“Due to extended inactivity new mail is not currently being accepted for this mailbox.”
Wednesday, June 4, 2008Posted in: New Concepts Publishing, What's going on?
Apparently, NCP readers have been having trouble receiving their book orders from the publisher.
A disgruntled reader posted the following on the loop:
Hi everyone
As you know i am a print NCP reader and i have currently got an order in for 10 books with my local seller
She tells me her order went in a month ago with no confirmation yet received
I have sent a follow up email to customer service (yeah right) for get them to follow up
Hopefully i will get some sort of reply in a 24 hour timeframe (my hopes are not high)
Anyhow i thought i would include you all in this first step of the wrestling match that is ordering from NCP and will keep you updated as to responses and outcomes
This is the above reader’s original e-mail to NCP:
From:___>
To:
Subject: Order query
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 13:10:11 +1000Good Morning
My local bookseller here in Australia put an order in with you about a month ago for some print books
As yet no confirmation has been received
Could you confirm the timeframes for fullfilling orders placed with your organisation
Would appreciate a timely response to my query as i have been trying to contact you by phone and been told the number has been disconnected
Thanks
—–
Here’s a response from another reader:
Hello,
Don’t hold your breath!!! I have tried to order ebooks from them lately and can’t even get those! I never had any problems before but now they are having customer service issues! Their website says they will answer all quests 48-72 hours, yeah right, it’s been over a week and I still haven’t gotten my refund!!!
Apparently their main e-mail isn’t working too well either:
—– Original Message —–
From: Mail Delivery System
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 1:02 PM
Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender> This is the mail system at _____.
>
> I’m sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
> be delivered to one or more recipients. It’s attached below.
>
> For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.
>
> If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
> delete your own text from the attached returned message.
>
> The mail system
>
> : host[]
> said: 550 ncp@newconceptspublishing.com…Due to extended inactivity
new
> mail is not currently being accepted for this mailbox. (in reply to
RCPT TO
> command)
No idea what the above means, but if they’re having e-mail problems you’d think they’d sort it out ASAP to avoid losing out on potential sales.
Anyway, this was forwarded to me last night, but I didn’t get a chance to check my e-mails until this evening, so maybe the issue has been resolved.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thanks to Ellen Ashe for the heads up.
Ellen Ashe
June 4
9:31 pm
Apparently the orders were lost and e-mail bounced aimlessly back to unhappy customers because of a computer glitch. ?????
They haven’t used that excuse for awhile now. Heard it before however- along with computer virus, staff flu, disgruntled staff, short staffed, lost staff (can’t imagine why) forced to go to dial-up, whining authors, etc etc etc.
You’d think that with the muti-millions they claim to make they could afford decent glitch free computers/servers/phones/answering machines/STAFF… maybe in 2009.
Amazing though, how the glitches and viruses and all those other popular reasons for sad service doesn’t happen when money is SENT to them.
BTW- my five books are STILL being held hostage. 3 contracts expire this month, thankfully, but I have till December and April to wait for the other two. NCP won’t sell them but neither will they return them to me.
Maybe if I phoned…….
CJ England
June 4
9:59 pm
{{{hugs Ellen}}} I really hope it works out for you.
I know for the first time since publishing with them, I didn’t receive a check or statement on a quarterly basis. I have to wonder if it is a new policy or because I officially asked for my rights back.
I actually have a case since my name has been incorrect on the cover for over a year, but the only response I received was being told it was close enough.
*sigh*
Good thoughts and prayers are with you.
Ellen Ashe
June 4
11:06 pm
Here’s another author being screwed:
http://www.romancejunkies.com/rjblog/?p=235
The more readers know perhaps the less they’ll try to place orders.
AztecLady
June 5
12:04 am
Pardon me while my mind boggles… CJ England, srsly? “close enough”?
CJ England
June 5
1:12 am
LOL AztecLady. That’s what I thought. They think it’s nothing because it’s only periods that they did incorrectly.
My name is CJ England, NOT C.J. England. Not a big deal, but it IS the correct pen name, and it matters a LOT to me. It’s all there in black and white on my contract. I have often wondered how they would feel if I put periods between the letters of their names just for the hell of it.
I had several other problems with them as well, many that have been mentioned here on this blog, but this one was contractually wrong, so I’ve asked for my rights back.
They haven’t responded.
Nonny
June 5
3:25 am
CJ, it could be worse. One of the publishers I’ve worked with would’ve insisted on the change for grammatical correctness. 😛
Tuscan Capo
June 5
6:50 am
I hate hearing this outfit is still causing headaches for their authors. Good luck to you all.
Ellen Ashe
June 5
1:44 pm
Got this from another author this morning:
“And I met Megan at RT….drunk as a skunk. And she inroduced herself
to us as Megan from New Concepts. (No, she didn’t ask me who I was,
nor did I offer.)
Seriously.”
This is the NCP customer service rep.
Ya gotta wonder about those “computer glitches” now! Could explain a lot actually.
Chantal
June 7
6:45 pm
I hate NCP.
I had trouble with them over a year ago. They download of the book I bought was only half a book. They were of NO help.
I emailed them five times!
I ended up having to email the author to get the end of the story.
Seesh.
Ellen Ashe
June 8
3:49 am
An email I got from a fan (June 7).
“The Better Business Bureau of Georgia has a rating for NCP. It is unsatisfactory. I checked out NCP on the BBB website, using the physical address of the company, including Zip code. They might have more information on what you can do to regain your rights, or help you get a resolution to your problem. If not, I still suggest contacting the GA Attorney Generals Office about the problem with NCP. They might have some answers or suggestions for you.”
I have put the call out for links/addresses to any authority would might be able to help authors/ readers and anyone else who is continually getting screwed by NCP.
If you know, email me at: ellenashe@hotmail.com