Where's my free gift?

[Niobe]

I took out a subscription to the magazine in February, a birthday present from my son. I chose this magazine purely for the free gift - Beginners gardening set, handy for my new allotment. The magazines have arrived each month, but no sign of the free gift. I emailed the subscription team and was told it had been sent out and would arrive in a couple of weeks. It never arrived.

I emailed and was told "sorry, we've run out of that gift, this has never happened before, we'll send you a propagator instead". I don't need another propagator and was disappointed not to receive the original offer. Anyway, the propagator never arrived either. I emailed them yet again and was told they were investigating and someone would get back to me. This was a couple of weeks ago. I'm beginning to think this is a big con. There are no free gifts, or very few. I feel they got me to subscribe with a fake offer and I'm now being ignored. I'm really annoyed about the whole thing and will not renew my subscription at the end of the year. It all seems extremely unprofessional. Am I the only subscriber to have this problem?

[Cadalot]

It has to be said their admin team is not the most pro active in the world and there have been others that have posted similar tails of woe in the past, they like to reward members of the month on here but it can take them months to get around to it by which time the shine has kind of worn off.

Hopefully someone from the magazine subscriptions will pick it up or the Mods will bring it to their attention. The mods only really deal with the nutters on the forum but they are a good bunch and do try to help when they can.

[veggiechicken]

Hello Niobe, I've passed your post to the Subscriptions Team and asked them to contact you.

Just for information, Subscriptions and Editorial (who kindly provide the Member of the Month gifts) are not handled by the same people, in fact Subs are out-sourced.
Just saying!!

[Cadalot]

VC I stand corrected.

[Scarlet]

I'd also like to point out that a mom gift is a gift regardless of how long it took to get to you! I haven't visited any other forum that gives out monthly gifts!

[Oliver Warway]

Hi Niobe,

Sorry you are experiencing issues with the delivery of your gift. I have forwarded your message along with your details to our subscriptions department. You should receive an email from them shortly (1-3 days), if for some reason you don't please send me a message and I will chase.

Thanks,

Ollie

[Beepee]

...AND where is my free gift

Hello Niobe, I've passed your post to the Subscriptions Team and asked them to contact you.

Just for information, Subscriptions and Editorial (who kindly provide the Member of the Month gifts) are not handled by the same people, in fact Subs are out-sourced.
Just saying!!

I,like Niobe signed up for the magazine in February for much the same reason - liked the Beginner's Kit as a free gift.

I also never received the gift. The motivation to sign up to this forum was to ask if this was usual and it seems it is quite common.

Eleven emails later and Aceville are still sending benign meaningless emails with an apology and a promise to investigate and/or send an alternative. The last offer being a propagator (which I don't really need) I signed up for the beginner kit as much as for the magazine.

Does everyone eventually get a free gift of some sort? Even the one they signed up for? Or is this just some sort of con that Trading Standards should look at? Yes I am angry. Six months of uncaring responses and no sign of any improvement. I shall certainly NOT re-subscribe and I shall discourage any one else.

[burnie]

I,like Niobe signed up for the magazine in February for much the same reason - liked the Beginner's Kit as a free gift.

I also never received the gift. The motivation to sign up to this forum was to ask if this was usual and it seems it is quite common.

Eleven emails later and Aceville are still sending benign meaningless emails with an apology and a promise to investigate and/or send an alternative. The last offer being a propagator (which I don't really need) I signed up for the beginner kit as much as for the magazine.

Does everyone eventually get a free gift of some sort? Even the one they signed up for? Or is this just some sort of con that Trading Standards should look at? Yes I am angry. Six months of uncaring responses and no sign of any improvement. I shall certainly NOT re-subscribe and I shall discourage any one else.

Wow, as a new moderator with no experience I certainly won't make any promises, but I think I see where you're coming from. This forum(which I have been a member of for over a decade) is a great place run by the members for our enjoyment, I/we have no control or say what happens with the magazine. I really don't know what to say and I fear intervention by a moderator is not likely to work miracles either.
I would keep your membership of the forum as there's some really nice people on here who will help, what you do with the magazine is maybe something only you can decide.

[Greenleaves]

Perhaps you could forward it to Admin/subscriptions burnie

As a former Mod, I can only echo what burnie says....the forum is seperate from the subscription service. The Mods can only forward your post.

I am positive someone will pick this up Monday when the Admin team are in

[Scarlet]

Hi Beepee, I've sent Oliver Warway from admin above a message to respond to you ASAP. Perhaps you could also send him a message with your details so that he can forward it on to the subscriptions department on your behalf. Although please note that they work Mon - Friday's.

I would also like to echo what Burnie has said, the forum is a great font of knowledge with a great bunch of gardeners that have a wealth of experience with all types of gardening. It's a great place to come if you need a little help or a chat with likeminded people.