I am pleased to say that we have been able to solve the problems Glasgow
Caledonian University was experiencing in the process of cancelling
their "Europa World of Learning" subscription. This has been a
complicated case with a string of miscommunication and misunderstandings
causing the customer's frustration, and we are sorry about that.
We have now cancelled their subscription and a refund will be made.
In order to avoid any future misunderstandings of this kind, I would
like to ask our customers to stick to below communication channels:
a) If you subscribe through a subscription agent: please liaise with
your subscription agent about any orders, cancellations or payments you
wish to place. We work very closely with all major and most minor
subscription agents and library suppliers, and can ensure a timely and
effective response. If you choose a subscription agent to arrange the
subscriptions on your behalf, this agent will be our main point of
contact for your orders; this includes any cancellations.
b) If for any reason you need to contact us directly, please copy your
subscription agent into the emails, so they are kept in the loop of
communications. Please make sure you contact us as stated in c).
c) If you subscribe directly with us, please make sure you contact us
on the correct email addresses. You can contact either Martin Jack
([log in to unmask], 020 7017 6058) or myself
([log in to unmask], 020 7017 6062) at any time.
Alternatively, you can email us on our generic email
[log in to unmask] This email address is monitored constantly
and we ensure a reply within 24 hours during business hours.
I would also like to clarify that we never renew subscriptions
automatically, but only upon request by the customer or subscription
agent. To make sure renewal dates are not missed we send out reminder
emails well in advance. We accept cancellations of subscriptions up to
the renewal date, as long as no payment has been made.
If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to
contact me directly.
I would like to take this opportunity and wish everyone on the list a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
With kind regards,
Annika Lindemann
eBooks & Online Sales Manager
Taylor & Francis Group
+44 20 7017 6062 (phone)
+44 78 2538 2218 (mobile)
+44 20 7017 6699 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
2 Park Square
Milton Park
Abingdon
OX14 4RN
UK
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by UKSG - Connecting the Information
Community [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of McNally,
Lorna
Sent: 15 December 2009 16:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [LIS-E-RESOURCES] T&F (Tired & Fed up) - cancellation woes
Extract from the diary of a serials librarian...
August 10th 2009
An invoice arrives on my desk for "World of Learning" for 2010. Note - I
must check the usage of this!
August 12th 2009
Email T&F for usage statistics of "World of Learning" - error message
received. Strange.
August 13th 2009
Email again for usage statistics asking that my query be directed to the
appropriate team as I had already received an error message from my
previous email. No response.
27th August 2009
Emailed T&F again BEGGING for usage statistics - no response.
24th September 2009
Email a named person pleading for usage statistics for World of
Learning.
29th September 2009
Success! A response from T&F. I now have usage statistics for World of
Learning. It is not happy reading. Only 4 searches in the period
January - September 2009. BUT! I am told in the same email that our
agent, Blackwell, has already renewed our subscription for 2010 in JULY!
30th September 2009
Confirmation from T&F that our usage is indeed low.
1st October 2009
Email to Blackwell instructing them to cancel this subscription. 3
months notice. Surely this is enough?
1st October 2009
Email from Blackwell that they will take care of this. Phew.
2nd October 2009
Clarification email from Blackwell that they can only cancel from 2011!
15 months notice. What?*?!
6th and 7th October 2009
Emails to our known contacts at T&F asking for help.
13th and 14th October 2009
Various emails between Blackwell, T&F and me. T&F are looking for a way
to 'trick the system' to allow the cancellation.
14th October 2009
Email from T&F eBooks & Online Sales Executive at Taylor & Francis. He
is meeting with the Blackwell's rep 'in the near future' to discuss the
matter further with her.
16th November 2009
I email T&F eBooks & Online Sales Executive to check on whether the
cancellation has been processed.
19th November 2009
Birthday. Another year older.
20th November 2009
I email again to check on the status of our cancellation of World of
Learning.
23rd November 2009
Email from T&F eBooks & Online Sales Executive that he and the
Blackwell's rep are to meet on Friday 11th December to "discuss this
matter".
10th December 2009
Decision day tomorrow. I hope T&F see sense and let us cancel our 2010
subscription to World of Learning.
11th December 2009
D-Day
The following is a quote from the T&F eBooks & Online Sales Executive,
"I'm sorry to say that we will not refund or cancel your subscription
for 2010. We cannot issue refunds on payments already received given the
length of time that elapsed since the subscription was purchased and the
point at which you requested cancellation. Regarding your low usage
statistics, I must allude to the words of my colleagues at Blackwells:
'had this been a printed book we would have been unable to accept its
return because its lack of use did not justify its inclusion in your
collection.'"
His point is correct, any book that was not used would not be refunded.
That would be ridiculous. If a book is not used, it is withdrawn and
future editions are not purchased.
Surely the point about online subscriptions is that we can check usage.
If a subscription is not used then it is cancelled for the forthcoming
year. I believe I gave over 3 months notice of cancellation after
waiting quite some time for usage statistics from T&F, surely this is
enough time?
Finally, just a small matter, colleagues may be interested to note that
we found incorrect information contained in 'World of Learning'.
Yours,
T&F (Tired and Fed up).
Lorna
Lorna McNally | Librarian | Information Services | Glasgow Caledonian
University | Cowcaddens Road | Glasgow | G4 0BA
Telephone: 0141 273 1134 | Email: [log in to unmask]
Glasgow Caledonian University is a registered Scottish charity, number
SC021474
Winner: Times Higher Education's Widening Participation Initiative of
the Year 2009 and Herald Society's Education Initiative of the Year 2009
http://www.gcal.ac.uk/newsevents/news/bycategory/theuniversity/1/name,62
19,en.html
lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups
also available on Facebook and LinkedIn Email has been scanned for
viruses by Altman Technologies' email management service -
www.altman.co.uk/emailsystems
Glasgow Caledonian University is a registered Scottish charity, number
SC021474
Winner: Times Higher Education's Widening Participation Initiative of
the Year 2009 and Herald Society's Education Initiative of the Year 2009
http://www.gcal.ac.uk/newsevents/news/bycategory/theuniversity/1/name,62
19,en.html
lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups
also available on Facebook and LinkedIn Email has been scanned for
viruses by Altman Technologies' email management service -
www.altman.co.uk/emailsystems
Glasgow Caledonian University is a registered Scottish charity, number
SC021474
Winner: Times Higher Education's Widening Participation Initiative of
the Year 2009 and Herald Society's Education Initiative of the Year 2009
http://www.gcal.ac.uk/newsevents/news/bycategory/theuniversity/1/name,62
19,en.html
lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups
also available on Facebook and LinkedIn
lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials UKSG groups
also available on Facebook and LinkedIn
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lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials
UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn
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