I am putting this on here in case any of you are model railway enthusiasts.
My 91 year old Father-in-law has a Hornby layout. Not that he actually play with it much but it is his only real hobby. He does however like to receive the Hornby magazine each month, and I take him to railways shows now and then.
He received an email this week telling him his magazine subscription was about to end. We pay this as a Christmas present as he does not want much else, so he let us know and forwarded the email.
The main part of the email said :-
"Your Hornby Collector Club Membership will expire soon, but don't worry renewing is easy! Simply click here to join the free 2025 digital-only membership and enjoy 12 months of amazing benefits"
He understandably did not want a digital copy, so requested we follow it up.
We thought it a little strange as we did not think it was due for renewal. I clicked on the link and it took me to a page offered the "FREE " digital subscription , or a further link to subscribe to a printed version.
It showed a title page for the magazine with "Hornby" at the top and underneath "The Collector" . It was a quarterly magazine and seemed a few pounds cheaper.
I was fairly sure this was a different magazine to his normal one. A check online revealed that there is a "Hornby Magazine" and a "Hornby Club Magazine - The Collector. I thought he might have changed the one he wanted so I called the subscription line and asked them to check my subscription and when it ended.
After a long wait the lady came back checked the details again and siad " I cannot find your subscription".
It looks like Hornby have sent an E-mail shot to all those who subscribe to the monthly Hornby Magazine telling them incorrectly their subscription has ended, hoping they will sign up to this quarterly magazine by mistake.