Linns/Amos Idiocy And The Pain Of Subscription Renewal

There's nothing I hate more than idiocy when it comes to design and programming on business websites.

Tonight I go to linns.com to renew my subscription, dropping the annual print edition and going with the monthly print subscription with the rest digital.

We'll forget, for the moment, how poorly worded and unclear the subscription/renewal page is (the choices imply that if you subscribe to the monthly print option, you ONLY get the monthly issues digitally, yet anecdotal reports on other sites confirm that this option gets you digital access to all 52 issues, not just the monthly issues). So I put in my information, hit submit, and get greeted by the following:




Note to web designers: If there are password requirements as far as length or composition, you need to state that on the page. HIDDEN REQUIREMENTS SUCK!

Ok, so that resolved, I try again, and this time am greeted by the following:




Huh? What screen name? There is no screen name field in the subscription form. Linns.com, while it asks for an email address to access digital content, does not have a password, nor is there any way to access or edit your account information. Is it referring to my account at amosadvantage.com?

Hell if I know. The only thing I can guess is that somewhere in the depths of their database, I have at some point, on some website, set up an account with a password tied to my email address. Of course they don't tell you what in blazes they are talking about.

So scrap that. I'll just set up a brand new subscription using a different email address. Fine. Whatever...

And then I'm greeted with the following error:




SERIOUSLY????

These freaking morons don't have an up to date zipcode database in their ecommerce system, yet are doing address validation? So instead of being able to use my address of choice, I have to choose a different one.

This idiocy, combined with the fiascos of their iPad Scott catalogue app and the epub venture, just serve to reinforce that no one at this company has any technical acumen whatsoever.

The linns.com website, how authentication is handled, how the supscription form is on a different domain, how none of it publicly dovetails with Amos Advantage, is a complete and utter fustercluck.

This is a company destined to go the way of the dodo bird.

*HARUMPH*

I'd e-mail Linn's with your concerns and maybe they can help resolve the issue for you.

My pet peeve is when having to enter a password that is "invalid" according to a website. I have had an alphanumeric password that has served me well for years, but some websites insist that the password be less or more characters or else some upper and lower case letter combinations must be included. Ultimately I can never remember the combinations correctly and have to keep resetting things.

Suggestion: Don't try to change your address online! (hint to all: you can't… read on)

On LINN's website, under "contact us"

CLICK ON THE LINK AND YOU GET THIS PAGE….




The link has been this way since September 2014; and this is March of what year?!? So who knows how long this feature hasn't worked.

I finally got it changed, but it wasn't easy, and there wasn't a place online.

Hal

Sad, but not surprising. On a different message board just within the last 12-18 months Chad Snee said that Scott editors still submit their pricing notes on paper. I half wonder if they're still employing typesetters and if their reporters call in the story on a payphone.

"dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot"

Artful: Why wouldn't they?

wt1: I dropped a bank that required a new, different, secure, easy-to-remember password every 90 days. They obviously were not thinking, say, 3 years ahead (12 new, different, secure, easy-to-remember passwords), let alone 10 years ahead (40 new, different, secure, easy-to-remember passwords), so I did the thinking for them, and picked another bank.

revenuecollector: I placed an ad on Linn's and, then tried to look at it. Long story, but what finally worked was:

PLEASE TELL YOUR 19-YEAR-OLD WEBCHILD THAT ADVERTISERS EXPECT ACTION IN LESS THAN 7 HOURS; IT HAS BEEN 7 DAYS!

Mighta hit the nail on the head with that one.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

The best approach in a case like this is to stop doing business with the entity.

Not to make a mountain out of a molehill, but this is a neat little episode that captures in a nutshell the technological state of the hobby. One of the biggest names in the hobby, and probably the most important one in the US, has a website that's about 20 years behind the times and they're still, in 2015, doing much of their most important work on paper. If I remember Snee's comments correctly, it wasn't that the editors chose to do it that way out of preference, but out of necessity. And, sad to say, that's pretty typical (or even advanced) in comparison with the rest of the field. I'm not holding my breath for The Killer App to make an appearance anytime soon.

Entities have markets, niches, resources, customer bases.

Walking away from the entity, therefor, involves walking away from their markets, niches, resources, customer bases.

Not always the best choice.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

And good luck trying to find how to opt-out of automatic renewal. Linn's has the most primitive ecommerce website I've ever dealt with.

I hope someone from Linn's sees this thread, although I don't have a sense that the company is keeping its finger on the pulse of the online philatelic community. Experiences like those recounted here are infuriating but also sad. Linn's has been an important part of my stamp collecting world for years, and I would hate to see it go the way of the dodo bird.

I've been thinking about this thread for a couple days.

I work in publishing and acknowledge that Linn's/Amos has made some real strides in the last couple of years, but they are still far behind the publishing industry and the content industry. It feels like they are following the tailwinds. They certainly aren't delivering content in a manner that younger people want - and they are the philatelic publishing leaders, aren't they?

What I see is they are leading (or following) the philatelic industry down a sad path that lacks something bigger - innovation.

I remember an interview with Bill Gates in which he said he didn't worry about Apple or Google or Oracle, etc. He worried about the kid in the garage making something he (Gates) hadn't thought of.

I don't think we have that in our hobby/industry. Is there a persona out there that has Don Sundeman having sleepless nights? Unless that persona is the person walking away from philately, I doubt it.

If you have a tablet, you can install the Linn's app and get the magazine for free. When they released the app, they offered the magazine "free, for a limited time." Well, it's still free now. I'm waiting to launch the app and have it ask me for my Linn's login credentials, but it never does. Just shows me all the issues and let's me read them.

Not to rock my boat but I signed up for the first year with the monthly print and digital, after the first year I stoped getting the print issue but still get weekly digital copy.

I chalk it up to keeping one more on there subscription rolls.

Last time I renewed I tried it on line and gave up. I then sent in the little postcard for renewal, that didn't work, they apparently never got it. I wound up renewing by phone.

I patronize a local dealer who has all kinds of horror stories about Amos Press and how they rigidly adhere to the way things were done 20 years ago. The hobby is in enough trouble now without this. I hope someone there is listening.

Agreed. Amos is in the business of selling information. Consumers of information (i.e. all us us) have become accustomed to being able to find the information they want instantly and from anywhere.

Amos is a fairly large organization, encompassing more than just Scott and Linn's, so it's hard to say where the roadblocks to progress are in that company. Not being privy to their financial statements, it could be something as simple as not being able to afford/not having the available credit to pursue a major IT systems upgrade. It could be that the good folks at Scott and Linn's want to increase their digital capabilities, but maybe the CEO is a Luddite. We really don't know.