How NOT to Design a Website

We recently started receiving Biography magazine. I’m assuming it has to be related to FreeBizMags.com somehow—we just get random magazines anymore. In any case, these subscriptions are going to our old mailing address, so whenever one arrives I try to put in a change of address for it.

According to the FAQ at the Biography Magazine site, you can change your mailing address on that site, by simply clicking on the header that says “Subscribe Now!” (Yes, it’s counterintuitive to those who already have a subscription, but that’s the least of their problems.)

There isn’t such a header, or if there is I can’t find it.

Now, there’s another FAQ item about how to subscribe, which leads to different URLs. So I tried those—and they come up 404.

I can’t remember when I last sent an actual change of address card by snail mail, but I’m not about to go through the “cut the label off the magazine cover and stick it to a postcard” yadda yadda yadda. I mean, for one thing, I’d have to find a stamp.

They’re presumably losing money because people who want to give them money for a subscription can’t do so easily. Wouldn’t you think that whoever paid lots of money to have the site put up would notice that little detail?

Edit: Using the “contact us” form gets you a message saying that someone will contact you soon. An autoresponse repeating that reassurance arrives in your email immediately. And almost as quickly, another message saying that they don’t have time to actually read any messages arrives, directing you to the same FAQ that didn’t answer your questions before.

Cyn is Rick's wife, Katie's Mom, and Esther & Oliver's Mémé. She's also a professional geek, avid reader, fledgling coder, enthusiastic gamer (TTRPGs), occasional singer, and devoted stitcher.
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