My Publisher and their Coupon Police

[Jason Dunn]

I received a strange message a couple of days ago from My Publisher:<br /><br /><i>"We regret to inform you that the order you placed using coupon code REFB777 has been cancelled. According to the data in our systems, you were not authorized to use this coupon. You will not incur any charges of any kind for the order you placed with this coupon. Effective immediately, this order has been cancelled out of our system and no charges for any purchase have been processed."</i><br /><br />Here's the back story<!>: last month, I placed two orders with My Publisher on the same day: one was for two books, the other was for five books. It was <A HREF=http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,6345">for the project I wrote about</A>, only this time my relatives wanted copies of the book. On one of the orders, I can't remember which one, I used a coupon that I found using Google. I imagine most people do the same thing: just before you order something online you go to Google and see if you can find any coupons to save a few bucks. I found a few different coupons, picked one and used it - if memory serves the coupon saved me $20. Better than nothing! I tried using the coupon for the second order and it gave me an error, so I figured it must have been a "one customer, one use" code.<br /><br />I've been wondering where my photo books were, and today I received the email I quoted above. The email went on to say that because I didn't download the software required to get that coupon, I wasn't authorized to use it, and they had cancelled my order. First, the message made me feel like a criminal - how was I supposed to know that the coupon I found was "unauthorized"? Why didn't their system just reject the coupon?Second, why did they cancel my order? Their Web site has no customer login, no order history - nothing. So I have no idea which of my two ordered they cancelled, which is incredibly frustrating. And why did it take so long? I should have had the books by now, and instead I have to start over from scratch. I called their customer service people two days ago and haven't heard back from them yet.<br /><br />All in all, I find this leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and I doubt I'll use My Publisher again after I get these books re-ordered. I spent hours laying out the book so I can't just switch to using another book publisher, but any company who treats their customers so harshly doesn't deserve my business.<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b> I've now called three times and left three voice messages asking to be called back, but in three working days I haven't received a phone call back yet. And as I mentioned above, I can't re-order until I know which one of my two orders were cancelled. Talk about frustrating!

[encece]

At first I was going to scold you for trying to rip off My Publisher by using someone else's wrongfully published code....then being mad about it when it didnt work for you. :twisted: But I did a search on the code you stated above and all results seem that it was an open code that seems to have expired on October 31st. If that is the case, the error message should have been immediate and should have reflected that the code has expired...not state that you were not authorized. UNLESS...the original code was published wrongfully on Photoblogs.org and was intended for one person only. In that case the resulting email makes sense.

[David Horn]

Jason - can you send a link of this story to My Publisher and get their reaction to it?

[Jason Dunn]

At first I was going to scold you for trying to rip off My Publisher by using someone else's wrongfully published code...

Oh come on! You mean tell me that you've never gone into Google and typed in "Coupon XYZ" to find a coupon? None of these coupons site mention where the code came from and whether they're meant to be public or not. I already said in my post that I wasn't trying to be devious, I was just looking for a code to save some money. I've received coupon codes from My Publisher in the past, but unfortunately I didn't save any of them on hand, so I figured I'd search for some.

From a marketing point of view, companies should expect and WANT their coupon codes to be passed around and shared. Why? More business for them! And even IF the coupon I used wasn't valid (and it's ridiculous that they don't check for that in real-time when I clicked VERIFY), they should have charged me full price and processed my order. Cancelling my order just raised my ire.

[Jason Dunn]

Jason - can you send a link of this story to My Publisher and get their reaction to it?

Yes, I'm planning on doing that.

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, just left my second phone message with their support people - they have a hold cue of about 3 minutes, then it automatically goes to voice mail. Let's hope they call me back this time...

[encece]

At first I was going to scold you for trying to rip off My Publisher by using someone else's wrongfully published code...

Oh come on! You mean tell me that you've never gone into Google and typed in "Coupon XYZ" to find a coupon? None of these coupons site mention where the code came from and whether they're meant to be public or not. I already said in my post that I wasn't trying to be devious, I was just looking for a code to save some money. I've received coupon codes from My Publisher in the past, but unfortunately I didn't save any of them on hand, so I figured I'd search for some.

From a marketing point of view, companies should expect and WANT their coupon codes to be passed around and shared. Why? More business for them! And even IF the coupon I used wasn't valid (and it's ridiculous that they don't check for that in real-time when I clicked VERIFY), they should have charged me full price and processed my order. Cancelling my order just raised my ire.

I wasn't ripping into you...but to argue the point, would you want discount codes offered to subscribers, shared with non-subscribers?

[Jason Dunn]

I wasn't ripping into you...but to argue the point, would you want discount codes offered to subscribers, shared with non-subscribers?

A fair point. If one of my subscribers shared a subscriber-only coupon, I'd do two things:

1) Change the coupon code
2) Not try to cancel the orders of people have used it

It's also not the same scenario in that I'm not selling a product.

[KC]

Why do you have to start all over? Didn't you save your book in the MyPublisher Bookmaker software?

[Jason Dunn]

Why do you have to start all over? Didn't you save your book in the MyPublisher Bookmaker software?

I don't have to start order, I still have the book - but I don't know which of my orders they cancelled...

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, I called AGAIN today, and no one has yet called me back. What kind of customer service is that? :roll:

[David Horn]

Well, you can tell them they've already lost at least one sale. I have no idea whether they ship to the UK, but I was planning to create a book as a birthday present to my Grandma. Obviously, if it had been good, I'd have recommended them. Not any more. I'll find another company.

[sylvangale]

Hey Jason,

Maybe this info from a "WhoIS" search on mypublisher.com may be useful to you?

Organization:
MyPublisher Inc.
Jason Rosoff
400 Columbus Avenue
Valhalla, NY 10595
US
Phone: 914-773-4312
Fax..: 914-773-4305
Email: [email protected]

[uhoo]

Why do you have to start all over? Didn't you save your book in the MyPublisher Bookmaker software?

I don't have to start order, I still have the book - but I don't know which of my orders they cancelled...

Well, if you placed your order with a credit card, you could just call up the issuer and ask if there was a charge by MyPublisher, and if there is, have them dispute the charge because you haven't received your order. And if MyPublisher didn't charge your card, chances are that they cancelled both orders...