Here are some photos too.

Champion!

When I moved to London I promised myself that the sacrifice I made on space (small one bedroom flat) would be made up by surrounding myself in culture, interesting places and good food. A subscription to Time Out seemed like a good idea.

After a while like all good resolutions, life (work) gets in the way and the magazines started piling up, unopened. Time to cancel…

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 14 August 2011 20:12
To: timeoutsubs@cisubs.co.uk
Subject: Time Out Cancellation

Hi,

I’d like to cancel my subscription to time out please.

Many thanks.

Rob

On 17 Aug 2011, at 08:40, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr Foddering

Thank you for your enquiry regarding Time Out magazine.

Unfortunately due to our new procedures we are unable to accept cancellation requests by email.

You can either cancel your contract and receive no more issues but you will not be entitled to a refund or cancel now but receive the remaining issues on your contract.

If I can please ask you to send in your letter of a cancellation request to the address below and they will be able to assist you further.

Freepost RRAH-BEUG-RAXU
Timeout Subscriptions
800 Guillat Avenue
Kent Science Park
ME9 8GU

If I can be of any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards

Duncan Brush

Email Response Team – Time Out magazine

www.timeout.com

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 17 August 2011 08:42
To: timeout@service.co.uk
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation

Super,

So if I print out the email and post it to you that’s acceptable is it?

Is this part of your progressive environmental policy, or just a way of making it more difficult to cancel my subscription?

Can you let me know why I have to notify you in writing and what terms and conditions I signed that requires me to do this?

Thanks

Rob

On 17 Aug 2011, at 10:46, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr Foddering,

Thank you for your recent email regarding the Time Out.

I am able to confirm that we have received your enquiry and are currently investigating it. As soon as we have completed the investigation we will get back to you.

If you require any further assistance in the meantime please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards

Duncan Brush

Email Response Team – Time Out magazine

www.timeout.com

From: Robert Foddering
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation
Date: 23 August 2011 09:49:18 GMT+01:00
To: timeout@service.co.uk

Any news on this please?

From: Robert Foddering
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation
Date: 24 August 2011 15:17:05 GMT+01:00
To: timeout@service.co.uk

HELLLO?

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 25 August 2011 16:40
To: timeout@service.co.uk
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation

Hello Time out people,

Please can you print out the attached, put it in an envelope and post it to yourself at this address:

Freepost RRAH-BEUG-RAXU
Timeout Subscriptions
800 Guillat Avenue
Kent Science Park
ME9 8GU

Please feel free to confirm that my subscription is now cancelled.

Many thanks.

Rob

On 25 Aug 2011, at 17:17, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr Foddering

Thank you for your enquiry regarding Time Out magazine.

Unfortunately due to our new procedures we are unable to accept cancellation requests by email.

You can either cancel your contract and receive no more issues but you will not be entitled to a refund or cancel now but receive the remaining issues on your contract.

If I can please ask you to send in your letter of a cancellation request to the address below and they will be able to assist you further.

Freepost RRAH-BEUG-RAXU
Timeout Subscriptions
800 Guillat Avenue
Kent Science Park
ME9 8GU

This is the link for the terms and conditions.

http://www.timeout.com/london/features/9489/Magazine_Subscription_Terms_and_Conditions.html

If I can be of any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact me.

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 25 August 2011 17:22
To: timeout@service.co.uk
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation

Hi Duncan,

Okay so you caught me.

I actually have a diagnosed psychological condition – it’s called Medorthophobia, I have a fear of pens and it makes it difficult for me to write letters.

Considering my condition, please can you unsubscribe me?

Many thanks.

Rob

On 25 Aug 2011, at 19:32, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr Foddering,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Time Out magazine.

Unfortunately I am afraid I am still unable to cancel as you can type a letter and post it to us. You have already typed a letter as per your earlier e-mail so please post this to the Freepost I address I have provided you with.

Also the phobia you have mentioned has nothing to do with a fear of pens which is another reason I am declining cancelling by e-mail.

Kind Regards

Duncan Brush

Email Response Team
Time Out magazine

www.timeout.com

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 26 August 2011 16:23
To: timeout@service.co.uk
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation

Dear Mr Brush,

Or may I all you Duncan?

Duncan,

Yet again you’ve caught me out… or have you?

This is almost like an episode of Scooby Doo… so let’s pretend I’m Velma and your the ‘caretaker’ of this haunted theme park.

