Hot Rods Hot Rod Deluxe Magazine

Ok, so like many others I was and still am really pissed off that TEN pulled the plug on all of the magazines especially Hot Rod Deluxe! Just before Christmas I received a letter from TEN telling me that I needed to roll my remaining sub. of HRD into their digital version of Hot Rod or Motor Trend or some 4x4 off road shit....no way! I replied with an email telling them that this was totally unacceptable and that I would not now or would I ever subscribe to a digital online magazine...period! Their reply was a toll free number for me to call so I did just that. After about a 1/2 hr wait due to "abnormally heavy" phone calls, I spent 10 minutes or so talking with a rather frazzeled marketing guy. The poor guy has been listening to complaints such as mine non stop for the last several days. I voiced my complaints to him as nicely as I could, he is a nice guy just doing his job. As I expected there is not much he can do but pass on our displeasure to his superiors which he said he would be happy to do, he then offered to send me a refund check for the remaining balance of my subscription which I accepted(my sub ran until 2022) I then asked him why just 2 weeks before they announced they were pulling the plug they sent out new discount subscription offers for all of the magazines published by TEN? He had no answer and said that people are really pissed off about this. If anyone wants to voice their opinion to them the toll free customer service number is 1-877-485-6429. It most likely will fall on deaf ears but ya just never know!

 

shocked and disappointed by this, been buying and enjoying American car mags in the UK for the last 50 years, reading on line doesn't have the magic of finding the latest magazine in your letter box and unpacking it and sitting down with a coffee and flicking through, all the pleasure replaced by a screen and a keyboard, feel like this is a bad day...
Kev

 

My Mail Man Is Going To Be Pissed..

 

Now that right there is a great public service announcement (PSA).
Not sure whether you guys over there read the Oregonian or not but when they pulled that shit about cutting down their delivery from seven days to four (with a price increase), I almost dropped it and I have been reading it for fifty years.
Then they said you can still get the three missing days by going online but I could never get the pages big enough to read on this tablet no matter what I did, maybe my new years resolution will be to tell those SOB's to pack sand.

 

Its a changing world. Seems like everything is going in the shitter faster than I can keep track. I get it. Hot Rods are on their way out. Been building them since 1963. At 71 im lucky to have a son that fits into the new world and owns a 31Highboy roadster. All Henry except the 327. Sure I did alot of the work, but he still put in alot of time for a newly married guy with a career to grow. I've been into the vintage kart Westcoast group the last 10 years. Great way to spend time and relive the 60s. Most involved are Grayhairs. Their starting to drop like flys. Hot Rod Deluxe is just another barometer of how fast the world is changing. No Sears,papers,hard wired phones. I probably won't look at magazines on line. Its sad, I would gladly pay more to see at least Deluxe stay in print. I haven't bought Hot Rod or Street Rodder in year but I do miss Rod & Custom. Last one out turn off the lights...

 

I looked for contact info for HRD and sent an email back on Dec. 16th, I just got a reply yesterday. I had explained that I re-subscribed and only received three issues of a three year term when the magazine was cancelled and that I would appreciate a refund for my 15 remaining issues.
It took a while, but the response was just what I wanted, my CC will be credited with a refund for the remaining issues. I should see the credit on my statement in a week or so.
Be clear in what your situation is, but above all be polite. You will always get more with honey than you will with vinegar.

 

I understand why some mags have to fold, but the fact that they are still soliciting new subs at the same time is particularly odious. What subscribers really needed was a letter from the publisher explaining that you could either get a refund or switch to another mag WELL BEFORE they ended printing and provide a form or link for you to do that easily. I mean WELL BEFORE rounds of angry phone calls or emails started. Otherwise, they just look like the same old money grabbing, POSs we think they are now. I've had this happen to me twice now. The one time I couldn't get a refund or change subs was because I got my subscription at one of those booths at a car show. The publisher (or their marketing firm) can't track that stuff, so you loose 100 percent in that deal. NEVER get a mag sub from a vendor at a car show, home show, convention, etc..

 

That's when the music died for me!
Craftsman tools are junk, newspapers are rapidly diminishing, and I haven't been right since I threw away my ROTARY TELEPHONE, you know, that device that was invented just to talk on.
Now get off my yard!

 

This one really caught me by surprise!
Many years ago at the Pleasanton Good Guys show I stopped at what appeared to be a Street Rodder booth that was pushing subscriptions.
I had been given a new subscription as a gift on top of my current one and asked them how long I had until my subscription ran out and was told they did not have that information because they were an independant representative.
So when I got home I looked at the code on the mailing label and it said I was good for nearly six more years, that was my last subscription and by the way, I just recently took a near pickup load (50 years worth) of all my car rags to the recycler.
Stick a fork in me!

 

Yep, this situation really sucks - Hot Rod Deluxe was a look forward to type mag - at some point I signed up with access to online Motor Trend services - so, when sent their replacement offer it could not fulfill offer of Hot Rod Digital - on top of that I currently have a subscription to HR - plus, not able to get limited "Free" online streaming of their full site - still do not understand what that covers - so, have been playing email tag with MT customer service - there are two customer service depts - anyway got to supervisor and he is trying to help me - this is a major bad PR action by MT - especially since they control the car cable TV station

 

I have every issue of HR Deluxe, can someone tell me what is the last print issue?.........January 2020?.....thanks, andyd

 

@saltracer219 Thanks for posting. I to received the email, clicked the link to convert my subscription to digital and when they asked for credit card info for auto billing I my response was fuck that! I'll call to get me refund!

