Customer service

[Dunks]

Hi,

Does anyone know if, other than an automated acknowledgement ment, if customer service exists?

I took out a digital+archive 3-year subscription on Saturday 1st, and could instantly access the latest MR, but cannot get access to other features. Whenever I follow the links to customer service, and raise a help request, I get an acknowledgement, an email link to activate my subscription (which simply tells me what I know: I am paying for a lot less than I am getting) and sometimes an email offering me a discount on something else, but never a solution. I have tried this several times with exactly the support. I feel like I am caught in a dystopian loop. It has been a week now, and I think that's more than long enough for me to wait before raising it here.

Is anyone there?

Simon

[samfp1943]

Hello, Simon;

                    I cannot speak to your specific complaint, but only from my personal experiences. Kalmbach's C/S folks seem to work a 'normaldaytime'(?) business week. Call them during those hours, and my experiences have been very positive, and my issues were resolved.

  I recently renewed my subscription to TRAINS on a weekend. Submitted the requested info in the magazine macro, printed it off, and my CC provider provided me with the confirmation that it had been processed. Untouched by human hands   But to your point Customer Service... Getting to be more and more oxy-moronic;apparently, it's all in one's expectations(?)

[RME]

Have you tried logging out of the Web site and then logging in again?  Did the e-mail links you get contain a different username and password (I don't think they should).

I don't want to sound like a crApple foon, but it's possible this problem is on your end, not Kalmbach's per se.  Over the weekend while waiting for customer service to return, try the following:

1.  Log out, then log back in.  (If there are updated permissions they should load at that time.)

2.  Go into the cookie editor in your browser (in my version of Firefox this is in Preferences -> Privacy -> little blue "remove individual cookies") and remove all the cookies from the Kalmbach sites (including all those ending in ".trains.com")

3.  'Perform the browser ritual' (e.g. Ctrl-F5 on Windows) to reset cache, etc.  (Google for information on your particular browser if you need to; if you're lucky, you might actually get help from its help system...)

Suspect the features will start being accessible to you somewhere through these steps.  If so, you might report back on what worked and what didn't.

[Dunks]

Thanks, both.

Sam: I am not in North America, so would rather not phone. I have to wait until I get the time differences right, can't make a free call, etc, and since customer service, has an advertised facility for using the web, I don't see why I should have to call.

RME

Have you tried logging out of the Web site and then logging in again? 

Yes, had done that, and tried it again. No change.

Did the e-mail links you get contain a different username and password (I don't think they should).

No, they didn't.

I don't want to sound like a crApple foon,

Ok, what does that mean?

but it's possible this problem is on your end, not Kalmbach's per se. 

I am using Safari on a new iPad Pro: the sort of device which is an ideal way to read on-line. I don't tweak these devices, either: installations tend to be pretty vanilla.

Whilst it is possible, I doubt it in this case: my subscription has not been properly activated.

Over the weekend while waiting for customer service to return, try the following:

1.  Log out, then log back in.  (If there are updated permissions they should load at that time.)

2.  Go into the cookie editor in your browser (in my version of Firefox this is in Preferences -> Privacy -> little blue "remove individual cookies") and remove all the cookies from the Kalmbach sites (including all those ending in ".trains.com")

3.  'Perform the browser ritual' (e.g. Ctrl-F5 on Windows) to reset cache, etc.  (Google for information on your particular browser if you need to; if you're lucky, you might actually get help from its help system...)

Suspect the features will start being accessible to you somewhere through these steps.  If so, you might report back on what worked and what didn't.

As I am not using Windows, the routes to those ends are different, but they make no difference.

I have also downloaded the archive app: can't log in.

Similary, I cannot access any of the other features that tell me I need to be a subscriber. I am already subscriber, and going to my account details confirms this.

 

Let me be clear. The issue is with activation of the subscription. Things don't always go right, and I accept that. I also accept that for many businesses, 24/7 manned support is not viable.

But having paid for a three-year subscription, I expect to be able to access it, and to get more than an automated holding response when I can't.

 

Still, I can always cancel it - and tell my friends why they shouldn't bother, either. Is that how Kalmbach really want to be seen?

[Anonymous]

I've had the same experience with Kalmbach's customer service. Living in Germany a phone call is cost prohibitive for me too.

The response time for my e-mails was between two and 6 weeks. Customer service seems to prefer handling phone calls.

My experience is about a half year old. I hope they have become better.
Regards, Volker

[Dunks]

Dankesehr, Volker. Tschuß!

[RME]

Dunks

I am using Safari on a new iPad Pro: the sort of device which is an ideal way to read on-line. I don't tweak these devices, either: installations tend to be pretty vanilla. Whilst it is possible, I doubt it in this case: my subscription has not been properly activated.

There's no question your subscription access isn't working right, and I think it is quite possible that the problem is mistakes at the Kalmbach end; I just wanted to try a couple of things during the time 'over the weekend' that Kalmbach tech would likely not yet have seen this thread.

