In very short order, Readymade editor Shoshana Berger sent the email below in response to the Angryman's letter. Prompt, positive and personalised - you couldn't ask for a better reply to a complaint letter. Shoshana explains what happened, why it happened, apologizes and offers appropriate compensation (it's not like she ran over my dog or anything, so a free back issue is just right). This is a good illustration of Angryman tip number 3 - any good corporation wants to make you happy, you just have to tell them how. And Readymade really is a cool magazine. Take a look for yourself. http://www.readymademag.com/ Dear Last Angry Young Man (Adam), I received your letter regarding our premature renewal notice today. I'm terribly sorry about this series of events. As you rightly suspected, you most likely got caught in one of the weird windows of magazine publishing wherein time seems to move in reverse: we're between issues, so you have to wait 8 weeks for your first, but the circulation dept., diligent as they are, starts billing/bugging you anyway. The magazine world has become so competitive, we've had to adopt some of the "big publishing world" tactics of frequent notices, early notices, obnoxious notices, just to stay in the game. I have no stomach for it, but I also want to keep our little publishing skiff afloat. Believe it or not, there's some science behind this. Our circulation person swears by it. I'll be sending you a magazine and a back issue as an apology, and in hopes of getting you back on board. Yours truly, Shoshana
Editor, ReadyMade