---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 15:26:02 -0500
From: jgriffin@OPAL.TUFTS.EDU
Subject: Trouble with claiming AHA journals?

Dear Fellow Serialists,

Have any of you folks out there ever heard of a publisher limiting the
number of times you may claim issues? The American Heart Assoc. has told
us that we may claim twice a year PER SUBSCRIPTION, and that is all. (This
does not mean claiming the same issue repeatedy, this means any and all
issues). Now perhaps this wouldn't be such a big deal if the journals came
in on a regular basis, but for the past two years we have had little luck
in getting ANY issues on some titles from them, not just two per journal.
(We are a medical school and subscribe to about 5 AHA jornals).We may get
all January issues and then none will arrive for the next six months.
After much work by our subscription agent, most will eventually arrive,
but not all. At this point we are told we are over the limit and cannot
get our issues. We were also told, believe it or not, if we persisted in
continuing to claim we would be CANCELLED! A phone call to the AHA was
extremely unsatisfactory -- the person just repeated the "party line",
verified that our address was correct (it was), and suggested that maybe
someone was stealing our copies.

We are extremely frustrated by this. Claiming is a pain in the neck at the
best of times. To pay for and not receive our journals is maddening, and
to be treated the way we have been by a publisher makes me furious.

Have any others had to deal with this? How did you handle it?
****************************
JoAnne Griffin
Tufts Health Sciences Library
145 Harrison Ave.
Boston, MA 02111

jgriffin@opal.tufts.edu
****************************