last year i renewed my subscription to MR and still have more than a year to go for renewal again. today i received a renewal notice from magazine billing center (not MR ) for $80 for two years. thats $15 more than from MR itself. watch out for them.
MODEL RAILROADER does not do renewals from ‘magazine subscription’ company’s.
Inside the MR cover there is a subscription address and phone mumber. Contact them to see what’s going on. We don’t recieve your money.
Your choice of word’s I’n sure were intended to get attention, but do you know the difference between a SCAM and an ERROR?
What is suspect is MR’s published rates:12 Issues for $39.95 ; 24 Issues for $67.95 is at the top of this page, compared to your posting.
Your subcription # and date is on the paper tab pasted on the cover.
Don’s advise is good. Contact MR Subscription Dept. and ask them whats up! It could very well be a scam, but I doubt that it is something done by MR Magazine. In fact they may be glad you contacted them. People need to be careful these days … [;)]
I beg to differ, but I have seen outside mag companies that do list MR as one of their offerings. They may be legit companies, but needless to say I just toss 'em. I buy either off the LHS shelf, or subscribe directly.
Brad
My daughter’s GS troop sold magazine subscriptions this past fall. Got my MR subscription that way.
Gentlemen,
Please be aware that if you receive a renewal notice from a company claiming to be a billing center or magazine service center that these companies are not authorized by Kalmbach publishing. We would appreciate it if you would contact our customer service department (customerservice@kalmbach.com or 800-533-6644) if you receive this type of solicitation.
There are also internet agents that are selling our magazines at reduced prices. Please be aware that they are not authorized to sell our magazines and you risk losing your money by placing an order this way.
While we are trying to stop these companies from selling our magazines, it is proving difficult, as they often disappear and then pop up again under different names.
To insure the safest transaction and the best customer service, I encourage you to order / renew your subscription directly through Kalmbach Publishing Co.
Michael Barbee
Corporate Circulation Director
Kalmbach Publishing Co.
And there you have it. An informed response.
And take note that he has NO STARS and only 5 posts! And he “seems” to know what he’s talking about! Go figure![:D]
Interesting Response. And all of the posts with URL’s for the discounts are deleted this morning! Well, this is Kalmbach’s web site and they can do what is in their best interest. My question is this:
o - If you ‘are trying to stop these companies from selling our magazines’, why do you take the money from them? The reason is that Kalmbach is making very good money from these sites! Let’s see:
o - Minimal distribution costs(bulk ship the publication direct from the printer to the Internet dealer).
o - Customer Sat issues can be directed to the ‘provider’.
o - All of the subscriber processing costs are now moved from the Publisher to the Provider.
Sounds like a new ‘business model’ that reduces costs to me!
Jim Bernier
Rats! The subscription deals aren’t available in Canada!
good eye jim as I was one deleted
K
Michael actually addresses this in his response:
What I’m willing to bet these companies do is, they take your money, send in a new subscription in your name, pre-paid (probably with a money-order for anonymity) for the ACTUAL amount that Kalmbach charges for MR, and pocket the difference.
If you complain to this company, as Michael mentioned, you’ll almost certainly end up either a) unable to find them (they are fly-by-night), b) will just ignore you (after too many of which, see a), or at best, c) say, “Contact Kalmbach directly, we’re just middlemen.”
I’ll lay odds that Kalmbach doesn’t gain anything here- no “processing costs are now moved from the Publisher to the Provider”, no “bulk ship the publication direct from the printer to the Internet dealer”, no “Customer Sat issues can be directed to the ‘provider’.”
Oh, the joys of Internet Anonymity/Mobility. The correct “New Business Model” occurring here is not “offload undesireable work onto the third-party”, it’s “make a quick buck on a scam, then disappear.” Not a new business model after all, unfortunately.
Brian Pickering
I get these “bills” in the mail regularly, and not just for Model Railroader. I just throw them out because they are ALWAYS for more money than dealing direct with the publisher. But I’ve often wondered, just out of curiosity, if these companies actually deliver the subscription (at a profit to themselves, of course), or if it just a complete rip-off.
Pirated movies are commonplace in China. Wonder if they pirate copy MR? All (well, it seems like all) our manufactured goods are shipped from China and supposedly shipping cost is less than 1% of item’s cost. Hmm, shipping costs from mainland to Canada-may be doable. Another market opportunity.[;)]
Jon
Note that MR isn’t the only magazine suffering from this type of problem.
WHAT SLIME will scam money off of a religious magazine?
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/008/27.11.html
How to identify these types of problems.
http://www.fraud.org/tips/telemarketing/magazine.htm
More from Consumer Affairs:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/scam_alerts/mag_subs.htm
Brian “Google is your friend*” Pickering
(*These were amongst the top 20 hits for Googling “scam magazine subscription service”. Full Disclosure: I neither work for, have any stock interest in, nor any other personal interest in Google, apart from it gives me the best search results! [^])
how do you figure these are scams. I have both MR and CTT ordered from a lady in Missouri who has an office phone for $21 each per year. No problems with either
I have received rewenals for MR and a gun mag that I take. The good news was that I realized that they were not from the compaines themselves. Most of the time they list a higher price than the publisher. Phil