The biggest anchor around the neck of Stereophile is its lack of integrity. If it cherished the position of power and influence it unjustifiably continues to hold in the audiophile industry rather than trying to exploit it with manufacturers, readers and audiophile consumers, the future outlook for Stereophile would look much better than it does. Unfortunately, they have taken the attitude that they can use their market power to unjustifiably hype certain equipment while simply ignoring other equipment which is more worthy, cheaper or both, and that they can require expensive ad campaigns from manufacturers as the price for a good review of the equipment, or for even a review of a manufacturer's equipment at all. Above all, they appear to have the feeling that we, the customers of Stereophile, will not see through their marketing "strategy" and that we will accept that just because they say that $40,000 Krell speaker or Levinson amp is the best that we will accept it without reservation. All I can say is that type of cynical strategy will always ultimately fail. They can't outsmart the marketplace forever and there is evidence that their plan is failing as we speak. I will not renew my subscription when it lapses in May, even though Stereophile is the only one who measures the equipment and, contrary to others, I appreciate having some objectivity put up against the biases of a reviewer whose objectivity is already highly questionable. Now, these stories of high pressure sales tactics which seem to border on fraud utilized in order to pressure you into subscription renewal indicate desperation on the part of Stereophile and even more cynicism directed at their customers. If knowledgable audiophiles continue to vote against Stereophile (with their feet), Stereophile will either wake up and change for the better or the marketplace will eventually ignore them. Sadly, I think they are currently in the process of digging their own grave. When they are no longer an economically viable enterprise, will they understand the role they played in bringing about that inevitable result?
Do you approve of "How Stereophile Market itself"?
I was moderate subscriber to Stereophile over that last two years or so, but recently cancelled my subscribtion around Dec of 2001. Like most ex-subscribers I received many junk mail about renewing my subscription, but never thought much of it.
Yesterday, I received a letter from the National Credit Audit Company (NCAC), stating that they were collecting on behalf of Stereophile. This frustrated me because I had already cancelled my subscription and haven't received new copies for months. I initially thought it was a timing issue or some clerks at Stereophile forgot to cancel my subscription and now my credit history will be affected by all this. It wasn't until I called NCAC, dealt with the annoying automated operator, then realized that it was just another ploy to get me to sign up for another subscription. NCAC went further to state that they're a normal credit collector and will not report or make any contact to the credit report people. I can't believe Stereophile would steep so low with this type of marketing ployed. Any of you ever experienced this frustrating ordeal?
Yesterday, I received a letter from the National Credit Audit Company (NCAC), stating that they were collecting on behalf of Stereophile. This frustrated me because I had already cancelled my subscription and haven't received new copies for months. I initially thought it was a timing issue or some clerks at Stereophile forgot to cancel my subscription and now my credit history will be affected by all this. It wasn't until I called NCAC, dealt with the annoying automated operator, then realized that it was just another ploy to get me to sign up for another subscription. NCAC went further to state that they're a normal credit collector and will not report or make any contact to the credit report people. I can't believe Stereophile would steep so low with this type of marketing ployed. Any of you ever experienced this frustrating ordeal?