I have been a subscriber for years, stupidly I thought this might count for something when it came to customer service issues. WRONG.Case Ref # 00195500Summary:1. I went into A&E in November 2024 with sepsis and spent a month in hospital, I nearly died. This, plus the ongoing medication has made my memory forgetful, luckily I have my wife.2. Last month I asked my wife if she had seen ANY of those Linux Format magazines through the post since I went into hospital? No.3. That is 7 missing issues.4. I raised a query with customer services.5. Company hides behind web email forms.6. Company hides ALL phone numbers - bad sign.7. Magazines direct admitted it was their fault and they should have done more.The rest of the story is below.....I moved house and put mail redirections in place. I am missing 7 issues. Take into account my full details are on the subscriber database. I wrote to chase up where my last SEVEN issues (issues 322 to 328) are and could I have them as you are still taking my subscription money.I was told that "the the postal authorities returned one of your issues marked as undeliverable, which led to your subscription being suspended".So did they get in touch with me to chase this up? No, of course not. So they just took the subs and didn't issue the magazines.I have since been in touch with them via their online system and subsequently very, very slow response time emails. Like they can't be bothered with customers.I've learned to always mistrust a company that hides ALL telephone numbers, especially customer service/complaints. It is an omen on how you will be treated and how a company views the people that keep them all in their jobs.I was assured I would get a phone call from a manager in due course. A week has gone by, nothing. Not surprised really.However, they have since - very sneakily - change almost everything I can see on the online account page. I can request ONE back issue only. No email or comms from them telling me that this had been added. Total silence. But not good enough as 7 issues are missing.I was about to email them to query the status, I have since found an email sent this morning (Friday fire & forget) answering a completely different set of words than the ones I wrote to them. I feel like I'm in an alternate reality or they are using a weird Enigma machine that changes my email to something completely different!All have simply asked for is this:Please send all the missing issues since issue 321 that I have not received. I am happy to pay for them, but only at the subscription rate as I am a subscriber.The email I got back from them was this:I hope you're well.Please be advised that we've refunded your Direct Debit for £8.99 on 1st July 2025. You should see it in your account in 7 to 10 days.If you need any further assistance, please feel free to get back in touch by replying to my email and we will be happy to help you.Kind regards, AliyahMagazines Direct Customer ServiceNow you can see why I feel I am in a world of Alice in Wonderland.Don't expect any assistance or help that is of any use from this organisation.I have read that other complaints put on Trustpilot have garnered a response. I won't hold my breath.ShaunUpdate 3 Aug 2025So I eventually received a call from one of the actual customer service managers. After pointing out the systemic failures that seem to be endemic in the 'layer 1' of help 'experience' with Magazines Direct, I will say that we did come to an agreement. It wasn't what I wanted, but due to the incompetence of all those involved in the chain, the magazines I'd actually paid for were nowhere to be found. Nice one. As a good will gesture, I did get a refund and due to the time it took to arrive, they must have had to trawl their warehouse stock, but I got most of the missing magazines.My faith in people still stands, but I can definitely state that there is some urgently needed staff training required.I won't be subscribing to anymore of their magazines in a hurry.Case closed.
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Magazinesdirect.com is owned and operated by Future Publishing Limited, Britain’s leading publisher of print and digital magazine content. We are a leading platform for specialist consumer and B2B content, publishing 80 magazines and 568+ bookazines yearly, with a total circulation of 1.4m+.