christian Boehm Posted October 16, 2021 Share Posted October 16, 2021 Hi Paul Yes you're right It's SAMI Scale Aircraft Modeller International From MA Publications I am astonished by all these close problems related. What can we do....?? Christian Ps : imagine I wrote my problem on a french 1/72 forum (where I exist as well) I just guessed if Uk or France customs are the origine....no agressivity And I got a chocked response of a modeller who works as a customs employee !! He told everything works all right .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLN Posted October 16, 2021 Author Share Posted October 16, 2021 I ordered the Jun and Jul issues of MA & SAMi the day they appeared on the website, after over 2 months several excuses and no copies managed to get a full refund. In fact I have not heard of anybody actually receiving the aforementioned issues. Given the poor service and total disregard for customers I will not be purchasing these titles in future. To say I have no confidence in this company would be an understatement. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuraiwarrior Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 I still have not got my August/September issue of SAMI either, even though a 'replacement' copy was supposed to have been posted on 11th October. So yesterday, I penned a suitably worded email, expressing my dismay of broken promises and assurances repeatedly, to MW of MA Publications Ltd. I did get a reply this morning, see below:- "Hi Kevin, Thank you for your email. I will have a copy sent by tracked post to you tomorrow. I am unsure what is happening currently but we are trying to find out behind the scenes. We want these problems resolved and magazines to arrive with out issue. Best regards Mark" So, hopefully a copy will arrive sometime next week. I have emailed MW in reply and have asked him to supply the tracking number once he has sent it by tracked post so I can check its progress, or not.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 27 minutes ago, Samuraiwarrior said: I still have not got my August/September issue of SAMI either, even though a 'replacement' copy was supposed to have been posted on 11th October. So yesterday, I penned a suitably worded email, expressing my dismay of broken promises and assurances repeatedly, to MW of MA Publications Ltd. I did get a reply this morning, see below:- "Hi Kevin, Thank you for your email. I will have a copy sent by tracked post to you tomorrow. I am unsure what is happening currently but we are trying to find out behind the scenes. We want these problems resolved and magazines to arrive with out issue. Best regards Mark" So, hopefully a copy will arrive sometime next week. I have emailed MW in reply and have asked him to supply the tracking number once he has sent it by tracked post so I can check its progress, or not.... Will be interesting to see if they do this or if it is just another tactic to placate and stall. Will give my replacement copy a few days and then will be asking for pro rata refund for my not received subscription issues. Any good will and understanding has now gone. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian Boehm Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 I receive the same type of answers from "Sophie", without ever anything concrete It's almost "copied - pasted" for all of us ... Confidence is severely impaired .... I wonder if they watch all our exchanges... Britmodeller is known all over UK as a first class exchange forum and I guess they read our anger (and sadness) .... Everybody can mind THIS is the place to chat about an english magazine.... christian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLN Posted October 18, 2021 Author Share Posted October 18, 2021 1 hour ago, christian Boehm said: I receive the same type of answers from "Sophie", without ever anything concrete It's almost "copied - pasted" for all of us ... Confidence is severely impaired .... I wonder if they watch all our exchanges... Britmodeller is known all over UK as a first class exchange forum and I guess they read our anger (and sadness) .... Everybody can mind THIS is the place to chat about an english magazine.... christian They are well aware of what is being posted but not bothered as stated in a reply I received from Mark Hi Kevin, Thank you for your email. We were expecting a lot more copies to be delivered than arrived so we have no choice. We are aware of the what is posted on forums and as with all social media and forums it has a little no or effect on our business. Best regards Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 On 01/10/2021 at 17:43, Tony C said: Wonder if MA will have a stand at SMW this year On 01/10/2021 at 21:07, Jabba said: According to the August/September issue of SAMI, yes! Here is the current list of traders attending SMW2021 and I can see Key Publishing (Airfix Model World), Guideline (SAM) and Doolittle (MAI) but MA seem to be conspicuous by their absence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarthogMKL Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 (edited) A quick clarification some of the sections on the issue currently on sale in shops were supplied by me before I left a few months ago and were for the July issue and recycled. That is why the US nationals advert are in it despite that being held a few months ago. Edited October 18, 2021 by WarthogMKL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardtarget Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 14 hours ago, WarthogMKL said: A quick clarification some of the sections on the issue currently on sale in shops were supplied by me before I left a few months ago and were for the July issue and recycled. That is why the US nationals advert are in it despite that being held a few months ago. Which backs up that they are using up any existing content they have before proceeding with the 'new exciting announcement'. Ill go out on a limb here and state whether there was actually any 'content' to 'issue' the June/July issues with only the cover shots. I presume they then decided to issue the content they had in the combined August/Sept issue due to the failed Jun/July issues which no one appears to have seen the content or the physical copy of the magzine. Re-branding and new contect creators is the only way to save a sinking ship. I still have not got my June, July, August/September issues. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 I have not either and emailed asking them to give me a pro rata refund for my subscription as I didn't believe I was going to see it and just got a reply saying that a replacement will be sent out. Needless to say I think I will not see a copy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 6 hours ago, Hardtarget said: Re-branding and new contect creators is the only way to save a sinking ship. That may get a bit tricky if the reports by former contributors quoted elsewhere here are true. Burnt bridges may hinder recruitment significantly. Back when at Uni, I wrote some articles on Airfix for a very short-lived collecting mag here in Germany which went belly-up soon. The editor denied me my money claiming that my articles were so bad that he had to completely rewrite them (well he changed a lot, without knowledge of the subject, rhyme or reason). Needless to say I just would have shown him a single finger had he asked me to write for him again... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLN Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 On 19/10/2021 at 08:45, Hardtarget said: Which backs up that they are using up any existing content they have before proceeding with the 'new exciting announcement'. Ill go out on a limb here and state whether there was actually any 'content' to 'issue' the June/July issues with only the cover shots. I presume they then decided to issue the content they had in the combined August/Sept issue due to the failed Jun/July issues which no one appears to have seen the content or the physical copy of the magzine. Re-branding and new contect creators is the only way to save a sinking ship. I still have not got my June, July, August/September issues. Would need more than re-branding, a change of directors at least. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 (edited) On 10/20/2021 at 9:43 AM, KLN said: Would need more than re-branding, a change of directors at least. Sadly that might not be a runner. Many times I tried to book visits to (often dubious and/or failing) businesses to commit VAT, only to be told that there had been a change of ownership/controlling intelligence and that the new directors were not yet in place. When the new "directors" were available for meetings their knowledge and understanding of their new venture was often found to be lacking or non-existent. Further digging would reveal that the same accountants had been retained and that the bank details remained unchanged. It could soon be ascertained that the "previous" owners were actually still in charge and pulling the strings of their former employees/family members/pals who were playing at running the business. I'm not saying that this is the case here, but my nasty cynical mind has it as a definite potentiality. I'd love to be proved wrong but......... Edited October 28, 2021 by stever219 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bradley Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 The current directors are the daughter and son-in-law of the owner of the previous company. All public knowledge. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuraiwarrior Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Hi, Just to let you know that despite MW of MA Publications stating last Sunday to me, that he would send me my copy of August/September SAMI by tracked post the next day, Well, as half expected, it never arrived. Again another example of the dismal service and attitude from these people, and the constant fobbing off. Time to call it a day. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Same here, fed up with what seems to be lies on their part. Asked for a refund of remaining issues and got told a replacement will be sent, nothing arrived as usual . 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lasermonkey Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Tell you what, you’re all a lot more trusting and patient than I am! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian Boehm Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 OK lasermonkey I can understand.... but reading along these 7 full forum pages I recently discovered, I feel trust and patience keep falling down fast .... I just watched the internet site and I am amazed to see the "chronic" ( now old) message : https://www.modelaircraftmag.com/latest-news/ very easy to put everything on the coronavirus .... Why not the bad summer we had ? Christian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ancientmariner Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 I eventually received a reply from Mark Willey. He said that I should receive the refund for the issues that are owed to me, tomorrow or Tuesday. Still not convinced with this, being told nothing but lies! Is MA Publications not going into liquidation? When you look on Companies House, it says something about an active strike off, and they have not updated their accounts. Martin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian Boehm Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 On 10/18/2021 at 6:37 PM, Tony C said: Here is the current list of traders attending SMW2021 and I can see Key Publishing (Airfix Model World), Guideline (SAM) and Doolittle (MAI) but MA seem to be conspicuous by their absence! Tony watched Telford"s meeting : "MA seem to be conspicuous by their absence!"...... So yes Martin, definitely it smells a lot about liquidation .... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lasermonkey Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 As has been mentioned before, it’s probably best to contact your bank, credit card company or PayPal and get them to do the refund/chargeback rather than rely on SAM Publications who, to be charitable, have been less than reliable. I’d do it sooner rather than later if you want any chance of being successful. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 Hi, Have been watching this topic and am in the same situation as everyone including the offer of them being sent first class but have had nothing since May. Have been really patient and have had replies until recently. Getting no replies to my texts now. I don't think i'll every get any mags, There doesn't seem to be any loyalty to subscribers. I only get MAM and got SAMI in my local Smith's so they are getting to shops. As a consequence I have now stopped SAMI going into my file in our local Smith's. I'm so disappointed as MAM is really a good mag. Rodders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EwenS Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 2 hours ago, ancientmariner said: I eventually received a reply from Mark Willey. He said that I should receive the refund for the issues that are owed to me, tomorrow or Tuesday. Still not convinced with this, being told nothing but lies! Is MA Publications not going into liquidation? When you look on Companies House, it says something about an active strike off, and they have not updated their accounts. Martin The accounts for the first accounting period to 30 April 2019 were due to have been filed by 16 Jan 2020. The Company would have been issued various reminders about non compliance which have clearly been ignored. So CH issued a strike off warning in Jan 2021. That clearly galvinised some activity as it was suspended a couple of weeks later (usually because they promise to be good boys and deliver them "shortly"!). So we are now 9 months further on and still no filings. Not good. So I would expect another to be issued sometime soon depending on the excuse they gave. But a CH striking off does not of itself put the company into insolvency proceedings of one kind or another. For that to happen, either the directors or a creditor will have to file for it. Problem is are there any assets around for a liquidator / administrator to realise to pay their fees let alone any creditor claims? With no accounts we can't tell. Then before the ordinary creditors, like subscribers, get paid out are there any other debts that rank higher in an insolvency like a bank with some form of security? In terms of assets any goodwill in the magazine titles must be slowly disappearing due to the treatment of you guys. Who would want to buy them? Usually what happens is that everyone just walks away because individual creditor claims are not worth pursuing in terms of court fees etc. Everyone will have to make up their own minds what to do. But I know what I would do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Des Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 2 hours ago, lasermonkey said: As has been mentioned before, it’s probably best to contact your bank, credit card company or PayPal and get them to do the refund/chargeback rather than rely on SAM Publications who, to be charitable, have been less than reliable. I’d do it sooner rather than later if you want any chance of being successful. Having had no reply from the company I contacted my bank last week to request that they recover the payment made through my credit card and other than the inevitable telephone hold these days it is a very simple procedure. Going by Bank of Scotland they will want any order or transaction code that might apply and a description of the goods (e.g. number and description from the confirmation email will do) and a brief idea of anything you might have done already to resolve the issue ( I phoned/emailed them requesting a refund they did not respond/failed to make the refund) although neither dates nor specifics of any exchange were required. On the basis that the transaction took place more than thirty days earlier and the goods have not been delivered a temporary refund will be made to your account. Refund is temporary on the basis that it prevents any charges being levied on your account while the process continues to establish whether you are entitled to a permanent refund or not. Essentially the trader has forty days from then to challenge your claim and provide evidence that goods were delivered/refund has been made/there is some reason for the refund being declined , any such challenge will be investigated and a decision made one way or another , if the trader accepts the charge the refund will be made permanent as soon as that is made known to the bank , if the trader merely ignores the matter then the refund becomes permanent after the forty day period. It was implied that many traders who do not have grounds for appeal simply ignore the process and let it run its full course rather than facilitate an early permanent refund. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treker_ed Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 I bank with Nationwide, and was dealt with via their Visa disputes team. Similar (but not quite) process - temp refund to account, Nationwide contact the companies bank to obtain refund etc. Mine was completed in under a week, and received notification from Nationwide that my dispute was successfully dealt with and full refund obtained. This was back in July/August time and is detailed earlier in the thread at which point I recommended that anyone having problems obtaining their copies should attempt to obtain their refunds in this manner, if they had either not received their copies, nor received any refunds despite requests. This can be done whether you paid by credit or debit card. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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