Let’s analyse the clues:

1) I didn’t type that letter, DO YOU THINK I WOULD CHOOSE SUCH OFFENSIVE NOTLET TO TYPE ON?

2) All my correspondence is sent by dictation to Bangalore, which is in turn transcribed by my P.A. Ramesh and sent to you by email.

Can you see what a detrimental affect having a fear of pens is having on my life?

I could of course ask my P.A. in Bangalore to send you a letter, however I suspect with the Indian post being the way it is, it might take longer to get to you than my subscription is actually valid for. Then we would end up in this mess again wouldn’t we?

3) You said in point 3 below that you are declining to cancel my subscription by email. To me this means that you do actually have the ability to cancel my subscription by email. If you decline then you also have the option to accept, do you not?

Given my extenuating circumstances, I’m sure you would agree that ‘accepting’ my cancellation by email is the right thing to do?

All the best.

Rob (and Ramesh!)

P.S. Would photos of me dressed as Velma from Scooby Doo swing it?

On 27 Aug 2011, at 11:45, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr. Foddering,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Time Out magazine.

I have read your e-mail but unfortunately we do require a typed letter sent to us via post to request cancellation. I do not have the ability to cancel by e-mail and when I said declined I meant that I am unable to cancel by e-mail and declining your request.

If you are unable to do this I would ask for you to contact your bank or building or society to cancel the Direct Debit payments with them.

Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further assistance.

Kind Regards

Duncan Brush

Email Response Team – Time Out magazine

www.timeout.com

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 30 August 2011 14:14
To: timeout@service.co.uk
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation

Hi Duncan,

That’s great, so all I need to do is cancel my direct debit and it will automatically cancel my subscription?

Rob

On 30 Aug 2011, at 14:39, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr Foddering,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Time Out magazine.

I can confirm that if you cancel with yiur bank then they will cancel the next payment.

Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further assistance.

Kind Regards

Duncan Brush

Email Response Team – Time Out magazine

www.timeout.com

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 30 August 2011 14:40
To: timeout@service.co.uk
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation

Hi Duncan,

Could you confirm that in writing to me please?

Your terms and conditions don’t mention anything about it and I’m worried about legal ramifications.

Many thanks.

Rob

On 30 Aug 2011, at 14:51, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr Foddering,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Time Out magazine.

If you can cancel at your bank or building society and then e-mail me to let me know you have done this then I can check the system and can then confirm cancellation.

Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further assistance in the meantime.

Kind Regards

Duncan Brush

Email Response Team – Time Out magazine

www.timeout.com

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 30 August 2011 15:40
To: timeout@service.co.uk
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation

Dear Duncan,

That’s great.

So you’re effectively saying that I don’t need to write you a letter to cancel my subscription?

Many Thanks

Rob

On 30 Aug 2011, at 16:16, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr Foddering,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Time Out magazine.

I can confirm if you are unable to write us a letter than please contact your bank or building society to cancel.

Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further assistance.

Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further assistance.

Kind Regards

Duncan Brush

Email Response Team – Time Out magazine

www.timeout.com

From: Robert Foddering
Sent: 30 August 2011 17:51
To: timeout@service.co.uk
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation

Hi Duncan,

Excuse my impertinence but when I emailed you on the 14th of August wouldn’t it have been easier to just tell me that?

If I post you a self addressed envelope will you confirm in writing that my subscription is cancelled?

Many thanks.

Rob

On 31 Aug 2011, at 09:28, timeout@service.co.uk wrote:

Dear Mr Foddering,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Time Out magazine.

My supervisor will cancel your subscription on this occasion via e-mail.

Time Out have a policy regarding cancellation which I was adhering to when you first e-mailed in so I could not have confirmed this at the time of your first request.

My supervisor has cancelled at her discretion for you on this occasion only.

Your last issue will be dated 12th October 2011.

I have requested for a letter to be sent to you regarding cancellation.

Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further assistance.

Kind Regards

Duncan Brush

Email Response Team – Time Out magazine

www.timeout.com

From: Robert Foddering
Subject: Re: Time Out Cancellation
Date: 31 August 2011 14:13:22 GMT+01:00
To: timeout@service.co.uk

Many thanks Duncan, you have demonstrated customer support of extreme rigour.

Would you still like some photos of me dressed as Velma from Scooby Doo?

EDIT 06/02/12:

I forgot to include the cancellation letter and the re-subscription letter I received 1 week later…

On 14 Dec 2011, at 09:56, Steph Shaw wrote:

You guys are just a bit good aren't you?!

