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Rant: Passage Maker Magazine

3K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  sailorman10 
#1 ·
At the boat show last fall, I ran into Tom and Mel Neale. They were promoting a newsletter that they wrote about sailing, living aboard, cruising, etc. I''d read Tom for many years and quickly opted to buy his newsletter (as did my liveaboard neighbor). I paid by credit card, my neighbor paid in cash. My credit card was quickly billed.

Fast forward to February 2004. Neither one of us had rec''d a single copy of the newsletter nor had we rec''d any correspondence indicating the reason(s) why. I contacted Tom Neale directly (via email).

According to Tom, Passage Maker Magazine owned the publishing rights to his newsletter and had decided, unilaterally, to cease publication of his newsletter. I don''t have a problem with this. That is their right.

HOWEVER, their "get well" plan for the newsletter subscribers is to give them a "partial" subscription to Passage Maker Magazine in lieu of a refund. They didn''t ask permission to do so; they unilaterally took this step.

Since Tom forwarded my name/email to Passage Maker, I got an email from them:

"I am sorry for the confusion. As I am sure Mr. Neale told you, PassageMaker is no longer publishing CCI. The price of the postage was simply too high. Instead, we are sending our former CCI subscribers PassageMaker Magazine for the duration of their subscriptions (in your case 5 issues). I do hope that you enjoy reading the magazine.

Mary Brady Assistant Subscription Manager PassageMaker Magazine"

[The email came from "Will Lahneman"...not Mary Brady. I''ve replied that I want a refund...not a subscription to their magazine and so far, they have refused to reply.]

Ok, I''m more than ticked off. I''ve ordered a SAILING newsletter DIRECTLY from Tom and Mel whom I have known through their writing for years. The Passage Maker folks UNILATERALLY replaced my subscription to Tom''s newsletter with a subscription to their TRAWLER/POWERBOAT magazine as if this is some kind of equitable quid pro quo solution.

It never ceases to amaze me to what ridiculous lengths arrogance and stupidity will take folks in their "customer service" roles.

I''m angry and I''m pursuing this. I want a full refund.

If you''ve been "screwed" by these folks as well, the only contact I have at this point is:

WillL@passagemaker.com (Will Lahneman)

I hope you will find the time to express your opinion about their approach.
 
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#3 ·
Will-
Personally I think you are being overly kind to Mr. Neale, it was he that personally pressed the flesh with you and sold you on ''his'', newsletter irregardless of who was going to print and mail it.

You made a deal with him at a boat show, as far as I''m concerned, he is just as responsible, if not more so, to process the refund or at the least see to it that his publisher does so.

We have to stop this worshipping of the sailing gods, they are flesh and blood like the rest of us and as such they need to take responsibility when they choose to jump into bed with publishers or vendors so they can profit on the use of their name. Let''s face it, they aren''t doing this only because of their love of sailing, the large part of it is greed, pure and simple. This is good old american capitalism at work, and I''m all for that, but it need come with a price, to all of the profit taking players.

It is plain to see that you purchased the subscription because of the author not the publisher, he had no problem taking your money as the author, more than just a salesman for the publisher I''m sure.

Lastly, I would fire off a letter to my CC company and refuse responsibility for the transaction, you bought oranges and they want to send you lemons. I just had a similar experience and produced documentation of my dialog with the profiteer and the CC company issued me a credit for the full amout including service charges and interest without so much a whimper.
 
#6 ·
Ahoy me mateys, Hey clayton.. hope that word isn''t PIRATE!! AARRGGHH.
But seriously ain''t got de time fom dem newsletters and iffin truth be told dem credit card companies is bigger pirates den de sorry likes of me so keep yer eyes peeled . I always use cash for such ventures and figure it''s a small price and loss compared to some mutual funds wot ave had me business. Damn rums got me blathering all over tonight so I might as well tell ye all De Pirate of Pine Island has a newsletter comming out for all ye sailors what can stand de un-varnished (un-oiled for youse teak lovers) Adventures and articles by me very own hand. Yeah de price of me wit is $100.00 per year in cash and I be offering at least one incomplete issue to every investor. So Stock up this it''s giong to be a collectors item, in about fifty years... So hurry get yer cash to me and I''ll guatantee you yer money will be refunded iffin you ain''t completly taken in by me... honestly.... Pirate of Pine Island.
 
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