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Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
mpw said:
If he paid his subcription through DD or CC he should call his bank/credit provider. They'll often credt their customer and go after the supplier themselves. I think if it's by DD the supplier's bank gurantees the customers money so it'll be their loss if Highbury went belly up not your boyfriend or his bank.



And if that doesn't work, there's always...


campbell.jpg




:D
 
L

Lau

Guest
Blue Velvet said:
And if that doesn't work, there's always...

He just said he'd rather be out the 24 quid than face the horror that is Nicky Campbell... :D
 
L

Lau

Guest
combatcolin said:
Still no bloody GamesTM

And there not taking "Individual" phone calls now.

Never had this with Edge.
Nor Macformat.
Nor Ace.

:confused:

Hmm. You saw my post above, right?

I did some poking around on the net the other day, and the following is all rumor and unreliable. (MagRumors? :D )

Highbury are in receivership.
It sounds like an awful situation for their employees, who have been told they have a week to get out. :(
It's rumoured that a publishers called Imagine have bought Games TM, who are apparently quite good.
Future Publishing aren't allowed to buy it, as this would make them have a monopoly in games magazines. This was why their takeover bid was refused earlier this year.

So if Imagine have bought it, that bodes well for subscribers, as they should honour the subscriptions, I would have thought. Liam bought this month's issue himself though, as he didn't want to miss out, and it looks unlikely that it'll be sorted before next week, when the next one's due out.

Aren't I a fab internet sleuth? ;)
 

combatcolin

macrumors 68020
Oct 24, 2004
2,283
0
Northants, UK
A-Ha.

When i phoned up before i was told thre was "printing" issues, at least i got through to someone.

You know whats going to heppen don't you?

The current and next issues will arrive on the same day!

:rolleyes:
 

XIII

macrumors 68040
Aug 15, 2004
3,449
0
England
Mustafa said:
OK, panic over -- I picked up Issue 26 at W H Smith today. Paper and print quality appears to be normal.

Issue 27 is due out Jan 19!

Lau said:
My boyfriend just sent me this in an email, having phoned Highbury:



So that sucks, guys. Hopefully those of you with a subscription were near the end of it, as opposed to poor Liam who had just renewed his....

I was gifted a subscription for Xmas. Haven't received one copy yet.. :(

Awww ****. Whats gonna happen? Should I be chasing people up? If issue 26 is out, why haven't I received it yet? If I've lost this years subscription, I will be PISSED.
 
L

Lau

Guest
XIII said:
I was gifted a subscription for Xmas. Haven't received one copy yet.. :(

Awww ****. Whats gonna happen? Should I be chasing people up? If issue 26 is out, why haven't I received it yet? If I've lost this years subscription, I will be PISSED.

I'd hang in there. You could give them a phone and see what they say, if they will actually take your call. As mpw mentioned earlier, hopefully if the worst comes to the worst you can claim the money back through a chargeback. However, if another company has bought the magazine, I'd be very surprised if they don't honour the current subscriptions, as to do so would be to piss off their most loyal customers before they've even started! They'll probably continue the subscription from whatever month they take it over from. That's my (semi) educated guess.

If I find out anything, I'll post it here.
 

XIII

macrumors 68040
Aug 15, 2004
3,449
0
England
Thanks. I guess I just sit back and hope.. What worries me is that issue 26 is out in newsagents apparently, yet I haven't got one. :(

Oh well. We'll see.
 
L

Lau

Guest
XIII said:
Thanks. I guess I just sit back and hope.. What worries me is that issue 26 is out in newsagents apparently, yet I haven't got one. :(

Yeah. That's the bit that royally sucks. Liam's been in a grump every time he spots it in a newsagent for the last month. From a customer satisfaction point of view, the right thing to do would be to send them to your subscribers. But if you're a company going tits up, I suppose if the subscribers have already paid, the trick is to get non-subscribers to buy one, and if you're going under, who cares about your customers?! Double the money to pay off your debts. Annoying as hell though.

Liam bought this month's one because he figured there's no way it's going to get to him. It's a gamble, because they may still send out in the next week. But if they do, you could always flog it on eBay, for the "Oooh, did you miss out on this issue?" factor. :D
 

mrfrosty

macrumors 6502a
Oct 1, 2005
500
21
mpw said:
If he paid his subcription through DD or CC he should call his bank/credit provider. They'll often credt their customer and go after the supplier themselves. I think if it's by DD the supplier's bank gurantees the customers money so it'll be their loss if Highbury went belly up not your boyfriend or his bank.

I have been through this on something else.....DD is no good, but CC is perfect. Check the consumer credit act 1974. I once bought some unfeasably expensive tickets to see madonna and the company went bust before I got them...Only took 2 weeks to get four figures out of the CC company. My advise is ALWAYS pay for everything on CC !!
 
L

Lau

Guest
mrfrosty said:
My advise is ALWAYS pay for everything on CC !!

Yes, since I worked at the bank doing chargebacks I've done two things - 1) get a credit card, 2) use it for anything that has any potential of being dodgy.

I pay the balance every month, it's not for credit as such, but I use it for eBay, internet shopping, big purchases, and anything else that could screw me over in the future. My debit card is used at the supermarket, for beer at the corner shop, the odd little thing and cashback, basically.

