I have spoken to a couple of newsagents in the last week about returns credits which were refused with the distributor saying they did not receive the stock. I’m posting this today to invite comments from newsagents who have had returns credits refused for this reason. If this has happened to you please share your story.
We did receive an email from Network recently stating that:
1. Physical returns were not received
2. Return boxes were not labelled
3. Hard copies of returns were not in Box.
Not sure how all 3 statements could be true for the same returns but our returns go back on the same truck as many other newsagents in the ACT area so if ours are lost so are hundreds of others.
We were not refused credits but the email did warn that next time we will be.
Yeah i recieved a warning with all the above that Shayne mentioned plus they also arrived after the 30 day cut off date .
What a bad day i must have had in november ,no lables , no paper work ,and to top it all off i must not have even sent them -you can only laugh about it .
Whenever I get this email from Network I just reply on Helponline that I wish to thank them for letting me know that their system is ‘NOT WORKING AGAIN’
We get those e-mails nearly every week… I use to forward to the QNF, but gave up as nothing ever happend….
The irony of the e-mail is, if they have not received the physical returns, how do they know the boxes were not labled and there were no hard copies in there?
We use to get credits refused for ‘Old’ copies – particularily The Ecconomist, however upon investigation it was our staff not specting the right issue, and or the barcode being reused…
I take a digital photo of the box I put out for returns, and photocopy the page I tape to the top of the box with the returns barcodes on them and file it.
I find one box of tops a month is sufficient, with four or five weeks worth of returns per box (all tops from my country
location). Yes I get the emails now and again – sometimes for one week of returns when they were in a box with all the other returns lol ! I have not been refused credits and i have been warned….
h, how did you swing tops only returns. We are about 6 hours from Sydney and have repeatedly been denied tops only. As a consequence our return costs hover between 2 – 3% of our monthly magazine sales
Ive been pinged twice in 6 weeks for not supplying return forms with the tops when I know I put them in. Brilliant system Network’s got going there. Still when the owners have less equity left in their company that I have in my little country town news agency they probably have bigger problems to worry about.
i write on box “RETURN FORMS INSIDE!!!” and still get warned about not having labels…… it is crazy…..
I inhereted tops only 16 years ago and simply continued the practice. I only return cookbooks full. I’ve never met anybody from Network either, they are a
cyberspace entity to me, no humans work there lol !
We take our magazines to CMD ourselves, and photograph them on the pallet.We sometimes get the warning email. But we just respond by email with the photo attached. No further comment. No further action.
Hatebullies,I do the same thing with a big Nikko (yes all paper work is in this box ) I only ever send one box just to save any confusion .where do they find these audit people
We were taking photos of our cartons and labels, too. And of return sheets poking out of open cartons.
Was petty and ridiculous, but we simply had to, so we could respond with them.
Sadly it never stopped the bullswool, but at least we had proof that we’d at least made an effort to do the work.
Thanks for raising this Mark. Your blog is always on the front foot and very informative – so I thank you for your efforts.
I too, have spoken to my surrounding newsagents in the last few days – whom are not willing to contribute here. They say they also get continual emails saying they that forms / labels are missing. They tell me they just ignore them. I have advised against that.
I have been told that too many warnings and they will withhold credits. But my question – which remains unanswered – is how many warnings are too many, where is it written about the number of warnings – and who holds the magic gun to decide to push the button to withhold them?
one day my friends….one day we have to file a CLASS ACTION against them. hold on to your pictures and proofs……. too many warnings and no credit = lawsuit…..
I GET CONTINUED WARNINGS BOXES NOT TAPED CORRECTLY ETC I RANG AND ASKED HOW ARE THEY TO BE TAPED CORRECTLY THEY ASKED HOW I TAPED THEM I SAID 3 ACROSS THE JOIN AND 2 ACROSS THOSE THEY SAID THAT WAS CORRECT I ASKED THEN WHY THE INFINGMENT THEY SAID THEY HAD NO IDEA WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE
Ground Hog day has started again for us… The Economist and the Time… I thought we had resolved it with incorrect bar codes… But its started again…
We are sent 8 of each, lucky if we sell 1 of each… try to claim 7 returns of each, and they are rejected as over limit claims… on the phone again, getting into heated discussion with the unhelpful help line – being told no you only get 2 of each… Out comes the arrivals invoice proving we got and were charged for 8 of each… After being told no you are wrong, having the fact presented we are still denied…
After this having gone on for so long, and for so many occasions we have given up… We do get our credits, but not against The Economist or Time, not the right thing to do, but what other option is there – my time is money and I make sure I compensated for the failings of our magazine companies…