31 August and still no magazine - what gives?

[admin_exported]

Got an international subscription and seeing the mag was out 22nd-ish and nothing here yet. Sure I'm in Australia but average airmail hits here in 3-4 days max. How are you guys sending this out?

 

[Anonymous]

he's not a happy bunny lads !

 

[Clare Newsome]

Please email us via the Contact Us page here and i'm sure Andrew will get our subs team on the case. Apologies - we have had a lot of postal strikes :-(

 

[Anonymous]

Ah, didnt realise that - I'll give it til' mid this week then I'll contact them.

 

[Anonymous]

Disaster averted - its here.

 

[Anonymous]

I have been thinking of getting an International Subscription, do you think it is worth it Damien? Do you know how much it works out to per magazine? As I just paid $17.25 or something for the latest air freighted edition, I have been thinking there must be a cheaper way to get the latest magazine!

Conway

 

[Anonymous]

Conway - my Wife bought me my sub as a gift though personally I think the o/s subscription is WAY overpriced.
You can buy a 26 issue UK sub here for £74.00 while we pay £115 for 12. Now I'm sorry but you can't seriously tell me that it costs £6 per issue for postage to Aus (£115 - £74/2 / 13 = £6). It generally costs between £1-2.
After exchange rates did their nasty, it panned out to A$276.42 so going with 13 issues a year - about A$21.26 delivered to your door. Also from what I see, the 'priority air freight' copies which end up in Borders et al for as you say A$17.25. usually arrive before mine. My copy of the October issue arrived 3 September - so if it was released in the UK on 22 August it took 12 days to get here although Clare did say there had been some postal strikes in the UK.
To add insult to injury, they don't send the free subscribers gift overseas either which seems bizarre given the (massive) premium we pay.
The only advantage is that it saves you having to camp out said outlets to snatch a copy. What do you think?
I think the WHF team really need to look into this as it seems pretty unreasonable to me.
So, if you want the mag to your door - go for it. If you want it cheaper and dont have relatives in the UK to send it to you at the normal Royal Mail price, forget it.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Thanks for the feedback Damien. I've passed it on to our subs department and invited them to come online and have a chat about it.

 

[Anonymous]

Would welcome an explanation / discussion as there does seem to be a bit of price gouging going on here.

 

[Anonymous]

A$21.26 an issue! Yikes! I thought getting a subsription would make it alot cheaper, not increase the price! I subscribe to another overseas magazine, and the price works out to a fraction of the price I'd pay at the Newsagent.

I think I'll stick to the 2 month old issues for $11.75.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Damien -
Thanks for your comments - it's always great to hear from What Hi Fi subscribers from all over the world.

I can appreciate your annoyance with the delay in receiving your magazine but as Clare mentioned there have been postal strikes in the UK which has sadly means subscriber copies have been received late - apologies for that.

I am always looking at our pricing policy to ensure we are offer our subscriber's the best value for money. I hope you can appreciate the postage and packing costs for sending What Hi Fi overseas means we do have to charge this amount. Also, we are unable to offer to overseas subscribers gifts as the cost for sending these items is too steep and I don't want to pass these costs onto subscribers.

We have a dedicated customer service team for overseas subscribers and you can contact them in the future about any delivery delays or problems. You can reach them by calling +44 (0)208 495 4654.

I hope this answers your queries.

I hope you continue to enjoy the convenience of getting What Hi Fi delivered direct to your door.

Best Wishes

Mark

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for your reply although I have to disagree fully. The packing costs are exactly the same as the magazine sent out to UK subscribers so this is not a factor and, having lived in the UK and sent post back and forth to Australia for years, I know it absolutely does not cost £6 to send an A4 magazine to Australia.
I also subscribe to 'Computer Arts' Magazine - shipped from the UK - which cost £80 for 13 issues. Far as I can see both magazines are pretty much the same size.
As Conway noted, he subscribes to other o/s subscriptions and pays a fraction of the price.
The price disparity gets worse when you take into account that I can go to Borders here and buy WHF off the shelf CHEAPER. I'd be interested to hear how the magazine can get here by priority airmail (big sticker on the front of the mag), Borders put their markup on it and still charge $4 LESS at RETAIL than what I'm paying as a subscriber???
I note that you are free of course to charge what you wish though I would strongly question whether you are indeed offering value for money. Perhaps you need to revise your pricing policy. Its just beyond me how you can offer 24 issues in the UK for approx. 2/3 of the price of 12 issues sent to Australia?

 

[Anonymous]

Did anyone at What Hi-Fi? look into a better subscription offer for Australia? I would happily subscribe if we got a similar deal to UK customers.

I think the same price that is charged for the UK plus an extra charge for shipping to Australia would be fair. And the free gift of course!

I agree with Damien, 115 pounds for 13 issues (and no gift) just doesn't seem fair.

I have family asking me what I want for Xmas so if there is a good deal soon I'll ask for a What Hi-Fi? subscribtion!

Thanks,

Conway

 

[the record spot]

Hi,

Are the postal strikes affecting the delivery to UK customers for the current (Awards) issue? We're into November and I haven't received my issue just yet. Thought I'd check, but if it's any easier, I stop off at Farringdon on my way to work sometimes, so can pick one up....!

Thanks 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there

The Award issue has been sent out and you should have been received it by now - have you tried calling or e-mailing our Customer Servies team and they can look into your case? They can be reached on 08456 777 813 or e-mail whathifi.subs@quadrantsubs.com

Let me know how you get on

Mark

 

[the record spot]

Thanks Mark,

I'll drop an email off tonight - just assumed the post was still catching up, but it's been a while now. Of all the issues I like to read in a year, the awards one's been up there for years now!