Hello to all!

I'm just curious to know if any of you have a subscription to American Cake Decorating magazine.
I ordered a 1 year subscription at the end of May and I STILL haven't received my first issue. I do know there are only 6 issues a year, but shouldn't I have at least received one issue already?
I know they have received my order, because my check I sent them has already been cashed. I am thinking about contacting someone at the company.

How long did it take you to get your first issue?

Do contact them, the same thing happened to me, I subscribed and waited. and waited. and waited. Then I sent them an e-mail and they sent me a magazine the next week. I know the latest issue was sent out on the 30th and no, I still haven't received it (this would be my second issue) so, I'll probably have to do it again.

It took forever for mine to come too. I finally emailed them and then my subscription started.

I have a subscription to that ..and love it!! You definitely should have received something by now. Certain get in touch with them as soon as you can, you have been more than patient!!

Hey...

I subscribed to both American Cake decorating and Mailbox News and haven't recieved any of them...

I guess I will have to do the same thing..


Email them...

I haven't had much luck with them either......I ordered mine by phone in March...have made more phone calls..still no magazine...customer service is not their forte'.

I hate to hear that. I ordered my August 1 and the funds cleared, still no magazines. I ordered both ACD and MBN. I guess we all need to contact them.

I payed back in July, I e-mailed them in September, they said I should get mine for Oct/Nov. Well I waited until yesterday then I called. They hadn't even sent it out yet, she said other people haven't got theirs yet ether . She said they will get it in the mail Monday with some back issues. We'll see. So if anyone is waiting I suggest you call them. I'm not sure if I'll order for them again.

I also had a problem. I sent in a renewal early so that I would not miss a magazine. On my next month's magazine it listed that it was my last issue. When I called they said they did not have my check. I had made a copy of my subscription form and a copy of the check. I called them back and gave them the info. They called me a couple of hours later to say they found my check and had never cashed it. I really like the magazine but I don't know who handles the business end. They had my check for 2 months lying around somewhere in their office. If I hadn't called them I don't think I would have ever gotten another magazine.

I called probably in August to order both American Decorating and Mailbox News. They took my mailing address and said they would start a subscription and mail me an invoice. I haven't heard anything from them yet. Now I'm very leary of subscribing.

I really think you have to follow up.Even though they assured me that I would not miss an issue since they located my check (that I sent 2 months ago and I didn't mention it was for both of their magazines American cake and Mail box I am still not counting on them showing up. I don't know if I will renew again next year, it does not seem like they have it together, which is disappointing. I really don't think it is the subscribers job to have to follow up when they do not get their subscriptions. by everyone who has responded it seems like they are really having a problem.

Wow - I am amazed about how many of us are having an issue with this magazine company!
I am going to email them right now about my non existent magazine and give them a call on Monday morning. I just tried calling the customer service 1-800 number they have on their website, but it just led me to an answering machine - however that is probably due to it being a Saturday evening.

Hmmmmm...maybe we should all (who is waiting for the magazine) give them a call on Monday. That may jumpstart their engines a bit!

I agree... I have been so busy since school started this semester that I have just now realized I have not received either magazine.... I just went to the website and contacted them about it.

I will try calling on Monday too.... Cause I really want both magazines.

I'm having the same problem. I paid in july, my check cleared like 3 days later and i have yet to receive anything. I give their service a

Well I had heard for the longest time from several people how bad things were in subscriptions and was happy that during that time my subscription was still good. Well, BEFORE my subscription ran, I renewed online. Credit card was charged and paid. I got a notice that my subscription was going to soon expire. Called them they said they'd look into it and that everything would be fine. Got another notice, called them again same thing but they said the person handeling online renewals was new blah blah blah but it would be taken care of. Got something saying my subscription now had expired , even thought it was renewed 3 months prior, so I called AGAIN and this time got really upset with them. They said it has been corrected and they were really nice and sent me all the back issues that I missed but I have yet to receive one under my subscription. Soooooooooo while I love the magazines and I really want to support them(I have every issue of ACD) and I shocked at the poor customer service as it relates to subscriptions.

I too have been wanting a subscription to both ACD & MBN...planned on my DH "giving" them to me in my stocking for Christmas. But I'm kind of leary now reading this post & seeing just how many people have been disappointed with their customer service. I wonder if maybe it was a small/family/new publication & they just weren't prepared for their success or growth at this level? Or maybe they're trying to implement changes to support their growth & things are just falling through the cracks or something. Regardless, customer service is the most important thing, IMHO, in any type of business - and if they're lacking there then there may be other problems higher up. If I owned that publication & things like this were happening to my customers, I just wouldn't send them the back issues free of charge, I'd give them another year's subscription free of charge...after all, neither of these mags are very cheap. hmmmm....I sure hope everyone gets their subscription problems straightened out...

