PROBLEMS WITH USCF

It is not a good day.

Earlier this year, in January 2021, I purchased a Senior Life Membership for $767.20.  I've received only four copies of CHESS LIFE magazine.  I've spoken over the phone with one person at least three times to correct the problem and it still exists.  No magazine.  Therefore a credit card dispute requesting a refund for my membership fees has been filed with Capital One.

I will also file a complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspector's office for mail/and wire fraud.

Has anyone had similar problems with the USCF???????

Why did you buy a life membership? To save on the magazine?

Probably not.

I hope it was because you support chess. The US Chess Federation is a non-profit supporting chess.

I don't know what happened to your magazines but I don't think there was any fraud involved. You may have heard there was/is a pandemic. Companies like the USCF probably saw a disastrous dropoff last year in revenues since most revenue comes from membership sales from people who want to play tournaments. There were no over the board tournaments over the last year so membership sales probably dropped .

You may have heard that the Post Office had major problems last winter too. More than a few things got lost.

Congratulations to you for supporting chess in these stressful times.

I understand you want to get your magazines on time but I was just suggesting that there may have been some reasons things aren't running normally.

I went to the USCF website and found the 2021 Annual Report, which explains a lot of how they have kept going during the pandemic.

https://new.uschess.org/us-chess-annual-reports

I was amazed to learn how much they got accomplished last year. I encourage you to read about all the things your life membership is supporting. Revenues did decline but some expenses declined too. They also got a major philanthropic donation from the Rockefellers last November so they are not in a bad financial situation.

Again, I don't know what happened to your magazines but I don't think there was any fraud involved.  

I am proud to be a life member of the USCF.

It's because of screen "flicker" that I have difficulty reading things on a display.

And the USCF has always been the one organization that I have been happy to support.  I hadn't thought of Covid.

The man wants his magazines. That seems to be entirely reasonable! If for any reason the USCF has decided that they have to change any terms of the deal then they should of course give him a pro-rated refund - just to be fair.

I wasn't receiving magazines at that time.  And now I am.    And I want hardcopy unlike some of the younger generations..  However I am a bit disappointed in the magazine itself.  It's too focused on youth and not the older and long established masters of chess.

Tengo un problema con el juego, ya me a pasado muchas veces que mis piezas se mueven solas favoreciendo al jugador contrario haciéndome perder el juego, cuál es el problema, es una falla de la apps o es que los rivales hacen trampa?

Sorry but I don't habla espagnol.

Nunca hé oido de este problema.

I am a life member of the USCF, first joined in 1995 and did the 10 year Sustaining across the 2000s.

The magazine is utter trash.  From what little I have seen, it may have improved slightly.  Back in the 2000s, I remember one issue had literally 9 games in it.  Not 9 articles, 9 games!  The rest was advertising (like shop USCF Sales), tournament announcements, and the entire magazine was under 60 pages.  New in chess or American Chess magazines are far better.

I have opted out of Chess Life for 2 decades now.  Can get tournament announcements online, and I read 2 far better magazines than crappy Chess Life!

I wished I could get a refund because that magazine that I hardly even read is lousy.  And until I realized it, that magazine was half of the reason for my membership.  During the 1990s it was a good magazine.  8((

I am in my 60s and have been a life member for about 35 years (since I get my affiliate's copies of "CL" and "CL [for kids]", I've opted against receiving the magazine for my own membership but I could turn it back on any time I want).

The magazine has changed over the years and has more youth-oriented coverage than it used to, but part of that is because the federation has a lot more youth members than it used to.  The spring youth nationals are major events run by the federation and thus will get covered.  There are still columns, puzzles and tournament reports like there always have been.  There are still reports about up and coming strong youth players (although the names of those players have changed over the years - some of those up and coming youth players from past issues are now playing in seniors-only events).

When you have a wide variety of things that are expected to be covered. and sub-groups of the memberships that are focused on their own interests, then there will always be people who think their interests are being short-changed in favor of other (irrelevant) interests.  I read Chess Life for a general overview of what is going on, and for those areas where I want more information I talk with the people I see on a semi-regular basis.

The interview with Hikaru Nakamura in this month's issue was pretty fascinating.

/ His thoughts about the Candidates and the future  of Chess.com, for example.

https://new.uschess.org/news/i-do-feel-big-responsibility

USCF has a bunch of lazy people that work there. As far as I can tell they have only one lady there that actually works. I don't know her name but she answers the phone when u call their sales number. She's nice and helpful but nobody else does anything as far as I can tell. There's probably a bunch of chess players running the place instead of actual business people. 

At the end of the 1990s I ordered I ordered a full sized roll up vinyl chess board and received instead a brand new aluminum baseball bat.  There's been something going wrong for a long time.

Haven't had a problem.

Other than the magazine's lower quality and the baseball bat, I haven't really had any other problems, either.

I have been searching all day for a contact number for the same problem about my magazine, I haven't received one since may ,and I had this problem last year. I renew every two years ,and like most on this post I collect and treasure my Chess Life.