Have any of you taken up the offer on the DG site for the free issue of Garden Gate magazine? I submitted my info to get the free issue to check out the mag. I have now received a bill for my "subscription". I have emailed them and said I didn't realize taking the "free" issue meant I was subscribing as that wasn't stated in the offer. I've cancelled and told them I don't like their methods. Anyone else had any experience with this?
Crow
Garden Gate Magazine Question
Yes...and with The Herb Companion as well...it took multiple emails and 3 phone calls to Herb Companion before the 'demand payment' notices stopped...agressive marketing...and how many people don't keep track and just pay the invoices and demanding notices?
I think we need to notify Dave's Admin of the problem with these guys.
A friend of mine used to work with The New Garden...remember the show?...When they started the magazine, the owners/producers decided to subcontract the publication, subscription and distribution out to another company so it left them with the job of writing about gardening, which they loved. It was a good solution for the 4 years the magazine and show existed. I suspect it is being done more and more by other magazines as the public, even the gardening public, has started looking at the dollars more. But, yes, it should be reported.
It is sad that to think that we poor people are still being subjected to this kind of treatment by magazine publishers. I say magazine publishers because they permit sellers of their subscriptions to engage this kind of business.
I was a victim of this nasty trick 40 years ago and have never fallen for that trick again. I will never ever take a free issue of a magazine unless it is in a pile that I can pick one up and just walk away. However, if I want to subscribe to the magazine then a free issue can be a good thing.
Sorry any of you folks had to undergo this unfortunate experience.
Jerry
When I got a Christmas present of tea and a cup last winter, I found a card in it saying I could get a free year of Ladies Home Journal, so I sent it in. So recently, after receiving a number of issues, I got a bill for the subscription. I think they add the "free" year on after a paid year without telling me. I sent the bill back telling them to cancel it...and they won't get any money from me! As far as I'm concerned, what I've already gotten is "free".
I reported this to Dave's admin and they replied that it did say I'd get a bill and that I must have not read it all. I can't find the offer again and they're probably correct that I didn't "read the fine print". I hate it when that happens. I've written the magazine and told them to cancel the whole thing anyway, so hopefully this won't be a problem. I don't know why publishers do this. If they want to offer a free one, do it and don't bill you. I'd have been much more likely to continue the subscription, if the magazine was any good, than I am now. As it is, I don't want anything to do with it, free or otherwise. So folks, it's evidently me that screwed up and not Garden Gate, so if you're interested in it, don't let my flub keep you from trying it. Just make sure you know you're going to get a bill for that "free" magazine.
Crow
This is probably the one:
http://davesgarden.com/coreg/gg.php