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Foodshed Magazine (was Flavor Magazine), Founder, Publisher, and Editor-In-Chief Melissa Kane Harris - Beware Of Subscribing Because They're Not Publishing


zoramargolis

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Just before midnight tonight, I received an email from PayPal informing me that my automatic payment to FoodShed has been suspended. No word on a refund for the extra 2-year subscription that was paid automatically in November. Guess I won't hold my breath.

Assuming there's no criminal activity going on, your November payment should still be in FoodShed's PayPal account.

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I just hit the "Melissa Kane Harris" link in Don's earlier message and it takes me to a facebook page, but not the one that says "Currently living in Jamaica".  The one I got says something like "content not available".

Humm.

As a former Flavor subscriber and a current 2 year subscription holder I'm not very happy.  Of course I was never too happy to see photo after photo at the end of the magazine of Melissa Kane Harris hobnobbing with the rich and beautiful at some exclusive event or another.

Seems like......"Ma-lis-sa, ma-lis-sa, ma-lis-sa, she take the money and run Venezuela to Jamaica"

I hope there's a reasonable explanation for this, but all signs point to, "not likely".

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I've initiated a dispute via PayPal for the automatic payment on 11/4/13 that should have never happened. FoodShed has until January 4th to respond.

As for her FB page, the "moving to Jamaica" statement is under "Places." However, her timeline shows her running around Virginia, to wineries and restaurants, over the past couple of days, and today she bought (she said "adopted") a very large dog. Unless someone has hacked her FB page, it doesn't look as if she's really going anywhere. I sent her a friend request, which automatically allowed me to "follow" her (she set that up).

Something doesn't seem quite right about all of this. I wish she would come on this board and straighten things out. It is very interesting, though, that within an hour or two of yesterday's discussion some of us had our automatic payments with PayPal suspended. She is either following this discussion, or someone has filled her in, I think.

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She is either following this discussion, or someone has filled her in, I think.

FWIW, I tweeted about this here, and I'm pretty sure I'm one degree of separation away from the whole DC food community (so if I ever have anything important to say (e.g. Del Ray Pizzeria), it will circulate quickly).

Also FWIW, I had a private conversation with Melissa a few weeks ago that I won't reproduce unless I'm subpoenaed (I *will* say that there was nothing in that conversation that simply couldn't have been shrugged off (which I did)). I believe private conversations are *private* conversations, and also that Marc Fisher set an *extremely* dangerous and incorrect (I'll almost say "immoral") precedent when he reprinted Michael Landrum's email several years ago. Unless a crime is being committed, or you fear for your safety, you just don't discuss, certainly not reproduce, private correspondence, at least not in my world.

Note: *they* were tweeting, almost every single day, earlier this month.

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A representative from Foodshed has contacted me and wants to convene information to their subscribers. I registered the new member "Foodshed" just now, and am not going to be editing or deleting any posts, regardless of content - I'm going to let them say whatever they wish without moderation.

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A representative from Foodshed has contacted me and wants to convene information to their subscribers. I registered the new member "Foodshed" just now, and am not going to be editing or deleting any posts, regardless of content - I'm going to let them say whatever they wish without moderation.

Well, she said she'd post yesterday. Maybe she forgot, or got busy with a yoga class.

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Hi All, Sorry for delay in getting a response out, no yoga for any of us this week, but some of us have been very busy with children, and final exams, and Christmas travel, etc going on. We have fb/emailed some of you directly, if we had your contact information, to discuss the matter. Nonetheless, the Foodshed paypal has been disabled for some time. There should not be any auto renewals happening. Since it is disabled, we have no way of seeing those renewals when they come in and do not have the capacity to send them back. We are in communication with Paypal to make sure this is rectified. In the interim, if you have had an auto renewal, please call us at the office and we will refund it promptly and we do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We have received one phone call and one email to date about this, so we did not have any knowdlege that it was occurring and it does not seem to be a large scale issue.