 

When this "computer" and "internet thing" was first rearing it's ugly head, I said this was't good; I actually said "I thought it was just a way for some people to make a "job" for themselves". Being in healthcare, it was pushed down our throats; we had NO say in the matter, and it was supposed to, "going to make our jobs easier". I did't buy into that, and I still don't, and I was right. Long term companies are dying out, malls are closing because there are no stores/customers, and if you want something, you have to go online now; clothes, dogfood, auto parts, and just about anything else we used to be able to "handle" in our own hands, or try something on. I'm waiting for our local newspaper to finally close up and go strictly online; it's coming. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I just called the number that was just posted, and I got a message from Verizon that the number was temporarily out of service. What a bunch of crap. The assholes just don’t want to talk to any one.

 

Agree with that Butch but two things I have noticed is retail must be FINALLY responding to their loss in sales to online ordering.
My wife was buying food for our dog online, when she quit she said the Vet was selling it for the same price.
As to malls closing, not here at least, I live within blocks of one of the areas large malls.
I DO NOT visit malls, made that committment a short time after ours opened many years ago, but I went a couple times just to say I did.
Then I went against my better judgement last week, BIG MISTAKE, cripes, don't people work anymore, the place was packed.

 

At least the Oregonian lets me read their online content, so I can keep up with the Ducks. The Register Guard wants me to buy on online subscription, but recently allowed me to read up to 4 articles a month. Sometime the Oregonian sportswriter puts out 4 stories a day.

 

Look around online and get the email address, it worked for me.

 

............They get paid more to not work!

 

My response to Ten Publishing's form letter sent regarding my subscription was;

"Sorry, I do not, have not and will never read digital "magazines". I also do not stream. What you should be offering is a refund for subscription fees already paid."

They did (surprisingly) reply just yesterday with; "For assistance with your request, please call Customer Service at 1-877-485-6429."

- EM

 

The demise of HRD is a real puzzle. Even though they were running some current material, the vast majority of the features were in the archives and were bought and paid for years and years ago. I suspect that issues with advertising and distribution may have been the problem. So, all of you cheap screws that thumb through an issue at the newstands for free, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

 

The silver lining is the Motor Trend online streaming is really, really good. There are a few "Roadkill type" shows that are right up our alley. They are not all red wheels and whitewalls, but there is plenty of fun with old cars for everybody.

Give it a chance, you will dig it I swear.

-Abone.

 

I threw a bitch fit when they discontinued Rod & Custom, i believe i was at Louisville the first weekend of August, the vendor told me i was gonna get Street Rodder to replace it. I told him that if i had wanted street rodder i would have subscribed in the first place. An older guy beside me said "just wait, Rod & Custom will be back, not the first time they've stopped printing it."

 

Bring back Rod & Custom

 

On line magazines just plain suck. I will never read a digital magazine

 

I finally got ahold of a lady on the customer service number that was posted here, the lady was very nice, they will send me a check for my remaining months. The February issue will be the last paper issue of Street Rodder.

 

One problem has always been that the magazine distributors decide what magazines are going to be sent out to different stores and then displayed on the rack. Seems like on local racks the car mag area and other magazines like gun magazines that boys and men might be interested in get less space every month being invaded by more drivel for fans of celebrities. A whole and growing section on what the bimbo sisters did but a small crowded area for the car magazines and fewer each month. That and all the guys on here who brag that they haven't bought a printed magazine for years or look through and don't buy at the news stand. the majjority of Magazines (or papers) can't survive without the advertising dollars and it is hard to get those dollars if they don't have the circulation numbers. We may be seeing more smaller operations that do all their sales by subscription or on racks in shops where the enthusiasts who are interested in the subject matter shop or available online from the same shops. Place an order and add on a copy of ______ to save the shipping by buying it by it's self.

 

I was amazed to learn of HRD's demise also - more like shocked as my 35 Coupe was one of those just featured in the 2019 November issue ! ... and no one from the magazine even hinted that it would be one of the last to go into the print magazines!

 

The world turns and some people go along with it and some people fall over. These publishers and decision makers at the top probably have a pretty good idea how many of us would protest and not switch to digital. And they know how many would rather switch than fight. Obviously they believe that they are going to "live long and prosper", to quote Spock.
They know how many hot rod old timers will die off in 2020 and how many the year after. And they know how many 20-something-year-olds will or won't start subscribing to on-line magazines. It seems like every other comment in these "magazine" threads is from someone who already quit subscribing last summer or last year or back even further. So the signs of the latest events have been showing up for a while.
Sadly, I'm one of the dinosaurs that lost to the digital revolution years ago, in the first wave. I was a lithographer and print designer. Computer graphics had a rough start with a lot of bumbling and bad design for a couple short years but they learned fast and before I knew it, I was sitting out on the curb with the buggy whip makers. I couldn't adapt. Joining us shortly will be some paper and ink salesmen, printing press operators, bindrymen, truck drivers, etc.
Dinosaurs ruled the world for a time.
Then they didn't.

 

And we sit at the computer, reading about each other's cars, learning from each other, raising hell with each other, and trying to figure out how in the hell the digital world killed magazine print...

 

In the early nineties the community college, where I teach, built a new tech ed building. Over half of the first floor was a state of the art printing program. Within the last 7/8 years it's all gone except for one guy who teaches the computer part of it and he has to teach other computer classes to make full load. The high school that I taught at had a printing program that disappeared in the '80s.