Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I ordered a subscription on January 1st and was charged for a year subscription. The receipt said to wait 6-8 weeks for delivery. It has been over 10 weeks and I have not received the magazine. I have made multiple calls, left 2 voicemail messages and emailed and have not received a return message regarding my purchase.

  Business response

  03/17/2022

  The customer does, indeed, have a valid subscription for one of our magazines.  Her order was received on 1/1/2022 for nine issues, which is our annual subscription.  ON the date of her order (1/1/22), we had already sent our printer the subscriber lists for our Jan/Feb issue.  Therefore, her first issue will start with our March/April issue.  It is stated on our website and on our checkout page, as well as the customer receipt, that we need to allow at least 6-8 weeks for receipt of the first issue.  This is the STANDARD lead time.  However, we print 3 double issues per year (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr and Nov/Dec).  It just so happened that the timing of her order was received during the time that we print two double issues back to back.  If not for the double issue, her first would have started with Feb.  But we do not print a Feb issue.  You can verify this by looking at our shop page online:   www.themainemag.com/shop.   

  The customer's (subscriber) first issue will begin with our Mar/Apr issue, which was just mailed out last week and some subscribers have reported to have received it this week.  Depending on the recipient's location, it could take **** days to receive as long as there are no unforeseen challenges with the **** delivery.  On occassion, things do happen and we attempt to verify the address that the client used on their order before re-sending any missing issues.  I suspect that the subscriber could very well have received their first issue in the days after they submitted the complaint here.  

  To address the communication complaint, our office has been working remotely for the safety of our employees during the pandemic.  We are returning to the office April 1, 2022.  During the remote time, we are also very short staffed and make every effort to return subscriber phone calls within ***** hours.  However, high-volume times like the beginning of the month do cause that to extend a bit.  We offer callers to reach us by email and that email address is noted on our voice mail message when they call and is also available on our website.  We offer that as a faster way to get a response.  Otherwise, we try to call back as soon as possible.

  I searched our email inboxes, including spam folders, for this client's name and we do not have record of her reaching out via email.  We currently are working through our voice mails daily.  

  If the client requests a refund, in lieu of us sending any missing copies of the magazine, we will be happy to do that promptly.  However, we have not had that request to date and are assuming her first issue has since arrived, given that it was our latest Mar/Apr issue that came out last week.   

  Customer response

  03/20/2022

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #********. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

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