Ad enough

So you're trying to place an ad in the Guardian's Review section, like you did last year. After two weeks of unanswered phone messages and emails you finally get hold of someone who can help. The price is agreed, the ad is booked, and you're ready to supply the ad artwork as a print ready file, like you did last year. Only the Guardian no longer accepts files direct. So you have to go through a middle man and pay an extra fee. Only the middle man doesn't accept print ready files. He only accepts designers' files, converting them to print ready, then supplying them to the Guardian. If you already have print ready files, he says, then there's nothing he can do for you. You get back to the Guardian and explain the situation. Can't they just accept the file direct, like they did last year? After all, it is only a classified ad? No. So you can't place the ad. This country, the Guardian isn't what it used to be, Charlie Brooker's the only bit worth reading, etc.

Paul