I say, free gifts for all who posted

 

Barry even emailed me at home about this. It is important to MC2.........and funny to see these replys in the thread too............

 

Either way - being in business I can tell you that Barry's time and sanity is not worth her $40USD. I am SURE it costs MC2 more to produce and send her these issues. I had a penpal in Austrailia growing up and it often took 2 months for a letter to arrive....if it arrived at all. Snail mail is not as easy as e-mail/online as it passes through many hands before it reaches you.

+1 for sure. Oh SNAP! Why not just ask that they send you all the issues from last year priority and be done with it. Your call to the US will cost more then a stinkin' $13.

ABSOLUTELY! This is a HUGE undertaking to produce and it is something that was sadly lacking for MINI enthusiasts. Thank you Barry & Gary for all your hard work! Keep it up!

Daisy - no one is slamming you directly but obviously your post is unwanted on this forum. Hopefully you remain a MINI enthusiast...even if this is the first time you bothered to post on this forum.

 

I work for a major printer and can tell you the publishers, even big publishers, have little control over delivery.

Magazines are sent out in bulk, even bulked with other magazines, to lower postal rates. While its true a publisher can request their magazines be sent in a manner which expedites delivery, cost is prohibitive. From what I have read, MC2 (Barry) does a great job trying to "make things right."

The last e-mail Daisy sent MC2 (the one posted) doesn't seem, by itself, to be enough to warrant their response. Just feels like there's more to this story (ie. previous communications.) As others have already noted, the threat of legal action over $13 dollars is laughable.

I don't know Barry or Gary in any way. Never heard of them and have never seen a copy of MC2. The fact that a publisher took time out of their schedule to call a dissatisfied customer, in Australia, tells me they are enthusiast who care about what they do. Where do I sign up for a subscription?

 

http://www.mc2magazine.com/Subscribe.cfm

 

This thread is frustrating...daisygirl is a pretty cool member of the mini community up in Queensland and unfortunately her comments in this thread has made her seem less than cool to those of you on the other side of the world....(understandably)

Hopefully when this is all old news she can get a chance to enjoy her time here on NAM. I certainly have...

 

Hopefully this is true and things will settle down. I'm sure she had a frustrating experience. The lesson here is to not post negitive things out of that frustration that are viewed as a personal attack. E-mail "tone of voice" is hard to interpret by people not dirrectly affected by the chain of events.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

I'm sure she is and her posts seem pretty reasonable - then again, what do i know.......

The lesson for DaisyGirl is that on the majority of the car forums, regardless of the make, people feel compelled to jump to the defense of the people they do business with.

So when you start a thread like this one, regardless of wheher she has a legitimate gripe or not, the MC2 supporters will often legitimize their support of the magazine by belittling or attacking the complainer.

 

Thing is Skip, when you present just one side of the issue, and produce only a small part of what seems to have been a series of emails, it comes across as skewed favorably towards the person with the gripe. And those of us who have had dealings with MC2 who have never experienced the kind of reply she ultimately got, feel that the exchange got nasty, starting with her. We know the folks at MC2, but we don't know Daisy (since her very first post on NAM was a tirade against an outfit we know pretty well).

 

I'm going to throw in a few sentences about my experience with Barry Brazier. One day, a few weeks ago, I renewed my subscription to MC2 (online subscription renewal). A few minutes after doing this I got an email from MC2 asking me how I'd heard of MC2, etc., etc. When I first read the email I swear I thought it was some computer-generated automatic response to subscription renewals. Not that it was written poorly, but rather that it was a bit on the generic side. Besides that, I have NEVER subscribed to a magazine where the publisher took THAT active an interest in his/her subscribers.

Well, anyway, for some reason I decided to reply to this email. Well a few minutes later ANOTHER email came through asking me more questions about my MINIs, what I do, etc. Much to my surprise (shock!!) it WAS an email from Barry and it was directed to me. At any rate, we had a nice exchange of several emails. The only thing I took away from our communications was that this was a guy who had a very deep interest in not only MINI Coopers, but also in the people who make up the MINI Cooper Community.

Maybe I just don't get out as much as I should, but Barry's thoughtful correspondence impressed me.

At any rate, I thought I'd throw in my experience with MC2 and Mr. Brazier.

Chuck

 

WOW... Very positive indeed for MC2 and Barry. I never saw an issue of MC2 or met barry (unless he resides in Kuwait ), but for sure I will subscribe to MC2 even though I live in Kuwait and I know the mailing system here sucks (they are working on it to be honest ). I know I am new to the NAM and mini community, but the people here made me feel right where I should be and anyone that supports this group deserve it in return.
As for Daisygirl...well, I am sure that we all would get frustrated sometimes on different things and want to get it out on something or someone. It happens to me alot (either at work or ordering parts for my toys from different parts of the world), but I try to deal with these problems the best way I can and think and take openions before I start something that I would probably regret in the future. I feel sorry for your mishap and I'm sure that this will pass away in NAM memory.

