View Camera Journal

[Tony Evans]

As a newbie, in an effort to support LF and my learning thereof, I subscribed to the Journal back in February, funds duly taken from PayPal. I have however received no confirmation of my subscription. Without recognition I can not enter the site. Today, I emailed for clarification but my email was returned "mail box full". Is there a problem here?

[Bob Kerner]

Do you mean View Camera Magazine? Their subscription performance is awful at best in my experience. I subscribed years ago and stopped because I received about 2 issues a year in my mailbox. The rest of the time I had to purchase at the bookstore. I re- subscribed 2 months ago and have not received a copy, not even a back issue. In my mind nothing has changed and I wasted my money again.

I hope you have a better outcome. You might try calling them. Any time I called in the past they blamed the postal service which I thought (and still think) is a lame excuse since VC is the only magazine that never seems to make it to my mailbox.

[darr]

No, it is a small operation. I have been a subscriber for over 20 years and once you are on their subscription list, it eventually gets better. Just have some patience.

Kind regards,
Darr

PS: check your mailbox in 5 minutes for a PM. :)

[tgtaylor]

I have been a View Camera subscriber for 4 or 5 years now and have never missed an issue. Apparently they wait until the newsstand issue is out before they mail out the subscribers issue for the preceding issue. For example I received the January/February issue around the 1st of March. Other than that their service is good.

Thomas

[Louie Powell]

Tony -

It typically takes several months for a new magazine subscription to 'take'. What typically happens is that the publisher supplied a list of subscribers to the printer who prints mailing labels and mails each issue.

February was just last month. I just got my copy of the January/February issue last week. If I were you, I would not expect to receive anything in the mail until at least May.

View Camera is a very small operation - basically, just two people, Steve Simmons and Andrea Miles. So its not unusual for them to take a bit longer to respond. A phone call may be more effective than an e-mail.

[civich]

My experience was the same as the OP's. After two subscription payments I gave up. Seems like a pretty good scam.
-Chris

[gphoto120]

Any subscription issues I had were solved by making a phone call. They also have returned messages left by phone. It is one of two remaining publications I support, the other being LensWork.

[SolsticePhoto]

Seems others are having the same issue I just went through. In addition to ordering the magazine I also ordered the articles on CD. It took a couple of emails to Andrea -- each of which were answered within 48 hours -- and all is well. Because of the delay in my order they priority mailed the Feb issue with the CD to me !

Good Luck

[Bill Kumpf]

I have been a subscriber since 2004. The one issue I missed was replaced after a phone call. Even then, the missed issue was caused by my son picking up the mail and loosing the magazine in his truck.

Nice people......

[Vaughn]

I have subscribed since the beginning. The only issues I have missed have been two when I had let my subscription run out. The good things in life are worth waiting for.

Calling is best.

[dperez]

I paid for a two year subscription last December. Never recieved an issue. I called and they took down my information and put the jan/feb issue in the mail. I recieved it in three days time. So, as others have said, just give them a call.

-DP

[Michael Jones]

I've subscribed for over 20 years without an issue (no pun intended). If you call, you'll get waht you need.

Mike

[MumbleyJoe]

Despite the distribution issues (easily resolved it seems) this discussion has motivated me to finally subscribe (I pick it up on in book stores whenever I can anyway). Just wondering if anyone here has ordered any of their Tech Series publications as well? Could be a good resource for people who've missed most of the back issues, I'd imagine. I'd love to know anyone else's take on them.

[Tony Evans]

Good news and credit where credit is due. My phone call went unanswered so re-sent the e-mail. Got a reply today. All is well, I am subscribed, copy in mail.
Thank you for the encouragement which was fully justified.

[Tony Evans]

Maybe not! Advised shipped Feb. 25th. As at April 16th. no sign of it.

[Bob Kerner]

Still waiting for my first copy. Subscribed in late Jan. I don't accept that it takes 3 months to get a copy to a new subscriber. Simply unacceptable service from a publication that relies on a niche market to begin with.

[John Koehrer]

I gave up after having to get issues at the news stand. I subscribed two or three times(slow learner). Now I can't find it at either Borders or Barnes & Noble. Poop!

[Don7x17]

Website says that they are no longer delivering magazines to Borders to sell. Borders is in bankruptcy.

[Tony Evans]

Success. Arrived 6th. May!

[Bob Kerner]

Feb 25 to May 6 is quite a difference. Maybe mine will arrive by next March. I'm not giving them anymore money. I go to store read it and put it back on the shelf, just like the masses. It's the only book/mag I do that with now. Everything else I buy. They deserve to go the way of the dodo.

