Hot rod Deluxe was the only one on that list I’ve ever spent money on. I Guess the racks at newsstands/ grocery store can get smaller now
Well, that really just leaves CK Deluxe and Ol Skool Rodz as the last of the newstand vintage car focused magazines... it's scary but also exciting to see where it's gonna go now!
My contact to them, a boner. The custom car/hot rod subscribers to the magazines of which you have ceased publication, of which there are thousands, considers your termination of such to be a corporate decision that is lower than Whale Shit. To do so with out explanation leaves one wondering what kind of people make such a decision. The answer of course is the worse kind of human on earth. Perhaps you would care to explain yourself, and tell the subscribers that you have left hanging why the decision, and why your offering an inferior publication instead. Most likely not as I see you as being and completely unconcerned about the good people who have supported you for years, and only being interested in the what the bible says is the"root of all evil", money. :
The F'ers automatically renewed my subscription in October. Dinged my Discover card for fifty bucks. Not real happy about it.
No sir! I actually work for them and Murpho's of Austin, Texas bought both magazines last year. Shows that there is some strength in being independent... those big businesses just want to grab as much as they can and then not know how to deal with it.
They'll probably back charge the entire amount That $50 renewal rate sounds like a 3rd party subscription service. They're famous for "accidentally" renewing subscriptions w/o authorization. The U.S. fair credit billing act protects you against unauthorized or fraudulent charges. File a dispute with Discover and they'll do the legwork. You may only have 90 days so make the call. https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/help-center/faqs/disputes.html If the renewal was unauthorized, they should charge back the entire amount and not pro rate it. Any issues you received since the (unauthorized) renewal date would be considered "unsolicited direct mail" and are viewed as gifts. I went through this many years ago with a Time/Life book deal (remember those!?). Without asking, they sent me Volume #1 of a forthcoming series of books. In a nutshell, the accompanying letter stated to send the book back to them via return mail if I didn't want it.....If I kept the book, Vol #1 was free but that meant I was agreeing to a "subscription"-to buy a new volume each and every month (for I think $9.99) and they would bill me. I ran this by my Dad (who ran a collection agency for years in his younger days) and he explained what 'unsolicited mail' was. For the better part of about 6 months (!) I'd receive a monthly book, call them and explain I didn't order it and had no contract with them and to cease sending me unsolicited material. The left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing there. They continued to mail me a monthly book and bill, while simultaneously sending my "account" to a collection agency (!), who got real nasty with the letters, voicemails and phone calls. They were such pricks, I somehow felt obligated to play their game and fuck with them. I'd return their call, then immediately ask to be escalated to their manager. Once the call was transferred, I'd claim that they weren't a manager, but just another collector as I could hear the previous collector talking next to him. I'd take the guy down a path of proving to me he was really THE manager, questioning him about their management structure, how many direct reports he had, how long he'd been in collections, did he like playing the part of a heavy, how big a fella are you, etc, lol. I'd ask them to explain their business model and question why they kept sending me free merchandise when I was "in collections" and such a huge business risk, etc. I'd keep notes of each call, then each following month's conversation I'd catch them in a contradiction. I'd say; "Wait John, that's not what you told me when we spoke 2 months ago on June 4th"! They threatened to sue me. I told them I was ready whenever they were. I'd threaten to sue them if they tarnished credit report. The calls were great fun until they folded and finally gave up on me.
Wow! Barely made it in a mag. Dreamed for 70 years of having a car featured in a mag, finally had my Mysterion clone featured in SRM October '19 issue. That was close!
When I heard they were cancelling Streetrodder I contacted some jackwagon in the subscription dept. and asked what will become of my remaining 2 years on my subscription. I was told that I would be transferred to Motor Trend. I explained that if I wanted MT I would have ordered it to begin with.explained and I am requesting remaining balance to be reimbursed. Then to further piss me off, I saw the Feb. issue of SR on the magazine stand at the local Fleet Farm but never received In my mail. It's not the money but the principal of it. Just venting.
