I enjoy python, program in it weekly, and subscribe to just about every python related blog. I was really excited during the holidays to get an email from Python Magazine saying they have a holiday offer:
“The coupon below can be redeemed at the php|architect and Python Magazine store for a surprise amount—up to $50 off your purchase!”
This sounded great, was very excited. Until I tried to add any item to my basket, and was unable to. I promptly notified support, on Dec 26. The coupon expired Dec 30, and no response was received until Jan 3, at which point they closed my ticket without explanation. I then reopened it and let them know that nobody could add items to their basket.
Jan 6 I get another email telling me it is fixed now. Try out the site, and it is still broken. Today they finally fixed the issue, but obviously I can no longer use my holiday promo code. I used it on php magazine before it expired because they never responded. So I asked for my code to be reactivated so I could actually use it on Python Magazine, which is what I actually wanted.
Cathleen from their customer service says no. I should not even have bothered to let them know their site was broken at this point, and I won’t subscribe to them. Congrats on phenomenal customer service.
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#1 by Alaa Salman on January 8, 2009 - 3:56 pm
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I tried the coupon as well, and i only got $5 off although the coupon said up to $50. So i didn’t bother with it and didn’t complete the process.
They did have some problems with their website, one of which happened to me as well. You might want to email Doug Hellmann directly though if the customer service folks are not doing their job “serving customers”. At least to let him know about the incident, I’m sure he’d like to know.
#2 by nixternal on January 8, 2009 - 4:46 pm
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$5 here as well. I have read this magazine in the past and was never blown over by it. All of the news type stuff is old, and more than likely if you have the Internet and follow Python, you already know that news. Also their examples and what not are all over the web already. Is it me or are magazines getting worse and worse?
#3 by Josh on January 9, 2009 - 2:50 pm
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I got the same email too, and the code didn’t work. You should check out Linux Journal instead.
#4 by David Simpson on June 11, 2009 - 7:28 am
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Totally Agree with you on this one. Sometimes you need to take a loss to keep a customer. Its worth more in the long run. Its a wonder how business can work. Thanks for sharing article. Great Experience.
#5 by Brad on December 22, 2009 - 3:03 pm
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And now it seems that Python Magazine is out of business. I subscribed in August 2009, and have only received one issue (September). Visiting their website makes me wonder if I’ve been scammed.
#6 by Christian on February 8, 2010 - 8:33 am
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Does somebody know what happens to pythonmagazine.com…?