[goamules]

....deleted pending...

[dperez]

I paid for a two year subscription last December. Never recieved an issue. I called and they took down my information and put the jan/feb issue in the mail. I recieved it in three days time. So, as others have said, just give them a call.

-DP

My first issue was mailed after I called, now here we are in May and I have not received the second issue yet. I guess I have to call in for each issue to be mailed.

-DP

[Barry Kirsten]

I've been a subscriber since the beginning of the year when they did the wonderful Paul Caponigro feature.

I'm so glad I took out a subscription - even though US$7.95 an issue blows out to AU$18.00 by the time I see it! The March/April edition arrived yesterday and it's superb.

Hats off to Steve. I know VC is only a two person outfit and a few people are upset, but when I look at his contribution to LF over the last 20-30 years (I bought his first book in about '85 I think) it's worth giving him a go.

Barry.

[ArtRosen]

I have been a View Camera subscriber for 4 or 5 years now and have never missed an issue. Apparently they wait until the newsstand issue is out before they mail out the subscribers issue for the preceding issue. For example I received the January/February issue around the 1st of March. Other than that their service is good.

Thomas

Curious. Why does it matter when you receive a copy of a magazine you subscribed to? As long as you receive it? I subscribe to VC and whenever it comes - it comes. It's not a news magazine where there's urgent information in there that if I don't receive before a certain date, the information no longer holds any value. I also save money off of the cover price and in this economy, every single penny counts.

[ArtRosen]

Any subscription issues I had were solved by making a phone call. They also have returned messages left by phone. It is one of two remaining publications I support, the other being LensWork.

I love Lenswork. I also buy B&W, read the digital edition of Focus and get Silvershotz too. I recently dropped my subscription to Aperture.

[ArtRosen]

Website says that they are no longer delivering magazines to Borders to sell. Borders is in bankruptcy.

I think that's silly. If Time and People are still distributing there, Borders is paying the magazine distributors.

[Tony Evans]

Barry,
Strange. How come you get yours in Melly Born before I get mine? Must be the left-wing Goverment. :).
A Kiwi-Canuck!

[tgtaylor]

Curious. Why does it matter when you receive a copy of a magazine you subscribed to? As long as you receive it? I subscribe to VC and whenever it comes - it comes. It's not a news magazine where there's urgent information in there that if I don't receive before a certain date, the information no longer holds any value. I also save money off of the cover price and in this economy, every single penny counts.

Actually it doesn't matter to me anymore.

When I first subscribed I would frequent a Borders and had to resist the temptation of reading the newsstand issue before my subscribers issue arrived. I actually complained about that on this forum when Steve was still a member and he actually started mailing out the subscribers issue with the newsstand issue. Then something happened on this forum which I am not aware of and he is no longer participates or is a member and stopped mailing out the subscribers issue with the newsstand issue.

Nowadays I don't frequent a Borders or Barnes & Noble as much as I did - they closed up -so the temptation to read the issue before I receive it in the mail is no longer there.

Thomas

[Barry Kirsten]

Barry,
Strange. How come you get yours in Melly Born before I get mine? Must be the left-wing Goverment. :).
A Kiwi-Canuck!

Left-wing government - LOL :rolleyes: They couldn't be trusted to run a chook raffle, let alone run a country! No, I think it was just luck.

Tony, why would you leave NZ for Canada, except perhaps that there's much more of the same wonderful scenery? I intend to see NZ again, it's been too long. I've never been to Canada, but oh, would I love to. Must do it!

Regards,

Barry.

[Tony Evans]

We have a room for you. Any time Barry. Do not recommend our winter :(.

[dperez]

My first issue was mailed after I called, now here we are in May and I have not received the second issue yet. I guess I have to call in for each issue to be mailed.

-DP

Despite the problems with mailings, View Camera Magazine's service is very friendly and cordial, so it’s hard for me to say negative things about them. The March/April issue is in the mail, and they apologized for the delay and assured me that they would get it out sooner next time. I realize that they are not a large operation, so I'm just going to be patient. I like the magazine a lot, and to me it’s worth the wait. Every time I have called them I spoke to a human being (I believe it was Steve Simmons) so kudos to them for not having a phone tree to suffer through.

-DP

[msk2193]

Curious. Why does it matter when you receive a copy of a magazine you subscribed to? As long as you receive it?

Except for when there is an ad for an interesting seminar or event that has occurred in the past becasue there was no magazine in the mail!

