So who’s Carlie Fairchild? She was the purported publisher of Linux Journal who commented on my last post. Well, stalwart readers, we know enough about scams to know to always, but always, look a gift horse in the mouth, so I searched on Carlie’s name and came up with the following from the Linux Journal website (cross-referenced, natch, with other search results, so you can be assured of intertube hygiene):

Carlie Fairchild, based out of Linux Journal headquarters in Houston, Texas, joined Linux Journal in March 1995. As publisher Fairchild sets the publication’s overall direction including editorial, marketing, circulation and advertising sales.

Leading the business development and direction of the company, Carlie focuses on strengthening Linux Journal’s leadership role in high-tech publishing.

Over the past ten years, Carlie has been active in many industry associations, including the Magazine Publisher’s Association (MPA), Linux International, USENIX, and the National Trade Circulation Foundation (NTCFI).

So, the comment from Ms Fairchild was on the up and up. I do apologise to her for even briefly doubting her word but there’s only the careful and the economically deceased in this modern world and I hope she understands.

Having said that, Ms Fairchild proved herself to be an extremely courteous and understanding correspondent. The bit you should know, oh overseas readers of Linux Journal, is the following:

[W]e just honest to goodness don’t appear to have your credit card on file any more to refund it to. When that happens, our subscription fulfillment house issues a check for the refund. But that being said, I’m with you that this just doesn’t work well for anyone outside of the U.S. so I’m now going to raise this issue with them and hope to get the policy changed for the future — there’s got to be a better way to do this. So at any rate, thank you for raising this point. I’m on it. [my emphasis --ksa]

Within minutes of confirming that a Paypal refund would be a fine substitute, the refund amount hit my account. (I did send her a scanned copy of the cheque, so she’d know I was on the up and up as well.)

THANK YOU, MS CARLIE FAIRCHILD OF LINUX JOURNAL MAGAZINE!

So, if you’re in the same boat, I suggest a bit of a song and dance about it and you should get some satisfaction. And let’s hope the policy gets changed before it gets to that point for you.

Now, if only the backward businesses in Malaysia (that also execute the same credit-card-pay/cheque-refund trick) would have even a fraction of Ms Fairchild’s professionalism, then I’d be a happy little camper. (I know, nothing ever pleases me, does it?)