P.S. No one is running off to Jamaica, simply a fb post that was posted incorrectly. We will be here to make sure things are taken care of. Happy Holidays.

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Thanks for posting.

So do you still exist?  Will new issues be coming out?

I posted earlier in this thread about getting the winter issue (with things like butternut squash recipes) in April, so can we look forward to the next issue having tomato and basil recipies in it?!?!  :wacko:

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Hi All, Sorry for delay in getting a response out, no yoga for any of us this week, but some of us have been very busy with children, and final exams, and Christmas travel, etc going on. We have fb/emailed some of you directly, if we had your contact information, to discuss the matter. Nonetheless, the Foodshed paypal has been disabled for some time. There should not be any auto renewals happening. Since it is disabled, we have no way of seeing those renewals when they come in and do not have the capacity to send them back. We are in communication with Paypal to make sure this is rectified. In the interim, if you have had an auto renewal, please call us at the office and we will refund it promptly and we do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We have received one phone call and one email to date about this, so we did not have any knowdlege that it was occurring and it does not seem to be a large scale issue.

P.S. No one is running off to Jamaica, simply a fb post that was posted incorrectly. We will be here to make sure things are taken care of. Happy Holidays.

I paid for a 1-year subscription in April and have yet to receive one issue. Will I be getting a refund?

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Foodshed is a non-profit and sadly the funding we counted on ended when some of our staff started their own careers and took that revenue stream and much of our resources with them. It was the final straw for an already fragile company. We have been earnestly working with a larger publishing company to "purchase" the magazine. Their wheels move slower than our needs. So the long answer is, maybe. Again, you are welcome to call the office if you have any questions or concerns. We are trying to not have to file bankruptcy and sell instead, we will see. 

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I got the same email last night at 10:42 PM. I guess I was placed on automatic renewal too, and didn't know it.

The default when I subscribed was autorenewal. I was instructed to wait for the payment to clear and then cancel the auto, so I did that.

I am also in the "got one issue" club.

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1: business opportunity: Start an escrow company that holds subscription dollars and only releases them to the publisher when an issue is actually produced and mailed. Essentially, an insurance policy against such cases. Free service to subscribers and publishers; make money from the float.

2: I get that the magazine business is hard and costs are high. But what does being a non-profit have to do with anything? Or employees leaving? I have no dog in this fight as I was not a subscriber- but from what I can tell, someone pocketed subscriptions (and ad money?) then delivered few if any magazines depending on when someone subscribed in. So where did the money go?

I'm curious if there are attorneys that know of related case law here. I'm sure this scenario has played out before.

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but from what I can tell, someone pocketed subscriptions (and ad money?) 

And didn't pay at least some of their employees or contributors (*)

I'm a little surprised the local media hasnt picked up on this, but I guess everyone has their own agenda.

(*) There is at least one other Major (capital M) Washingtonian publication that hasn't paid some of their writers. I'm one of those writers, but I'm not the only one.

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Foodshed is a non-profit .... 

I searched on the IRS site to see what the non-profit status is - thinking maybe unfulfilled subscriptions could be considered tax-deductions.

Nothing came up that looked like FoodShed.   Am I searching under the wrong term?   You site still accepts donations and subscriptions.  Are the donations considered tax-deductible?

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Now, the Foodshed website has vanished altogether and they took down their Facebook page. If they were really a nonprofit doing work for local and sustainable food, I wouldn't feel bad about not getting the magazine (and I did pay for 2 years and only received 1 issue). But now, who knows where Foodshed or our money went. Pffft.

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Now, the Foodshed website has vanished altogether and they took down their Facebook page. If they were really a nonprofit doing work for local and sustainable food, I wouldn't feel bad about not getting the magazine (and I did pay for 2 years and only received 1 issue). But now, who knows where Foodshed or our money went. Pffft.

They were a "non-profit" by the letter of the law only. (Or, at least, that's what they told us.)

