Thursday, October 13, 2011

Beware of Ottobre Magazine

In Australia, the notion of a 'standing subscription' would be considered a dodgy business practice at best.  Not so in Finland.

I purchased two copies of Ottobre magazine having seen some great back issues.  The issues duly arrived and personally I thought the designs were really dated and uninspired.  So I did not bother to renew my subscription. Lo and behold I received the next issue - worse than ever in terms of patterns and styles - and an invoice for 15.9 euros.  I wrote to Ottobre in protest but was told to read the fine print.

Given my overall lack of satisfaction with my Finnish friends, I am posting this as a warning to all current and potential subscribers.  If you don't want future issues you need to send then notification in writing.  Otherwise you'll receive lots of threatening notices to pay.  But perhaps you'd do better not to subscribe in first place.
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8 comments:

  1. Marie-NoëlleOctober 14, 2011 at 12:54 AM

    Thanks for letting me know. Ottober Patterns receive good feedback here and there but I must say I don't find them very attractive.

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  2. ShellyOctober 14, 2011 at 1:51 AM

    I've never seen/looked at this magazine but it's always good to have the heads up for potential problems. Thanks.

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  3. snowOctober 14, 2011 at 5:20 AM

    I have to agree about the October woman's issue. It comes out twice a year and I have yet to make any of the patterns. The designs are just not flattering.

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  4. MaryOctober 14, 2011 at 7:26 AM

    I found that out the hard way too. :(

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  5. AnonymousOctober 14, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    I'm amazed at your timing. I received an "overdue" bill this week from them, and when I questioned it, since I knew I hadn't renewed, I got a response which began by the company's stating that automatic renewal was legal in Finland. I had to pay for the unwanted issue, but could then unsubscribe. An interesting response, to say the least. I join in giving your warning. This is a company I'll shun in the future.

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  6. JacquieOctober 17, 2011 at 5:17 AM

    Oh that sounds rather dodgy. Whenever I have seen Ottobre magazines online I thought they looked a bit uninteresting so will continue to avoid them. Particularly after hearing this.

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  7. katherine hOctober 17, 2011 at 1:41 PM

    I have bought individual back issues of their children's magazines with no problems though.

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  8. Kristy ChanNovember 11, 2011 at 4:05 AM

    How annoying! I too thought the women's patterns were very ordinary, in fact some a little more bizarre than Burda if that is possible. I've bought a few random issues of the kids magazine from craftymamas.com.au without any problem, but I'll be sure not to subscribe from Ottobre now. Thanks for your warning

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