is anyone not going to even bother to answer my post? if it's not placed in the correct forum, then please move it, but at least please have the decency to answer my question! I am not getting any help whatsoever from anyone on the shutterbug staff! No wonder so many paying customers are angry about their subscriptions, since it's obvious they're apparently held in such low esteem. This is disgraceful!

AMEN BROTHER!

When I read the editorial in the December issue of Photographic I was floored. I had just resubscribed for an additional 12 months.

I immediately emailed Shutterbug and P. McConnell wrote me back saying that it was unfortunate but business was business.

I wrote back asking if I'd be receiving a FREE 12 months of Shutterbug. Beth Frysinger from Customer Service responded saying that I would be receiving Shutterbug as a replacement for Photographic.

That was in NOVEMBER of 2005.

I have since written to Shutterbug and Kable Distribution Systems and have received nothing but canned responses.

What kind of leverage do we have? Should we begin to cross post a message to all the forums until somebody from Shutterbug comes to the plate to address the issues of all the former subscribers?

I can't believe that there isn't a louder group out there that have been affected by this. Are we the only two who got shafted? I'm out less than $20, but that's a half a tank of gasoline these days.

So, I repeat the question asked in the previous message...

IS THERE ANYBODY FROM SHUTTERBUG THAT IS WILLING TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM?

Thank you in advance.

Eric

yasminduran and EricS,

I have notified the moderator now three times (you can do that by clicking on one of the icons at the bottom of each message) of your posts and I hope that somebody at Shutterbug wakes up real soon. I don't understand why your issues are not resolved in a question of days or weeks!

Frans Waterlander
pixographer

Thanks, Franz. When I first joined this forum, I'd looked to see if anyone had posted here on the subject, but was surprised to have my post be the first one that I've seen on the subject.

Eric, if you click under "blog" on the main shutter bug website and go down to the very last entry, you'll see there are more than just us two wondering what's going on. 48 replies to the blog the web editor posted about the photographic/shutterbug changeover.

But is anybody getting any satisfaction? I know that I'm not.

Thanks for pointing that "blog" out to me. I'll check it later tonight.

e

Shutterbug has its own direction as a magazine. I've looked to it for information/articles on equipment for years, but have always found "photography technique" articles to be a bit sparse, in content. You might take a look at Photography Monthly as a replacment for Photographic Magazine. It is published in the UK. http://www.photographymonthly.com/

I think you guys are barking up the wrong tree. You need to be contacting Primedia, the publisher for both Shutterbug and Photographic. It was Primedia's decision to kill Photographic, and their responsibility to fix any subscription problems that resulted.

The reality probably is that there may be somewhere upwards of 1,000 times the number of subscriptions to process than those who have voiced problems. I would not be at all surprised if the mailing lists for the two publications are even sufficiently compatible to merge them easily and simply. Although prior to PhotoGraphic being shut down both were owned by Primedia. But that is very recent history, and the offices of the two magazine before were on opposite coasts and competitors.

From an individual perspective I am sure it is irritating seeming to be left out in the cold. But very likely it is NOT the result of any intentional policy or bad "attitude", it is because making the transition is a big task for a very small circulation office, which is probably overwhelmed with the work and the problems involved.

Good point, david. But you would think that any well-run company would make allowances & plan ahead for any such an issue. Not saying it would be flawless, but things might run a bit more smoothly. At the very least, they could send out an automated e-mail bot saying "We're having subscription problems. We apologize for any inconvenience." Might not be much to mollify some, at least it would be better than not responding at all. It doesn't take much effort to set up a mass e-mail/e-mail group response, or put a message in the shutterbug blog or main shutterbug page explaining what the hell is going on.

I think I could liken it to infrastructure development in Las Vegas. The local Public Works and Nevada Dept. of Transportation suck donkey gonads in this regard. They build just enough roads for all the growing areas here, but don't plan ahead and build "just a bit more" to anticipate at least some of the future traffic flow.

It's no wonder there is so much construction going on in so many areas, including two of our main freeways. Not to mention poor planning in general. I remember when I first moved here with my family 14 years ago, and one of the roads we mainly traveled on in North Las Vegas, they widened the road to 2 lanes & a turn lane, then they tore everything up again to lay some frigging seweage pipeline, which they should've done when they were first laying the lane expansions.

