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Threatening Letter from LFI


Edward Louis Marit

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Dear fellow forum users,

 

I have subscribed to LFI for several years. While I have enjoyed it, the cost of subscribing from North America is high. So this year I decided not to renew my subscription and let it lapse, as one does. After several letters urging me to renew and offers of free gifts, I received the attached letter threatening legal action. Funny , but I don't remember signing a contract with them. One wonders where they plan to file their statement of claim? In Germany , where I do not live, or in Canada. I suspect the legal and court costs of doing so would far exceed the 79 euros they claim I "owe" them.doc049417.pdf

 

I am not particularly worried by their threat, but I am extremely offended. I am in the process of composing an extremely nasty letter to send back and I want to cc Oliver Kaltner. Can someone please forward me his email address.

 

Thank you

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Dear fellow forum users,

 

I have subscribed to LFI for several years. While I have enjoyed it, the cost of subscribing from North America is high. So this year I decided not to renew my subscription and let it lapse, as one does. After several letters urging me to renew and offers of free gifts, I received the attached letter threatening legal action. Funny , but I don't remember signing a contract with them. One wonders where they plan to file their statement of claim? In Germany , where I do not live, or in Canada. I suspect the legal and court costs of doing so would far exceed the 79 euros they claim I "owe" them.attachicon.gifdoc049417.pdf

 

I am not particularly worried by their threat, but I am extremely offended. I am in the process of composing an extremely nasty letter to send back and I want to cc Oliver Kaltner. Can someone please forward me his email address.

 

Thank you

Just send them an email formally cancelling your subscription. Legal systems differ, in Germany they run on unless cancelled, and do not lapse automatically like in the USA or Canada, so no reason for offense. A German would not even understand an angry reaction. Mostly LFI will accept a late cancellation on courtesy if asked. They did in my case because I simply forgot to cancel in time. I got the same letter and thought: "woops! - my fault"

Given the above, a nasty reaction appears to me to be unwarranted and counterproductive.

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Dear fellow forum users,

 

I have subscribed to LFI for several years. While I have enjoyed it, the cost of subscribing from North America is high. So this year I decided not to renew my subscription and let it lapse, as one does. After several letters urging me to renew and offers of free gifts, I received the attached letter threatening legal action. Funny , but I don't remember signing a contract with them. One wonders where they plan to file their statement of claim? In Germany , where I do not live, or in Canada. I suspect the legal and court costs of doing so would far exceed the 79 euros they claim I "owe" them.attachicon.gifdoc049417.pdf

 

I am not particularly worried by their threat, but I am extremely offended. I am in the process of composing an extremely nasty letter to send back and I want to cc Oliver Kaltner. Can someone please forward me his email address.

 

Thank you

 

You don´t have mailed them, that you cancel the subscription?

I would spend a letter/email to cancel the subscription.

Jan

Edited by jankap
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Just send them an email formally cancelling your subscription. Legal systems differ, in Germany they run on unless cancelled, and do not lapse automatically like in the USA or Canada, so no reason for offense. A German would not even understand an angry reaction. Mostly LFI will accept a late cancellation on courtesy if asked. They did in my case because I simply forgot to cancel in time. I got the same letter and thought: "woops! - my fault"

Given the above, a nasty reaction appears to me to be unwarranted and counterproductive.

 

Thanks for this advice, as in the UK a subscription would also just lapse if not renewed, although this is the lazy way. Will make a mental note in case I get fed up with the current style!

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@Edward, sorry to hear of the hostility you encountered but it does sound like a misunderstanding.  Oh, the joys of doing business with those inscrutable Germans!  :rolleyes:

 

You can subscribe to LFI with a company that is based in Englewood, NJ if you like:   https://www.glpnews.com/EN/TP/LeicaE.html

 

I have subscribed to LFI through GLP News for the past 13 years and have had no trouble with their service at all; no nasty letters, no threats of dispatching Grenzschutzgruppe 9 der Bundespolizei to "deal with" me over my lapsed subscription, no hostilities at all.

 

The worst thing that has happened is that once in a blue moon, my issue of LFI will arrive a few days to a week late.  This is due to the fact that GLP has to await for their shipment of LFI to arrive from Germany before they can in turn send it out to their subscribers.  This has happened perhaps 3-4 times in 13 years; that's an enviable record, I'd have to say.

