Where's my magazine? Or where's my refund? ask readers

Generally, when a magazine folds there is one of two possible outcomes for the subscribers: the remainder of their subscriptions are filled by another, similar magazine; or the magazine just stops coming. In relatively few instances, the publisher refunds the subscriber's money for outstanding issues.

Part of the reason why subscribers shrug and put up with what is essentially a breach of contract is that the whole transaction is so small it's not worth the trouble to pursue a refund on, say, half a $20 subscription.

But this particular worm may be turning, as evidenced by a story in Folio: magazine about a seriously steamed subscriber to the late Vibe magazine who last week filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court in Manhattan claiming breach of contract and seeking class action status demanding not only the return of 9 months' outstanding portion of his subscription, but that it do the same for all of its subscribers (there are 800,000 of them).

According to a story from Reuters

“As the magazine was quietly closing up the shop, the Vibe website continued to contain links to advertisements enticing customers to purchase subscriptions to the magazine,” the lawsuit says, naming Vibe Media Group as a defendant along with unnamed people associated with the magazine. Vibe should have “publicly disclosed to subscribers that it was teetering on the brink of insolvency,” it says.

The odd thing is that magazines pay close attention to such liabilities in their own accounting, then seem to treat them fairly cavalierly when it comes to their customers.