I apologize to anyone who lost money because of cheerleading I did. I bought into it because of my good nature and naïveté, and I feel very, very used.

Rarely have I hoped that I'm more wrong in judging a business, but I don't think I am.

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I feel the same way I did after I got a (bogus :mellow:) parking ticket in DC. Money out the window without immediate return, but maybe in the grand scheme of things it went toward something good (i.e. infrastructure repair). This is the same thing. Maybe a few people learned something after reading one of Joel's editorials, and made different choices as a result.

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Now, the Foodshed website has vanished altogether and they took down their Facebook page. If they were really a nonprofit doing work for local and sustainable food, I wouldn't feel bad about not getting the magazine (and I did pay for 2 years and only received 1 issue). But now, who knows where Foodshed or our money went. Pffft.

Your money went to Jamaica.

P.S. No one is running off to Jamaica, simply a fb post that was posted incorrectly. We will be here to make sure things are taken care of. Happy Holidays.

This is a flat-out lie.

And here's proof:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201368731195896&set=a.1389494373035.2050272.1102350973&type=1&theater

Read the 7th comment down. For those of you who don't have Facebook access: Melissa Harris im in va, but we are headed back to Jamaica for the winter in less than two weeks ...you are welcome to come down  I'm serious December 31, 2013 at 10:22pm and Melissa Harris I'm here all winter janet...it's quick flight December 31, 2013 at 10:27pm

I've done a bit of digging, and am very confident in saying that Melissa Kane Harris is a liar.

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I wonder how much the "magazine" generated? Zora any word from the publisher?

I will PM you. But subscriptions and advertising were not generating sufficient income to pay contributors and also pay to print and distribute the magazine. A second, industry publication that she also did subsidized Foodshed but that source dried up.

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I can confirm the "subscriptions and advertising were not generating sufficient income to pay contributors" part. My email to Melissa this morning -- checking again on delinquent payment of $250-- bounced. When I am in Jamaica in May for a wedding, maybe I'll run into her on the beach ...

Unreal.

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I am perplexed by this thread. Flavor finalized its bankruptcy more than two years ago and Foodshed has been closed for more than a year. There was no money to "run" with. Flavor was inundated with legal issues from a stalker, not going into that, google it if you truly are interested, but Flavor filed bankruptcy due to it. If Flavor owed any monies, they were dealt with in the bankruptcy and as far as I know there are possibly two writers claiming to be owed less than $400 total, there is nothing I can personally do about it. Nearly all debts were paid prior to filing, I understand a few things may have fallen through the cracks that I was personally was unaware of, I can not pay those personally. The parties did not reach out and make a claim for a very long time after the fact. Flavor was an Inc, owned by several folks, I was the publisher, I am not in a legal position to pay the debts and would be in violation of the bankruptcy if I did.  We are talking about a couple hundred dollars here and there is internal dispute by the staff that some are all even legitimate claims. There was channel to go through and that was over two years ago.

I personally lost enormous amounts of money with Flavor. Foodshed began as an effort to try to continue to be a positive force in the Foodshed. It made NO money, all the subscriptions were bought at Foodshed's expense and carried over, they could have simply and legally stopped, the intention and effort was to fulfill them. Foodshed put out two issues, it made no money, and after having staff steal and undermine the organization, we made the decision to wrap it up and not incur anymore debt. There may be a very small number of folks who may have lost their subscription, as far as I am aware, paypal refunded them all. I personally have refunded anyone who has contacted me, plus sent them goodies as well.

The work we did improved this Foodshed greatly, we worked tirelessly and for little to nothing, your $19.99  subscription did not go to waste, it changed the landscape and the conversation on local food and helped many businesses get off their feet and become viable.

