Anyone have problems with Garage subscriptions?

Boy am I glad I just buy it at the book store when I can find it!

 

I too have gotten the royal runaround. They did answer my e-mail with a bunch of crap about what date I sent my money and the 16-18 week bull shit. I should have gotten my first one a long time ago, but I will be patient and wait for the next one. E-mailing them doesn't do any good. And as far a finding them on the newsstand, thats hit & miss as well. My personal feeling is they are loosing a lot of current & future sales by not taking action with the subscription & distribution company. I love the mag, but if my subcription doesn't come through, it will be the end of my buying it in the future. I can find plenty of other reading material that doesn't involve stress!

 

Stoner is well aware of the problems. I have been in contact with him and he said he would see about takeing care of the problem. Now he just ignores my pm's. I have not even recieved 1 of the mags since i resubscribed in June. I have finally found a phone # for Garage and since then they have only picked up the phone twice but at last word they said my subsription would start in February.

Maybe somebody should pm Jesse...

I will post the phone # i have tomorrow, it wouldnt hurt for everyone to call them.

 

Perhaps the new owner should live up to what is tattoo'd on his palm.

PAY UP SUCKER!

 

Jesse probably doesnt give a crap. I received 3 issues of my first years subscription's and that was before the sellout. We have enough people who have paid and supported them, WHEN ARE THEY GONNA FULLFILL THEIR OBLIGATIONS?

Just to put my $$$$ where my mouth is, I subscribed again. Doubt I'll ever see a return on that $20.

 

i got the generic email about the 16 to 18 weeks crap too. it was always hit or miss at the newsstand, thats why i wanted the subscription!

 

Thats 5 Alliance MEmbers that have been screwed. How man more are out there?

 

5 that have lost, whats worse is the 500 that wont subscribe. These mags are puttin themselves out of business. I've also been waitin for Hot Rod and Trad. R and K. These subscription services are just a middle man to pass the buck on to, I swear. 16 weeks -- I think the 6-8 weeks is bullshit enough.



OK -- I'm done, thanks for listening. I feel better now.

 

Well...
Believe it or Not I actually do give a crap!....The subscription company has been fired. A new more compitent company is taking there place starting with the next Issue. I am also re-vamping All of the e-mail and phone contacts so when you inquire about a problem or suggestion? You actually get a response and your problem will be handled in a timely fashion. I didn't build West Coast Choppers to where it is today by not taking care of every customer. I will Not let Garage Magazine drop the ball anymore.

Thanks for your patience.
Jesse

 

I got the same thing - PayPal autorenewal, moved a few times, emailed a few times, thought it was all my fault... havent seen a mag in a good six months. Just figured I was out of the loop, gonna buy it at the bookstore if I need to.

 

I bought a subscription in Sept and not one mag yet. How long does it take to start recievin an issue? Sent an E-mail and got some bullshit generic responce.

 

Jesse, im glad to see that you are trying to get this thing sorted out. I really do like the mag.

 

Guess I'll wait a few months before subscribing to see if all the problems have been dealt with.............

 

Fuck yeah I had problems. I love that magazine as much as the next guy, but they have given me the worst bullshit customer service ever. I recieved a "subscription" last year or the year before as a present, I was super stoked because I love that mag! It took a while to get to me, which I expected because usually new subscription do. I received one issue, it was the one before the issue with the suicide girls write up in it. I remember this because I was anticipating that specific issue. That one never came........ever......So I called garage HQ and asked them what was up. They said it probably just hadn't shown up yet, and not to worry. Ok no sweat. Well when it got to the point that 2 more issues had been released after the SG issue I called again. I asked them what was up, where's my issues? They told me "to bad they must have gotten lost in the mail". RIGHT! All of them? They may as well have told me the fucking mail gremlin ate all my issues. I called again later asking to talk to someone higher up in command, and he basically told me to get fucked and that it would cost them a lot of money every year to replace everyones "eleged lost issues". I was pissed, fuck you man!! I just want the issues I was suppose to get in the first place! Let me also inform you that at this point I had been extremely nice and corgial on the phone, I understand no one is going to do shit for you if you're a dick so I wasn't. A long fucking time has passed and I still have yet to see another garage issue. I have a hard time believing the USPS can fuck that up. Maybe one issue they could have lost, but not all of them month after month. I gave up, until I hear JJ bought out the mag. I called once more and even messaged them on myspace thinking maybe a different form of communication would work..........Nothin. Zip, zilch, nadda. You know for a magazine that preaches about blue collar morals, and business on a handshake type of mentality I'd say I got handed a big fuck you sanwich. I lost all trust and faith in that magazine. They have got to be the worst standard for customer service I've ever seen. And I know I'm not the only one, a number of my friends had the same type of shit happen. Maybe they just don't like minnesota. I'll try sending this to their subscription problem email, but I doubt anything will happen. If it does, I would have no qualms.

 

I had the same problems as everyone else, I started missing deliveries....at first everyone said "Ya, we will take care of it," then the responses stopped coming. I finally gave up. About two months later I got an issue in the mail. My sub expired that last issue.

Im not trying to dog pile.....but if you dont know how bad it is/was you cant fix it.

 

i payed for a subscription 5 months ago and never got one issue! they did take the money though........kinda shitty

 

its been 5 months since i "subscribed" i hope i dont get an auto renewal when a year has passed!

jesse, thats awesome you are taking steps to correct this. since i paid for my years subscription will i get a full years worth of magazines whenever the mag gets its shit together, or am i going to get the remainder of the issues for the year?

