Anyone subscribe to Windsurfing Magazine?

[isobars]

I paid them for a subscription to the online version last summer, and have yet to see but one issue, and that only after MANY complaints in the Fall led to their humble admission that I had paid them. After I gave them the subscription order number and the time/date/amount of the initial credit card charge, they said they'd fixed the problem.

The same, entire BS recurred in December.

ANNNNNND again this month.

As far as I can tell, they are a complete scam. I hope to hell they don't start using my credit card for their vacations and Ferraris. (We're both in for a surprise if they do.)

I've requested a refund, just in case they are simply incompetent rather than outright internet scammers. I'm not willing to fight that long, that hard, or that often for a freaking magazine I CAN'T EVEN ACCESS.

I know you guys can't solve my problem. This is just a heads-up, in case anyone is considering subscribing.

[swchandler]

Sometimes businesses can fail. Just look at Donald Trump's history.

[wdsurf]

Great magazine from uk have had the print subscription for a 5years problem free

[DelCarpenter]

I believe the currently available magazines with similar, but different titles are:
Windsurfing Now (in US & Canada)
Windsurf Magazine (in the UK)

Isobars, are you sure you aren't talking about one of those?

I did have a subscription for years to "Windsurfing Magazine" before its demise about 10+ years ago.

[isobars]

[swchandler]

"Over the last decade I've had to file for credit card chargebacks (refunds) from several online companies, some small and some blue chip corporations including VISA itself. Years ago we had to jump through a few justifiable hoops first, but now the credit card companies simply refund the charge to their clients (e.g., you and me) upon a phone call, just for competitive PR, then wage whatever battle they feel it's worth with the offending merchant. Even on some small charges, the satisfaction of giving fraudulent merchants a black eye is worth that phone call."


What's that all supposed to mean? Maybe it's an alternate universe of credit cards and its crazy world.

[GURGLETROUSERS]

I don't think there will be any bad intent involved, so far as Windsurfing Magazine (U.K.) is concerned. Some twit has probably pressed a wrong key on a computer keyboard and it's all going round and around in ever decreasing circles.

I have subscriptions to several monthly magazines, (Steam Engines - Cycling - and such) and they plop through the letter box like clockwork. (And my bank balance goes down accordingly when the yearly subs are taken.) There was just one sub that went haywire (like yours) and it turned into a saga to sort out, so I can see your frustration.

As for Windsurfing Magazine (U.K.) I don't bother with it anymore. Seen one, you've seen the lot, so to speak, and if I need info on any new gear I call on the local expert retailer, who knows best what floats my boat! (And what's advertising bullshit!)

[GURGLETROUSERS]

Thinking about windsurfing magazines, it's not surprising that so few are left in circulation. Windsurfing is largely a repetitive sport (surfing wave after wave - blasting in and out -gybing - tacking - jumping) and there is a limit to printing articles month after month on how to do it all. As for the well worn mantra of 'taking it to the next level' (rolls eyes) most long termers are more concerned with holding something like the level we once reached in our prime!

There tends to be a disconnect with 'ordinary' windsurfers, especially when they print the fall back of young super hot-shots doing impossible things on huge swells in some exotic corner of the globe, while prattling on about 'living the life style', or 'tuning in to the inner soul'. (Whatever!!)

A fat lot of good that all is to those of us who have (or had) careers, mortgages, family life, and all the other of life's problems and activities to juggle and balance. Windsurfing for satisfaction (spiritual, or just smile on face) is a difficult thing to write about, in that it isn't always exciting. It won't lie down and die, but I honestly think that windsurfing magazines have little real relevance (apart from equipment testing - if HONEST) .

Oddly enough cycling is a very complimentary sport to windsurfing in that all I know (kiters included) have mountain bikes. And they have loads of monthly magazines with endless things to argue about! (Equipment, gearing, diets, pedalling cadences, training routines, and on and on.)

[cgoudie1]

Greetings GT,

Cycling is so much bigger than Windsurfing, and there are so many more
moving parts, and it can be done almost anywhere at any time.

Windsurfing is so niche that as the world moves away from hard copy printed
material, it's hard to believe any magazine like such could garner the
kind of advertising sponsorship required to keep it alive.

But.........the Windsurfers I know are all quirky, almost counter culture,
and very funny in an eccentric way. A WS mag that was humorous, and more
about odd experiences, with a smattering of technical articles could, I think,
survive with enough subscription to convince a few advertisers to fund it.
Could you pay the writers of articles like "how to convince your Partner
the new gear you bought makes your life safer", or "Why you can't make
the wedding because you're required to be at the local launch for reasons of
world stability?" Probably not, but it might be interesting to try.

It wouldn't hurt to see premium bodies in there either ;*). I think the
industry shot itself in the foot when the US mags decided that was
unacceptable.

.01

-Craig

[exhibitpro]

Craig,
Make that magazine and I'll buy 4 subscriptions...