Focus on Organisation (Focus)

Member Name: Lea09

Product:	Focus
Date:	14/07/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great magazine, a great deal on a subscription

Disadvantages: I've personally recieved bad service

My opinion of this publication is a tad 'wishy washy' as I love the magazine but absolutely adhore the service from the company and it's been quite a problem for me, and with other (perhaps better) science publications on the market which offer far more I find it hard to recommend this magazine.

As I said, I do love this magazine. I'm not a huge science fan but this magazine manages to cater to my minor interest in the subject while providing me with such in depth knowledge in areas I'd never have really thought about before. Each magazine seems to have a pattern of interest which it follows (such as the July issue having lots of articles regarding space exploration) as well as random articles on the cutting edge of science and facts and figures in various areas of science. And the journalism is pretty good too.

When comparing a subscription to this magazine magazine with another science publication like newscientist, Focus pales in comparison due to not being cutting edge and properly available online. Sure I'm buying a magazine, a physical publication, but these days I do expect it to come with an online aspect, such as the extra articles available with a subscription to newscientist online (and perhaps an archive of past articles online too).

The problem I have with service in regards to this magazine refers to my ordering of back issues via telephone and by later ringing up to track their whereabouts. It's not exactly a free or cheap number (though due to me not being on BT I don't know the exact cost) and I was incredibly annoyed to be kept on the phone for ages when the advisor had to run around trying to find out the month of the issues I wanted even though I'd given her the proper numbers straight off the website. But in the end I order the issues and the woman was helpful enough. Then after around 15 working days I still had not received them. When I used the same number to ring up and query it I found that (after once again being kept 'on hold' for ages) that the number is no longer value and that company no longer deals with the magazine. It's been a lot of hassle for essentially an incredibly easy process which I then had to just blatantly cancel in the end out of frustration. How they can just lose an order I don't know, it's not exactly a great image to set for the company though.



But I did get a subscription online from the BBC with a deal of 6 magazines for around £15. And I still think it's great value for money as each magazine is more than worth approx. £2.50, and it's delivered straight to my door! ...even if they've failed in other areas.

Summary: Since I've had no problems with the actual magazine or subsciption deal, I can still recommend Focus