Monday, May 23, 2011

Idiocy abounds

Last week I renewed my subscription to my favorite journal "Neurology and the Art of Sarcasm". It was 3 years for $400 (that, believe it or not, is considered to be a good deal).

So I sent them a payment for $400.

On Saturday I received a box containing the last 3 years of issues (which I already have), and a letter asking me if I'd like to subscribe to the next 3 years for another $400.

Needless to say, I'll be calling them this morning.
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14 comments:

  1. JulieMay 23, 2011 at 8:30 AM

    hehehehe, I thought that type of thing only happened to me ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. PackerMay 23, 2011 at 9:28 AM

    Read the fine print.

    PS No refunds

    ReplyDelete
  3. a.generic docMay 23, 2011 at 11:38 AM

    They figure that 7/10 offices will just pay the bill. And the docs won't remember they read the issues already.

    Plus, it gets rid of all those old issues nobody really wants because they now download the old articles from the net.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 23, 2011 at 11:49 AM

    For three years in a row I tried to buy my father a subscription to his favourite magazine for his birthday. For three years in a row they sent me the magazines and him the bill. Finally I gave up because of their poor customer service. The magazine? Consumers Digest.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Li'l AzathothMay 23, 2011 at 12:38 PM

    They probably didn't expect to be publishing any new issues after Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Library-GryffonMay 23, 2011 at 3:16 PM

    I've got a medical journal sub which used to start in September. They got a new publisher, and that publisher has decided that all subscriptions will start in January. Which I'd fine with, except that I've got a sub from Sep 2010 to Aug 31 2011, and one from Jan 1 2011 to Dec 31 2011, and they seem to have no intention of refunding us the $600+ for the 8 months of the 2010/11 sub.

    And of course they're in Britain, which makes it a lot harder to just pick up the phone and ask WTF?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Quarter Life CrisisMay 23, 2011 at 4:09 PM

    I've the opposite problem - or I did until we moved. We had random subscriptions to magazines (that I don't and won't read) and no one paying for it.

    They'd send us the renewal form, we'd ignore it and still get the magazine. We'd call, and still get the magazine. On the upside, we never did get a bill...

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousMay 23, 2011 at 5:04 PM

    but a good business model.

    ReplyDelete
  9. pharmacy chickMay 23, 2011 at 8:14 PM

    no wonder it was such a good deal...

    ReplyDelete
  10. OutreMay 23, 2011 at 8:21 PM

    Wonder if I can do the same to get all the back issues of Clinical Symposia by CIBA-GEIGY... But Icon learning gsystems who now owns all the Netter stuff probably don’t have all the back issues sitting in a warehouse...

    ReplyDelete
  11. terri cMay 23, 2011 at 11:10 PM

    What did you call them?

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousMay 24, 2011 at 1:55 AM

    Sounds like a great journal, I am going to ask our institutional library to subscribe too. Neurology I can take or leave alone, but the art of sarcasm sounds awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  13. ERPMay 24, 2011 at 8:18 AM

    I subscribe to zero journals. I do subscribe to MDconsult however and that gives me access to most of what I might need.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousMay 24, 2011 at 10:12 AM

    I have switched all trade pubs (engineers get freebies) over to electronic copies, easier to delete than toss them in the trash.
    Also gave up on trying to explain retirement to the phone-zombies when "renewal" time is near.

    ReplyDelete

So wadda you think?