***I'm not quite understanding this part of your posting:

> On July 23 1997 UV prepared us a credit for nearly $10,500.  We assumed
> this was a pleasingly prompt action to reimburse any subscriptions we'd
> paid for volumes that were now cancelled, in cases where UV had not
> irrevocably committed the money for those volumes.
>
> We had to assume, because UV did not send us confirmation of the last
> volume they had committed money to.  Five months after our list of
> cancellations was sent, they did send us a list of titles they had
> cancelled, BUT in the field which should have informed us what was
> the last volume paid for, we found very out-of-date data.  Therefore
> as a confirmation that our cancel instructions had been accurately
> carried out from the volume or period we'd stipulated, this list was
> useless.

***BUT: we had a situation something like this, eg, we took a good hard
look at our serials collection, cancelled a bunch of them and ordered
other, new, titles.  Our vendor, who is not at all unsatisfactory,
confirmed these cancellations, and then, in the midst of a systems
changeover, renewed them and billed us for them.

***The amount was in the thousands of dollars also, and we just did not pay
them; we filed a "Vendor Notice of Good Faith Dispute/Improper Invoice"
report for each incorrect invoice, and paid just for those titles we had
not cancelled.

***The issues kept rolling in, of course.  At that point our vendor said
they would like to have them, (well, they had paid for them) and so
whenever I had a goodly amount piled here, I called them and told them how
many boxes full I had, and they would send UPS to pick them up.

***It has been a bit of a nightmare; I cannot deny that.  The unpaid
amounts tend to resurface.  I've become really good at tossing the ball
back at my account representative who patiently calls their accounts
department yet again.  I am exceedingly grateful I kept good records all
along and copies of *everything*.

***In short, I would advise you not to be concerned with that that is not
your concern.  If your cancellations have been confirmed, and you have
taken those confirmations and dates thereof in good faith, you are not
obligated to pay for further renewals.  Let UV fix what they have wrought,
and you need to go ahead with your own plans.

***OTOH, if you do *not* have cancellation confirmations, I have no
suggestions.

Jeanette Skwor
Cofrin Library
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
USA
SKWORJ@GBMS01.UWGB.EDU