Paddling Magazine Reviews

I subscribed to Paddling mag a couple of weeks ago. Card got charged and confirmation was sent to my email immediately. I decided to access past issues since I’d not subscribed past two years. I can’t login- am told email can’t be found. Numerous attempts at customer service (email, call, Facebook) failed. PaddlingMagazine team did eventually respond and gave me a couple of suggestions, neither worked. They said to contact the publisher. I called and was told everything was shut down. Obviously not everything. I understand COVID-19 is causing all kinds of shutdowns, but didn’t keep Rapid Media from taking my money. On my latest attempt to call, the opening remarks basically everything is shut down but then directed me to an extension. I left a message. The same as I did over a week ago. Nothing. Interestingly, in the recorded message, the guy said they have opened up free access to digital past issues. False- they have granted 2-5 minutes (yes, minutes) access to the issues. I tried it- barely got through the ads in that time. Ugh

Can’t like an app that won’t even let you purchase issues

Uninstalled - reinstalled - nothing works. App is useless. Just go to the store and buy s copy. If they’re even still in business and publishing

On my I-pad there are non-existent links or links that don’t do anything. I click on the current issue magazine cover from a page with multiple issues shown and all that happens is that I get a single-page view of nothing but the cover - no navigational buttons or links.

I click on buyer’s guide and a very similar thing happens. I do get some filtering but that appears (on an I-pad) to be broken also.

I may be doing something wrong - but a well-written app should be designed so that it is easier to do the correct thing versus the wrong thing. It amazes me that if designs that I create on my job worked as well as some of these terribly designed web-sites I would no longer have a job. This is your job/profession - get it close to right. Have some folks who aren’t part of the design/development team test the product before you release it (on all common device types) and then users wouldn’t be the first to encounter usability issues.

I LOVE the print edition and the quality of that rates 5/5 or 10/10 but I am surely disappointed in the on-line product that I was really looking forward to using until the first issue of my resubscription comes.

I have been a subscriber since 2018.