SAGA Magazine lifetime subscription - compulsory shift to digital format

Doc_N

Contracts are a regulated product - by the courts.

PHK

born_again said:

Aylesbury_Duck said: Perhaps SAGA looked at the business and concluded that catering for the very oldest in their customer base is a road to ruin?  What should they do if that's the case?  Run the business to an orderly close as the last of their older customers die, or change approach, modernise and capitalise on those coming behind them?  I can see why they're doing the latter.

I know a well known bank that realised such a problem, that their customer base was reaching a age where it would soon be a big issue.
So had to have a major change of policy to try & attract a younger customer.

I know of a well known retailer that realised that 85% of its customers were over 70 and therefore likely a significant number would  not be customers in ten years time.  

If they didn't change then they'd be out of business. They had to embrace technology or they'd be out of business. They didn't do this quickly enough (for fear of upsetting their older customers)  and are now a fraction of the size they were.

The vast majority of 50+ grew up with or have used technology of some sort at work and the numbers preferring printed copies is dwindling. So I can understand why they are doing it.

Whilst I also understand and respect the opinion that 'itsnot right' I fear a court case is not certain to succeed. There have been similar cases and not all were successfull. (For various reasons including changes in society, lifetime taken to mean generation etc etc)

logic33

Doc_N said:

logic33 said:

Not sure if this is new (never looked before) but I see Saga is now offering 3 printed magazines for £3. Introductory offer.

Then, maybe, they will offer a lifetime subscription at great cost and renege on this or insist the NEW customers go digital as well as those signed up years ago.  Only joking (I think?).

All Subscription Offers - SAGA Magazine (saga-magazine.co.uk)

I wouldn't trust Saga now to fulfil even a yearly subscription!  With their track record they're entirely capable of sending no issues at all and just pocketing the cash to put towards paying off their debts.

Trustpilot review

Updated 19 Apr 2023

Extraordinarily poor service

Signed up for a Saga Magazine trial.
Magazines were never delivered.
Cancelled Direct Debit, the money was taken anyway.
Emailed to complain, email was ignored.
Extraordinarily poor service

UPDATE:
After complaining and 15 days after emailing, Saga replied to say that they would refund my trial subscription and would be sending me a cheque. Imagine, a cheque!?! It’s like a return to the twentieth century 😂

Date of experience: 18 April 2023

Doc_N

logic33 said:

Doc_N said:

logic33 said:

Not sure if this is new (never looked before) but I see Saga is now offering 3 printed magazines for £3. Introductory offer.

Then, maybe, they will offer a lifetime subscription at great cost and renege on this or insist the NEW customers go digital as well as those signed up years ago.  Only joking (I think?).

All Subscription Offers - SAGA Magazine (saga-magazine.co.uk)

I wouldn't trust Saga now to fulfil even a yearly subscription!  With their track record they're entirely capable of sending no issues at all and just pocketing the cash to put towards paying off their debts.

Trustpilot review

Updated 19 Apr 2023

Extraordinarily poor service

Signed up for a Saga Magazine trial.
Magazines were never delivered.
Cancelled Direct Debit, the money was taken anyway.
Emailed to complain, email was ignored.
Extraordinarily poor service

UPDATE:
After complaining and 15 days after emailing, Saga replied to say that they would refund my trial subscription and would be sending me a cheque. Imagine, a cheque!?! It’s like a return to the twentieth century 😂

Date of experience: 18 April 2023

Maybe it’s the new Saga policy for trying to reduce their debt mountain and prevent the company from going into administration.

1 Pretend you have a printed magazine to appeal to the oldies.
2 Take their money for subscriptions to it.
3 Pop their money in the bank, tell them they’re not getting any magazines, and just refuse to budge.
4 Explain it all away by saying it costs too much to send them out, but if they pay again you’ll send them.
5 Repeat 1-4 above ad infinitum.

Aylesbury_Duck

"I demand that you, a terrible company with which I have no desire to have any involvement, continue to send me magazines every month until I die or you go bust!  Or you'll go bust!"

Doc_N

Aylesbury_Duck said:

"I demand that you, a terrible company with which I have no desire to have any involvement, continue to send me magazines every month until I die or you go bust!  Or you'll go bust!"

