Exasperated with Fine Woodworking Magazine!

[Derek Cohen]

Dennis, email Ben Strano. He seems up to speed with all this, and says he is happy to assist subscribers.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Christoph Schmitz]

Hi Derek,

as you say: I hope FWW folks are reading this. I had similar experiences with FWW as an international subscriber which may be summarized as: their CRM (customer relationship management) sucks.

• I keep getting asked to please buy this product or that product that I have bought already. FWW should know since I bought it through their site.
• Credit card problems (in my case the card had actually expired) cannot be fixed since there is no way to do so in the user interface.
• It is quite unclear where I am expected to login to update stuff such as credit card details (on fww.com? taunton.com? ...?)
• Mails to FWW asking for help or pointing out problems seem to end up directly in the trash, or you get meaningless responses.

So again, FWW, if you are reading this, please either update your CRM software and your web site, or make sure that mails get read by actual humans.

Regards,
Christoph

[Ben Strano]

Hey all,

Derek does in fact have friends in high places. But for the rest of us mortals, you should rest assured that Derek's issues were resolved through our own channels before Robin's message got to us. Derek left a comment on our site's forum. Unfortunately, it was on the weekend. As soon as I came in on Monday, I saw the post, and go the wheels turning. We have a lot of things we need to work on here, and we're constantly trying to do better. If anyone has ever hit a wall with our customer service, I personally apologize, and if you send me an email at bstrano@taunton.com, I'll do my absolute best to set things right.

We appreciate everyone hanging in there with us.

Ben Strano
FWW Digital Brand Manager
bstrano@taunton.com

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks once again, Ben.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Herv Peairs]

As an owner of many of the old issues, my grandson is reading an article in an old edition from September/October 1981 about building stairs. We are building a couple of porches for the house and have to build some stairs. This article alone covers almost 10 pages

...

Even though these old editions are all black & white they seem to have so much more inside than the current editions.

jtk

I tried the free digital trial of FWW, but one of the reasons I took up hand tool woodworking was to escape from the computer, which rules my day job, and frankly, their digital portal leaves something to be desired. This post gave me the idea of maybe buying some old issues on ebay as pleasure reading. So I have two questions: (in your opinion) what's the golden era of FWW, and do hand tools get considered much in the 70's, 80's, etc.? I don't mind too much if they don't, just curious.

Herv

[Jim Koepke]

I tried the free digital trial of FWW, but one of the reasons I took up hand tool woodworking was to escape from the computer, which rules my day job, and frankly, their digital portal leaves something to be desired. This post gave me the idea of maybe buying some old issues on ebay as pleasure reading. So I have two questions: (in your opinion) what's the golden era of FWW, and do hand tools get considered much in the 70's, 80's, etc.? I don't mind too much if they don't, just curious.

Herv

Hand tools do come into more use in the issues of the 70's and 80's. There is still some power tool usage. One letter to the editor does complain about all the hand tool usage by some of the writers when many jobs would be more efficient with power tools.

One of my favorites from the old issues is there were often articles on hand carving moldings. Things such as how to take a reed or bead cut by a plane like the Stanley #45 and using a carving gouge to turn it into decorative dots. Another showed how to make egg & dart molding.

It is also kind of fun to look at the old Highland Hardware ads. One from the issue mentioned earlier shows a Record #7 for $75 including the shipping.

jtk

[Ted Calver]

....I'll do my absolute best to set things right. ....

Thanks for weighing in, Ben....and welcome to the creek!

[Dennis Droege]

Thanks, Derek, I will.

[Frank Pratt]

Sort of a similar situation for me. My online only sub lapsed because of the credit card expiring and by the time I got around to renewing, they only had the all-in subscription. I emailed customer service about it, but they were no help at all & said I was stuck with the new plan or nothing. I chose nothing.

I understand why folks want a paper mag, but many don't. The idea of having a magazine being printed on high quality paper, shipped across the continent, read for a month, and then thrown away is frankly repugnant to me. At least give people the option.

[J. Greg Jones]

Sort of a similar situation for me. My online only sub lapsed because of the credit card expiring and by the time I got around to renewing, they only had the all-in subscription. I emailed customer service about it, but they were no help at all & said I was stuck with the new plan or nothing. I chose nothing.

I understand why folks want a paper mag, but many don't. The idea of having a magazine being printed on high quality paper, shipped across the continent, read for a month, and then thrown away is frankly repugnant to me. At least give people the option.

That’s very similar to what happened to me. I had the iPad version of the magazine subscription which entitled me to get the remaining online content for another $14.95, and when my cc expired I was then unable to get grandfathered in for what I previously had. I have no plan to pay $100 a year to basically get what I once had for less than $50 a year.

[Ben Strano]

Sort of a similar situation for me. My online only sub lapsed because of the credit card expiring and by the time I got around to renewing, they only had the all-in subscription. I emailed customer service about it, but they were no help at all & said I was stuck with the new plan or nothing. I chose nothing.

I understand why folks want a paper mag, but many don't. The idea of having a magazine being printed on high quality paper, shipped across the continent, read for a month, and then thrown away is frankly repugnant to me. At least give people the option.

Frank,

I hear ya. Just so you know, you can opt out of the print.

That’s very similar to what happened to me. I had the iPad version of the magazine subscription which entitled me to get the remaining online content for another $14.95, and when my cc expired I was then unable to get grandfathered in for what I previously had. I have no plan to pay $100 a year to basically get what I once had for less than $50 a year.

J. Greg,

If you like, shoot me an email and we'll get you set back up. bstrano@taunton.com

[Charles Guest]

If FW will play its cards correctly they'll be the last mag standing, they almost are anyway, but I agree with others there are problems with the website. I'd love not to be asked to become a premium subscriber after I've logged in, since I already am one. The first time this happened, I didn't go any further since I thought something was wrong, so I e-mailed customer service and of course never heard back. A few days later, after I'd checked my bank account to see the funds coming out for the subscription, I logged back in and went about my business with the full access to the site that I had paid for. But the advertisements to subscribe happen unabated to this day even when I'm logged in.

It obviously pretty short-sighted to build an online payment function that can't accommodate a subscriber from outside the United States, given that their potential market is the entire English-speaking world. That this apparently lasted for more than a day or so before being discovered and fixed leaves me feeling concerned about FW's future. It's being run on a shoestring it would appear. Sounds like PW, and Woodworker's Journal.

Don't throw your old print mags out just yet if you're counting on full access to all the old articles through the website, that or buy the CD they offer, in preparation for the worst.

I'm not encouraged.

In this day and time, a website needs to be the essence of perfection or it just damages your brand.

[lowell holmes]

I just tried to subscribe to the magazine on line and it was denied. I know the card is a good card, so obviously they are screwed up big time.
If they do not clean up their act, they will be history.

[Ben Strano]

I just tried to subscribe to the magazine on line and it was denied. I know the card is a good card, so obviously they are screwed up big time.
If they do not clean up their act, they will be history.

Lowell, I immediately replied to your email with questions about the situation. This is the first time that I've heard of this issue, and I understand your frustration. However, it is possible that there was a momentary error in the system or something.

[Frank Pratt]

Frank,

I hear ya. Just so you know, you can opt out of the print.

Ben, I was specifically told by customer service that there was no online only option.