft. It's Rolling Stone for geeks.
Unbelievable.
Weird. ;-)
I had a similar but even worse experience with that same North Shore Agency but in relationship (?) with/to DAILY VARIETY (Hollywood trade).
I let an annual, paid subscription lapse (not renewed) for the same reasons -- daily issues unable to read consistently and they stacked up and eventually just got tossed instead of read -- and when I continued to decline the renewal (many times), I started getting the same sort of "notices" from North Shore, PLUS a letter from DAILY VARIETY advising me that if I didn't pay up, they were going to "report (my) delinquency to everyone (I knew/in my profession)."
I wrote them back that mob tactics would not be honored and for them to "be advised" that I'd be sharing their written coercise threat with everyone I knew before they had a chance to share what they knew with everyone I knew...
I never heard from them again but the letter was completely threatening, and very ugly. I've never subscribed to DAILY VARIETY since.
In today's litigious society, this sounds like an opportunity for a class action lawsuit against Wired for extorted funds, mental anguish, the kitchen sink etc.
We should find the personal details of the owners of such a vile company and make them available so that people can complain directly.
"I used to read Wired articles as part of the AvantGo service on my Pocket PC. No more. They're a couple of notches to the left of the LA Times or the Chronic on most things."
I couldn't agree with you more. We get our subscription as a gift - otherwise I would cancel. I don't need some lefty nitwit telling me that "filibusters" are now "wired".
Their politics drive their tactics - those of the jack-booted thug.
They have been sued for this before, including a shareholder named "Jerome Goodman."
We should be able to find him.
I once subscribed to a magazine - I think it was Good Housekeeping - and I decided not to renew when my subscription was up.
An envelope arrived in the mail with "PAST DUE" emblazoned across the front in large, red block letters. This worried me - had I forgotten to pay an important bill? Were they going to shut off my electricity? Was my credit rating going into the crapper?
The letter enclosed informed me that I was past due to renew my subscription if I wanted to get some special kind of savings on that dastardly magazine.
Not only did I not renew my subscription, I bad-mouthed the magazine to everyone I knew.
Ecclesiastes 10:2 ....'the heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.'
Again, in my book that is genius (and cool). And were there awards you would definitely deserve top honors.
Not weird. Wired. W-I-R-E-D:^)
Wired: over-rated gibberish... bad writing with annoyingly grandiose graphic design.
All calls, and mail stopped, however.
Gosh, you are too kind. I give sole credit for that to my wonderful, like-minded wife. She found it.
I use the same handle on www.prudentbear.com, a forum where we discuss the stock market. As you can tell by the name, it was started to discuss reasons for and strategies surrounding the overvaluation of the stock market. It has since devolved to a bunch of Bush-bashers, many of them DU types. My handle, and my ideology, drive them up a wall to no end. Please join me there - I'm outnumbered. But be civil, because you can actually engage them there without getting thrown off like at DU.
BTW, I enjoyed reading about the Spetznaz in the Clancy novels. Weren't they the ones who took pride in distance records for impaling spies with a hand-thrown standard-issue army shovel? I believe the record was fifty-three meters.
Well, sometimes litigation is the way to go, no doubt about that.
I'll bet you have some stories.
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