zoo-octan
UPDATE: Hello everyone, I'd like to share that Joe reached out to me not more than an hour after I emailed him. First class response and remedy. I'd like to publicly acknowledge this and say thank you to him and his remarkable efforts.

Hi, I have just cancelled my subscription plan because I'm honestly a little upset by how the automatic payments are made on your website.

I had every intention of renewing but I was taking my time knowing that you have great offers for members especially during Black Friday. I was unaware that you made AUTOMATIC deductions from your members without any warning. Now I know this may be true of many websites but I was certain this would not happen since I did not put a credit card on file. And yet, you still proceeded to charge my Paypal account for the annual fee! Nowhere on your website does it say that you have my PayPal details!

To rub salt into the wound, the automatic - and fair - price that you charge me is HIGHER than the actual promotion you are currently on your own website to members. Something like US$29 vs US$22 (which includes Running Extra). And my plan doesn't include RE, which really isn't a issue for me but I hope you get my point about how your members feel.

During difficult times like these, I would really love to continue supporting you and yet I feel that this is unfair to many of your loyal members.

I honestly suggest you update your billing and membership pages with clearer instructions. Even when I was viewing your membership subscription plans...all they had were options to change plans. My only recourse was to click "Cancel Membership" - even though you have already deducted my payment. No FAQs about early termination, or to contact staff, or pro-rated refunds. It was only AFTER I clicked cancel that your website then informed me that I am still a member till Nov 2021.

Thank you

 

Gavin 

Singapore

Gavin: I would be frustrated too! I sent you an email about this and what I'd like to do to make it right. Please check your email and let me know. --Joe Fugate

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joef

We always will make it right

Gavin, thanks to the pandemic situation, MRH has had to reduce staff and we're now basically a company with two full time people: my wife and me. Our automated systems are ones we could afford as a small business, so they're not always the smartest piece of software on the block. What that means is if you're ever dissatisfied with something as to how our system(s) work or what things cost, we're always willing to make it right. We can't be everywhere all the time 24x7, so that's why you just need to contact us if you're frustrated. In other words, just tell us you have a problem and talk to us (talk to a person, not a computer) and we are glad to fix it until you are happy we've been more than fair with you. Phone is best because email, unfortunately these days, often goes to spam. We keep finding support requests sent to us in spam, which is extremely embarrassing. Please call 1-800-920-6020 and will will sort this out for you, answer your questions, and help you any way we can until you feel satisfied we've solved the problem for you.

Joe Fugate​
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine

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gmpullman

Trouble for me, too.

I just tried to take advantage of the Save 60% promo and I got lost and frustrated in the payment (I wanted to use Paypal and it told me there was an error processing your request) so I entered a credit card number and I have no idea if my payment was processed or not. Lots of red fields with error messages. Discount code cannot be applied and stuff like that.

I thought I was paid up until August of 2021 and when I added another year on to my subscription it said "Next payment due in December 2021"

That's an awfully short year?

I just wanted to add another year to each Running Extra and TMTV.

I don't mind paying for your good product and I like to save a buck, too.

Regards, Ed

MRH: Check your email, we have extended your renew date to August 2022 and also issued your "free" MRH RE sub -- to do that we refunded your most recent MRH RE Renewal.

EDIT
YES!  Joe remedied the problem and a BIG Thank YOUto him. It was pretty frustrating and I thought I was doing something wrong.
Glad he sorted things out.

Travel and Sleep In Pullman Safety and Comfort!

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Bill Brillinger

Happened to me too - but Joe made it right

Joe, you really need to plaster the "call us if you have problems" message all over the MRH family of websites, especially your account info, sign up, and renewal pages.

"Please call 1-800-920-6020 and will will sort this out for you, answer your questions, and help you any way we can until you feel satisfied we've solved the problem for you."

From the customer point of view, this type of error can be very upsetting, BUT, I can attest to the fact that Joe will do everything he can to make it right after these sort of things happen.

