Exasperated with Fine Woodworking Magazine!

[Arlin Eastman]

About 10 days ago I received an email to say that my on-line subscription with FWW magazine could not be renewed as the credit card details were incorrect. I checked, and they were up to date. 

I have been a longstanding on-line member and paying a low fee ($19.95) because of this. To renew, I now have to pay the full fee ($99). So I contact Customer Service, who send me a form reply after 2 days to say I should log in and renew my account. I explain that I am an existing customer, and wish to continue the discounted rate. Two days later there is another form email ton say that they have discontinued the old subscription and replaced with a new super duper version for everyone. Well, why did they not say so in the first place? 

Now I decide that, what the Hell, I shall subscribe at the new rate. It is only money and you cannot take it with you. I enter my details and country (Australia), and then am asked for my state. This is where it all comes to a grinding halt as only USA states are displayed. I try this every which way ... but only USA states are displayed. (I have completed similar forms on other websites - I am not a doofus). 

I contact Customer Support again, explaining the situation, and begging that they take my money. Two days later I get another form email, explaining that I need to log and and renew my account. OK, perhaps something has changed in the past two days. So I log on again. Same as before - I can be resident of Wyoming but never Western Australia. OK, I have a new idea ... I'll go in and sign up as a brand new subscriber! Yeah right ... same again. Apparently no one resides outside the USA in states with names that are dissimilar to those in the USA.

I have emailed Customer Service one last time. What do you think that they will reply? 

I wonder if the penny will drop when all international subscribers suddenly stop being subscribers ...?!

Regards from Perth

Derek  (hoping that FWW magazine are reading this)

Someone is not giving you good info.  You still are a doofus. 






    I just had to say it buddy.

[bandsaw]

I bought a set of plans from FW last night - had the same problem. The issue is they ask for state before country. I couldn't find my state (province) at first and wondered wtf. Then I went to the next field and changed USA to Canada. When I went back to the state field there were the Canadian items. Why can't they get the fields in the right order? You need to change country to Australia to find your states.

[Derek Cohen]

Bandsaw, I am aware that setting the country first links to their states/provinces. It cannot work otherwise. In the case of FWW, this makes no difference. This is the point where the software screws up.

Bill, thank you so much for calling on my behalf. You would think that should be enough for FWW to contact me by email. They have not done so. I do not plan to get up at 2:00 a.m. or so to call customer service. It is just too hard to call and then be placed on hold indefinitely locally, but internationally ...!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[wjt]

Derek:

My apologies for not taking into account I am on the other side of the planet from you. At least I have made FWW customer support aware of the problem.

Unfortunately level 1 customer support personnel rarely give anything other than boiler plate responses. It makes their resolution numbers look good and that is their primary charge.

Bill

[mike4244]

Derek I remember you from Fine Wood working , especially your expertise on hand planes. Years ago they changed their format. I did not care for the new format and left Fine Woodworking. Never went back. Not long ago I had a similar issue with the Wood Web. Could not log in. One email to the staff and issue resolved. I suppose you have tried everything . Possibly a phone call to Mr. Big may solve your problem. 
mike

[hbmcc]

No solutions Derek. BTW, are you the real Derek Cohen? Your post does not feel right, including font.... We have a lot of trouble here with fake sites and political trolls of the opposite party pretending to be Putin.....  


FWW. I don't buy the print copy of FWW very often, so my latest purchase really rubbed me the wrong way. At numerous paragraphs I am encouraged to 'read the rest of the story' in the Members Section on line. I feel like the schmuck pulled into the chase down the tunnel to see the secret answer to wealth dreams only to slam into the $99 door.

And, I am paying $8.99 for this spiel. A new price. That's a book rate best spent on books without friction fading print.

I'm off to rebuild my 350 square feet of decking ... all in Bruce's design complexity.

[doobes]

I wrote FWW off about 14 years ago.  2005 to be precise.

My family and I are Katrina survivors. After having the house flooded, dealing with that and moving in with some family friends, it dawned on me that I hadn't seen a FWW mag in a while.  I was a subscriber before the storm.  There were numerous reports of the local Post Office being flooded and a large amount of mail was lost.

So I called customer service. Got a woman with a very strong New Jersey accent. I explained the situation and her reply was "what do you want me to do about it?". H'mm, howze about checking my subscription status? A moment goes by, "your subscription expired a couple of months ago".  Click. And we were done.  FWW has not seen a single dollar from me since then.

[Tapper]

Sorry to hear of your problems with Fine Woodworking magazine. While I haven't had any trouble with renewals, I'm getting fed up with their subtle injection of politics into the publication. Renewal time is coming and I'm on the fence.

Doug

[Derek Cohen]

Some good news.

First I received an email from FWW to say that they had modified the on-line form to include Australia.

Then I received more welcome info. This one shows that it pays to have friends in high places. Rob Lee emailed me to say he had a word with FWW about the situation (since my complaint was not just about my situation, but that it must be affecting many others, and ultimately FWW). Soon after this, FWW contacted me to say that I had been reinstated as a Legacy Customer (paying $19.95 for on-line membership, which is about access to videos, archives, and PDFs of past editions).

Hopefully, this will help others in the same situation as well.

Thanks Rob.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[fredhargis]

I'm really happy that got worked out, but what a bunch of BS to jump through to get them on track. Very nice of Rob to help out as well. But what about those who don't have friends in high places? Anyway, glad you got it corrected.