I HATE FATE! (well, at least the customer service)

 

Their front cover may ask "skunk ape ... fact or fiction?", and I really couldn't answer that.

But I do know first hand that their customer service stinks.

Back in November after reading a post about the magazine at a blog that I regularly read, I decided  to get a six months subscription from the Fate Magazine website.

I gave them my credit card number and put in my order for a six months subscription, plus an order for that months e-zine edition.

Then I waited ... and waited ... and waited ... and that was just for the e-zine edition, so I thought I better give them an e-mail,and see what was happening.

Here is the e-mail exchange below;

On Nov 29, 2010, at 7:48 AM

Hi,

 I purchased an E-issue of your Nov-Dev 2010 magazine 6 days ago along with a 6 month subscription to your normal magazine.
I was wondering how you deliver an E-issue.
Is it e-mailed to the address I supplied along with my snail mail address or is some sort of password sent to my snail mail address in which I can gain access to the E-issue?

I was hoping it would be e-mailed to me, so I could read it straight away, otherwise I just would have bought the hard copy.

Could you let me know how it works with accessing the E-issue?

Thank You / Darren

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 12/10/10

Hi Darren,

Sorry about the confusion - actually, the e-issue of the Nov/Dec 2010 is not quite yet completed. I've asked about this and the editor says it should be done by tomorrow. (Our webmaster jumped the gun a bit when he put it on our website for sale.) 
The e-issue will be emailed directly to you (I assume to this address?) as an attachment that you can download and print on your computer.

Also, I assume since you want the Nov/Dec 2010 e-issue you do not want the print issue? 
Please advise.

Hope this clears some things up.

Thanks,

Christine

Customer Service

Fate Magazine

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 12/10/10
Hi Christine,
Thanks for clearing up the issue (pardon the pun).
I will start my subscription with the Nov/Dec 2010 edition, if that's OK, as I don't own a printer and wouldn't mind a hard copy.
If not, don't worry too much about it and just start the subscription with the next issue.
Thanks again / Darren
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 12/11/10

Darren,

Sounds good - I will start your subscription with the Nov/Dec 2010 issue. 

I did however yesterday send an Email to the editor who may still send you the PDF format of the issue. 
Just consider this as a bonus - you will still get the hard copy in the mail. 
The Nov/Dec issue was sent to the printer yesterday - it will be a week or two before we can distribute them to our readers, so hopefully you will see this issue by Christmas.

Thanks!

Christine

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 Feb 2nd  and resent Feb 4th


Hi Christine,
I'm writing to tell you, as of today (Feb. 2nd), I still haven't received any of the hard copy magazines that I have paid a subscription for.
Could you let me know what is happening with my hard copy subscription?
Thank you.
Regards / Darren
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 Feb 4th

Hi Darren, 

I do have to apologize - although we do have hard copies of the Nov/Dec 2010 issue here in our office, we still have not yet gotten our foreign subscribers their issues. 
We are waiting to receive a bit more money so we can pay for the postage. 
I do sincerely apologize for the delay - we hope to have the foreign ones in the mail by next week!

Thanks,

Christine

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 Feb 16th


Hi Christine,
Could you please let me know what's going on with my order?
If it's still not in the mail, please cancel my subscription and refund my account.
Thank You / Darren
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 Feb 17th

Darren,

I do very much apologize. 
The foreign subscriptions still haven't gone out. 
I will refund your account as soon as possible. 

Thank you,

Christine

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 Feb 17th

Darren,

In addition to a refund, I'm also going to send you a complimentary e-issue of Fate Magazine. 
I really do apologize for the delay in getting magazines out - here at Fate we did run into some financial hardships over the past year and a half, and are just now getting caught up again. 
The reason we hadn't sent out the foreign subscriptions was due to money problems. 
However, the e-issues are always sent out first, before even the domestic subscriptions. 
If you do like the e-issue, I would recommend an e-subscription because it's easier and faster than any print form. 

Thank you,

Christine

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 Feb 17th

Thanks Christine, but I already have that e-issue, as I had purchased one in November and decided that I really would like a hard copy ... hence my subscription ... which didn't work out for me ... but I guess that's just FATE;-)

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 April 14th


Hi Christine,
                  I received a cheque  from you in the mail in regards to my refund, but I am not going to cash it because it will cost me at least half the value of the cheque in conversion fees.
I don't really think this is a satisfactory way to reimburse me, as I paid by credit card, so I think the refund should just be credited to that.
Please cancel the cheque, and just credit the money back to my credit card, thank you.


Sincerely / Darren
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I re-sent that last e-mail another two times, but as of today

(May 12th) I still haven't heard back into the FATE of my refund.

My advice, especially to international subscribers, would be to forget about subscribing to FATE, because they will do their best to forget about your subscription ... and as for a fair refund ... forget about that too ... because they surely will.

Would you like some bull?

And it will be more painful than walking across burning hot coals, if you try to get your money back, when they don't deliver ... promises or magazine ... but I guess that's just FATE;-)