That's just crap. ++ edit ++ (pun intended, now that I think about what I just inadvertently wrote )

If you think Vegas is bad, try driving I-25 through Denver, I-35 through Austin, TX, I-17 through Phoenix, or anywhere on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. One of my favorite truisms about military planning is that no battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. In corporate and government circles, that translates into "No plan ever survives first contact with reality". I'm sure they did the best they could......and that's scary enough.

I am sorry. But from your remarks I think in this world today your expectations are bound to be disappointed.

Sorry for the delay in replying to all this but I had to make sure everything was in place.
First off, Photographic was not folded into Shutterbug. They are different magazines with different edit etc. that happened to be owned by the same company. That at least is from the edit side. On the subscription side some Photographic subscribers were brought into Shutterbug subs, and some of the list went to Werrner as part of the closing down of the magazine. This caused some confusion, which I am assured has been straightened out.

Here's the answer from the Primedia subscription folks:

"Former Photographic subscribers - those of you who were not scheduled to
receive Shutterbug will be receiving either Outdoor Photographer or PC
Photo on a 1-to-1 basis for the balance of your Photographic
subscription.

Those magazines are being readied for shipment and you should have one
or the other within the next two weeks.

If you do not receive one of the two magazines or have questions, call
1-800-283-4410. The customer service people should be able to access
your name for one of these magazines and provide information. Please be
sure to identify yourself as a former Photographic subscriber.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Please note the 800 number and contact it and I am assured that all will be worked out.

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU, George! This was the information I'd been looking for! Any of those magazines, shutterbug, or OP (which is my favorite), etc. I would be happy in getting as long as the remainder of what I would get in photographic would be filled up. Just FYI, in case I don't get shutterbug, I already receive PC Photo, so would I receive Outdoor by default? (which I would be very happy with because I adore the magazine, being mostly an outdoor photographer myself).

Please let me add my own Thank you!

The only down side is that last week I sent in my check for a 12 month subscription to Outdoor Photographer. I'm sure I'll be able to just extend it by 12 months.

Thanks again!

e

Outdoor Photographer is a waste of good paper - and I used to be a charter subscriber. A MUCH better magazine is Outdoor Photography - published in the UK - the quality of the paper is higher, the image quality is higher, and unlike its US they aren't condescending to film photographers.

Well, I'm also partial to UK magazines myself (luckily living in Vegas, several of the bookstores get them), but I buy both Outdoor P mags on occasion and like both of them. As long as I get the remainder of my subscription filled out, I'll be happy, and since I already get PC Photo by subscription, that leaves only two other options.

Quote:
Well, I'm also partial to UK magazines myself (luckily living in Vegas, several of the bookstores get them), but I buy both Outdoor P mags on occasion and like both of them. As long as I get the remainder of my subscription filled out, I'll be happy, and since I already get PC Photo by subscription, that leaves only two other options.

I can't get past Outdoor Photographers condescending attitude towards film photographers.

Indeed it is not a Shutterbug Issue... Actually you should be grateful that Shutterbug will fulfill the Photocrapic subscribers. I use to work at Shutterbug and though Petersons or Photographic whatever you want to call it was junk for the price. There are a lot better rags on the stands than that ever was. Primedia also webnt through a time of having a CEO that should have been ousted long before his time. He almost took Shutterbug to the ground as well, but through the determination of folks like George S. the rag is alive again.

Sure the new logo looks like crap, but you shouldn't buy mags because of their logo. The new size is great since it will fit right beside the others. But if the content is not what suits you, then don't bitch about what Shutterbug is NOT doing, go to the racks and find the rag that you like. But you can pretty well be asured that all test reports and articles about new stuff will be in every one.

Ther are rags for fine art guys, equipment news, and then the rags that try to cover it all. (stay away from those, because you will be dissapointed) It is best to focus on your target if you ever have any hopes of hitting it. Sure you can spray it with an M16 but the mess around the target is less than to be desired than if you had put a scope on a high powered rifle and fired one good shot dead center.

I had not replied earlier, because I was not familiar with the shuttberbug forum. I too was caught up in the switch-over from Photographic to Shutterbug, and it took at least 5 phone calls and as many apologies to finally get the balance of issues due to me from Shutterbug. I ended up getting 4 issues of Shutterbug in a week's time. People on the phone gave me such lame excuses as "oh, it looks like someone forgot to click the right button - I'll click it, and you should be ok." Oh well, Shutterbug is a pretty cool magazine.

DoctorSid
Enjoyed your web pages.

Thank you for that, Robert! One of my favorite things about Photographic was the very simple "how to's" on so many different things. I really miss that mag But, will check into Photography Monthly. Thanks again