Subscribers Info Page

Note that these services are available to Grape Vine subscribers only and all applications for them are checked against the current subscriber list.

Grape Vine is published monthly, and you should usually receive your copy in between the 5^th and 7^th of the month. If that date is ever likely to be different – due, for instance, to printers’ holidays – I will try to let you know in the preceding month. If, in a normal month, you have not received your copy by the 14^th, write to me or email me and I will send you a replacement copy.

I cannot check every copy thoroughly when it arrives from the printer, so on rare occasions you may receive a poorly printed or incomplete copy. If this happens please let me know as soon as possible and I will send you a replacement.

Confidentiality Details of subscribers are confidential and will not be given to any other organisation or subscriber

Correspondence All correspondence should be addresses to the PO Box or email address above. I welcome letters but cannot give individual replies.  If you are seeking answers to a comp you should send me the entry form, or a readable photocopy, allowing sufficient time for me to research it and publish the advice for the benefit of all readers.  I will not undertake private research.

Subscription Rates .  Prices are as follows :- 3 months = £13.50.  6 months = £25.  One year = £45.  Please make Cheques/PO’s payable to JANE WILLIS, include your full address and say which issue you want to start with. Please do NOT cross postal orders, as my bank does not accept them. Payment can also be made by Paypal to janesgrapevine@yahoo.co.uk

Subscription Renewals When your subscription is due for renewal a large 'X' is marked in the box on the front cover of your final issue of the magazine, and a subscription form is enclosed.  Your renewal date is shown as a three or four figure number at the top of your address label  eg 506 means you renew in May 2006 and 1107 means November 2007.

The Update service The update is an A4 sheet, sent out on or around the 20th of the month, covering comps  that appear too late for the current issue but close too soon for the next one plus brief notes on new entry forms to look out for. It is available only to current subscribers. To receive it by post, send a C5 size (that’s the size your copy of Grape Vine arrives in) stamped addressed envelope plus a loose second class stamp to the usual address. You can save time and postage by sending in several envelopes and stamps at a time, up to however many it takes to last until your current subscription is due for renewal.

Please don’t forget to include your stamp – the postal update service is NOT free. Also please do make sure your envelope is C5 sized – folding the updates into dozens of different sized envelopes takes a very long time.

However if you want to get the update FREE (because I don’t have the printing costs) you can now subscribe to it by email. Send a note asking me to add you to the list, and containing your name, address and email address, to the Grape Vine postal or email address. Shortly after I receive it, you will receive a message from GVupdate@googlegroups.com welcoming you to the list and telling you about how it works. From then on, you will receive the updates on or around the 20^th of the month for as long as you remain a GV subscriber. 

Classified Advertising Ads for comp clubs and for selling unwanted prizes are free. Other advertising costs 5p a word plus 50p for address details, per insertion. Send the text to the usual address, with payment if necessary.

Tiebreaker checking If you see a tiebreaker you think is yours in the “Winning Lines” section but have not been notified of the prize, send me the full details including the name and address you entered with if it is not the one I hold on file for you, along with an SAE for my reply, and I will check to see whether your name is on the list.

The Entry Form Exchange Each subscriber may use the exchange service a maximum of once per month. Choose one of these two ways of using it:

1.  Send 10 forms and an A5 SAE stamped with a 1^st or 2^nd class stamp and you will receive 10 forms in return

2. Send up to 30 forms and a SAE which can be A5 or A4 sized, stamped with a 37p stamp for second class and a 44p stamp for first class. I will try to send as many different forms as you have sent me, but when forms are scarce may have to include some duplicates if you have sent a large number of forms.

 Please only send forms with a closing date at least two weeks away to allow time to arrive and be sent out to another person. Do enclose a “wants list” if there is something you are particularly looking for – while I can’t promise I will have it, if I do, it’s yours!

I will try to send out exchange forms by return of post but may sometimes have to hang on for a few days until I have a  good enough selection of forms to return to you.

Some notes on listings in Grape Vine

Descriptions of holiday prizes can sometimes be rather cumbersome and repetitive, but if you don’t know how many people a prize trip is for you may not want to risk entering the comp, so to save space, from now on if I list a holiday or short break prize without giving the number it applies to, it is for two adults. Similarly assume that a family holiday is for two adults and two children under the age of 12 – if the make-up of the holiday varies, I will point it out in the individual comp info.

 Text entry comps -  . Where a text is not charged at your normal rate, the cost given is on top of your normal rate. Note that most operators don’t allow you to use short code texts as part of your free or inclusive text bundle.

 Plain paper/postcard comps Always write in BLOCK CAPITALS & in ink.  Unless otherwise stated entrants must be aged 18 or over and UK residents. The term ‘details’ normally includes your phone number - if an email address is also required I will say so.