I have contacted our MD about this and he told me the supply with the fulfilment house (the contractor who posts copies to people) ran out last week. Nobody anticipated that it would be so popular – to put it in perspective, it's sold about four times as much as the only other similar one-off mag the company's produced, so it has caught everyone out. They are trying to get more copies, but the problem is that there isn't a system to get stuff out of shops once it goes into them. WH Smiths has a contract to stock it until January, so there will be copies in bigger stores and what the trade calls "travel points" (train stations and airports, basically).
The big issue is: why were some orders being posted out last week, when two guys on here had their orders sat there for a month without theirs being sent. No idea. The suppliers are being asked about that - but I do genuinely expect to hear a lot of flannel rather than any kind of decent explanation. Sorry - but it is so far outside my control I might as well be an ant shouting at a truck. As customers, you have a better chance of getting an answer from them than I do; writers are too far down the food chain to bother them. Still, if I do get an answer worth repeating, I'll pass it on.
Clearly, if they can get more issues to the fulfilment house, then they'll post them out – but frankly I wouldn't hold your breath. The only thing I can suggest is that if they offer you a refund, take it. Email your refund confirmation to the office and I'll see if we have any other touring-type stuff to post you as well, by way of an apology - we did an issue with a big British touring route feature a few months ago, for instance. We don't have any copies of the Europe guide in the office, at all: otherwise, I'd send a couple of copies out from here. At the moment it looks like the only way to get a copy is from Smiths. Sorry.
