The Print Subscription Billing Practices of the Los Angeles Times

I'm relocating out of the area in about six weeks and will attempt to cancel two subscriptions at that point. Based on what I've read here, I'm wondering if that will even be possible.

When I worked for what was then Tribune Co., we used to joke about having to call the "Mumbai bureau" whenever we needed IT help.

My current shop's IT help desk is US-based, but they don't work with any sense of urgency. Typical reaction to any issue short of your computer terminal blowing up is that they'll write up a ticket and handle it in the next day or two. Not unusual to have to call the IT supervisor and emphasize that this is a deadline matter and help is needed NOW.

 

It happens in the best of families. Recently I realized that I was paying the New York Times, with different credit cards, for two home-delivery subscriptions, one in my wife's name and one in mine. One subscription was a very favorable promotional rate, the other twice as much. This has been going on since August. But I have never received two papers on the same day, something that would have alerted me to the error. I called the paper and they confirmed the duplicate subscription, but couldn't understand why I was "missing" a paper. I told them I didn't want two papers per day, but that I was entitled to a refund (roughly, $350) for all those months, because I hadn't received the product. The next two days after my call, last Saturday and Sunday, two papers per day miraculously appeared in the driveway. I called the paper back and asked them to stop, and it stopped after the two days. Circulation said that billing would call me, but so far, nothing. I wonder what the carrier has been doing with all those extra paid-for papers all these months. I asked my wife who we should give last Sunday's extra NY Times to. "Nobody," she said. "Better save it for evidence."

 

So I canceled my LA Times subscription effective 12/26/17. About a week and a half later a newspaper is delivered to my front door. I call to complain and I am apologized to, they said they will fix it and assured me I would not have to pay. I asked why that happened and they chalk it off to "carrier confusion". OK, it seems plausible, maybe the carrier's brother-in-law filled in for him and didn't check the updated route. A newspaper was delivered the next day, OK, it took a day to get the message out.

After that it stopped until today when a newspaper was delivered to my front porch. I called and again was apologized to and said that they would fix it and by the way they can restart my subscription for the low price of....

Fuckers.

 

You know, it is poor customer service when you call with a problem and a 50-cent-an-hour customer service worker in Mumbai tells you "I'm sorry". I'm looking for a solution to my problem, not emotional reassurance.

Motherfuckers.

 

Don't give 'em any more money, of course.
Enjoy the free paper until they finally go away.

 

The thing is, I still get the paper. I download the pdf e-version each morning to my Galaxy Tab A for free. There are apparently no limits to doing this on a tablet. On a computer they limit your access to a few pages per month but of course the universal trick to bypassing this still works, as it does for every media paywall except the Boston Globe and the WSJ.

So there is no advantage to me having to check my porch daily to see if I need to dispose of "trash" that might accumulate if I went out of town and gave nefarious eyes a clue that I'm gone.

They are delivering random papers to me for the sole purpose of having me call to complain to give them an opportunity to upsell me. It is pure evil.

 

By the way I still love the LAT . They have good California and business coverage and great columnists in those sections. Newspaper coverage of sports is pretty much irrelevant but I will read with interest columnist Dylan Hernandez.

 

So yesterday (Tuesday),I happened to look out on my porch to see if the landscaping crew had bothered to abate my weeds. They had not, but at least my weeds were delicate and flowery, not the three foot tobacco looking ones that I complained about previously.

There was a Sunday Los Angeles Times on my doorstep encased in yellow plastic. I laughed heartily. The LAT still has a main public telephone number which I called. After a lengthy wrestling match with the system, I asked to speak to a manager or a supervisor in the delivery department because the customer service reps were not able to resolve my problem.

I reached an "advocate" named "John" (he was a SE Asian).

 

Post your complaints on the LAT Facebook page every time it happens.

Call the publisher's office and harass them every time. Circulation department ain't worth the call.