[Dragon/Dungeon] Help! I'm no longer receiving my magazines

[Bagpuss]

Hmm I remember that the RPGA had the same sort of problem due to the UK data protection laws when the RPGA UK was merged into the International RPGA, and Polyhedron join Dungeon.

This happened in about December 2001, its now January 2003 and you know what they never sorted out the problem and in the end just didn't honour their original promise to provide Dungeon/Polyhedron to RPGA members outside the USA until their current membership expired.

Last month I got an Battlemat from the RPGA as some sort of apology. That and an invite to GenCon was the only mail I got from the RPGA in the whole of 2002.

I hope that Paizo will make more of an effort to get round this. I wouldn't hold my breath on waiting for your magazines to turn up, as even if they work wonders it could be several months (years?) before it gets sorted.

 

[Ranger REG]

For us yankees, what the hell is this friggin' "Euro-privacy law"? Is it good? Is it bad?

And I'm just curious, why do we need three companies to handle European distribution of magazines? Who are the other companies and are they located on the UK side?

 

[Strutinan]

VERY angry USA customer

Don't feel too bad guys, you folks in the UK aren't alone in this.

I live here in the states, and haven't recieved squat in two months now! I've emailed customer service, but so far Ive gotten a total of ) responses from them. I can't "call customer service" because I WORK! makes it a little hard to get ahold of them by phone when I'm at MBE tossing around boxes when they are open.

So its not just an overseas problem. frankly, if this month's isue doesn't arrive, I'm not only going to cancel my subscrition, but also demand my money back!

Who knows, maybe if there is a threat of lost revenue, they'll at least respond to my emails!

 

[Merlin]

I don't know what Euro privacy laws people state all the time (there surely is no such thing as a Euro privacy law that is valid for whole Europ [OK, im from Switzerland and maybe that cannot be counted as Europe....]).

All I know is that the privacy laws in Europe are generally much stronger than in the US. So its for example forbidden to give out customer details from one firm to another without the consent of the customer.

But as I already said many times, it's not really about privacy laws. I thinks its more about money and strange contracts. Everybody is hiding behind the privacy laws now, so they can claim that they are not responsible....

 

[Ranger REG]

O-kayyy. That answered my first question.

Now, what about this three companies handling Dragon magazines that can't seem to resolve? I mean three companies?!?!!!

 

[Merlin]

I'm not sure as well here. I think there is Paizo who does the magazine. Then there is Hasbro (or some European branch), who hat it before. They may be the ones with the money, don't know.
Last but not least, there seems to be a distributor, i.e. the ones with the addresses.
The one with the addresses will not hand them over till they are paid and Paizo cannot pay them because they did not get the money.

The question though is, wy is Hasbro keeping the money?

I may be completely wrong here, of course. Because nobody tells real facts, we all can onlly guess

 

[EnglishScribe]

Johnny L. Wilson said

As for the UK situation, this is a misunderstanding between three different companies. One company has all the money. Another has all the names and addresses. Another is responsible for printing the magazines. One cannot give the names and addresses out because of Euro privacy laws. The other didn't understand some billing it was receiving and the other can't afford to print, ship copies overseas and pay for a subscription agent, as well as Euro postage, until the billing/revenue issues are resolved. NO ONE--Hasbro, MRM or Paizo wants to "rip off" the existing subscribers. The delay is due to the delicate dance between three different companies across an international dance floor covered with regulation and potential for misunderstanding. It will be fixed. We just don't know WHEN.

Three companies are mentioned;

Hasbro, MRM, Paizo

MRM is the distributor, Paizo is the magazine publisher, so by elimination Hasbro has our money and is refusing to pass it on
- Hasbro UK has been, and still is, under investigation for illegal business practices, and has already been fined once. MRM has not been paid so is refusing to distribute the magazine, and Paizo is ignoring good customer service and burying its head in the sand.

I also checked my bank statement, and Hasbro UK was the company that received my money. Hasbro UK has our money, and is refusing to pay either the distributors, Paizo, or refund the subscribers.

This is, without doubt, corporarte crime, and I an in the process of taking Hasbro UK to the small claims court to recover my subscription payment, and my costs.

Unfortunately, according to by legal advice, Hasbro UK does not have a leg to stand on.

See you in court Hasbro UK!

Anton Walls

 

[Lewy]

Paizo and MRM

Just to add my 5 pence worth (which tells you where I reside!)

I have lost out on a couple of issues of Dragon and have purchased them through the shops. I just wanted to add however that MRM have been nothing but professional to me. I telephoned them, they explained the situation courteously and gave me Johnny Wilson's contact. He was also extremely professional and emailed me back immediately with my options. In a business sense that's a good response.

I agree with the previous response. The problem seems to stem from Hasbro UK, so let's at least be fair to the two vendors who got caught in the crossfire. Stopping buying the product will only hurt the gaming public in the end, especially when you have magazines like Dungeon which has consistently been a fantastic product.

Cheers,

Lewis.

 

[Merlin]

In a way your right, but problem is, I actually cant buy the magazines right now (unless you call the US subscription an option). Furthermore, nobody knows if the subscription I have still has any validity. I don't know to end up with two subscriptions. The situation how it is now does not bode well for later money reclaims.

And of course you may be right about Paizo and MRM not beeing the bad guys, but these are the only ones that have an intereset in solving the problems. Hasbro UK has the money and will not sell any magazines in the future anyway, so they just don't care.

 

[Ranger REG]

How much autonomy does the UK office of Hasbro have from the main Hasbro HQ in the US?

I mean can Hasbro HQ order or terminate the employees of Hasbro UK and take over?

If not, why not? Those bitches (and I say that regardless of gender) on the other side of the Atlantic are ripping off their own people.