So this afternoon, after not so careful deliberation I decided to cancel my subscription to Decibel Magazine. It's a shame because I still enjoy the magazine and have been a faithful reader ever since I first picked up a copy at a Barnes & Noble back in May 2005 (Mastodon cover) but the magazine's delivery for the past couple of months has just been retarded.
Last month I received the GWAR issue about three weeks late. After noticing the mag in the newsstands I sent an e-mail to the customer service department and was told to wait. When I sent another e-mail about a week later and probably just a few days before the next issue was scheduled to hit stands, I was finally sent out the issue. I was told that I was not the only one experiencing problems and that since subscriber copies now include Flexi Discs, those copies take longer to process at their plant.
One should learn from experience, but they didn't. I was at Barnes & Noble on Sunday, and there it was; Electric Wizard, one of my favorite bands on the cover and I couldn't read it. Or, I could have read it, right there and then, but then what is the fucking point of having a subscription? So as soon as I got home I sent another e-mail to the magazine and two days later I was told to wait until Friday. That's three more days. I was informed that most subscriber copies had made it by the previous Wednesday. Take note here; the American postal service ain't bad at all. If mail takes two more days than it is supposed to, then chances are the packages are just never going to make it. Then, why should I have to wait an extra week?
Needless to say, the February issue / No 76 did not make it today (Friday). Irritated, I sent another e-mail and asked to cancel my subscription.
I still like Decibel magazine. So much so, that after cancelling my subscription I headed to Barnes & Noble to pick a copy of the Electric Wizard issue. The thought of waiting three more days to read it was a tad too much. But other issues are not as appealing. It's a matter of taste, I am sure.
Decibel is a highly entertaining and informative magazine and a far superior read than anything that is out there right now. Not like they have much competition, what with Revolver's utter shittiness, Zero Tolerance's minuscule font, horrible format and god awful distribution and Terrorizer's exorbitant prices and hideous layout, but right before I renewed my subscription two months ago, I had to think hard whether I wanted to go one more year. I was unsure for a few reasons; namely, the extensive and tiresome coverage of a few high profile bands that get extensive and tiresome coverage elsewhere and a few annoying monthly columns that are a total waste of space (and I ain't talking about Kevin Sharp's or Richard Christy's columns) . So the advantage of not having a subscription is that I will now be able to afford the luxury of choosing which issues I actually want to own.
3 comments:
Lots of folks had this problem (myself included). I agree they have a few crappy columns (namely the Metalsucks one). I think the main problem was they got rid of their customer service guy. He was on top of this type of thing and I had missing issues within a couple days. He never told me to 'wait'. I still like the mag like you do and still subscribe, but the comradre (or however you spell it) feels like it's gone.
I believe they had to get rid of the customer service guy because of a decision made by the publisher. Budget cuts, I guess.
To the Metalsucks column let's add J Bennett's column which is about nothing and South Pole Dispatch which I guess is about nothing too.
Yeah you're right about the publisher deal. Sucks. Mark was a good guy.
I agree with the J. Bennett thing. I've laughed once at that column (at least the ones I've read). I guess I don't get it.
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