Some of you who have been paying close attention may have seen this story from back in December. Back then I thought it would be fun to do a review of PC Gamer Magazine. I had just started a new subscription through my daughter’s Girl Scout magazine drive. Since it is the last domestic USA computer game magazine left in publication, I figured it might be enjoyable to take a close look at what computer game magazines have become in the 21st century.
Soon after this story was published, my issues of PC Gamer stopped arriving in my mail box. Since I was only 2 issues into my 12 month subscription, I thought it was kind of odd. I have still not received any new issues since January.
While I do not seriously think that PC Gamer would halt my subscription because of a silly blog (one that gave them a score of 81%), I have been having a lot of trouble getting PC Gamer to realize that my subscription was halted after only 2 issues.
Anyway, I have decided that it might be fun to document my correspondence with the PC Gamer subscription service, because so far it has been maddening. I realize that this process could amount to nothing, or it could be pure comedy gold. We’ll have to wait and see which way it goes.
Below are the first 3 messages we have traded:
To:PC Gamer customer Service
From: Steve Fulton
Subject: Missing Issues
Dear PC Gamer,
I have not received the
March 2009 Issue
April 2009 Issue
Please send them to me.
Thanks,
Steve Fulton
Simple and to the point. Right? Well, apparently not to PC Gamer.
To: Steve Fulton
From: PC Gamer
Subject: re: Missing Issue Question
Thank you for contacting PC Gamer.
We have not received a renewal order; therefore, your subscription
expired with the December 2008 issue.
If we can be of further assistance, please let us know. To ensure your
future concerns are handled in a timely fashion, please include all
previous e-mail correspondence.
Sincerely,
xxxx
OK, that was bizarre. I never mentioned a renewal. I never even mentioned anything about December 2008, because I have not had a subscription to PC Gamer for several years. In fact, that date seemed to have been pulled from no where. Odd.
Here is my response:
To: PC Gamer
From: Steve Fulton
Subject: re: Missing Issue Question
Excuse me. but you are mistaken.
My subscription STARTED with the January 2009 issue.
I received just two issues. You still owe me 10 issues.
Please send me the two issues that I missed, plus the next 8 issues.
Thanks,
Steve Fulton
Again, short and to the point. I’m very interested in seeing where this will go. I really just wish they would restart my subscription, but something tells me that it won’t be that easy…