In total, the handful of subscriptions (according to this forum) and perhaps two or three writers with no agreements in place does not make a story or warrant this length of conversation. I do not have one email or fb from anyone regarding an unfulfilled subscription, I received two back when we realized the paypal link was still up and took care of them. I posted on this thread to please contact me directly for a refund, no one has. Paypal refunded the money they had in the account, that was supposed to be closed, and was no longer linked to any open bank account for the magazine. We had no access to those funds and paypal closed it down and refunded it.

Again, feel free to inbox me, but I do not read these forums and will not be checking back. You all seem to have my fb specifics, so please do not hesitate to contact me and I will promptly respond to any legitimate issues, this appears to be mostly false information hidden behind pseudonyms. I welcome any real concerns or claims. If it is within my power to fix it, I will, but Flavor and Inspired are neither connected nor do I have any capacity to rectify their debts if there are actually any legitimate ones. There was no cash out, no golden parachute, just debt the management ate and the knowing that we did a really good thing for this community.

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Melissa --

To be 100% clear, nothing fell through the cracks in my situation. I wrote three articles for Flavor and was paid for them -- loved the concept and the editing. I then was contracted to write a piece for Inspired (via Flavor) in June 2012, delivered it and sent my invoice for that piece on time in the fall of 2012. After not receiving payment for several months, I was directed by my former editor Pam Hess to connect with you in Feb 2013. I have since been emailing you -- for more than one year -- about my payment owed. You told me on 2/18/13 -- "We are trying to get our final payments from the company who contracted us to do the Inspired publication. I apologize for the delay." That was your first and only ever response to my repeated inquiries.

Absolutely everything is documented and I was a contracted writer. At no time was I told that I needed to request payment under bankruptcy filings, or that, in fact, Flavor had even filed for bankruptcy -- simply that Flavor had become Foodshed an was moving on under that new title/direction.

While you refer to the monies owed as a "we are talking about a couple hundred dollars here" -- freelance writers rely on the honesty of the publishers and publications with which they contract. It may not seem like much to you, but it is everything to us.

I am happy to email you directly about this matter, but the only email I have for you is now bouncing -- as the food-shed domain is no more. Please provide another point of contact.

Jess

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Jess,

I have in boxed you directly. To be 100% clear, Inspired Magazine has no connection to Flavor or Foodshed and has no subscribers, so I do not want any confusion there. The magazine is owned by a real estate group who still publishes it. I was a third party helping to establish the original design and concept and do not fund it.

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Additionally, my point about only a couple hundred dollars owed was in response to the notion that some kind of win fall was to be had here. These are small denominations to "run away' with as was commented in the thread. $150 won't get you too far. I personally paid into the company to keep it afloat and it cost my family dearly, no one wanted to keep going more than me, and no invested more than me, and no lost more money than me.

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As a bankruptcy lawyer, I am able to say that there is no prohibition against paying one's debts post discharge. You certainly have no legal obligation to do so, but if you feel a moral obligation to do so, you may.

F'ing over people is very bad karma. Especially freelance writers. They trusted you, you screwed them. You need to make this right.

I f' people over for a living. I know what I am talking about. F'ing Capital One or Navy Federal Credit Union feels good, they need to be on the receiving end once in a while. F'ing your friends financially is bad. You don't sh!t where you sleep.

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A word from your humble moderator:

Folks, let's keep it civil in here.  It is clear that a number of our community have been burned in various ways by the failure of Foodshed and/or Flavor, but for the present I ask you to leave the vitriol at home and stick to matters of fact and/or reporting.  This thread is nominally about Foodshed, so please indicate if your relevant content involves the publisher's other ventures.

Entrepreneurship is not an easy thing, and usually involves ego, a high failure rate and much disappointment all around...and the temptation to act unethically during the downward spiral of desperation.  We live in a time and place of assholes and sharks, but if "more than enough rope" is out there, it must FIRST be brought to light, before you reach for your torches and pitchforks.

Thanks.

