I have purchased a handful of amazing Folio LE's but has Folio taken a step backwards?

I recently found out that installment billing is no longer an option. Its as if they don't trust the customer to finish the installments but it worked perfect for me. And of course the lack of an online "real time" order history linked to our real account numbers. I have asked about this many times. Hoping someone on here has web dev experience. Why would Folio create a new website that takes a huge step back and down when it comes to account technology. The old website showed ones account #, let you track installments, and even if you called in to order...those orders appeared. Now its a website design that someone uses when mail order is not their primary business. Orders are download to the Folio system and this runs the risk of creating duplicate accounts...trust me...it happened. But with Folio mail order is their only business. So I am just disappointed. I also miss the club and wish they could have worked the membership cards into perhaps an award program. All these special touches have been stripped away. Where are the new illuminated manuscripts like Liber Bestiarum...or creative offerings like Golden Ass?

>1 cu29640:
FSD members have been complaining about all these problems for several years, but no response from the FS.

One option I've used recently is to pay with Paypal's Pay-in-3, so you can pay in 3 installments over 3 months, interest free. I'm a relative newcomer, so I don't know how it compares to FS' old installment billing, but it's still handy.

>1 cu29640:

I fear the golden age of Folio Society was 20 years ago. All the great limited editions have already been done. Unfortunately, I think we will never see such unique items again. But I could be wrong, maybe some new ones are in the works. In the coming years if you see something wonderful best to grab it if you can.

Try not to be too disappointed, is pretty much all I can say... I do miss the installments but they must have had their reasons. They do offer PayPal as an additional payment method.

>4 Comatoes: I fear the golden age of Folio Society was 20 years ago. All the great limited editions have already been done...

I suppose I'd say from around 20 years ago - even the Kelmscott Chaucer only appeared in 2002 - to around 5 years ago, roughly to the winding down of J W-B's involvement. Then, most of the LEs I'm most grateful for can still be picked up around or below their issue price, so if I'd come late to the party I wouldn't be cursing my luck too much. And I'll keep watching, just in case Folio are quietly brewing up another Birds Drawn for John Gould, or Night Thoughts, or Herefordshire Pomona...

>6 terebinth: just in case Folio are quietly brewing up another Birds Drawn for John Gould, or Night Thoughts, or Herefordshire Pomona...

I'm truly glad you enjoy your Herefordshire Pomona as much as you do :)

I'm curious about the old instalment plan. Did they ship the book to you and allow you to pay for it over a ten-month period?

That seems quite generous for a number of reasons - they're giving away a one-year interest free loan almost, for one. And they must have had some percentage of defaults.

>8 U_238: Did they ship the book to you and allow you to pay for it over a ten-month period?

In a nutshell. They also had a four month plan. First to go was the ten month option. Many an LE has been purchased with that plan. And yes, they had quite a few defaults, the most common reason being the demise of the customer.

>8 U_238: And they did it for any member internationally. Absolutely unheard of. It was just too good to remain as an option.

>8 U_238:
That seems quite generous for a number of reasons - they're giving away a one-year interest free loan almost, for one. And they must have had some percentage of defaults.
Quite possibly, but they also lost quite a few sales as a result. My purchase of LEs certainly reduced to zero at that point and anything above the odd volume at once.

>8 U_238: >10 elladan0891: >11 Willoyd: Me too. My shelf of treasured LEs from the beginning of the programme was only enabled by the existence of the 10-month instalment option. Since it was ditched, nothing... though the current offerings, apart from Gargantua and Pantagruel and Tristram Shandy, are pretty unappealing to me compared with those of JWB's "Golden Age."

Is the lack of an installment plan the reason for lower prices LEs? Couple of years back I remember seeing LEs in the price range of 550 - 1000 pounds. Maybe thats why they reduced the quality of the LEs as that is a substantial amount to pay upfront?

Can a book already published be published as a limited edition again if it is completely redone?

Thank you for all of the responses. Indeed, I’m not surprised at all they’ve removed it as an option.

Good question about the reduced prices - I was quite surprised at the prices of older editions, which really do reflect a lot of comments about being cautious viewing LEs an an investment. Edited for clarity: the “high” prices for some of the older publications weren’t because they had appreciated in value, it’s because they simply cost more.

>14 bookish_elf: I’m also very curious about this. Is it possible to see another Ulysses LE for example? Though that may not be a good example as it could in theory be a different translation. Let’s say Moby Dick.

PayPal is a good option but that brings us back to the account issue. Folio's old website was actually linked to ones account number...it appeared in the account section and all orders placed whether by web, phone, mail appeared real time in the online account. Folios new website is almost like an "off the shelf" web platform where the orders placed online must be entered by Folio via some process to the actual acct. I tried this once and ended up having a duplicate acct set up. This is a cheesy platform for orders as its something a Museum Gift shop might use that does not specialize in mail order. Meanwhile Easton Press does have real time account records on the website...and the used to have the simple system as well. So a + for Easton in that regard.

>15 U_238:

The Folio editions of Ulysses aren't translations, though some readers coming to Joyce may find themselves wondering ;) But, yes, there have been any number of limited editions of many classic texts, and I'd see no problem at all in Folio revisiting Moby-Dick, or Ulysses, with a different illustrator, format and binding style. If they're not very likely to do so at all soon, the reason will be lack of a compelling enough idea for how to do it and/or expectation that the potential demand is already largely satisfied.

>16 cu29640: FS website has never been real time when orders were placed through other channels. After placing a phone order, installments or not, it used to take a full day or more to appear on the old website for me. It's actually much better now.

And what do you mean when you say that a duplicate account was created? When "transition" to the "upgraded" website happened, we basically had to create new accounts and start from scratch, with all previous records lost (absolutely ridiculous, yes). But then when you login with the email address you set up as the new account login, it works fine and has records of all orders placed since the "upgrade".