Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Forum

[T L Compton]

Is anyone else having difficulty renewing their Who Do You Think You Are subscriptions? My experience is turning into a nightmare.

First I received no renewal notice. When I returned from a long trip I realized there were no new issues in my mail so I went online to renew and got an order number (this was mid-December). Then I waited. Still no new issues in the mail so I started emailing (mid January) only to be told they had no record of my order. Then the following week they sent a confirmation of my order. And then I waited again. Returned from another trip and still had no new issues. So I emailed again. This time I was told my credit card information was not correct and I needed to telephone. So I telephoned (at international long distance rates mind you) and half way through processing the order the agent's computer crashed; he told me to call back later. Second call, put on hold twice, then finally told it had gone through. However, now I was informed that I could not get any of the back issues I missed which really upset me. Then today I get another email saying credit card did not go through. How unbelievably screwed up can this company be? There is no card problem as I just used it to renew Find My Past and a U.K. family history society recently with no problems whatsoever.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to resolve this problem, I would love to read them.

[convent girl]

I too was unable to pay for a subscription by direct debit last year as they kept saying my bank had rejected it. I phoned 3 times to repeat the correct details but to no avaiil. My bank never heard from WDYTYA.

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[Sylcec]

Regrettably there is a long history of the company not being able to manage international subscriptions. (Note - this is distinct from the magazine editorial staff who are terrific). I gave up trying to do it on-line several years ago and instead filled out and mailed the form with credit card details. I even received a mailed receipt and they had debited my visa a/c - but .... when it came time for the first issue of the renewal, it was never received. Pleased to say that Jon sorted it out for me and sent me the missing issue - but there was never an admission of responsibility or apology from the subscriptions dept.
Cheers, Sylvia

[bookworm]

I found I couldn't renew my international subscription online this time but when I phoned it all went through very smoothly and as I wished. Just another of the many things which I am looking forward to being able to do more easily when I move home to England this year!


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[T L Compton]

Well it heartens me to know that I'm not alone in running into subscription issues.

Shortly after posting my initial message here I received, yet again, another email from them saying the credit card information did not work. According to my credit card company, though, the charge went through two days ago. How bloody incompetent can they be?

Surely the wonderful editors of this magazine could find a better company to manage subscriptions.

[leslam]

This has been a problem for some years. Several years ago my father (age 90+) sent a cheque to renew my (gift) subscription. They managed to bank the cheque but credited it to the wrong account!! In the end, I had to send them a photocopy of bank statement and then talk them through it before they would agree they had made a mistake!

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[T L Compton]

Just got a wonderful email from the editor Sarah Williams regarding this issue. She has turned it over to the Marketing Manager to look into the problem. I really appreciated her very quick response. Let's hope this helps resolve some of the problems we are all facing.

[Editor]

I'm really sorry about the problems you have all been having. I'm meeting up with the new account manager in charge of our subscription service and will feed all this back to him.

Sarah


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