It is really a shame that such good publications like these are really being hurt by the business end of their publications. I really thought that my problem with the magazine was just one oversight by the company, but after all of these responses I see that these problems are looking more like business as usual. I also will give them a call on Monday to check on the status of my magazines. Does anyone know the dates of the most current magazines they have gotten, so the rest of us will know if we missed the most current magazines already.
Thanks kthomas for starting this topic!

Ditto to all. I could go on but everyone's problems sound just like the same things I've experienced. Did not know it was so wide spread. I do know that it is handled by a company that distributes several different mags. Maybe we should write to complain but the the owners of the mag, NOT the printer OR distributor otherwise, the word never gets back to the right person.

I am so glad for this post. I wanted the Mag., but now i don't know.

cupcake,
The last magazine sent out was on 9/30/05 the Oct/Nov issue, and so far I haven't seen it yet.

Mail box news use to be a very reliable magazine, I've had my subscription to that on and off for about 10 years now.

Amecian Cake Deco magazine was another story. I got my first mag at an ICES convention and they were pretty reliable at the time...but I found that they wanted to much money for the scarcity of issues they put out.

I liked MBN much better, more informative, more pictures and more instructions and they posted a LOT of instructors and classes.

I'm sorry that I let my MBN subscription exprire. So when I saw a chance to get both I did....but am getting nothing.

That really sucks!!

As cake decorators we fall over our own feet trying to get our products to our paying ( and sometimes non paying customers..lol) customers....

I find that their lousy customer service is a LACK of respect to their clients! I don't know HOW they are staying in business.

There are comparable magazines , One from England and one from Australia...

I don't know if I can mention them in the forum but you can probably get info on them from

www.beryls.com

I am in the same boat - ordered, paid via credit card, no magazines
I will definitely be calling on Monday, too.

Does anyone have a phone number or email address to share?
Thanks!

Yet another person who is not getting their subscription. My husband got it for me for christmas last year and I never got it. Well then he said he wasn't sure if it ever came out of the account so I ordered online again. It came out three days later but I never got a magazine. So we probably paid for it twice. I finally called them and they sent me the current and the back issues. Since then I have gotten the mailbox news a couple of times but I don't think I have gotten all of the American Cake Decorating and I haven't gotten either for quite some time. The definitely have some problems.

..that is so strange! I didn't have any problems at all with either MBN or ACD subscriptions...hhmm! We'll see what happens at renewal time!

The last MBN I got was a few days ago and the last issue of ACD was the Aug/Sept. issue..haven't seen the Oct/Nov issue yet.

Wow, this is a SHAME! And I would really like this magazine to start coming. Do they sell this magazine at Barnes & Noble (or some place like that)? If so, I would try to get a refund for my subscription and just go get it there.

For those of you that would like the 1-800 customer service number, just go to americancakedecorating.com and click on "customer care." All the numbers and addresses you need is there. It also shows the cover of the latest issue (which is beautiful, by the way).

Thank you everyone for all of the info. I just sent an email to their customer service requesting info on the status of my subscription. Hope everyone does the same and maybe our magazines will start to arrive. I will keep you posted if I get a reply.Something tells me they will have a lot of emails and phone calls Monday morning!

Speaking of ACD Mag., a photo of my Harvest Cake is suppose to be in that magazine (Fall Issue), that part where readers can send in their photos but I have been looking for that magazine and I just cannot find it anywhere.. I don't know where to get it.. what stores sell them ? I went to Borders, Books and Music, but no luck...

I have looked EVERYWHERE for it. I only found MBN at one cake shop. I have since moved to far to travel back to it. I've looked at cake shops and craft store. I was really surprised that most people I asked did not have a clue what I was talking about. I asked JoAnn and Michael why wouldn't they carry it since they do carry books and mags. on just about every other "craft". Never got a real answer but hey, think about it, if were having such a hard time getting it, those corporations don't want to deal with that!

Woohooo!! Finally got my ACD mag today!! Didn't see eve's cake in it

I have had some issues to. But I am relentless. I keep calling until I get what I want. I have a suggestion. Everyone needs to e-mail them. If possible send it to the editor Craig Guftison not sure on the spelling. Also try emailing the publisher of the mag. Grace McNamara. They are on the web. I received my latest issue today. I noticed they have my experation date messed up too. Believe or not they have it for longer than I subscribed. But I am not complaining. Keep calling.