 

Agreed.

People seeking consumer justice on these boards (whether they have a legitimate issue or not) usually come away feeling piled on. We have serious posts regarding Mini vehicle fires that can't get the attention that a vendor debate generates.

The message to Daisygirl remains the same - right or wrong - do not expect a lot of sympathy here.

 

Wow, this is sooooo intense. I think I'll quietly move to another thread now.

 

Here's an idea. Other magazines do this;

Digital distribution. What do you think?

 

Good Day Mates

Rumor has it that MC2 has found, a well-sized aftermarket company that imports Alta, Supersprint and others into Sydney area. MC2 has struck a deal that looks like it'll allow MC2 to send magazines to them, they forward the magazine to every reader down under and everyone lives happily ever after. This cures the non-delivery and damaged delivery matters!

So Daisygirl, your complaint did not go un-noticed. This matter just energized MC2 into finding a “better way”.

Now perhaps I can get back to reading my magazine in peace.

Thanks MC2 for dealing with the problem like the standup guys you are.

 

I can hardly believe you folks are still banging away on this thread.
To sue over $13 is more than a little ridiculous, period. Here I thought Americans were litiginous.....
It's unfortunate there were delivery problems, but there it is. Once the mag is mailed out, the publisher has zero control, end of story.
Let's move on..

 

an unfortunate situation. maybe they should consider upgrading the post rather than using cheap ground for their international subscribers. saving a few dollars really doesnt pay at the cost of their loyal fans.

sorry but this is just another situaiton where mini enthusiasts are milked for money and underappreciated.

 

I subscribe to a few British mags. It's the mail, not any attempt to milk Mini owners. The overseas postage is crazy high, for those mags, none of them are Mini related, and cover differing interests.

 

I used to own a book store and we had a large selection of magazines from out of the country. We were lucky to get them in one month late ... it was usually 6 to 8 weeks late.

 

I agree it is definetly the postal costs. I worked for a printing/distribution company and we made a number of high end Porsche magazines that were shipped all over the planet. Average cost per magazine was about $1.14. US folks paid ~$60 per year for 12 issues. Shipping was bulk rate for about $.65. Foreign paid ~$90. Average post just to Europe was around $3.00 per issue. And that was for the cheapest, slowest mail possible. Needless to say we frequently got requests to reship to foreign customers.

 

[totally OT now]
camminich - I *love* that third picture in your sig, of the cluster of MINIs on a ferry is there more pics of it anywhere?

 

I do have a bunch more, in larger sizes to boot. That is Guemes Island Ferry in Anacortes WA. We did a "fill the ferry" back in 2004. Below is a link with some great pics. If you would like more, shoot me your email, and I will send you a bunch.

http://www.linetime.org/minis04.cfm

thanx
Cameron

 

Put in my 2 year subscription and Barry even called me 30 mins later, wow I am impressed

 

I wasnt going to reply any more to this thread but couldnt resist pointing out a few things.

(a) a few people mentioned that it was my first post. Well just because someone doesnt feel like they have something to contribute to a discussion doesnt mean they are not lurking and reading other peoples posts. I have been reading NAM regularly for over 12 months now and the reason I havent posted before is either because someone else has already said what I wanted to say or I was scared of being attacked if I did have a differing opinion.

(b) Thanks to the people that did defend me and could understand that "tone of voice" is important to everyday conversation but is lost in translation of emails.

(c) I agree with everyone that MC2 is a great magazine and I was only trying to warn people that if they did subscribe and that they lived overseas that there may be a problem with your delivery.

(d) I have supported MC2 magazine by even paying extra to have a t-shirt shipped to Australia, given writeups in my club magazine encouraging people to subscribe, lent people my own copies so they could checkout the magazine and subscribe, been in discussions with my local newsagent who used to stock the Go Mini magazine and even been in discussions with Barry to direct post magazines for our club. I had explained to Barry on several occasions that other people in our clubMINI were waiting to see the outcome of the postage situation before they would subscribe and tried to bring to his attention how important this was and thought that my email to him would be taken in jest the way the rest of our correspondence had been heading and he would take on board that his postal company was ripping him off and sending the magazine via an outsource to India. Obviously this backfired and I am now banned from contacting him to apologise.

Therefore as other people have pointed out - end of discussion and let it rest from now on.