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I’d just like to thank people for their feedback about the new Beyond magazine. If you liked the sample issue then I think the next one is going to knock your socks off. With the demise of 990 I wanted to produce something new and different from 990 (our first Beyond was just to show McGregor and Stenmar we weren’t beaten and to challenge their “we’ll sue you if you set up another magazine” B.S). The next issue is going to be unlike any other dive mag and I’d appreciate your feed once you see it.
I don’t want to bore people with the in’s and out’s of what happened with 990 but as I know its been discussed I do want to put a few facts out.
I was sorry many people were ripped off with their subscriptions – there was no need for it to happen. We were approached by management accountants acting on behalf of Stenmar in July and asked if we would buy the company back. We wanted to, but unfortunately they didn’t know about our fixed contracts that would be the start of any negotiations. The accountants disappeared and the next thing we knew we were sacked for “lack of performance”. The accountants were embarrassed by the whole pettiness of the situation (we were even given the phone number of a lawyer by one of them!)
The bottom line was McGregor decided that if his business was going to go down he’d take everyone with him. Interestingly all the Stenmar companies are in receivership but 990 Publishers isn’t – it couldn’t be it was solvent (despite sending all cash up to Aberdeen for them to then spend on “Ocean Frontier”
. We’ve now won our case in court but it’s unlikely we’ll ever recover any money. McGregor managed to get the hearing adjourned three times before they reached the safe water of receivership. Telling people they didn’t have the database of subscribers was also a load of bull as they had all the computers – it was just another stalling tactic.
It’s taken six months to get our systems to the level we need and a few of you may not have had your magazines yet – don’t sweat you will – and the new mag will be available by the end of Feb.
If you want to get in touch the best address is [email protected] I’ll get round to answering any questions – eventually!
Kind regards
Ron
[email protected]
I’d just like to thank people for their feedback about the new Beyond magazine. If you liked the sample issue then I think the next one is going to knock your socks off. With the demise of 990 I wanted to produce something new and different from 990 (our first Beyond was just to show McGregor and Stenmar we weren’t beaten and to challenge their “we’ll sue you if you set up another magazine” B.S). The next issue is going to be unlike any other dive mag and I’d appreciate your feed once you see it.
I don’t want to bore people with the in’s and out’s of what happened with 990 but as I know its been discussed I do want to put a few facts out.
I was sorry many people were ripped off with their subscriptions – there was no need for it to happen. We were approached by management accountants acting on behalf of Stenmar in July and asked if we would buy the company back. We wanted to, but unfortunately they didn’t know about our fixed contracts that would be the start of any negotiations. The accountants disappeared and the next thing we knew we were sacked for “lack of performance”. The accountants were embarrassed by the whole pettiness of the situation (we were even given the phone number of a lawyer by one of them!)
The bottom line was McGregor decided that if his business was going to go down he’d take everyone with him. Interestingly all the Stenmar companies are in receivership but 990 Publishers isn’t – it couldn’t be it was solvent (despite sending all cash up to Aberdeen for them to then spend on “Ocean Frontier”
. We’ve now won our case in court but it’s unlikely we’ll ever recover any money. McGregor managed to get the hearing adjourned three times before they reached the safe water of receivership. Telling people they didn’t have the database of subscribers was also a load of bull as they had all the computers – it was just another stalling tactic.It’s taken six months to get our systems to the level we need and a few of you may not have had your magazines yet – don’t sweat you will – and the new mag will be available by the end of Feb.
If you want to get in touch the best address is [email protected] I’ll get round to answering any questions – eventually!
Kind regards
Ron
[email protected]
