Binah magazine has been giving me problems!

I posted about this issue before but it's gotten worse.

My DH bought me a subscription for a year as a gift after I had a baby. We budgeted for it and I was looking forward to a real treat. I paid for it and didnt receive the magazine. When I contacted them they told me they leave it in the lobby early monday morning. Bottom line is most mornings it's not there. My DH checks every week when he goes to daven and it's been there about half the time. I emailed them, they offered that my first floor neighbor would hold my copy since she's been consistently getting hers. She's an older woman, she forgets, or she tells me there was only one. I emailed them and said this is not an arrangement. I want it mailed. I live in a huge apartment building with a busy lobby, the super cleans up twice a day and throws everything out, there are jews and non jews in the building, there is no way for me to be able to ensure that the magazine will stay there long enough to be picked up especially since they are not consistent about delivery time. Home delivery doesn't mean dumped in a busy lobby and my DH being responsible to run down 3 flights of stairs in hopes of finding it. I emailed again asking them to mail it and explained that I have received only half of my magazines and I would like a refund and they offered no such thing except that maybe they would remind the neighbor to get the magazine for me since she has never complained.
Hello??????? Is this business?????? I am fuming. DH is fuming. We paid for the magazine and we have not gotten most of them!!!! What should I do now? They are not being co-operative at all.

Silver Member Joined: Jan 05 2010 Posts: 526

If you paid with a credit card fight it through them.

I don't understand. They don't put it in your mailbox? They just dump it in the lobby of the building?

Platinum Member Joined: Feb 20 2009 Posts: 7949

op here

It is home delivery and they can put it in a spot but there are 150 families in this complex, people going in and out, anyone can take it, the super can throw it out (even though I explained to him a million times not to, he gets confused with all the other paper junk that is delivered to the building)? Their claim is that they delivered it, my problem is to get it. Are you serious???????/
I explained the problem to them in countless emails. I even offered to pay a fee for mail but they said they don't mail in brooklyn.

Can I contest a charge from chanuka time? how?

I get mine mailed because they were leaving it outside to be possibly stolen or drenched. I'm 2 weeks behind, but they definitely do deliver in Brooklyn.
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"Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things!!" - Steven Tyler

I used to get the Hamodia delivered and they left it at the front entrance of my apartment building. There were many days that it wasn't there. One day when my husband went to get it he saw one of the neighbors taking it. I couldn't believe that person who claims he's frum could just take somebody else's newspaper but hey I guess I was wrong. We called the Hamodia and they arranged for us to get it to our door on the fifth floor. I had the same thing when I ordered the Mishpacha to my new building. When they left it at the front door the first two weeks we never received it. I called and they asked me for the building's combination lock so the delivery person could bring it to my door + they added another 2 weeks to my subscription.

Gold Member Joined: Aug 23 2011 Posts: 1613

They do mail magazines even to subscribers in areas where home delivery is available. BTDT.
Try calling Binah instead of just emailing, maybe you'll reach someone more helpful.
Good Luck!

op here

I asked them to mail it!!!! They wouldnt.

Who can I call? Anyone have a number?

Gold Member Joined: Aug 23 2011 Posts: 1613

Their number is 718-305-5200
Be persistent. It took me a few months until my subscription issues were ironed out, but they eventually were.

Platinum Member Joined: Feb 20 2009 Posts: 7949

I get home delivery of mishpacha. They put it under our doormat, presumably to protect against the elements and theft. That could work for you if they won't mail it.

If they are being so uncooperative, cancel your subscription and stop payment.

Side note: We had subscribed to a dati newspaper for wwhile, and we would only actually get about 1/2 of the issues. We called the company to complain and they insisted that they sent it, and suggested that someone was stealing it out of our mailbox. We thought, "who would steal a frum newspaper?"

It happened a few more times, with the same frustrating result. One day we called to complain and the delivery guy called back and claimed he delivered the newspaper as usual, at 5:45am. He even SMS'ed us a date-stamped photo of the newspaper sticking out of our mailbox ( the mailbox isn't large enough to accommodate a newspaper without it sticking out).

The next day, I decided to catch the thief in action. I waited outside, hidden in the bushes, at 5:30am with a camera. The delivery guy came and put the newspaper in the mailbox, just as he claimed he did every day. Later, our downstairs neighbor came down on his way to the early morning minyan, PLUCKED OUR NEWSPAPER OUT OF OUR MAILBOX, and headed toward shul. I jumped out of the bushes and snapped a photo of him and yelled "Aha! Gotcha!"

He almost peed in his pants!

Active Poster Joined: Apr 30 2012 Posts: 41

And my reaction is the opposite.
I am SO proud of youi Dr. Mom!!!!! You vindicate all of us who have gone through this narishkeit.

Just so that we remember...the fact that someone wears a kappeleh on his head dosen't give him good midos. The only thing one can say about him is that...he wears a kappeleh on his head. I know totally secular people who have incredible midos bein odom lachaveiro that I can learn from and unfortunately we all know the opposite too.

So. First of all OP good luck in getting hold of the Binah people and I hope that your problem is solved. Second, kol hakavod Dr. Mom!
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"Olam Chessed Yiboneh", Tehilim 89.

Thank you, FS. I thought to myself: I should be able to get to the bottom of this, esp since the delivery guy provided hard evidence that the paper is reaching our mailbox. So the problem occurs between 5:45am and ~8:00am (when we check our mail). It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out how to catch the thief.

Rrs123, if it makes you feel any better, my husband was horrified that I did this, mostly because he was worried for my safety (we didn't know it was our neighbor -- maybe it was some burly ax-weilding gang member who had a fondness for frum newspapers?).

And now for the $64,000 question. After your neighbor almost wet his pants, what happened? Did he ever explain? Did he ever talk to you again? Did he continue doing it again after a few weeks passed? Details please! It's just too good a story to end in the middle!

Last edited by DrMom on Wed, Jul 11 2012, 4:09 am; edited 1 time in total

We didn't speak much before the newspaper incident (he resents us for existing; our apt was unoccupied for a long time and he liked it that way because he used our parking spot), and we aren't exactly best buddies now either.

He did stop stealing our newspaper, though. He scowls at me more than usual, but I can live with that.

Edit: Right after I snapped a photo of him red-handed, he made some flimsy excuse about thinking the newspaper was his. He subscribes to this newspaper too, and he took both of our copies. Note that his mailbox is a full meter away from ours. I didn't press the issue and simply said, "Please be more careful to only take your newspaper in the future."

Active Poster Joined: Apr 30 2012 Posts: 41

The reason this story makes me sad is because I hate knowing that frum adults steal!
It has nothing to do with bein adam lchaveiro and everything to do with bein adam l'makom! What type of hypocrite claims to believe in God, but then secretly, when only God can see him, do something so wrong!
That's what makes me sad.

Yes, I agree, It makes a great story!