Irritating wood working magazine trials

[Derek Gilmer]

Is anyone else irritated by the "subscription" practices of wood working magazines. I signed up for a trial of Shopnotes and Wood magazine. BEFORE I even got the trial magazines in the mail I began receiving mailed notices about how my account was over due. I'm understand it is a pressure tactic they use to make people get their subscription and that is irritating enough. But to have past due notices before I even got the trial editions I'd signed up for is crazy. And has convinced me to stay way from what are probably good magazines over all.

So Dear Shopnotes and Wood, at least let me get a magazine free trial before you try the strong arm "Your bill is past due" notice. :mad:

[Chuck Wintle]

Is anyone else irritated by the "subscription" practices of wood working magazines. I signed up for a trial of Shopnotes and Wood magazine. BEFORE I even got the trial magazines in the mail I began receiving mailed notices about how my account was over due. I'm understand it is a pressure tactic they use to make people get their subscription and that is irritating enough. But to have past due notices before I even got the trial editions I'd signed up for is crazy. And has convinced me to stay way from what are probably good magazines over all.

So Dear Shopnotes and Wood, at least let me get a magazine free trial before you try the strong arm "Your bill is past due" notice. :mad:
I ran into the same thing but with a difference..I wanted to subscribe to a particular woodworking mag, i forget thee exact name, and after 4 months i was still not receiving anything. Customer service seemed all too happy to just cancel it when I called...kind of odd i thought.

[Derek Gilmer]

I ran into the same thing but with a difference..I wanted to subscribe to a particular woodworking mag, i forget thee exact name, and after 4 months i was still not receiving anything. Customer service seemed all too happy to just cancel it when I called...kind of odd i thought.

*begin sarcasm*
I guess the boom times that printed media are having right now has enabled these magazines to treat customers however they want.
*end sarcasm*

[Jim Koepke]

I decided to never try a "free trial" again after one particular nasty dealing with a high tech magazines "free trial" strong arming.

I do not know why marketing departments want to make enemies out of the general public, but they must make some money with the nasty route.

My brother used to work in the "customer service" department for a telephone company. He was always getting low ratings because his job was to correct over charges on peoples bills. People would call in for "basic" phone service and the sales rep would load them up with all kinds of stuff they did not want. The sales rep would get all kinds of good write ups and commissions. The "corrections department" would always get bad write ups for not talking the customer into keeping junk they did not want. It would not surprise me to find this kind of business practice where ever the short term bottom line is more important than long term customer satisfaction.

jim

[Pat Germain]

I think the problems come from third party marketers. When we sign up for a magazine subscription, we may or may not be dealing with the company who actually publishes the magazine. We could be dealing with a third party who makes money by selling subscriptions.

For example, I've been a Consumer Reports subscriber for many years. A few years ago, I started getting renewal notices only a few weeks after renewing. These notices were coming from third a party company and not Consumer's Union. I get them several times a year and it's really annoying. The same thing happened with woodworking magazine subscriptions.

I think it's the desperate situation publishers are currently in. They sign on with companies who promise to deliver more subscribers and they use shady tactics. Obviously, people like us get annoyed and might cancel or fail to renew. But the pointed headed guys who are in charge just look at metrics and have no situational awareness about annoyed customers. If they get three subscribers for every one who cancels, they're happy. They use metrics to boost ad revenue, collect a bonus, then move on to another company. Much later, the situation starts to hurt the publisher, it folds and people say, "Hey what happened to that magazine?".

[Keith Christopher]

Kinda like handyman mad, the product testing comes wrapped in a "buy this book or get no more trials" care package.

I cancelled my ALREADY paid subscription.

[Roger Pozzi]

The "practice" that really ticks me off is: [Attention: your subscription is about to expire. Reply by ??/??/???? to insure your subscription does not run out!]
Usually, I have another 1 to 2 years left on that subscription as I take advantage of the multiple year discounts.

[Brian Tymchak]

The "practice" that really ticks me off is: [Attention: your subscription is about to expire. Reply by ??/??/???? to insure your subscription does not run out!]
Usually, I have another 1 to 2 years left on that subscription as I take advantage of the multiple year discounts.

Yep. I get that a lot. At least most of my subscriptions show the expiration date on the mailing label. But a few (can't remember which at the moment) don't and that's a real pain. I wish that were a law..

Brian