Geocacher Magazine and the joys of Facebook/Paypal
One of my hobbies with the family is Geocaching, often described as the pursuit of Tupperware boxes (caches) using multi-million pound satellite (geo coding or gps positioning).
In support of this hobby on the 1st October 2010 I subscribed via their website www.geocachermagazine.com to an American published magazine "Geocacher. Magazine" paying via Paypal.
I did the above under the belief there was a Winter 2010 edition already going to press and would be posted out shortly after I subscribed. The website also states the magazine was established in 2007.
So I sat patiently until beginning of November and started to wonder where the magazine was and not having any direct contact details joined the Facebook page to see if an update was available.
Having joined the page "Geocacher Magazine" I quickly noticed lots of people asking the same question, "where is the magazine" but the publisher stated he'd had a mild stroke causing some delays but it's at the Press and will be shipped in about 10 days and that the Spring 2011 edition was already laid out.
Sympathy you might have so you wait and before you know it it's end of November and still no magazine.
Subscribers then start being more vocal.
During November he also announced it's on the way. At this point I noticed some subscribers have been such since 2007 and that for their money they had so far only received one edition back in 2007 !
Alarm bells start to ring with more direct questions from subscribers with various excuses continuing through to February 2011
In February he announced that due to trying to improve his health condition he had moved home to a lower altitude and near the sea (California)
What he didn't tell anytime was that he he'd apparently also moved his family to a new home, and he'd got to a new job. The latter I would have believed being quite stressful to anyone so again sympathy or alarm bell ringing excuses again ?
So I contacted and had friend requests from a couple of existing subscribers telling me their story of persistently complaining as I was and that they had asked for and been promised refunds and then were deleted from the facebook page and never received their refunds.
So in February 2011 I'd had enough and went very focal on the Facebook page, questioning whether this was really legitimate or in reality some kind of scam
Because of the publishers continued stream of excuses, knowing this had been going on since 2007 and because the publisher was deliberately hiding any bad press instead of managing the situation honestly I created a facebook page called "Geocacher Magazine Does Not Exist ?" and made awareness of such on the Geocacher Magazine facebook page. Within 2 days it had 8 followers, all complaining exactly the same had happened to them, no mag, no refund, deleted from the facebook page
So I contacted paypal to ask them to get my money back, but the paypal resolution centre won't support you if you are highlighting a problem > 45 days since the transaction !
Ok so I contacted my credit card company (the funding card for my paypal account). They sent me some forms to complete to which I sent back with the attached evidence from facebook of his continued falsifications of the situation and also comments by other subscribers making similar comments. I'm waiting for feedback
Yesterday I received two warnings from Facebook that advised due to a complaint By a third party my protest page had been closed. The reason being it infringes or violates the 3rd parties rights !
Rights to what - take money from people for 4 years and to continue to do so without supplying any goods ??
There is no way to complain to facebook about what they have done or to support your actions and to make them aware what they are supporting. You're a bad boy. Page Removed. End of !
So the protest page has gone and more bad press for the publisher removed to enable him to continue to take money and not supply the goods ;-(
Similarly have you ever tried to complain to paypal ? They provide a contact form if you look really hard for it. And I mean hard ! You send an email and get an automated reply telling you to use the resolution centre which you know won't support your complaint if > 45 days !!
So up a gum tree with no recourse on a dishonest publisher with me as the victim being punished by facebook for violating his rights. Unbelievable and certainly changes how I feel about facebook and paypal and how I will use them in future !
So I wait to find out if my credit card company can get my money back ;-(
I've since searched on the Internet and found a forum on geocaching.com highlighting and supporting the problems with this magazine and only wish I'd seen it before I parted with my money ;-(
Moral of the story ? Don't be fooled by what looks like a legitimate website selling what you believe are legitimate products via a secure payment system for a product or service that you might not get for > 45 days. Ie a quarterly magazine
And don't use facebook as a protest tool because you have no rights yourself in doing so ;-(