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Hi all,

Has anyone else been charged by Foodshed Magazine for a subscription that you are not receiving? I believe the company closed--I haven't gotten a magazine in some time. I was actually charged last year and again this year. There is no website, and the general email (info@foodshed.com) and publisher's (Melissa Kane Harris) email accounts are closed. I can't find a Foodshed or social account or another way to get in touch.

(Well, I did send Melissa Harris a facebook message last week, but since then the account disappeared...not sure what happened?)

If you have contact info, please share!

Many thanks!

p.s. Beware if you use Paypal, Paypal says they are not able to refund me because I authorized a subscription in 2011. I did not authorize the charge to be on-going, but somehow it was entered that way.

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Hi all,

Has anyone else been charged by Foodshed Magazine for a subscription that you are not receiving? I believe the company closed--I haven't gotten a magazine in some time. I was actually charged last year and again this year. There is no website, and the general email (info@foodshed.com) and publisher's (Melissa Kane Harris) email accounts are closed. I can't find a Foodshed or social account or another way to get in touch.

(Well, I did send Melissa Harris a facebook message last week, but since then the account disappeared...not sure what happened?)

If you have contact info, please share!

Many thanks!

p.s. Beware if you use Paypal, Paypal says they are not able to refund me because I authorized a subscription in 2011. I did not authorize the charge to be on-going, but somehow it was entered that way.

CVilleFarmer, when you say "this year," do you mean 2015?

At this point, I have a hard time believing it's a continuing scam so much as "shitting all over everything and not cleaning up afterwards."

BTW, no other publication ever picked up on this story.  Is Joe Yonan still at the Post?

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Yes, I was charged just a few weeks ago, Dec 14, 2014. I was also charged in Dec 2013. I didn't get any issues last year, obviously I won't this year either. Not sure how this wasn't taken care of last year. One would think that if you close your business, you stop auto PayPal payments, right?

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I have had no contact with Melissa Harris in a long time, but I believe this is a Paypal issue. I'm certain that Melissa informed Paypal that she was suspending publication and requested that they suspend any automatic renewals. I don't think she should be blamed if Paypal is charging people. Paypal is eating the money, so the ire should be directed at Paypal.

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Thanks, that is helpful.

I opened another dispute with PayPal. I believe you must have a valid email to receive funds from Paypal, and since the Flavor email listed on Paypal is a defunct email account, it could be that those charges are getting lost into the ether. Perhaps PayPal hasn't figured it out.

Or, I did see that Ms Harris is in Jamaica (before she hid her FB account), as others have recognized, so I hope I'm not helping fund a long tropical vacation!

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I have had no contact with Melissa Harris in a long time, but I believe this is a Paypal issue. I'm certain that Melissa informed Paypal that she was suspending publication and requested that they suspend any automatic renewals. I don't think she should be blamed if Paypal is charging people. Paypal is eating the money, so the ire should be directed at Paypal.

PayPal isn't eating anything. If you setup a recurring charge the money is processed by PayPal and the recipient has a valid account (according to my view her account is still active and has a status of verified) the money will get transferred to her, minus the service charge. You need to cancel the recurring charge, which I did right after I realized that the magazine was never going to be coming.

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PayPal isn't eating anything. If you setup a recurring charge the money is processed by PayPal and the recipient has a valid account (according to my view her account is still active and has a status of verified) the money will get transferred to her, minus the service charge. You need to cancel the recurring charge, which I did right after I realized that the magazine was never going to be coming.

This +++++

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The money is deposited in a paypal account.  You have to sign in and request the money be transferred or used to pay another transaction to use it.

When any money is deposited in paypal your account, paypal sends an email to the registered email address associated with the paypal account.  So it is entirely possible that the paypal account was never deactivated and the pay-in notices are going to a defunct account.

I neglected to update an email address when we changed emails and I did not receive notices from PP of payments I made using paypal.  If I had recieved payments, the situation would have been exactly the same.

Just pointing this out as a logical possibility and have not put any investigation to the situation here.

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