 

Before things get really out of hand and it gets closed, I might have suggestion for those that haven't subscribed to the magazine and are going to the local corporate store(Barnes & Noble or Borders) to get their copy. Try Wal Mart. I seem to always find the last 2 issues at Wal Mart.
Aman, I've had trouble getting them at Barnes & Noble too. Sometimes you have to call them EVERY day especially when Stoner is kind enough to come on here and announce what week they should be in stores. I had a friend that worked at B&N and he said they don't put out the magazines that don't sell. So maybe if you "generate some interest" aka hassle them, they will carry more copies. I do know that they have an option where they can call a customer to let you know a new issue has arrived at the store.

I know it's not that much help, but I've read enough posts from Stoner to know he's a stand up guy(even though he's not the head man for the mag)and I'd hate to see an awesome mag lose customers just because they have a bad subscription company.

 

Whoa,I had no idea when I posted way back at the beginning of this
thread that it was anything more than a snafu. So far I'm only missing
one issue and have subscribed since Stoner offered a deal up here
on the HAMB for some hurricane Katrina relief. $20 got me a years
sub and MOST of the $ went to hurricane relief. As far as I'm concerned, at that point Stoner had a customer for life(and still does)
as long as he still has a hand in it. Heres hoping these issues get
squared around soon.

 

Jesse, I must respectfully call bullshit.

WCC did the same "customer service" run around when I (and others) ordered the CFL frames when you had the 10 year sale.
the 6-8 week lead time turned into 14-16 week lead time, and my order finally showed up about 50 weeks after placing the order. WCC was more than happy to cancel the frame order, but couldn't give me an estimated lead-time of when my frame would ship. Now I have an oil tank for my CFL kit, that has a crooked hole drilled and tapped, and I can't get anyone at WCC to call me back, or exchange the part. ( I called Buster per a p.m. I got from you a while back, and have not heard back from him)
Also, WCC had finally shipped my frame and components to my billing address, and not to my shipping address, and my fender arrived, in the box, with a big ass dent in it, with the reply from your customer service department saying , send it back, and we will replace it, but we can't tell you when.... fuck that.

Now your magazine has adopted the same customer service attitude..."now that we have your hard earned money, everything we said up to this point is bullshit, and you will get your product when we say you will get it",...until then don't call, e-mail or write, because no one will reply.
It has been 21 weeks since my wife ordered my subscription.

If you need any good customer service people working for you, I'd like to throw my name in the hat.

Respectfully,
D.

 

D..
I'm sorry that you had a bad experence when you bought your frame. We did ship over Eight Thousand frames that were sold from that sale. Out of those Eight Thousand customers I am happy that 99.99% of them were happy with the product and service they recieved...

One thing I have I have learned in the last 15 years of being in buisness? The Assholes that get a killer deal on somthing always Bitch and complain the most and are never happy. Meanwhile the Customers that pay full price are always respectfull and patient.
Funny how that works?.....

 

What is the "plan" to get the subscriptions taken care of? When will we GET results? Why are "WE" (The paying subscribers) suddenly a bunch of "ASSHOLES"{According to the context of your above post}

Waiting for a STRAIGHT answer without a bunch of name calling
JOhn

 

Why would you order the mag after having so much trouble with the bike parts , now that's bullshit

 

WTF,the dude is steppin up like a man and handling shit,...and then some one has to be a dick,,hey ...doc...next time,why not try saying all that when there IS a problem,rather than letting it ride out....

 

John...Thats not what I said at all......Its pretty obivious that all the people here paid full price and are being more that patient waiting for there Subscriptions. If I was waiting for 10 monthes I would be pissed. I am pissed that the people that I have been paying and trusting to handle this have done Nothing to help. All I can say is changes are being made as we speak.
The Assholes response was in reference to "D's" comments calling my efforts "Bullshit" on having good customer service.

My direct email is...

LBCMONEYGETTER@aol.com

everyone that has problems can e-mail me and I will personally make sure it gets handled......

 

Stoner,JJ, and Garage...

Best of luck fine-tuning the sub system.
Stoner has a big heart and I just can't see him deliberately turning his back on anyone.
Persistance, but patience can go a long way.
As for us, much of the help Stoner gave us allowed us to turn around and donate our time and work to this very board.....more than most of you are aware of.
Respectfully,
Ace

 

Props to Stoner and Jesse for coming on here and letting folks know whats up. Many dont realize how separated the actual magazines and the fullfillment companies are. Looks like Jesse and crew were sleeping with a tramp and now they have stepped up to a new company................what an odd pun that turned out to be?

I hate subs anyway, our local Newstand supplier is so on the ball I can always find my periodicals a couple weeks before any sub EVER shows up, and they stock Garage at a dozen places.

 

without a doubt... steppin up and facing THIS crowd takes a yard of guts... you'se guys keep up the awesome work on the rag man... fuck the haters

 

Yep.... lots of us in business have learned that lesson. As a matter of fact, being a CFL rider-- i hated that Ten Year Deal bullshit that gave you pains, as now there are thousands of half assed CFL bikes around. No harm turning a tshirt from trendy to Walmart, but not cool to do to a good bike design.

BTW: I'm one of the goons who's stil been waiting for a magazine, having paid for two years now. Have someone fix me up and shoot me an email at notebooms@yahoo.com

Also something i hope you know-- Stoner makes the magazine the amazing thing that it is. Let him make his art, and trust the right person to deal with this bullshit.

All things said, to me Garage Magazine is the best magazine out there.

-scott noteboom

 

"Looks like Jesse and crew were sleeping with a tramp and now they have stepped up to a new company................what an odd pun that turned out to be?"

If you want your rod serviced the best...use a hooker, not a slut?????

Pay the extra for the experienced professional, coz she knows how to handle it all????????????

30 years from now........"Yeah, that Jesse James is a legend now, but back in the day , he stiffed me on 2 or 3 magazines, but I didnt email him directly, coz it wasn't traditional."