[jnantz]

SNIP

... VC is only a two person outfit and a few people are upset ...
Barry.

a few people upset ??

seems that half the people who subscribe stay subscribed
and the other half cancel ... and then it s the same thing all over again.

luckily there are enough people who take up lf photography to keep getting
new subscriptions ...

i had a subscription a number of years ago and cancelled it after seeing
how the publisher treated people online ( and over the phone ).
i didn't want my $$ to subsidize that sort of behavior so i cancelled it.
every once in a while threads like this come up ... the last one was o n Pnet
and when i commented ... the publisher singled me out, told me i was a faceless troll
who follows him around the internet and then suggested i was "stalking him" ..

as i was saying, not the kind of behavior i want to condone with my subscription.

[Andrew Plume]

SNIP


a few people upset ??

seems that half the people who subscribe stay subscribed
and the other half cancel ... and then it s the same thing all over again.

luckily there are enough people who take up lf photography to keep getting
new subscriptions ...

i had a subscription a number of years ago and cancelled it after seeing
how the publisher treated people online ( and over the phone ).
i didn't want my $$ to subsidize that sort of behavior so i cancelled it.
every once in a while threads like this come up ... the last one was o n Pnet
and when i commented ... the publisher singled me out, told me i was a faceless troll
who follows him around the internet and then suggested i was "stalking him" ..

as i was saying, not the kind of behavior i want to condone with my subscription.


oh....................

another 'VCM' thread, which I've missed................

....................and yet another punter dissatisfied with Steve Simmons, aka the Publisher

me, I stopped subscribing a couple of years ago but am still happy to pick up back issues when I can

andrew

[NoBob]

Subscribed again a few days ago and received the login details the following day...

[mitomac]

Subscribed April 11th and received March/April issue May 16th. Seems reasonable.

[goamules]

Some of you may have read my Wetplate Collodion Today article in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue. After a 6 month long, patient attempt to have View Camera Magazine pay my invoice for the article, at the rate we agreed to on the phone, I give up. I have not once received a return to my monthly emails, FAXs, nor phone messages.

I have been businesslike and professional in every correspondence, I have kept the high ground.

In January 2011 when I proposed writing the article my email query was answered immediately. When I submitted the article the next week, with photographs, they were acknowledged, emails back and forth were prompt, and the article published.

But when I submitted my invoice I got a quick email, "what's your address so I can send some copies of the issue?". I've been warned by other authors and photographers that this is the bait/switch form of "payment", so I replied that I'd like to also get my invoice paid. No one works for free, and as a writer and training developer I discussed payments before writing or sending the article. We had a verbal contract. After I sent that email, I received no answer....ever...for 6 months.

Well, I did get a surprising email when I posted the #21 response above, about the problem, from the editor; "Thanks for the cheap shot on the forum....the check was sent but must have been lost, I'll send another." This was within 15 minutes of me posting that complaint, and months of no answers to my requests for payment. I gave the benefit of the doubt, and deleted the post (it's still there as a placeholder). I never got the check. That was 2 months ago. Again, I've emailed, FAXed, and left voice messages regarding my unpaid invoice at 2 week intervals. No reponse.

[darr]

This is disturbing. As a long time subscriber, I feel it would be wrong for me to keep supporting this type of business practice. This is not the first time I have heard of contributors not getting paid after a negotiated fee had been accepted by both parties. I would take it to small claims court just to make a public notice.



Some of you may have read my Wetplate Collodion Today article in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue. After a 6 month long, patient attempt to have View Camera Magazine pay my invoice for the article, at the rate we agreed to on the phone, I give up. I have not once received a return to my monthly emails, FAXs, nor phone messages.

I have been businesslike and professional in every correspondence, I have kept the high ground.

In January 2011 when I proposed writing the article my email query was answered immediately. When I submitted the article the next week, with photographs, they were acknowledged, emails back and forth were prompt, and the article published.

But when I submitted my invoice I got a quick email, "what's your address so I can send some copies of the issue?". I've been warned by other authors and photographers that this is the bait/switch form of "payment", so I replied that I'd like to also get my invoice paid. No one works for free, and as a writer and training developer I discussed payments before writing or sending the article. We had a verbal contract. After I sent that email, I received no answer....ever...for 6 months.

Well, I did get a surprising email when I posted the #21 response above, about the problem, from the editor; "Thanks for the cheap shot on the forum....the check was sent but must have been lost, I'll send another." This was within 15 minutes of me posting that complaint, and months of no answers to my requests for payment. I gave the benefit of the doubt, and deleted the post (it's still there as a placeholder). I never got the check. That was 2 months ago. Again, I've emailed, FAXed, and left voice messages regarding my unpaid invoice at 2 week intervals. No reponse.