Customer Service Fail, Magazine Subscription Division

I have a bunch of magazine subscriptions. I love hard copies; digital magazines don't do it for me. I also constantly receive urgently worded renewal notices that make it sound like my subscription is expiring RIGHT NOW, only to check and discover (more often than not) that I'm nowhere near the renewal date. I get why they do this - cash flow. If you renew early, they get their money sooner. I often wonder how many people fall for that. You must be in danger of having your subscription expire, because otherwise why would the publisher be sending you an urgent renewal notice, right? (Because $$$, that's why).

But the notice I got yesterday really blew me away with not only the harsh tone, which I found unacceptable from a customer service point of view, but also by the blatant deception. Check this out (caps and bold are theirs):

 

Melinda Loomis

This is your THIRD RENEWAL NOTICE

Melinda 

AVOID SERVICE

INTERRUPTION:

RENEW TODAY!

RE: SUBSCRIPTION STATUS: EXPIRING 

 

This is the THIRD NOTICE we have sent about your (name of magazine) subscription. We have yet to hear from you.

 

The next paragraph advises that, "Because time is now a factor..." they are generously offering a renewal savings deal. There's just a couple of problems with that.

First of all, am I being hypersensitive because I find this tone unnecessary and unacceptable? Seriously, who wrote this? Who thought it was a good idea to use address a customer like this. I have a customer service background, and I would NEVER have taken this tone with a client. EVER.

 

Second, and here's the real kicker: The reason they have yet to hear from me is because this magazine doesn't renew until OCTOBER. It is currently mid-May. I ordered this subscription last September. And this is the THIRD renewal notice they've sent me? And they have the nerve to state that my "subscription status" is EXPIRING? It is nowhere NEAR expiring. This is a blatant lie. But if I hadn't checked, I would have likely sent the check out the same day.

Another thing I noticed is that one thing they DIDN'T include on this extremely important notice is the actual subscription renewal date. You would think that would be worth mentioning. That they purposely omitted it just adds to the deception, and isn't how I want to be treated as a paying customer.

On the back of the notice there's information I hadn't been previously aware of. They have a money-back policy. "We guarantee you may write to cancel your subscription at any time, for any reason, and that you will receive a full refund for all unmailed issues". I've never cancelled a magazine pre-renewal, if I don't want it anymore I just let it go at renewal time. But after this notice, I'm thinking of taking them up on their guarantee. This is a lifestyle magazine, not something important like a writing magazine. I can live without it if I have to, and I'm giving serious thought to doing just that.