Not A Good Thing: Whole Living Magazine Shuts Down

*Updated 8/17/2015*

I have created a Facebook community with a similar feel to the magazine. 

Take a look here if, you are interested.

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*8/21/2014* Believe it or not, updated again here.

There is new post with some updates to this topic. See it here in addition to the many updates below.

Oh Martha. I've defended you to the naysayers. Loved the poncho and wholeheartedly agree about gathering the good things.

Over the past few weeks, I've been catching up on my magazine reading. I had just about caught up on Whole Living, when tonight I realized that the last issue that I had received was January/February 2013. I hadn't gotten the March issue yet. That seemed odd.

I was looking forward to it, because I really love loved this magazine. Plus I had just renewed my subscription in November. After doing a quick search, I found that Whole Living is no more.

In December, somehow I missed the articles about the magazine's demise. Or maybe I saw them, but figured there would be a buyer, then just forgot about it.

Now I have paid for a magazine that no longer exists. I don't recall being notified about the magazine shutting down. Based on comments on the Whole Living Facebook page, I'm not the only one wondering what happens next.

What's the protocol for informing subscribers when a publication shuts down?

Since I sent in my payment right before they went out of business, I feel like it should not have even been accepted. It should have been returned telling me that that magazine would cease publication in its current form.

Whole Living print subscribers are invited to subscribe to Martha Stewart Living, but it's a very different magazine and not what I wanted. I'm very disappointed, but life certainly goes on. However, I do hope that I get my money back.

*Updated 3/1/2013* I called the customer service number (800.755.1178) and after the representative did a bit of searching, she said that I would be getting a refund. She did pitch MSL, but I told her that I was not interested.

She said that Whole Living only just decided to cease operations 3-4 weeks ago, so it will take a bit of time for the checks to be sent out. I told her that was not true, that according to the news articles that I found, that Stewart decided to cease operations in early December. The representative seemed quite surprised and said, "That's not what they told us here in the call center." Interesting....

*Updated 4/1/2013* I still have not received the refund, so I called again today. I was told that I will receive the refund check in no later than 7-10 business days, by next Friday April 12th.  We shall see!

*Updated 4/12/2013* Well, the saga continues. I received my mail today and there was no refund check, so I called the number back again. The person who answered this time, said that she didn't know why I was told that I'd be sent a refund check, because my account was sent to Family Circle and I'd have to call them to get a refund.

She gave me the number 800-374-4244, which required that I go through all sorts of hoops to reach a live person. Further the recordings all said Better Homes & Gardens. Then when a person came on, she said that my account was now with Family Circle.  She tried to get me to buy Family Circle and I asked for a refund. I was told that I'd receive one within 2-3 weeks. Probably 3 weeks. Then she tried to sell me EveryDay with Rachel Ray. Could a magazine be any further from what Whole Living was about? Anyway, I held my toungue and politely declined. I will keep you updated. Oh, I asked for a more direct number in case I have to call again. It's 800-627-4444.

*Updated 4/22/2013* Last week I received a copy of Family Circle in the mail with an offer to purchase a subscription at a discounted rate. Very odd. Family Circle is nothing like Whole Living. Also, from the Facebook page, it looks like people are all getting different replacement magazines. I wonder why they didn't just give us a choice instead of assigning us to a particular publication? Well, either way, I finally received my refund check today. Case closed.

*Updated 5/26/2013* Recently, this post has become a meeting place for those of us looking for a magazine to fill the place of Whole Living.  Since many of us are still looking, I just learned about Mindful Magazine and figured that I'd share it here with you. Have any of you read it? I may give it a try.

*Updated 5/29/2013* I've updated this post with a listing of possible alternative magazines to Whole Living.

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