The American Diabetes Association

[Tommy K�gner <tommy.kagner@kib.ki.se>]

*Apologies for cross-posting*

This message was sent yesterday to LIS-E-JOURNALS, but since no
subscription agents have replied I'll give it a go here as well.

__

Has any one else had problems with the American Diabetes Association
(ADA)? When trying to reach the online version of Diabetes we receive the
message that our subscription has expired as of January 14. When calling
our subscription agent they told me that they had sent the check to ADA
October 17 and that the ADA had cashed it November 25. I also received the
check number.

With this I thought it'd be fairly easy to have the ADA switch our access
back on, but when calling them I received notice that our subscription
hadn't been paid! I told them that they had cashed the check, gave them
the check number, but no, there was nothing they could do. I was told that
our agent had to call them to solve this problem. Our agent has called
them but still no access even though it's been close to three weeks since
I first contacted the ADA. Needless to say, none of my emails have been
answered. One of the reasons, the ADA claimed, was that they receive money
in bulk from our agent and that it takes them time to sort out which
account belongs to which customer. Wouldn't the easiest way then be to
have a grace period until they get these things sorted?

Last year we ordered the online version January 16 and got access to it
early June! Word is that we will NOT receive a refund...

The ADA is an extreme case, that I know, but if there are any subscription
agents reading this: What do you do in cases such as this? Our agent has
told us that if they receive compensation from the publisher, we receive
compensation. If they don't, we don't. What kind of contract do you have
with the publishers? And what actions can you take, or what actions are
you willing to take? I seems as if the libraries are relying on
subscription agents with no contracts with the publishers, leaving us in
the hands of a very lame duck.

Sincerely,
Tommy Kagner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tommy Kagner
Karolinska Institutet University Library
Box 200
171 77 Stockholm
+46 8 524 84 164
tommy.kagner@kib.ki.se