I’ve been a subscriber to the NY Times print edition for at least the past 25 years. I am one of the few people I know who even read a print newspaper anymore. But I am cancelling my weekday subscription to the NY Times because their customer service stinks.
And, dear NY Times and other corporations, here’s the bottom line if your customer service stinks, nothing else matters.
I like holding a paper in my hands. I like laying on the couch with the paper, and I even like seeing the ads. I like the heft of the NY Times, and I like that I know how to fold it the way New Yorkers fold their NY TImes.
I have called, and called, spoken to clerks, floor supervisors, “customer resolution specialists” and even got an email back from the public editor saying he’d forwarded the problem to higher-ups.
And still, when I open my door in the morning, I have to run down the hall in my nightie to get the NY Times, which is carelessly tossed from the elevator to wherever it lands.
Here we are in an era where print journalism is all but dead. And yet, something as basic and fundamental as customer service eludes The NY Times. I’m sure the editors and the management are not concerned about customer service. But they should be.
So, dear NY Times, that’s it. No customer should have to make half a dozen calls about a problem and not get the issue resolved.
I’ve been patient. I’m done. Goodbye weekday NY Times.
Gee, I live in the suburbs and have to walk out on my lawn to get my daily New York Times. (I usually get dressed first.) Imagine how much longer it would take to deliver if the delivery person had to walk down the hall, place the paper at each customer’s door and then wait for the elevator to go to the next floor. Have you considered tipping the delivery person for such exceptional service? A sufficient honorarium I’m sure will get you exactly what you want — and you won’t have to do without the great pleasure of the print edition of the NYTimes.
I tip the delivery person. That’s not the answer.
And yes, in apartment buildings, newspapers are delivered to one’s door. The Times agrees that’s how it needs to be done. And all the other delivery services seem to have no problem getting to apartment doors.
I’ve had equally an bad experience with the NY Times customer service, and also cancelled my subscription as a result. They failed to honor the special offer under which we signed up, and it took nearly a dozen emails and phone calls (including several broken promises — later attributed to a computer glitch) before they finally did.
Then, after moving to a new city, we missed one paper every weekend, usually Saturday’s. Despite reporting the missed paper on the website, and sometimes even after speaking to someone, they usually gave no credit at all. When after calling we managed to get any credit at all, it was $0.75 for the missed Saturday paper, leaving us to pay $4.40 for the delivered Sunday paper. (I don’t know what their policy is to credit for a missed Sunday paper, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t $4.40. Basically, their policy seems to be, don’t credit if you can get away with it, then credit as little as possible if you must.)
On the plus side, the NY Times’ communication with its carrier is so bad that they’ve continued delivering our Sunday paper even though we cancelled more than a month ago and are no longer billed for it.