I saw so many people in that job who were so lucky to have used their credit card for whatever it was. Saw some very amusing cases as well :D .
 

ukcobra

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2006
10
0
mpw said:
If he paid his subcription through DD or CC he should call his bank/credit provider. They'll often credt their customer and go after the supplier themselves. I think if it's by DD the supplier's bank gurantees the customers money so it'll be their loss if Highbury went belly up not your boyfriend or his bank.

There is no comeback if you have an existing DD and the company fail to send the magazines. I've checked with First Direct this morning about this. They will write to the company on my behalf, but there is no right to a refund.

Unfortunately my last DD went out on the 6th for Web Designer, my sub to iCreate does not apepar to have been set up properly. The last issue I have is 25. It was a very good read. I hope it remains in production.
 

JulesLt

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2005
3
0
Me too

Eventually got my #26 from Smith's after reaching conclusion it wasn't going to arrive.

Mac Creative is published by iMagine rather than Highbury. I'm sure that if iCreate goes under, you can expect a lot of the staff to resurface there, or for iMagine to simply buy the title in the asset disposal and merge the two titles, as it still has far better recognition, especially abroad.

Mac Creative being rather, 'inspired' by iCreate, this wouldn't be too much effort.

I'd also be equally happy if the title was to end up at Future, as it's always 'felt' like a title they would have done in their heyday. I'm not sure where the monopolies commission stands once something is in administration - while I can understand preventing buyouts that let someone dominate the field, it must be a different situation.

It's a shame, because if I remember iCreate was originally published by someone else that Highbury aquired.

One explanation, BTW, for the high price / why it was such a good magazine, is that it had barely any adverts. Compare to Computer Shopper . . .
 

Project

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2005
2,297
0
JulesLt said:
One explanation, BTW, for the high price / why it was such a good magazine, is that it had barely any adverts. Compare to Computer Shopper . . .

I think other factors are

1) Small, but dedicated circulation
2) Higher cost of production - they used some fine materials

Its similar to EDGE magazine I guess.

I didnt like Mac Creative at first, as I thought it was an iCreate ripoff, but it is actually a pretty good magazine. And at least they dont fill pages with the most inane beginners guide articles like iCreate often did. Like this one here in #24. 'Create a smart album in iPhoto'. Or this article on how to use Smart Shuffle in iTunes lol
 

XIII

macrumors 68040
Aug 15, 2004
3,449
0
England
Whats the overall consensus then? Should I just wait, and hope that issues turn up.. :/ Surely they wouldn't just let their subscribers pay and not receive anything..

This is really starting to worry me.
 

ukcobra

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2006
10
0
XIII said:
Whats the overall consensus then? Should I just wait, and hope that issues turn up.. :/ Surely they wouldn't just let their subscribers pay and not receive anything..

This is really starting to worry me.

I guess it depends if they have money to pay for the postage....
I guess it depends if they have kept some to send out...

I had this same problem with Web Designer before Christmas, it appeared in the shops, but my subscription copy did n't arrive until I rang and asked for it.

Personally, I don't expect it to turn up !

Mark
 

ukcobra

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2006
10
0
Just rung the main switchboard number, got answered by Security.

They told me that Highbury were in the hands of the liguidators, and that there is no one to speak to in Customer Services, as technically they are
not operating anymore.

Mark
 

XIII

macrumors 68040
Aug 15, 2004
3,449
0
England
ukcobra said:
I guess it depends if they have money to pay for the postage....
I guess it depends if they have kept some to send out...

I had this same problem with Web Designer before Christmas, it appeared in the shops, but my subscription copy did n't arrive until I rang and asked for it.

Personally, I don't expect it to turn up !

Mark

I'll call them later today. Thanks.
 

XIII

macrumors 68040
Aug 15, 2004
3,449
0
England
Nice work. What I can't find is who to call.. Highbury House? I dunno. :rolleyes: This is so stupid.
 

ukcobra

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2006
10
0
Phoned Imagine Subscription department, they have no details as yet, nor do they know when. The management have to decide what it is they wish to do with their purchase of iCreate.

It does not make sense to run two mags with similar content, so I suspect iCreate would be merged into macCreative. This is purely my own speculation, and would be what I would do in their position.

Mark
 

XIII

macrumors 68040
Aug 15, 2004
3,449
0
England
The number you need (in the UK) is 0870 837 8668. People I spoke to said there had just been a delay in the posting, and that it would be coming... :rolleyes:

Who knows..
 

ukcobra

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2006
10
0
I got an email reply from the new owner, they have no idea when the first issue is coming out.

They also said they have no plans to send out any issues they have not printed. They indicated that they are in the process of transferring subscription details.

Issue 26 is still in the shops, and Issue 27 should have been in the shops on the 19th Jan. I picked up 26 last night in a local Newsagent, it was the last one on their shelves.

Highbury are in the hands of the Liquidators according to my contact, they are very unlikely to be sending anything out. Fortunately iCreate has been purchased by another firm, Imagine Publishing, whose background appears to be mainly ex-Highbury staff/executives.

Not all Highbury titles have found new homes. My other subscriptions include Web Designer and Xbox 360, both of which my Direct Debits went out before the company went bust, and without any issues being sent.

I highly doubt that Highbury are going to add to their debts by mailing our back issues. The liquidators job is to sell part of the business to repay they debt owed to the banks.

Have a look at the Highbury website, and download the 23 page Interim accounts, you'll see what a huge debt they had.

My suggestion is to wait until Imagine announce what they intend to do with their recent purchase.

Mark
 
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