How to cancel online subscription to Fine Woodworking?

[Carl Garner]

Yes, I've been an online subscriber for years now, but I'm going to have to cancel my online membership.

I cannot find by looking through the various menus how to cancel. Would someone please let me know where to find the right page on their website to cancel?

I sure would appreciate it. and thanks so much in advance.

Carl

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Most subscription websites require you to sign in and then go to "Manage your account" once you are signed in.

[Carl Garner]

Thanks, Ken. I have found that to be true on other sites, but sorry to say, not on Fine Woodworking. Maybe I should try Tauntons, the publisher, but if anyone has done this before with FWW, please let me know. I know I can wait until Monday, and do it by phone if I have to, but just wanted to check it off my lift of things to do.
Thanks

[Nick Decker]

I just had a look and they do make it hard to cancel. If there's a way to do it online, I can't find it. I hate that kind of behavior.

[Frederick Skelly]

I called Taunton to cancel mine.

[richard b miller]

carl,
i just went to the taunton press website and the only thing i see is the "contact us" link.
in the past when i wanted to cx a mag, i'd send them my name and address as it is on the mailing label AND
your subscription number and say i want to cancel the magazine.
they make it hard to cx magazines, because thats what pays their bills. i remember one birding mag we cx'd
and we would get magazines on and off for 18 mos AFTER i sent them notification.

http://www.taunton.com/contact_us.asp

[Bob Grier]

I also ended up calling Taunton.

[roger wiegand]

Call customer service: 800-477-8727

[Carl Garner]

Thanks so much, guys. We tried. I will call them tomorrow, but as much as I've learned from Taunton (not just FWW, but FHB, too), I can't believe they'd not conveniently have a convenient link to cancel an online subscription. I'll speak with their rep about it when I call them, but alas, it'll do no good imo.
Carl

[Mike Manning]

I'm also one of those people who don't like nor appreciate this kind of BS. Where companies make it very difficult to cancel their services. Not good on Taunton IMO. This is good to know. Almost every time I get the ads to become a FWW subscriber I give it serious consideration. I can now throw those away without a second thought.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I used to work at a company with a subscription model. Not a magazine, but an online-based subscription business.

Many years ago, we required customers to call in order to cancel, but of course made it very easy to sign up online.

There was a great deal of fear that making it easy to cancel would result in a high cancellation rate. But eventually the case was made that it was a bad way to treat customers, and that cancellation rate is driven by the customer's experience with the product, not friction in the cancellation process. Plus, phone support is really expensive.

So we eventually made it possible for users to cancel online. And sure enough, the cancellation rate remained unchanged, our customer support costs plummeted, and we made fewer customers into enemies. We had a lot of customers who would cancel and sign back up multiple times, so it only hurts your business to leave a bad taste in their mouths...

So I hope FWW changes its practice. It's not a respectful way to treat your customers. Part of me wishes that there was a consumer protection law that requires the friction of cancellation to equal the friction to sign up. It should be just as easy to cancel as it is to sign up, IMO...

[Nick Decker]

FWW has a little test coming up with me. I'm currently near the end of my 14-day free trial, although I did have to give up my credit card number to enroll. Their come-on said that at the end of the free trial they would notify me before charging me for my regular subscription. We shall see...

[Simon MacGowen]

I agree that is a bad business practice The optics is bad at least even for those who don't plan to cancel their subscription right away. As for the thinking that making it hard for someone to cancel a service will make them stay is nonsense in the 21st century. If I wasn't happy with something and had to discontinue it, nothing would keep me from doing it, even if it meant I was put on hold for 30 minutes on the phone. Look at what people are now saying about FWW: it is being bad-mouthed because of its cancellation difficulty. I never try anything that needs my credit card #, no matter what the vendor promises...unless the CC is not mine.

One more thing, direct deposit arrangement is the worst, because it requires the vendor, not the bank account holder, to cancel the regular withdrawals once it is put in place.

Simon

[Nick Decker]

I signed up with the idea I would subscribe, but if they try to charge me without notifying me, I'm gone. And it'll be no problem telling Amex to erase the charge. I've had to do that before, and it was easier than I imagined.

[Buck Williams]

I called Taunton to cancel mine.

That ended up being the only way that I could find to get out. By design, I suspect, it took an exhaustive search of "manage you account" etc, " contact us" , (nobody replied to my email), easy to get in and have your card charged, tough to opt out.