Linux Format forums

mikejd · Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:14 pm Post subject: Star letter prize.

My letter was selected in issue LXF148 for the Star Letter Award so I immediately emailed the magazine to collect my prize. I got a reply from Neil Bothwick to say he had passed the information on.

Nothing happened for a few weeks and I was prompted by the arrival of issue 149 to chase it up. Got a reply from Graham Morrison (25/08/11) to say he would check into it but might take a few days as he was finalising the next issue.

Nothing happened for a couple of weeks then I get an email from Andrew Gregory (08/09/11) to say he was chasing it up and would let me know.

So far, still nothing so I've emailed again.

Has anyone else ever actually received one of these prizes?

Mike

heiowge · Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:50 pm Post subject:

I got my camera for a letter published a couple of years back within about 6 weeks. I still use it. Here it is. The mirror flipped the pic, GIMP flipped it back. Laughing

Note that the camera has been upgraded since I got mine (hint hint guys! Laughing

)

The problem is that camera is supplied by Rackspace, not Linux Format. They sponsor the competition. So the mag has to chase them.

It does surprise me that it's taken this long though. Don't fret. These guys won't let you go without.
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eeepc 1015PX, 1.66 Ghz Intel atom processor, 2 GB DDR3, 320 GB hd running Mint 14 MATE. Running great.

wyliecoyoteuk · Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:16 pm Post subject:

I have had this from more than one mag.
The problem is that the supplier gets a bit of free advertising for offering the prize.
At first, they are happy about it, then as time goes on, they get more and more reluctant to actually cough up, despite getting the free plug every month.
One magazine I write for ditched the whole thing because the companies in question either took months to comply, or never sent the item at all.
I have won a few star letter prizes , most of which took 3-4 months to arrive, and some which never did.
Considering the plug that they get is in one of the most read parts of the magazine, and the prize is usually from remaindered stock, it is really quite short-sighted.

The best prize I ever won was a Psion series 3 PDA from PCPro, but it took 6 months to arrive.
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heiowge · Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:34 pm Post subject:

Was it still supported by the time it arrived? Laughing

_________________
AMD PHENOM II X6, 14 GB DDR3, 500 GB hd, 1GB nVidia card, running Linux Mint 14 KDE / Win 7. Damn thing keeps breaking.

eeepc 1015PX, 1.66 Ghz Intel atom processor, 2 GB DDR3, 320 GB hd running Mint 14 MATE. Running great.

wyliecoyoteuk · Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:39 pm Post subject:

Yes, it was a few years ago, 1995, I think Smile

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The sig between the asterisks is so cool that only REALLY COOL people can even see it!

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mikejd · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 5:16 pm Post subject:

For the record, I am still waiting for delivery of this camera. My first email to claim was dated 19 July. The last email from LXF said that Rackspace personel had changed and no one was dealing with this any more - supposed to be sorted 3 weeks ago.

Also the mail address for Rackspace in the letters section is undeliverable.

Which way to the firing squad? Presumably winners from issues 149 and 150 haven't had their prizes either?