TSP -- so good, I joined it twice! (Softback Preview)

Member Name: optique

Product:	Softback Preview
Date:	02/04/03 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bargainous introductory offer with a decent selection of books, Friendly customer services, once you discover how, No obligation to buy unwanted books

Disadvantages: Must be organised to cancel every month, Apart from intro, the books aren't very cheap

The Softback Preview is a book club with a cheap introductory offer. Unlike most other book clubs, there is no obligation to purchase additional books.

Other reviews have covered many aspects of TSP well, so I won't examine the website, pricing policy etc in detail. I will just give an update on the service quality I experienced.

The first time I signed up, I chose a nice world atlas, Halliwells film guide, and a philosophy encyclopedia. Three nice, meaty reference books that added up to many pounds in both RRP and weight, for the bargain price of £3 plus p&p.

Of course, there is a slight catch. They send you a magazine every few weeks, and you have to let them know especially if you don't want to get sent the Editor's Choice. You can do this by phone, post or on the internet, and I found this no problem at all. As long as you remember to do it, it is not a lot of hassle once a month.

If anything goes wrong, you can call customer services. They have a really annoying queuing system, of course. BUT --- when you finally do get through, if you ask the operator nicely they will give you a special secret number that takes you past all the menus and straight through to a human being!!! This is a fantastic feature, and I only wish I knew the equivalent number for buying train tickets, my mobile phone customer services and so on. It is this feature, plus the helpfulness of the agents, that convinced me that the book club really does take customer service seriously.

For example, once they sent me the Editor's Choice by mistake, even though I had cancelled it. But the operator immediately apologised and agreed to send me a postage-paid label to return it. No problem.

After receiving six issues of the magazine, you may cancel your membership. However they do not shout about this, as they want to keep people hooked! But remember, cancel after six issues. I did it after about ten.

After I cancelled
my membership, I enjoyed not having to bother with the Editor's choice for a while. But then last month, I saw their advertising leaflet again with some *great* titles on it, and I just couldn't resist. So three more great books, for three more quid, and now I'm back into the routine!

Summary: