Saturday, February 04, 2023

2023 UPDATE - PLEASE READ

Hi, folks. It's me again, popping back with a brief status report.

It's now a week shy of four months since I lost Donna. I've been able to step up and fill some of the sizable gaps she left behind - but not all. She used to say "I'm little, but I'm mighty!" and boy, she wasn't kidding. She was the office manager for GENII Magazine; she ran the VW web site (filling all the orders by hand, the day they came in); she had Amazon and eBay stores; she made my dinners; and she also found time to be a good friend to a good many people. She also maintained water distillers and room humidifiers and dehumidifiers throughout the house, which were beneficial to us and our cat Janie. I've tried but have found out that it's simply impossible to do all this AND my own work, so I've had to design (so to speak) my own plan for living, which has sadly had to admit defeat where some of these daily tasks are concerned. Wrestling with water for an hour a day is simply not for me, and her Amazon and eBay stores are now kaput, largely because Amazon and eBay refused to accept her death as a reason for tardy service or the impact of her loss on my ability to keep filling orders. Just as I was finally mastering this source of additional income, they decreed I hadn't moved fast enough to suit them and dismantled both stores.

But it's WATCHDOG business I need to discuss now.

I've never claimed to be even half the computer genius that Donna was, and I'm having a problem at the moment with sales of our digital wares, the books and back issues. Customers are telling me that they place their order, their money is taken, but their passwords are not working - so they cannot access the product they've bought. Resetting their passwords doesn't help. Obviously, this is unacceptable but the problem has defeated every attempt that I and a couple of others have made to try to correct it.

Donna's digital innovations with VW's back issues and especially the BAVA Book were her pride and joy. It's my wish and intention to preserve these, her legacy. 

Next week I plan to open discussions with a respected web hosting service to upgrade our service and make the site easier for me to maintain in the future. For the moment, I would advise everyone to NOT order our digital products until things are back in working order. I hope this won't take long. 

I am able to fill orders for physical copies of the magazine, my books and the MONSTER KID HOME MOVIES DVD, but the availability of back issues may be phased out as the inventory is taking up room in the attic I'd like to clear. 

Stay tuned for updates and the return of Video WatchBlog.

Tim Lucas