To anyone else that canceled and requested a refund….have you received it yet, or still waiting?
I phoned and talked to customer service three times in the last four business days (Monday was a holiday in the US). Beginning to get the sense I’m being played.
Cheers,
Mark
Mark - Nothing. My refund should have arrived by February 13th based on Firecrown Customer Service. It is a mystery to me why it takes a business 16 weeks to issue a refund cheque in this day and age. Perhaps Firecrown is hoping we will forget about the refund and just go away. Your persistence in following up with Firecrown is admirable. - Paul
I’ve gotten that solicitation in hard copy occasionally since I let my subscription lapse.
I routinely get e-mails inviting me to re-subscribe. Only in the fine-print is it mentioned that it is an e-subscription, not hardcopy. So lots of asks to subscribe, but no action on the promised refund. I should have just let my subscription lapse instead and put up with the useless Vinio product.
I have never been a subscriber to the magazine, but I do routinely buy copies at my LHS. I was planning on subscribing, just to help support the forum – which I certainly still want to do – but I just read through this thread. What a cluster.
I know print magazines – specifically for niche hobbies – are incredibly difficult to produce these days. Long-standing publications continue to drop like flies. I work in the industry as a freelancer and it seems like the only ones that can survive are either 90%+ ads, or are large, high-end, matte-finish prestige publications that run maybe $20/issue. And I can understand that international mail is more costly.
But they could offer a higher-priced option for international customers. The only explanation to me is that the number of customers/subscribers affected must be so tiny as to be not worth the effort. But at the very least, they could make the dang refunds actually work, and not be totally tone-deaf.
They fact that this thread and problem continues really says a lot about how much they (Firecrown) seem to care about the brand as a whole. What a shame.
Nothing here yet either. I had planned on giving them a call to check the status today. Maybe I’ll just call them every time I get an email that says “We miss you, please subscribe”, that should make it about one call per week. 
BREAKING NEWS: Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease!
Fourth phone call in the last five business days made this afternoon. I made sure to talk to the same CS rep as I did on Tuesday.
Called yesterday and talked to someone else as Tuesday rep wasn’t available. But that went nowhere as, despite not being abusive and not using abusive language and not yelling, I was hung up on within two minutes. Not sure what I did to deserve that. Neglected to get that persons name.
Anyway, today’s update is …. Tuesday CS rep was still waiting to hear back from the Chequing Dept to find out if a cheque for me had in fact been generated, let alone sent. He was supposed to contact me on Wednesday with that information. This phone call ended with me being advised that the supervisor would escalate the request put out to the Chequing Dept.
Cut to the chase, one hour and a half later and I received an email notification from my bank advising of a credit voucher to the credit card I originally purchased the subscription with.
Logged into my bank account to see and there it is. Pending, but there.
Unknown why that couldn’t have been done 13 weeks ago.
Happy days are here again.
ETA: They even followed up with a phone call an hour and half later to advise of the card credited. I’m assuming it was the supervisor that called.
Cheers,
Mark
Phoned today, first time since I cancelled in November. Said they would look into it with accounting dept and let me know via email in a day or two. I’ll call them back next week to check on it. At a little over $100 due back, it’s not something I’m going to let slide.
I received $105.55 CAD. For me it was the principle of the matter as well.
Keep at it.
Mark
What an odd turn of events, glad you guys finally got your money back. There are a few other magazine options out there I’m sure your fully aware of that though.
Mark - It has been 16 weeks since I spoke with Customer Service. I was promised a refund within 7-12 business weeks. That has long come and gone. So I decided to call Customer Service again. To my surprise (or maybe not), the phone number for Customer Service is no where to be found even at the Firecrown home site. All I can do is submit an online form with my request. Firecrown says they will respond as soon as they can. I am beginning to think that will be never. My promised refund is $24, but I would still like it back since it was Firecrown that took away the hardcopy magazine I subscribed to receive. “Customer Service”…laughable.
@PaulC …. Try 1-877-246-4847
It’s the number specifically for FineScale Modeler magazine Customer Service.
I got it from the bottom of my subscription paperwork, which has now been recycled. Fortunately, it’s in my “recents” on my phone.
I see it’s also on page “3” (same page as the Table of Contents) of the magazine itself.
Hope this helps,
Mark
Mark - Thanks for this. I will put in a call. I cleared the call history on my phone at the start of the year so I lost the number. I appreciate this. - Paul
The hours for that number are 0800-1630 CST. I’ve missed them the last few days. I’ll try again tomorrow. It seems that this isn’t a big priority for them, but they keep sending me emails to renew my subscription.
Took a couple more calls, but I think they’ve finally got it sorted out. The last customer rep emailed to tell me a cheque has finally been issued, even including the cheque number within the email. Should be getting it within the next couple weeks.
I called on March 4th. The Customer Service Rep was quite helpful and noted that the paper work for my refund had been properly completed by the rep I spoke with back in January. I was promised a follow up e-mail on the status of my refund. No e-mail was received. BUT, my refund cheque showed up in the mail today (March 12th)…a hand written cheque no less. As long as it clears, then this sorry event is at an end…an unnecessary end…but the end.
Got my cheque today. Happy with the results, not so happy about circumstances. Now I just have to hope that the only book store anywhere close to my house keeps carrying the magazine. Each run for the magazine does however give me an excuse to wander through the BassPro in the same mall.
I received a cheque as well, on Friday, even though, as mentioned upthread, I already received my refund which was applied to my credit card. Too funny. I’ll call them Monday to let them know.
As for the magazine being available locally, not at my LHS. I asked and they are not carrying it anymore. Not sure if that is their decision or FSM’s decision, but I got the sense from them that it is FSM’s decision. Simply just not sending it north of the border to anyone anymore.
Cheers,
Mark
Mark - Too funny indeed. No action for weeks and weeks and now double the fun! Now that the sad retreat from Canada (and other international markets) appears to be winding up, it does make me wonder how much longer the paper version of the magazine will remain available to American subscribers. I looked at the circulation numbers published in each issue and the subscription numbers are not huge to begin with. Kalmbach sold for a reason…perhaps declining subscription/circulation numbers are that reason.
Mine lapsed a d i never reviewed.