Charles K. Frodsham writes to us that he is having trouble getting his promised subscription to a magazine called Rail Travel News. Having had no experience with this particular mag, we are afraid that we were not much help. But it got us thinking.
First, the disclaimer: The title is not an attempt to disrespect railfans. We are railfans. Passenger Rail enthusiasts are automatically railfans. We perhaps actually have foamed at the mouth at the sight of a train, and we most certainly would foam at the sight of something like The Empire Builder tooling past at 60 mph along the 3-track out of Chicago.
More disclaimer: This does not imply that Rail Travel News is a fraud or has attempted to defraud Mr. Frodsham. It could all be a mixup. However.
It got us thinking about how many people and so-called organizations are out there just itching to con us our of our cash. And if we are a member of a recognizable group, we become more of a target. If that group is one involving some sort of enthusiast endeavor, like Passenger Rail, then we may as well have the target tatooed onto a butt cheek.
We like to think that members of our particular group, railfans, for instance, are not so low a life form that they would engage in defrauding other railfans. This is true of all enthusiast groups; we are sure that Winnie The Pooh lovers think that all other such Pooh lovers are above reproach.
Unfortunately, 'snot true. (See www.bucketosnot.com.) So beware of those magazine subscriptions, those mail solicitations, those "offers coming over the phone", and those unsolicited emails that offer everything from discount Amtrak tickets to sex in the sleeper. Passenger Rail enthusiasts are not above defrauding us, and they are not above being defrauded by others.
If you have been defrauded or simply want to discuss offers that are suspect, we invite you to join the Passenger Rail group through the link and start a discussion.
© 2006 - C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com
2 comments:
Rail Travel News has been around for 30 or so years. It covers passenger rail in detail. These days the internet groups spread just about all this news much faster. Once, this was the only way to know a lot of the nitty gritty. Rail Travel News is run by one individual and has had persistant complaints about subscription problems and very very long intervals with no publication. Not intentional fraud, but not so good customer service, for sure.
Chris, thanks for the comment. Do you have any information you can share with us as to how to reach Rail Travel News? Who is the individual who runs it and how do we reach him/her? If not, perhaps other readers of this blog have it. Please let us all know.
Post a Comment