Edited by Carlos Danger
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Out of interest, I have subscribed for several years with the magazines coming directly from Germany. The cost is almost exactly half of that by subscribing through Leica Camera here (Australia). That would most likely be an indictment of postal costs here, not Leica Camera.
One nice feature of having the subscription is that you get better prices for the downloadable versions through the LFI app. Especially for back issues that are a real bargain.

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....I am not particularly worried by their threat, but I am extremely offended......

 

 

 

So this nonsense is still going on! 

 

When I bought my MP over 10 years ago, a year's free subscription to LFI came with the camera.  I did not like the magazine and I did not want to subscribe to it after the first year's free subscription.  Despite several increasingly strong emails from me to  try to make someone at LFI understand that I did not want their magazine, I also received threats of 'legal action'! :D

 

Eventually, I managed to get the message through to someone at LFI and received an apology from them.

 

You've no reason to be concerned by their threats, but perfectly right to feel affronted.  Tell them you don't wish to renew your subscription and then ignore them.

Edited by honcho
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Thanks all for advising that subscription cancellation requires notification in Germany . I will temper my reaction

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Subscribing to a magazine from Germany does not make you German and subject to German laws, just as buying a banana does not make you subject to Jamaican laws. You do well to highlight it here on the forum to show the absurdity of LFI's behaviour.

 

Steve

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They are not ¨behaving¨. No one sent a threatening letter. It´s just a computer automatically following procedures. Their terms are clearly outlined here: https://lfi-online.de/ceemes/en/subscription/lfi-2-jahres-abo-e-1002251.html

When LFI persist in sending their magazine despite being told not to and then threaten 'legal action' for payment (bring it on! :D ) they stink, not their computer!

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Instead of moaning about a system generated letter why not just email LFI direct. I think you will find you get a very fast ,friendly and positive response. Very nice and helpful people in the LFI office in my experience.

BrianP

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Instead of moaning about a system generated letter why not just email LFI direct. I think you will find you get a very fast ,friendly and positive response. Very nice and helpful people in the LFI office in my experience.

BrianP

 

Read posts #8 & 12! :D

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When LFI persist in sending their magazine despite being told not to and then threaten 'legal action' for payment (bring it on! :D ) they stink, not their computer!

 

Lets not rewrite the facts - the OP did not tell them not to, other than by not renewing subscription.

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Subscribing to a magazine from Germany does not make you German and subject to German laws, just as buying a banana does not make you subject to Jamaican laws. You do well to highlight it here on the forum to show the absurdity of LFI's behaviour.

 

Steve

Actually it does, if you read the agreement (and a subscription is an agreement) you will find that it stipulates that German law will apply, just as an agreement made in the UK will stipulate that British law will apply. If it were otherwise it would be near impossible to have international contracts.

You will find in cases like this that most countries will facilitate other countries through international agreements. If a German court ordered payment it would be simple to collect the money - plus total costs- through a court in Canada or the UK for that matter. Notorious exceptions are for instance Japan (totally impossible to get your money through legal complexity) and Italy (you will get your money but it will take 12 years) However, for smaller sums most creditors will not take the trouble and risk of costs in case of non-recovery.

 

Coming from the other side of having to be paid for my services, there is nothing absurd in the situation. This is perfectly normal business practice, the only hitch being that the OP did not realize that a subscription with a German publisher constitutes a contract that has to be cancelled to end.

 

BTW, this is not the first letter the poster has received. It will start with a simple invoice, followed by a polite request. Only after ignoring those will one get a stronger letter, in which legal measures are announced. That is the correct way, if legal steps are not announced they cannot be taken.

Note that there are 6 Euro for "2. Mahngebühr" which means costs for the second payment request. The first payment request is in a different tone, not that this one is particularly aggressive by common business standards.

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Years ago, in my inexperienced youth, I ran into a similar problem with subscription service I had entered into. I learned that the best way to get the message across to the other end was to simply return the unopened item to the postal service, advise them that I did not order it, and request it be returned. It did the trick......Not sure if things have changed since then. If you accept something that you did not pay for, I would guess (if the folks on the other end are belligerent enough to to press the point over an extended magazine subscription) he sender would have a leg to stand on in a subsequent dispute.

Edited by Wayne
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