Do other unlimited members have this problem?
I am starting my third year of the Fine Woodworking Unlimited subscription. I enjoy the subscription but I have had challenges receiving the magazine. During the last 2 years I have not received 4 out of the 14 issues.
I have called Customer Service many times in order to resolve the issue.
* Sometimes they tell me they can’t/won’t send me the missing issue.
* Other times they say they will send the missing issue (magazines have generally been 2 months late)
* On two different occasions Customer Service has told me my subscription has expired. It clearly has not. I have had to explain that my subscription is current and is automatically renewed.
: On other occasions Customer Service representatives have made illogical statements. The next day I call again and get a totally different answer.
* On several occasions I have asked to be transferred to the supervising manager and the issue of the missing magazine has been resolved and mailed.
* Customer Service has said it’s the Postal Service, I have checked and it is not.
What is going on with the subscription service?
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Replies
I have been a member of Fine Woodworking Unlimited for many years. never had a missing magazine or a problem with the web-site. I hope you can resolve that issue. Good luck
The infrastructure must be too expensive to fix.
Your issue may be the actual date you signed up for unlimited and your first magazine issue received(month) and how that relates to the normal shipping date of the magazine issue (month)
I signed up for unlimited around July 5 2019.. first issue of the magazine I received was the Aug 2019 issue. The Aug 2019 issue had already been on the newsstand since mid june 2019. I had already purchase the Aug issue off the newsstand prior to purchasing unlimited. I thought no big deal. Part of Unlimited is a 1 year magazine subscription, So the last issue for my original unlimited purchase was the June 2020 issue (Aug-> Jun).. Which I believe shipped like mid April 2020. (Note: the Aug issue I think gets ships like mid June).. My unlimited membership auto renewed on July 5 2020.. near the end of July 2020 I had not received the Aug 2020 issue yet. Notified Customer Support stating I had not received the Aug 2020 issue yet.. I week later I received Aug 2020 magazine in a large envelope(replacement copy).. A week after that (first week in Aug 2020 I think) I received the Aug 2020 issue again (my subscription copy).. So April 2021 the June 2021 issue get delivered... june 2021 rolls around and the Aug 2021 issue ships... My unlimited auto renews on July 5 2021... first week in Aug 2021 the Aug 2021 issue arrives.
So for two or three years I always had a dead space were I would not receive any magazines during the months of May, June, July then in Aug I would receive the Aug issue and then shorty after that the Oct issue (I think ships mid Aug)
So what may be happening is your unlimited renew date is after the ship date of the first issue of the magazine you received. In my case July 5 renew date, Aug issue (but the Aug issue ships in june). I think FWW queues the subscriptions that meet this criteria and then does a second print run (on demand) of that month's magazine and ships them all out at once.
I had my issue fixed by contacting Customer service and finding out my renew date and first issue of the magazine subscription... in my case that was Aug... Customer Service switch magazine subscription month to Oct...
went from July 5 Aug issue -> June Issue to July 5 Oct issue -> Aug issue.
Now all my issue arrive on time and there are no delays around the auto renew...
Not sure if this is what you are experiencing.. Does your missing issues fit a pattern? ie same month different year.. or are the missing issues random?
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