Thanks Joe!

Bill Brillinger

Modeling the BNML in HO Scale, Admin for the RailPro User Group, and owner of Precision Design Co.

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joef

Thanks

Quote:

From the customer point of view, this type of error can be very upsetting, BUT, I can attest to the fact that Joe will do everything he can to make it right after these sort of things happen.

Thanks, Bill. We don't always catch everything, but we always want to make it right if you will just share your frustration with us.

In this case, it didn't help that for existing TMTV members, the BF sale email link will just throw errors (my mistake, I realized LATER). I'm sending a special email to TMTV members to hopefully clear this up -- and include a link that WORKS this time!

Joe Fugate​
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine

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zoo-octan

Hello everyone, I'd like to

Hello everyone, I'd like to share that Joe reached out to me not more than an hour after I emailed him. First class response and remedy. I'd like to publicly acknowledge this and say thank you to him and his remarkable efforts. I was frustrated with the payment process..but as he explained...not everything is the best - and we are all trying the best we can do, given the current situation. I explained to Joe myself that I too actually have not been in the best of states since the pandemic and therefore have been very disciplined about how I spend my money...

I can expect many of you understand this and no doubt are going through challenging times. I wish all of you the best. Be safe and Happy Thanksgiving and an advanced Blessed Christmas.

Gavin

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RSeiler

Good...

Good to hear.  Now you should change the title of this thread to "Happy with MRH customer service".  

Randy

Randy

Cincinnati West -  B&O/PC  Summer 1975

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/17997

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Yaron Bandell ybandell

Customer service

Last night I tried to add a year of TMTV and RE subscription to my account, found it not working like Ed described. I then used the 'Contact Us' form on the TMTV website and in about an hour the new email blast for TMTV subscribers arrived with a properly working link and mea culpa.

Now I'll have to figure out how I can see that I actually have an additional year of TMTV and RE on my accounts, as of this morning the accounts still showed the old re-up dates... I'm guessing Joe and team has to manually work out those renewals on the backend? Either way, I'll wait a few days and check back, knowing they are currently busy with the finalization of the next MRH and RE releases at this time.

In the end, the payment system and subscription system could use a critical eye IMO, as it seems there is a decent amount of confusion introduced by the current state of the systems, not to mention manual care and feeding. But changes cost $$$ and time/effort, all in short supply right now which might prohibit that from happening soon.

Yaron, it's even worse than that now. Our TMTV site software today is now broken and when we deleted your old sub and tried to give you the new $29.99 sub, our admin panel refuses to allow us to do that. So for now, your TMTV account is bad broke and we're pleading with the programmers to look into it and fix it. What a time for our TMTV hosting to develop a major bug! Stay tuned, we tried ...


UPDATE: Okay, we did a work-around. We used a special one-time 100% coupon so we could impersonate you (our admin allows that for debugging purposes) and we "bought" the new membership for $0 and then updated your expiry date to July 2022. That worked, but it will show $0 for the purchase. Meanwhile, we're working with the programmers to get our admin panel fixed!

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Yaron Bandell ybandell

Oh my!

Joe, sorry to see things did break this bad. Just one more piece of stress you guys don't need during an awesome sale and the month end publication rush. I appreciate you going through the hoops to fix my TMTV account with the updated subscription and ending me an email on this too. May December bring you system stability and flawless improvements!

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pwkrueger

Same boat!

I sent a message through the website last night. My TMTV didn't get extended and my RE subscription (or just the recurring payment?) got canceled instead of extended. 

Joe, I'm sure you have a bunch of us in the queue to fix - more bumps on the road to better things. I have no doubt you'll get it straightened out for us. Just keep the great content coming and I'll be there with you.

Paul

MRH: Your TMTV renewal date has been extended and your MRH RE sub is extended one more year. On MRH RE, x+1 at the end of your name is how we denote you get an extra year "free" once the current year's subscription expires.

Seattle, WA

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