One thing I have enjoyed in my interaction with Jonathan Rabson (the newest editor of FoxTalk) is his willingness to discuss hard issues. He is listening. He kindly responded to my email and addressed my issues, including some harsh criticism I had with his version of KitBox. I believe he wants to make this publication better. As I mentioned to him today, he has a vested interest in making this a better publication because his job depends on it.
So there is some good news to report. Jonathan has listened to the Fox Community’s desire to have the two-column format, and FoxTalk will be back to two-columns starting with the November issue. You heard it here first. Remember, this is with the November issue. So the September and October issues will remain with the yucky three column format, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is not a trivial change as they have to get the authors, editors, management, and graphics people all onboard with the change. I applaud them for listening!
I have also been reading comments in the Fox Community (mostly on ProFox, some in personal emails) where people are going to ask for refunds and let subscriptions lapse. This was not the intent of my post. I want to cause change. I want FoxTalk to succeed. Giving up so easily is not the answer. Forcing change and having FoxTalk remaining competitive is what we need Eli to do. The Fox Community will be better having more than one publication producing Fox content.
I subscribed to FoxTalk in March of this year using a charge card. Two months later, in mid May, I still hadn’t received a paper issue. I did have access to the online content, but my account showed that I hadn’t made any payment.
Over the course of the next 3 months I made 8 phone calls to 5 different customer relations help line people, 10 calls to their supervisor, and 1 call to the customer service manager. I also faxed a copy of my credit card statement 3 times to 3 different people.
After my first conversation with the supervisor (early July), I lost access to the online content.
In mid August, after many unreturned voice mails and much persuading, my account was reinstated with an additional six months added to the subscription. One month later and I still have not received a paper copy.
I hope they stay in business long enough for this frustrating experience to prove worthwile.
And you won’t get a paper copy of the September issue as it will be an online only experience. Not exactly something I subscribed to when I paid an extra US$50 for the paper plus online subscription. Keep trying. Hopefully we are all going to make a difference.
Hi Rick!
Our company moved to a new building the first of June. I went to FoxTalk’s website within 2 weeks and changed my address. By the end of August I still hadn’t received a paper issue since May, so I checked my online account again, and the address was reverted to the old address! I changed the address again, and sent them an email explaining the problem, and included the verification numbers from both address changes, as well as asking for the back issues. Three weeks have gone by, and I haven’t seen a print issue or even the courtesy of a reply. I’ve had several issue of Advisor go lost, and they have always responded quickly and I received the missing issues soon after. I guess I’ll have to try again, and possibly call, too, but it shouldn’t be this hard to get service.