I am a long-time Apple user.  That company made, in my opinion, a critical mistake by becoming a consumer toy company instead of a technology leader a few years ago; this wasn't properly marked in its name so I distinguish the 'new' company as the 'consumer reboot' of Apple, or crApple. 

There is a common tendency among the crApple support staff and other apologists (who used to be evangelists when there was something to evangelize) to blame users for things that go wrong with their products and systems.  I want to try to avoid that whole approach, or the mindset that apparently drives it.  Since there are a number of ways that crApple has historically screwed up access permissions for users, and then attempted to blame them for the misconfiguration, I wanted to ensure that there was nothing in your local configuration that was mislocking your access to some of the Kalmbach content.

I have not used Safari since it was converted to an "app" but can try approximating it on an iPhone if needed; that should be close enough to iOS on a Pad.  I am currently running 10.3.2 build 14F89 which should be close to what you have.

Here's the thing: the issue is not just with 'activation of the subscription', it's with your ability to access features of the subscription.  It was at least possible that Kalmbach had 'activated' you but was not receiving some sort of updated credentials (e.g., reading cookie information) that reflected the new activated status.

There's no doubt that you are a subscriber in your account details, and therefore if things are programmed correctly all the back-end permissions for your level of subscription ought to be enabled when you see that status confirmation.  It would then make sense to see whether logging in with appropriate configuration would result in correct permissions.  Try this:

In Settings/Safari/Advanced/Website Data, tap and swipe on anything from Kalmbach to delete it.

In Settings/General/Reset - Reset Network Settings

You might also want to clear history (Settings/Safari/Clear History) and confirm that you still have cookies set to "allow for websites I visit".

When you go to sign in as a subscriber for the first time after this, look to see if your user name and/or password 'autofill' -- they should not after you clear cookies, and typing in the name and password that correspond to the 'paid subscription' should then enable all the features you paid for.

If it helps any, all the times I've contacted Kalmbach with computer-related access issues - via e-mail and their online 'contact form' for tech help - they've responded to me within a matter of days at most.  So I would expect little additional gladhanding once someone from Trains reads this thread.

[Dunks]

Thanks again: I have done all those things (thereby losing all cookies that were useful on other sites, such as Google's interpretation of the the EU cookie directive).

When you say "expect little additional", was the indefinite article accidentally missing?

[mudchicken]

(Gee! - This really belongs over in the Trains.com forum. - Whodathunkit?)

[Miningman]

RME- " There is a common tendency among the crApple support staff and other apologists (who used to be evangelists when there was something to evangelize) to blame users for things that go wrong with their products and systems"

Yes so true, well said. I was a big fan for a long time, suffered when I purchased a "Cube", big bucks, still remained loyal, there were still some nice accessories such as their Sound Sticks, but today not so much. Still have an old LC in the garage somewhere. 

For serious business at work it is unfortunately Windows. I let IT worry about ANY problems. Too geeky for me. 

Apple should/could take a big step forward and point to the future again. 

 

[Dunks]

Becky James in Customer Service took charge, and has been brilliant at pushing things along. For some strange reason when I subscribed, the link to my MRR account didn't process properly. These things happen, and the issue is not that things go wrong, but that they get resolved. Thanks, all - it is good to know that people are prepared to help! Simon

[MikeF90]

I haven't used the Customer Service contact form in a while, but they used to respond as advertised within a day or two.

Something else to try is the Messaging feature of the forum, seen unobtrusively in the upper right of the page. When the person replies, the word 'Messages' turns bright red.

I haven't found a post yet by a known, recent Customer Service person, but I suspect that Steven Otte or Brian Schmidt would forward your request.

[Anonymous]

MikeF90

I haven't used the Customer Service contact form in a while, but they used to respond as advertised within a day or two.

You are right but that was before Kalmbach outsourced their customer service.

When I didn't get an answer within six week I sent an e-mail to the press department asking them to forward it to the right person. That helped and I got helped very efficiently.

As I said before my last experience with customer service is 6 month old. I was asked to solve future problems with the contact person at Kalmbach bypassing customer service.
Regards, Volker

[CMStPnP]

I drive past the Kalmbach HQ a lot when I am in Wisconsin.   For those of you that are living overseas.    Kalmbach is a fairly small operation, their Corporate Office space is not a huge office tower but is limited to just a medium sized suite in a Office Building.    They might have maybe 10-15 people working in the office at any one time.   Not a huge place.  If you want your Email responded to sooner you might want to try placing a priority in which you want a response.    For example (LOW), (MED), (HIGH) in the subject line might work.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that the size matters.

As Mike said before, Kalmbach once promised to come back within two business days and in my experience they kept this promise.

If you are looking for assistance on their websites you don't get an e-mail address but end up at a online form. They still announce a reply within two business days but were not able in any of my requests at the end of 2016 and in 2017.

Since I have a contact at Kalmbach I'm asked to bypass the customer service. So I can't say if customer service has become better in the last half year.
Regards, Volker