Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!ubvax!lll-winken!uunet!mcvax!unido!materna!fdc
From: fdc@materna.uucp (Frank D. Cringle)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc
Subject: Re: Byte Magazine flame from FIDOnet
Summary: Not an anomaly
Message-ID: <368@materna.uucp>
Date: 3 Jul 88 11:14:57 GMT
References: <6862@cup.portal.com> <362@faui44.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
Reply-To: fdc@materna.UUCP (Frank D. Cringle)
Organization: Dr.Materna GmbH, Dortmund
Lines: 24

I have recently experienced similar problems to those of Dirk Husemann
and Matthew Franckiewicz.  For a few years now Byte has sent out
subscription renewal notices to us Europeans 6 months before the due
date.  I object to providing McGraw-Hill with a free loan, so I don't
send the renewal until 2 months ahead of time.  Last October I sent them
my credit card number to renew a subscription expiring in December, and
they promptly debited my account.  The renewal demands kept on coming. 
I wrote to remind them that I had renewed.  The January issue didn't
arrive.  I phoned their UK offices, wrote threating letters, etc.  etc. 
Then to further complicate matters I moved from Scotland to W.Germany. 
The current status is that I get 2 copies per month, both routed via
Edinburgh and the Isle of Man to Dortmund.  Every month I fill out the
change of address form on the mailer and send it to their redistribution
centre in Holland, to no discernable effect.  I particularly liked the
letter of apology from their customer service department in the States
that reached me some weeks ago.  It was sent to Scotland with enough
postage for 2nd class internal US mail. 

In summary: Byte/McGraw-Hill's subscription department is a mess, and
must be costing them a fortune.
-- 
Frank D. Cringle                | Tel. +49 231 519 08 17
Dr. Materna GmbH                | fdc@materna.uucp
Vosskuhle 38
D-4600 Dortmund 1