I received another e-mail from Marvel Enterprises, Inc. today. They were trying to get me to come back to their Marvel Digital Comics subscription. My subscription period had been for a year, November to November, but I prevented my subscription from getting renewed in late October as I'd decided that the service wasn't serving me well. Now don't get me wrong, it's a great service and a great way to read some gems you would otherwise have missed, provided you can put up with all the crap you've got to deal with. And there starteth my rant.

Actually no, let's go back, a bit further. Let's get some context for the things to come.
* Oct/Nov: Marvel relaunches the online comics service to much pomp and circumstance.
* Early Nov, 2007: I sign up for the free trial and take this bad boy for a ride.
* Nov 16, 2007: I point out some issues I'm having with the Digital Comics, like the browser needing to be fullscreened on my laptop in order to read comfortably.
* Nov 28, 2007: I get a canned reply.
* Nov 29, 2007: A real person shows up and let's me know that (emphasis added by me)

Since Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is a brand new way of viewing comics,
there may be certain functionalities that need to be added/adjusted. As
always we appreciate your suggestions.

You can also check out;

http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/help/
http://www.marvel.com/videos/243.Digital_Comics_Tutorial

We are constantly striving to make sure that users have an exciting and
entertaining experience with our site. We appreciate your loyalty to Marvel
Entertainment. For more information on our characters and any upcoming news
or events, please continue to visit www.marvel.com.

Well hell's bells. It sure sounds like they know about the issues and are working to fix them. I'll just give them the benefit of the doubt, sign up, and wait for the fixes to roll on in.
* Nov 30, 2007: I plunk down $60 and sign up

Well in the following months they introduce an extra view mode which alleviates most of the issues with their comic reader. The problem is that it has a glaring bug in some books. If you're screen isn't tall enough, text panels on the bottom of the page will get cut off. This means you have to go back to one of the other view modes (which mostly suck) to read that little bit of text, then switch back again, or else just ignore the text and move on. Reading comics shouldn't be this hard. Once you've mastered the hurdle of reading it should be pretty clear sailing from there on out.

Fast forward a year and I've prevented my subscription from being renewed (they graciously let me know at the beginning that they automatically do this for me each year). One day after the subscription expires I get an e-mail notifying me that they want me back. It's summarily ignored.
* Dec 1, 2008: We want you back!

About six days later (this morning) I get another email letting me know that they really want me back.
* Dec 7, 2008: srsly, we miss you. everybody's ditching us and we have no friends!

Did I mention that they're offering discount codes with each of these e-mails? Yeah. PROMOCODE1 for a 10% discount and PROMOCODE2 for 15%. I don't think there'll be a PROMOCODE3; especially after this post, but that's beside the point. I got pretty annoyed and wrote the most respectful but critical e-mail I could muster to whoever decided to send me that code. Yeah, I could've waited for another promo code but the digital comics as they are need to be improved.

Going back, even at a lower price would have been a self-serving deal. Hopefully, the loss of revenue (as it seems I'm not the only one leaving) will force Marvel to fix their broken service. Yeah, I won't be able to enjoy it anymore, but really, that stopped happening a long time ago anyways. So I'm writing this to you fellow Marvelites. If you don't like the way digital comics are working don't renew and tell marvel why. I also told them to actually make the digital in Digital Comics be just that in both name and substance. What they're providing now are Online comics, which while cool (if they worked properly) don't really hold a candle to being able to take my comics anywhere, anytime. Internet or no.

Please actually provide "digital" comics and not just "internet
accesible, don't work properly unless you fullscreen them and even
then sometimes still contains text which is cut off at the bottom"
comics.
Enter QA code NOWIMPLEMENTED and I'll willingly give you a 15%
increase on your Annual Subscription fee.

Remember reading comics should first and foremost be:
• fun
• hassle-free
• not require specialized hardware (like a > 13' laptop screen)
• not require specialized software (like a browser does fullscreen.
Hey, guess what most mac browsers don't do!)
• be accessible at the readers whim, internet connection or no.

To claim your 15% increase on your Annual Subscription fee just let me
know when implemented at least three out of the five changes above.
- Show quoted text -

On Sun, Dec 7, 2008 at 5:01 AM, Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
wrote:
> To view this email as a web page, go here.
> .
> To ensure delivery of this Newsletter, add marvel@marvel.com to your address
> book.
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi Big,
> It's been a week since your Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
> subscription expired, and we miss you. Come back to enjoy
> over 5,000 digital titles online, and we'll give you a
> 15% discount on your Annual Subscription package
> when you enter the promo code XXXXXXXXX.
> Remember, Marvel Digital comics offers:
>
> • A huge collection of #1 issues
> • Thousands of new and classic titles
> • Brand new stories developed exclusively
> for Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
>
> To claim your 15% discount on your Annual
> Subscription, click below:
>
>
>
>
>
> Marvel Customer Care
>
> If you have received this message in error, or do not wish to receive future
> Digital Comics Unlimited reminder emails, go: here
> or reply to this email and type UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
> This email was sent to: illogical1@gmail.com
>
> This email was sent by: Marvel Entertainment, Inc.
> 417 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10016 USA
>
> We respect your right to privacy - view our policy

I respect your right to make money - but my policy on helping you make
money requires you to actually provide me with a service I want to
use. When I'm promised that things will get better and, in good faith,
don't cancel my subscription within the allotted grace period only to
find that nothing has improved a year later, I fail to see why I
should give you more money (can you guess what I'd tell the big 3 if
they came crying to me?)
And then there's the incompleteness of the catalog. Does it really
take the interns that long to scan in Earth X and make the whole
series available for reading? Is there a problem finding them (I have
the TPB I'm sure we could help each other out here)?
Sarcasm aside I think you see where I'm going here: you're selling a
service I'm not interested in. I thought it'd be something else, I
thought I'd have access to full collections, I thought reading the
comics in the browser would be hassle-free, I thought there'd be
downloadable comics eventually (in retrospect, that _is_ silly, but we
can dream can't we). I'm through thinking and wishing, I'm acting on
the state of things as they are.
No. I'm not coming back. Not for 10%, not for 15%, not even for a
ridonculously generous 20 FIVE per cent discount.

P.S. And I _still_ can't even see any of the preview images on
marvel.com. Doesn't give me a lot of confidence that the online comics
would be viewable if I did renew that. Get your shtuff together ladies
n' gents.
P.P.S. Tell Bendis I said secret invasion rocked :-)