North American Fishing Club

[Dbumb]

I joined the north American fishing club and i had a question, what does the membership card do, and whats it for.

[JoeKer]

Cough.. Cough.. Scam...

[DR_FISH]

Cough..Cough..Scam...

I agree with JoeKer.

[BartmanMN]

Let us know when you receive all the new lures and rods to test.

[ted4887]

Scam

On the bright side, you'll get plenty of good fire starting material in the mail for the rest of your life once they sell your name, address and phone number to every advertising firm on the planet.

[Dbumb]

no its not scam i just wanted to know what it is and the card

[reinhard1]

in my opinion i would not join. i did one time a few years ago and i quickly quit it as well. more junk mail than i wanted and good luck on testing the tackle ect.. good luck.

[perchking]

well yeah kind'a it is a scam. They don't make the money of your dues they make plenty money on selling your info. Don't worry you will find out shortly how many offers you will get both via email and snail mail.

The card, I am not sure. I am sure you get a nickel off some hotel in Up State NY, or you may get a free rootbeer if you take a limo between 6-7am to a matinee in Seattle...

[Dbumb]

well yeah kind'a it is a scam. They don't make the money of your dues they make plenty money on selling your info. Don't worry you will find out shortly how many offers you will get both via email and snail mail.

The card, I am not sure. I am sure you get a nickel off some hotel in Up State NY, or you may get a free rootbeer if you take a limo between 6-7am to a matinee in Seattle...

haha

[CrappieNight]

I signed up a few years ago out of curiosity and received a lure to test. They published my review in the magazine. Was the Strike Pro Phantom Flex lure. After that I quickly cancelled my subscription. Haven't received any junk mail since.

[FM_Mike]

no its not scam i just wanted to know what it is and the card

I believe there is a phone number with your membership that you can call to get the information.

From what I have heard it is nothing more than a Direct Marketing scheme used to sell your information to other vendors. At some point, usually after 2 or 3 years they will send a nick nak for you to try and write a review on. Note 2 or 3 years. I have NO personal experience with them and the information above was gained from reading it on other fishing forums.

Google them, you can read all about them.

Mike

[TigerBlood]

I think as others have mentioned the card might give you some sort of discounts with affiliated businesses. As mentioned, it's all about marketing.

That said, I thought the magazine was decent and when I joined they sent me some promo lures so it was a fair deal for me. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "scam" except for the testing new equipment part which I think is pretty rare, yet heavily promoted.

[Rick G]

Guys, you already belong to the best "fishing club" in the world imo. It's a little place called FM/HSO .

[Ebiz]

It's not necessarily a scam perse but.... Considering that it's one of the many divisions of North American Membership "ie. Marketing" Group it's buyer beware. (Ironically a local company from Minnetonka)

Technically/legally they live up to their end of the bargain but as most former members know it's not really worth it.

[Brad B]

Guys, you already belong to the best "fishing club" in the world imo. It's a little place called FM/HSO .

totally agree with you Rick. I did join but let's say I'm not impressed. I got only 1 item to test. I did the test and write a review and it was never printed in the magizine. I guess if you write a negative review they don't use it and you don't get other stuff to test. I was only being honest in my review and the item was not worth the retail price they were selling it for and it was to large for my liking. The magizine is okay but I prefer in-fisherman. the one thing I don't like about them is that they send you books and dvds to buy. I never ordered these but they send them and then want you to pay for something you never ordered. they also make you pay for the return postage if you return the items(even thou the return shipping is cheaper then the item they should pay the return shipping, IMO).

[Dbumb]

I think as others have mentioned the card might give you some sort of discounts with affiliated businesses. As mentioned, it's all about marketing.

That said, I thought the magazine was decent and when I joined they sent me some promo lures so it was a fair deal for me. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "scam" except for the testing new equipment part which I think is pretty rare, yet heavily promoted.

what kind of stores do you get discounts from.

[bobbymalone]

total scam.

they sent me a bill out of the blue one time for my dues. Even said it was past due and there were late fees. phone call, phone call, phone call. Nothing. Got another bill in in the mail.

Settled it with a strongly worded certified letter and mention of lawyers becoming involved if their garbage ever shows up in my mail box again.

google it. freaking scam.

[TigerBlood]

Hey Dbumb,

I don't recall exactly what stores or how the discounts work. I was speaking generally as that's sort of the business they are in. I'm sure if you go to their HSOforum it will have that info. Or you can call/email them directly from the contact info on their HSOforum.

Many of the posters here obviously had a negative experience. On my end, it was pretty much what I expected. They are aggressive in marketing but I didn't hate the magazine and the promo lures retailed for close to what I paid for my 1 year membership. But I didn't renew.

I received the same "past due" letter as the previous poster wrote. I think a lot of magazines are going that route now which I think is bad business. Often times the fine print on promo offers say "automatic renewal unless notified". You just have to write "cancel" on the invoice and that puts an end to it. Same with any books you didn't order.

[DR_FISH]

The only decent thing is the magazine which I'm fairly impressed with

[bobbymalone]

I received the same "past due" letter as the previous poster wrote. I think a lot of magazines are going that route now which I think is bad business. Often times the fine print on promo offers say "automatic renewal unless notified". You just have to write "cancel" on the invoice and that puts an end to it. Same with any books you didn't order.

The thing is I never had any sort of previous communication with NAFC. Not anything.

I don't sign up for stuff and all my mail goes straight to the recycle bin.

[Red Cabin]

As another former member I will also call it a scam!

[low277]

X2 on the scam thing, recently asked them to cancel my membership . It took forever, also be careful of them sending you books, videos that you don't want but have to pay return shipping on.

This forum is a much better resource for information.

[Dbumb]

...This forum is a much better resource for information.

true, but i wanted to see if ill get some free stuff to test

[buddha]

Has anyone on this site been featured as a "Life Member"?

[tjbassmaster]

Guys, you already belong to the best "fishing club" in the world imo. It's a little place called FM/HSO .

I agree 1000% with this statement. I was a member of nafc until I found this site. I am not even subscribe to in-fishermen anymore, because if I ever have a question I can just come on here and find out the answer in seconds. This HSOforum has more new information on fishing and hunting in one day than most magazines do in a year!

I would also like to say a special thanks to the mods and everyone else on this site for making it what it is. I wouldn't be able to put nearly as many fish in the boat as i do now without this site.