Exasperated with Fine Woodworking Magazine!

Here's another oddity ..

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

If you connect to the Customer Service web page, there is a box "make a payment". Now if you attempt to make a payment (to subscribe), you are asked to first sign in. If you sign in, the "make a payment" box disappears.

Their web designer must have trained in sadism.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Here's another oddity ..

John in NM

Sounds like pretty typical millennial formatting to me. You wouldn't believe the lousy, unprofessional software we tolerate at work. The kids writing it can't be bothered to do the un-sexy work of tracking down memory leaks when there are exciting problems to botch instead, and they have no supervision to suggest that they take care of all the problems in their purview.

I was discussing this with a consultant we hired, who's products I have worked with for years and found top notch. I described it as the children not putting their toys away when done (that's the memory leak) and he laughed and said he was going to steal that one!

Re: Here's another oddity ..

Jerry Roberts

Tell u what I do. I was with FWW since 2001 till 2014 when I quit. Now when I go shopping with my wife I take along several old magazines and re read. I stay in the car. I learned I had forgotten a lot and really enjoy reading old mags.

Re: Here's another oddity ..

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Jerry, it’s not the magazine that I value that much, but the many videos that are in the library. But is it worth the hassle?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Exasperated with Fine Woodworking Magazine!

Clint Searl

A bridge that crosses the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn in NYC is for sale. You may want to buy it.

Re: Exasperated with Fine Woodworking Magazine!

David Weaver

They're probably aware of the issue and figure that the cost of actual custom tech support isn't worth it, and they'll just lose customers like you.

I was a FWW subscriber for a while, and then when I couldn't tolerate the magazine any longer (or their obnoxious notes - once when I allowed my subscription to lapse, i received a card that said "your skills are already declining since your subscription lapsed").

I'm sure that I haven't really learned or used much from them and thought that was especially arrogant. I received many cards after ending my subscription noting that I could recommend a friend and they would receive a discount, but I should hurry and renew my subscription as a former subscriber (emphasized that regular price was the only option for that).

I let the online lapse then, too. They have been obsoleted by forums and youtube. I just couldn't really think of any time that I learned anything from their magazines, and even if I'd have wanted to build some of the things they talk about, my methods wouldn't be even close.

AT one point, amazon was carrying the large taunton topical books, which as far as I can figure it, are collections of articles stuffed in a hard backed book. They were often $8 or $10. Except far more usable because they were separated by topic.

I wonder if they had an article about how to make an integral bolster on a tang chisel (I'm guessing not, because it took quite some time for the blacksmiths at williamsburg to figure that out).

Stupid is......as stupid does......

not FWW but

Bruce, a MN Galoot

I don't know if you remember, but a few years back there was a posting by a guy with some substantial machining skills who made a set of bolstered, tanged chisels. It might not be helpful, though, since you have to be a dues-paying member to see the pics, anyway.

Re: not FWW but

David Weaver

Larry Williams posted a set that he'd machined out of round stock, if I recall.

They were O1. I think LN's chisels are basically produced by a CNC lathe, so even a step further.

I'm looking more for something smashed with a hammer a little bit and done with minimal tooling, though I love the idea of dies and a press (but if CNC and mills are high volume, actually having dies made and hardened must be super expensive, and then there's a need for serious heat as well as at the minimum, a really strong hydraulic press.

I think I may be stuck drilling the bolster and heating it and hammering the tang through it.

How much will they take?

Entirely your fault....

Mark Nowicki

.... for being part of the 96% of the world that does not have a ZIP code.

Personally, I would not waste my money or energy trying to drag FWW into the 21st century.

You have a better chance converting them to metric.

Re: Exasperated with Fine Woodworking Magazine!

John McGaw

Not at all surprising. Not at all. I run into more and more examples of botched programming and design and almost all of them would have been avoided with just a bit of thought beforehand and testing afterward. Subaru is my latest tormentor with navigation map update software which will not work if one's computer has more than a few connected USB devices because the critical button to burn the flash drive is invisible off screen because the programmer/designer never though to allow the fixed-size window to scroll or resize. Idiots...

