Hi Sarah,

We've been subscribing since 2005, and subscribe directly via ASM. Our 2007
renewal was a bit of a nightmare, and I found that they weren't willing to
grant us grace access until the payment had reached them, as well as this
the customer service reps didn't seem to know what they were doing, or how
to find customer orders on the system properly. It appears we have had
trouble right from the beginning with loss of access in Feb/March of each
year.

For 2008, I requested the invoice myself directly from them early in
December of last year (definitely don't wait for a renewal notice). Both for
2007 and 2008 they were unable to locate our order on their system, our ship
to address and whether or not you are a member or non member was successful
in assisting them, invoice number also helped. Our access was not lost this
year. Also, definitely ask for EFT details and transfer directly into their
bank account (or advise your agent to do so), it speeds up the process and
eliminates cheques being lost at the subscription office. Using a sub agent
should eliminate the need for having to contact them each year to renew,
ours at least work on an automatical renewal process unless they are advised
otherwise.

Kind regards,

Tracey Reeves
Electronic Resources Officer
Barr Smith Library

University of Adelaide, AUSTRALIA 5005
Ph    : +61 8 8303 4783
Fax   : +61 8 8303 8097
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Sarah Pearson [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Thursday, 17 April 2008 1:00 am
Subject: ASM package - access problems

Hello there,
 
We have been subscribing to the American Society for Microbiology e-
journals package since the beginning of 2007. However, in both years, we
have had significant problems with lack of e-access, processing payments and
unwillingness to compensate for lack of access. In 2007 when we set up the
subscription, we did not get access until nearly 3 months into the year.
This was due to problems processing the payment as they refunded us in error
and then had to re-invoice. In 2008 we have been trying to get access
reinstated to the package for the last month. However, to be fair, we don't
know whether access has been unavailable since Jan 08.
 
In 2007 we asked the publisher for reimbursement for the lack of access we
had for 2 months and they refused. I am going to progress reimbursement for
this year as well but am not confident. 
 
We have our subscription via Swets and both they and we have tried to
communicate with ASM without much success. 
 
Is anyone else experiencing problems on this scale with ASM? At the moment
we are paying for nothing!
Many thanks in advance. 

Sarah
Sarah Pearson
E-Resources & Serials Coordinator
Library Services
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
tel: 0121 414 5825
email: [log in to unmask]