View Camera magazine

[aeyb701]

Hello:

I have had difficulty with my subscription and would like to know if other forum members think I am unreasonable. Mr. Simmons thinks I am; that it's up to the subscriber to keep track of issues received, not received, etc. I'm not sure about that-does one need to keep track of such things?
To quote an email I sent today, my last such in this futile year-long endeavour:

"(me)...Regardless:
You still owe me two issues. Please send them. You must have my address in any event since I just got the January/Feb. issue
In any case: does Time magazine expect subscribers to keep track of their subscriptions? NO. Even small-circulation rags like Horn&Whistle looked after me better than you, with no expectation implied or expressed of keeping track oneself.
No matter what you think of me I paid for a full subscription and feel ripped off...
pretty shoddy service, and I don't care for excuses: "boo hoo, you didn't keep track...we don't have your address (I emailed it 2 months ago)" Bunch of snivelling blame shifters.
I won't send another word.
Sincerely,
Jon Archibald MD



On 29-Mar-11, at 11:18 AM, amiles@viewcamera.com wrote:

This is from Steve Simmons, the publisher of View Camera.

I am not sure how to respond to your insults, threats, and the fact that
you can not
seem to keep track of what magazines you do and may not receive.

Our magazine that is intended for Canadian readers are sent directly from the
printing company to a mailing service in Canada. They do not go through
the Us and
then have to transfer to the Canadian system. With the exception of you
and one or
two others, we have a very good track record with our Canadian subscribers.

If we received an e-mail from you we responded. Period. We do not ignore
e-mails
from anyone.

If you want to blab to the world go for it. I will be happy to provide our
side of
the problem which includes the fact that you can not seem to keep track of
what
magazines you do and do not receive and that we did not get responses to
some of our
e-mails to you.

steve simmons>


(prior email of today March 29,2011):
Dear Ms. Miles:

I did send my mailing address, Jan 19th (see fwd, below).

I emailed again March 18th:

"Hi-I sent my mailing address to you two months ago.
So what can you tell me?
The last issue I got was may-June 2010.
-Jon Archibald"

I emended that email on March 19:

"Hi:
Correction, I found the July/August 2010 issue this morning after
checking all my magazine and bookshelves, but that's it. My apologies.
There are those issues from then till now (March 2011-one year since I
renewed) which I should have received.
Please and thank-you.
Jon A."

So I've made an effort too.

Look, I know you guys aren't business people as much as photo people,
but if you're using the US Postal Service and/or Canada Post to
deliver a commercial product then by law you have an obligation to
paying customers.

Please send my two missing issues, Sept/Oct and Nov/Dec, and I'll
never trouble you with another subscription. I'll hold off blabbing to
the world for a couple weeks, but will if magazines not received by
April 15th.

Fair? Reasonable I think considering I've repeatedly had to cajole you
or Mr. Simmons into giving me my due over the last couple years and
subscriptions.

-Jon Archibald

PS-Funnily enough I got the Jan/Feb 2011 issue today.

On 19-Jan-11, at 10:26 AM, amiles@viewcamera.com wrote:

Hi:
Last issue received was March/April 2010, and only after emailing
several times and speaking to Mr. Simmons by phone.
I subscribed for 1 year in March 2010 (I have the paypal receipt). I
don't even know what or how many issues I've missed since then.
Please help by sending them.
Jon Archibald
Canada
0xxxxx or 0xxxxx

In order to check your subscription we need your mailing address

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jon Archibald <jmarch@nexicom.net>
Date: January 19, 2011 8:02:55 PM GMT-05:00
To: amiles@viewcamera.com
Subject: Re: I'm not getting my subscription-again

home-
(xxx...)

-or-
work-
(xxx...)

-JA
On 19-Jan-11, at 10:26 AM, amiles@viewcamera.com wrote:

Hi:
Last issue received was March/April 2010, and only after emailing
several times and speaking to Mr. Simmons by phone.
I subscribed for 1 year in March 2010 (I have the paypal receipt). I
don't even know what or how many issues I've missed since then.
Please help by sending them.
Jon Archibald
Canada
0xxxxx

In order to check your subscription we need your mailing address"​

Sorry for this long post but I need to go public since satisfaction is lacking, and I now don't expect he will send my remaining issues. Has anyone else had such a problem? Am I nuts?

Jon Archibald

 

[BrianShaw]

Doctor, heal thyself. Take two Valiums and call Steve in the morning... To apologize.

 

[wildbill]

:0 here we go, another view camera magazine thread. hold on to your hats folks!

 

[Eric Rose]

blah blah blah. How tedious. Jon as a new member please try and enrich our community rather than this type of tired old rag.

 

[aeyb701]

I realize he may be revered here. I could care less for the magazines at this point. Thanks, Bri, no apology necessary

 

[Sirius Glass]

I do not think he is revered here. But it would help if this were merge with the other View Camera Magazine thread.

It might even be a good idea to merge it with the Light Impressions thread, since both appear to use the same business model! <<snort, snort>>

 

[aeyb701]

Sorry all, I should have searched past posts before adding this thread. My fault, but I was so steamed. A quick search and it doesn't take long to find out mine is not a unique experience. I actually feel better, vindicated. Thanks everyone!

 

[aeyb701]

blah blah blah. How tedious. Jon as a new member please try and enrich our community rather than this type of tired old rag.

