BBC Good Food Magazine Subscription Price Hike

stephez12

This info might be useful if you get a letter with a very large increase in price for a magazine subscription from Immediate Media Company.

 I have had a subscription for the BBC Good Food magazine for several years, paying £16.99 every six months by Direct Debit for six monthly print issues delivered to my home.  This magazine is provided by Immediate Media Company.  New subscriptions can be bought via their website buysubscriptions.com.  They have 68 different titles, including many that are well known such as Radio Times and BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine.

 I received a letter from Christine Hayes, Editor in Chief of BBC Good Food saying “your subscription price will be changing to £28.32”.  This is a 66% increase. She continued “This is due to the recent increases in paper prices and postage costs, which means the price you have been paying is now no longer sustainable”.

 A check on-line showed wholesale rates by the post office for magazine delivery had gone up only 4.8% in December 2020 (once per year increase).  Paper prices did not look to have moved a great deal over the last year, certainly not by 66%.  So the reasons quoted looked spurious.  I assumed this was another example of a company viewing a loyal customer as someone who could be taken advantage of.

 A check on their website showed various options for new subscriptions. £46 for 12 months, or £9.99 for the first six months followed by £21.50 every six months after that, or a flat rate of £18.50 every six months.  All of these were cheaper than the £28.32 every six months I was being asked for.

 I called them and said I assumed this increase was a mistake – no it was not.  I said this increased had made me very angry.  My pension had not increased by 66%.  I could only assume that this was an attempt to take advantage of a loyal customer.  I said I would like to cancel my subscription.  I was offered £18.50 every six months.  I rejected this and said I would only accept £16.99 plus a small increase for inflation.  I was offered a yearly payment of £31.50, which I accepted.  This is lower than my original payment (£33.98/year).

 It seems there are two key messages out of this.

·         Immediate Media could well try to penalise loyal customers with eye watering increases.

·         If you threaten to leave, haggling with them can be successful.

 

purdey1955

They are still at it. I received the same letter today from Immediate Media trying to increase my annual sub from £34.99 to £56.64. This is an over 60% increase. I cancelled by phone and declined their offer to let them quote a special deal. I said I had a principle not to let companies act like this.
I then went online and Buysubscriptions are offering annual Good Food subs for £29.99 or two years for £50. So I can get two years for £20 less than my current sub or a whopping £63 less than their proposed new charge. They are the same group as Immediate Media. So much for my current deal being unsustainable.
How can they treat customers like this?