Something in that of course, except that you're overlooking the fact that those who bought life memberships are also creditors of Saga and every bit as entitled as other creditors to what they purchased.  There's no more reason for them to take the hit than any of Saga's many other creditors.  And many of them are also customers of Saga in other ways.

Saga is sending out a very clear signal here that it's having financial difficulties.  Markets pick up on that.  Creditors pick up on that.  It could well be shooting itself in the foot - but look at the track record of its current CEO!

user1977

logic33 said:

Doc_N said:

logic33 said:

Not sure if this is new (never looked before) but I see Saga is now offering 3 printed magazines for £3. Introductory offer.

Then, maybe, they will offer a lifetime subscription at great cost and renege on this or insist the NEW customers go digital as well as those signed up years ago.  Only joking (I think?).

All Subscription Offers - SAGA Magazine (saga-magazine.co.uk)

I wouldn't trust Saga now to fulfil even a yearly subscription!  With their track record they're entirely capable of sending no issues at all and just pocketing the cash to put towards paying off their debts.

Saga replied to say that they would refund my trial subscription and would be sending me a cheque. Imagine, a cheque!?! It’s like a return to the twentieth century 😂

Sheesh, can't keep anyone happy. Offer to send customers payment by a traditional paper-based method and they still complain...

Aylesbury_Duck

Doc_N said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

"I demand that you, a terrible company with which I have no desire to have any involvement, continue to send me magazines every month until I die or you go bust!  Or you'll go bust!"

Something in that of course, except that you're overlooking the fact that those who bought life memberships are also creditors of Saga and every bit as entitled as other creditors to what they purchased.  There's no more reason for them to take the hit than any of Saga's many other creditors.  And many of them are also customers of Saga in other ways.

Saga is sending out a very clear signal here that it's having financial difficulties.  Markets pick up on that.  Creditors pick up on that.  It could well be shooting itself in the foot - but look at the track record of its current CEO!

Agreed, but what's the solution?  Demand that they continue to meet a contractual obligation in the format it was conceived 30 years ago, and exacerbate those difficulties, perhaps to the point of its demise?  I don't see who wins in that scenario.

Doc_N

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Doc_N said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

"I demand that you, a terrible company with which I have no desire to have any involvement, continue to send me magazines every month until I die or you go bust!  Or you'll go bust!"

Something in that of course, except that you're overlooking the fact that those who bought life memberships are also creditors of Saga and every bit as entitled as other creditors to what they purchased.  There's no more reason for them to take the hit than any of Saga's many other creditors.  And many of them are also customers of Saga in other ways.

Saga is sending out a very clear signal here that it's having financial difficulties.  Markets pick up on that.  Creditors pick up on that.  It could well be shooting itself in the foot - but look at the track record of its current CEO!

Agreed, but what's the solution?  Demand that they continue to meet a contractual obligation in the format it was conceived 30 years ago, and exacerbate those difficulties, perhaps to the point of its demise?  I don't see who wins in that scenario.

We don’t know the figures of course, but it’s a balancing act between the money saved by not posting out the magazines and the money lost by alienating some potentially high spending customers and sending out a very clear message that Saga is no longer a company that can be trusted to provide something that’s been purchased from it.

I think there’s a fair chance that this will cost Saga a lot more than it saves. The cost per issue of marginal extra copies is pretty small for any publisher, and the bulk mailing costs won’t be that high. On top of that, there are unlikely to be large numbers of life members, particularly as they stopped selling life memberships some years back. Add to that, of course, the age profile and life expectancy.

My guess is that an incompetent CEO with a distinctly ‘interesting’ track record made another mistake and misjudged the outcome. Time will tell.

born_again

Doc_N said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

"I demand that you, a terrible company with which I have no desire to have any involvement, continue to send me magazines every month until I die or you go bust!  Or you'll go bust!"

Something in that of course, except that you're overlooking the fact that those who bought life memberships are also creditors of Saga and every bit as entitled as other creditors to what they purchased.  There's no more reason for them to take the hit than any of Saga's many other creditors.  And many of them are also customers of Saga in other ways.

Saga is sending out a very clear signal here that it's having financial difficulties.  Markets pick up on that.  Creditors pick up on that.  It could well be shooting itself in the foot - but look at the track record of its current CEO!

Or the other perspective is investors see a company that is embracing the future & cutting back on their environmental footprint.