Sorry Eric. My newness shows. Will not broach it again.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Sorry Eric. My newness shows. Will not broach it again.

aeyb701,

Don't worry about Eric. Just, if at all possible, do not view the photograph his wife took of him taking a photograph while he was standing bare a$$ed in the water with his camera on the tripod!

<<Sign>> Sometimes the dirty story just has to come out!

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Don't worry, Jon. Understood. Everyone else, he's new so cut him some slack. But we oughtta clamp all of these down because, as frustrating as it can be, these threads get us nowhere as individuals or as a community. Yeah, I know. I was a part of the problem. And hindsight is 20/20, right?

Don't like the service, do as others have done. Don't renew.

 

[removed account4]

jon

you learned first hand what the publisher can be like.
good luck getting your subscription fulfilled ...
i cancelled mine years ago ... if you actually want
to get your issues mailed to you and /or continue with your subscription
rather than wrestle him in the mud it might be worth calling the office and speaking
with the nice person who answers the phone ... while the publisher can be a bit rough, the person who answers the phone is the opposite.

i was tired of the way he acted, so i cancelled my subscription ..

 

[John Koehrer]

Didn't

 

[BrianShaw]

Don't like the service, do as others have done. Don't renew.

That's exactly what "Bri" did, but without being rude, condescending, and threatening. One can often catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!

 

[Sirius Glass]

That's exactly what "Bri" did, but without being rude, condescending, and threatening. One can often catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!

What and miss all the fun???

 

[pgomena]

I never had any problem receiving my subscription, which I had for a decade or more.

I finally let my subscription lapse because I was bored to death with the magazine.

Peter Gomena

 

[Fast Frankie]

I have to side with Peter. I have had my subscription for many years. Of all that time, only two issues did not arrive. In both cases, I received replacements right away. The last time was handled by Steve himself, an hour after closing, 10 minute conversation, never a question why. I'm going to renew.

 

[Peter Schrager]

I would to add that the last few issues of VC have been of very high quality...not that many alternatives out there
Best, Peter

 

[aeyb701]

To Brian and those who like Steve and favour a kidd-glove approach rock on and resubscribe. I'm finished. Thanks everyone and I mean everyone for their views (excuse the pun).
Jon A.
Speeds, Crowns, Graphic View II, Bessa-E, Erkona II, Rolleiflex 2.8E, various Nikon SLR's, and a Canon Espio (looks like a digital cam).

 

[Ian Grant]

I feel sorry for Ms Miles, she has to do a lot of unnecessary work because their system is so poor.

As a Subscriber to the online International PDF issue I constantly had to contact Andrea, who I must say is extremely helpful, however every month I had to email for a new password to the websites subscriber content. There was no mailing to say my subscription had lapsed so after 2 years I stopped it.

The Online PDF version was excellent but the interface/packaging was awful and each section had to be downloaded separately.

The owner can be found on the Forums it just depends on what Name he's (Aliases) using at the time. It's a great shame he doesn't get his act together as it's a good magazine.

Ian

 

[Monophoto]

The owner can be found on the Forums it just depends on what Name he's (Aliases) using at the time. It's a great shame he doesn't get his act together as it's a good magazine./QUOTE]

I fully agree. Not only is it a good magazine, it is the ONLY magazine that consistently addresses the concerns of LF photographers. It's really unfortunate that we are forced to put up with mediocre subscription service.

Richard Kagan is an outstanding, if possibly not widely known, photographer in the Philadelphia area. I took a workshop with him many years ago on the Zone System. One of the things that I can hear him saying - 'Close enough is NOT good enough'.

I think that also applies to the processes used at View Camera Magazine.

 

[Dan Henderson]

The owner can be found on the Forums it just depends on what Name he's (Aliases) using at the time. It's a great shame he doesn't get his act together as it's a good magazine.

Ian

If Mr. Simmons lurks here, he must be aware of the problems many of his current and former customers complain about in the forums. If someone knows of problems and has the power to fix them and does not, it implies to me that he does not care. Which is too bad. I peruse the magazine at the bookstore and buy it if it looks interesting. But with all of the complaints that I read about here, not to mention the terribly distracting text editing, I will not subscribe. With the demise of B&W, there is an obvious gap that could be filled by a high quality magazine aimed primarily at analog photography.

 

[Konical]

Good Morning,

I have frequently bought View Camera over the course of a couple of decades. I very much appreciate the effort Mr. Simmons exerts in publishing the magazine. Although I recognize as valid some of the observations I read about errors and editing glitches in View Camera, I have been glad to overlook those because the information in the magazine has been very useful to me. I know that I should have subscribed, but, for one reason or another, I just never got around to it. Several years ago, View Camera was involved in sponsoring a photo conference (Foto3, I think). I registered for that conference and sent payment. Shortly afterward and well before the conference, I learned of a schedule conflict which prevented me from attending. Naturally, I sent Mr. Simmons a refund request; actually, I think I sent three or four such requests. So far, Mr. Simmons has not deigned to reply, much less send a refund. Much as I appreciate View Camera, it is difficult to consider further dealings with Mr. Simmons.

Konical

 

[Ian Grant]

APUG & Foto3 shouldn't be mentioned together . . . . . . . . . .

Ian

 

[Christopher Walrath]

I agree. VC is an awesome publication. I wish them success and much improved infrastructure.

 

[George Collier]

Dan - I just saw your post about B&W - is this mag a goner? I seem to be getting my issues.