Thanks for letting us know.

Steph

On 14 Dec 2011, at 10:03, Robert Foddering wrote:

Like this?

On 14 Dec 2011, at 10:11, Steph Shaw wrote:

Lol - that is funny!!  

That's not what I meant... I'd make it at least a third...  

When we launched the site we had the honour of the first placing the first live order and we ordered some Assam, this afternoon we opened the package to find a tea set for two!

It amazingly well packaged and designed – the attention to detail is superb, but most importantly it tastes amazing too.

The only problem I have now, is that I might have to order these as Tea Christmas Presents for everyone…

Since 2006 we’ve produced the certificates for the winners.

This year Jim won for a string of mishaps:

See the past years winners here:

It’s easy when you work in the design industry to focus on design itself and not actually consider who you work for, or what they do.

The competition to be at the cutting edge of the web, or to produce something that is brilliantly designed seems to have replaced the need to consider why we are doing it? Are we all just chasing the kudos of our peers?

Are your clients your achievement? Do you wear them like badges of honour? Lots of companies seem to.

Does this make a difference? Why do we design? To communicate a message clearly, visually? There are a lot of amazing designers out there that produce their own work, which communicates messages that mean something.

But what about when designers work for other businesses or organisations? You’re then communicating their message. Is it time to have a think about who they are as clients?

If you are their mouth piece are you happy with what they do?

Do they give something back?

The words of Neville Brody are perhaps more eloquent than mine:

Radical Culture and the idea that the work you do as a designer could actually be of benefit to society is no longer evident. When did you last hear the word ‘progress’ ? Progress is essential to society; the idea that what you’re doing now should make a better society for tomorrow. [Good Design] is not about doing something that’s going to bring in money, it’s about doing something that’s going to re-engage people, re-engage culture and society and re-engage possibility.

- Neville Brody

What is open source software?

We believe in the power of open source. Open Source Software is developed by a worldwide community of programmers for free and open use. You might have used open source software before such as the browser Firefox and you’ve certainly used the web server Apache (albeit indirectly – most websites run off Apache) and you might also have used a Linux operating system such as Ubuntu.

Is it any good?

Yes, lots of businesses use it as well as government organisations – the White House website uses the open source Control Management System (CMS) – Drupal.

What’s a Control Management System?

It makes sense if you are going to run a website that you are in control of it. With Content Management Systems you can do this. You login to the back end of a website and change content.

What do you use?

We use a variety of open-source content management systems, including Drupal, WordPress, Joomla and Magento. The choice of system depends on your needs.

Why use Open Source Content Management Systems?

As these systems are free and open to anyone, meaning that we can pass that saving and freedom on to you. They also enable you to take control of your site and edit as you see fit, without recurring further cost from us. In short it’s cheaper, quicker and it put’s you in control.

That sounds great, are there any draw backs?

In general it’s a win win scenario, the only thing with open source software that you have to keep an eye on is security. The open source community issues security updates on a regular basis and it’s important to keep your website up to date to prevent it from being at risk.

If you’re interesting in setting up an content managed website contact us here.

We’ve recently been helping one of our clients with persona creation – persona creation basically  involves creating a fictional character who represents your target market, as Wikipedia says here:

Personas are useful in considering the goals, desires, and limitations of brand buyers and users in order to help to guide decisions about a service, product or interaction.

They are also useful if your marketing is split amongst several different groups and they all need to know who they are marketing towards.

After pointing our client toward a few useful links:

http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Persona+Creation

http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Persona+Format

http://luxr.posterous.com/persona-cheat-sheet-0

We were presented with a dark insight in to the mind of …Toby Larone:

Profile

Toby regularly watches popular television programmes such as Hollyoaks, Masterchef and usual collection of reality TV.

Although the town he lives in is pleasant enough, he can’t help but feel bored with where he lives and is hungry for an adventure somewhere far away.

A Typical Day

Wakes up late, after staying up late to watch forgettable TV and talking to friends on Facebook. He has 4-6 hours of lectures, which he finds it hard to concentrate on due to numerous distractions, including a girl he has a crush on sitting opposite him. He goes home, has a bland dinner his mum has cooked 16512 times before and leaves for a 2-hour driving lesson. He comes back from his driving lesson with 3 things on the forefront of his mind: 1) College work 2) That girl 3) Plans for the weekend