Disappointed in the whole situation too. I had a few issues left on my subscription to Hot Rod Deluxe when they pulled the rug out. I too got the e-mail telling me to choose a digital copy of Hot Rod or Motor Trend as a replacement but replied to the e-mail requesting they either give me a cash refund or extend my current paper subscription to Hot Rod by the value of my remaining Hot Rod Deluxe. They responded back agreeing to extend my paper Hot Rod subscription, factoring in the higher cost that I had paid for Hot Rod Deluxe. I will miss Hot Rod Deluxe, as I did Rod & Custom, but this is probably the best resolution one could expect. Doesn't help you guys that don't like Hot Rod though.
I got a notice in early November that I needed to call to NOT auto-renew by a certain date. I'd decided to discontinue SR since all they did was build stuff with advertisers' products and feature four wheel thingies that weren't close to street rods. Told them I was done. Lucked out,I guess.
You can never go home again. Us guys born from about 1930 thru 1955 lived in absolutely the best of times that will never come again. Detroit discovered car styling in the 50s, along with POWER!!, we had plenty of vintage tin, many of us came out of WWII and Korea with experience working on GM diesels (knew how roots superchargers work!), had the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild, Rod magazines were emerging dedicated to serving budding hot rodders and the rod mags supported model building, Monogram, AMT, Revell etc., discovered budding rodders and poured out great kits, there were NATIONAL car model contests, slot car racing flourished, there was a NATIONAL slot car drag racing competition, Roth, Barris, Winfield, Cushenberry, etc., etc. were pouring out really inspired vehicles, and best of all, there were no computers nor internet. It is all obsolete and when our generation is finally gone, memory of our golden era will be too. Not necessarily bad, just different. The rapid demise of our cherished rod magazines is just part of this natural evolution.
I contacted them and told them that since they cannot honor the original agreement with me for the subscription of Street Rodder cancel my subscription and send me a refund,I want no other offer from them. Got a email today from them that my subscription is canceled and a refund is going to be credited to my card, My subscription is up on Nov. 2020. Will be interesting the amount to be refunded! Pete! Thanks a boner!!
I have been reading HAMBers (and others) bitching about "all that damn advertising" in car magazines for years! Well, now you get to understand what declining advertising revenue, subscriptions and ever-increasing postage and printing costs really means. Enjoy the pop-ups, banners, data-gathering, and 2 inch photos - you won.
Just old-timers remembering when rod mags cost $0.75 and had real tech info instead of reprinted manufacturer's instruction sheet. I realize the business environment that is squeezing the publishers. Like I said above, can never go home again.
I got the email as well. I am paid up till 2021 on SR and classic trucks. I chose rags I wanted, now they shut them down and tell what they will give me for my money! No offer to give my money back. Corporate greed and non car people burying some more! Sent from my SM-S367VL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Old guy here, this is a sore topic for me to begin with, this type of behaviour is becoming more and more common, we accept it and just complain. I go through this shit from time to time with big institutions, like the bank, or more recently, my electric power provider, changing the terms of the agreement I signed when we cut a deal. I promptly remind them that we have a legal agreement we entered into when I signed the dotted line, I am the customer, and they do not have the right to change anything without consultation, as I view myself as 50% of the contract we entered into, regardless of the fine print. I will bet a class action lawsuit, or at least the threat of one would get these guys attention, selling a subscription to a publication, then reneging on the deal, and transferring the customer over to another publication the customer did not request, keeping the funds while not honouring the contract. See, in the good old days when companies relied on their reputations, they never screwed their bread and butter around, but now we live in a time where, because they're large and powerful, they feel they can arbitrarily do as they please, and for the most part they do exactly that. Mom and Pop shops being bought up has brought this kind of shit our way, try your best to prevent this stuff. I deal exclusively at a local auto parts store here in my little town, the big guy who competes with them doesn't get my business, and because it is xmas, I dropped off a couple cases of beer this afternoon to help with their after work goings on. We gotta look after the little guy, he is us, and needs to be looked after. Rant over.....
I must be older because they cost .35 when I started buying them but minimum wage was 1.00 an hour and some places didn't pay that to young guys. If a guy is on entry level wages he still works the same number of minutes a guy did in the 50's or early 60's. That nonsense of "it was so much cheaper then " doesn't fly when you factor the actual minutes or hours you work then or now to buy the same item. Agreed though that normally tech articles then were far more educational and not just pushing a product. A lot of us learned a far share of what we know about working on hot rods from those articles.[/QUOTE]