Re: Entirely your fault....

John in NM

"You have a better chance converting them to metric. "

But then the articles would be filled with metric fractions... 9/16 cm

Re: Exasperated with Fine Woodworking Magazine!

Paul Blackwell

I recently tried to order a piece of 1/2" oak plywood from Home Depot delivered to a local store since they didn't carry that particular size I wanted. I put it in my shopping cart and had three options to check out; Checkout as Guest, Login as returning member or use PayPal. I tried all three, but when I clicked an option, the screen would go blank. I even tried a live chat with an associate detailing the problem, but in the middle of that, the screen went blank again. Never did get my plywood.

Got mine without incident-no technology interface

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I shop the old fashioned way. I went to the store, sat with the person in contractor sales, chatted a bit about business, explained my need for 3/4" hardwood core plywood, we discussed some options, placed order. Some weeks later I got a phone call on my land line answering machine( my version of modern technology), I went to the store and picked it up. People face to face communicating has worked for millennia .

Those demanding latest technology solutions are beginning to reap what they have sowed. Wait till all the useless technology on a modern car begins to fail. You won't be owning a car you buy today 15 years from now as I am my 2000 vintage vehicles. It will be to expensive to be repairing the technology, if someone can be found to repair it.

BTW, its a delight to chat with the friendly ladies when you place an order with LV, REI or LL Bean. A call to the nice ladies at TMobile in Richmond always yields a satisfying solution to a customer service problem. Verizon fired many of their customer service people. I punished them for this decisions.

Gave up on parts for my 1990s cars.

Update

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

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

Re: Got mine without incident-no technology interf

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Bill, I recall my first answer machine - back in 1983. I have just begun private practice. No secretary. The answer machine took all the messages.

Those were the days before cell phones. No one called until dinner, when you would be home. No one expected a call immediately. You would catch them at dinner, at the next dinner, or perhaps at work.

By the way, I still have a landline. With an answer machine to avoid being disturbed during my consultations. Only the family have my cell number - for emergencies. I rarely use it - made three calls last year. The family think I am crazy. I hate the phone. I miss the old ways.

With regard cars, my car is a 2001 model. What is slightly embarrassing is that I have never seen the engine! It is situated somewhere in the middle of the car, and only my mechanic and a computer can access its secrets. Fortunately, it has been very reliable. My previous car was 50 years when I sold it, and I did all the work on it.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Exasperated with Fine Woodworking Magazine!

Sgian Dubh

It's not just Fine Woodworking, Derek. I've come to the conclusion that very few America based web geeks (or whatever they're called) that set up these online order forms or pages, and other similar material, e.g., US based banks, are aware that places outside the USA, and perhaps Canada and Mexico exist.

There are no states and ZIP codes here in the UK, because we have counties and postcodes which are similar to Canadian provinces and postcodes, being a mix of letters and numbers. Results when filling in such online forms from here frequently get the same short shrift you experienced. However, there is a trick that sometimes work, which is to enter your non-existent ZIP code as 00000. Every now and then, those infuriating online forms seem to think that's pucker enough for you to proceed, but I've no idea why. The same 00000 trick seems to work quite often when a ZIP code is required to use a foreign (e.g., UK issued) credit or debit card in a shop or petrol (gas) station in the USA - again, no idea on my part why it works. Slainte.

Something that comes to mind to me...

david weaver

..is whether or not the person on the opposite end is incented to get problems solved, or if they're incented to end the problem whether it's solved or not.

it's a shame that derek had to get Rob (unintentionally) involved here because the person who has no Rob Lee ends up in this situation dropping the magazine and maybe they really wanted the online access or magazine otherwise and just couldn't get it figured out.

Someone is not incented to solve the problem more than they're incented to not solve the problem. I'm sure their response will be that it was a technical problem, and that's possible, but I doubt Derek is the first person this has happened to.