I used to be very frustrated with your circulation department; it was the worst. I canceled my subscription years ago … and yesterday, my wife and I decided it was time to re-subscribe. After all, you had sent me multiple emails over this holiday weekend asking me to do exactly that.
We had both found a series of articles that you published recently about a battle between an Irvine PTA president and a power couple – parents of a 6-year old boy – that decided to take her down, no matter what. Velda tried to read the article, and failed as she was not a subscriber. I got linked to the article through a Facebook personality I follow, and I read the article perfectly well. And I was not a subscriber.
At least, that I knew of.
I tried to give you money to start a subscription, and your website wouldn’t let me. I was told I had to call subscription services, so I did.
They lied to me, and 11 minutes of my life was gone.
I told them I wanted to give you money and receive the Sunday printed edition as well as unlimited digital access for both of us. Total cost: $9.99 for 13 weeks, like your offer said. Sold!
But subscription services would not take my money. They told me I was getting a free subscription to the Sunday paper for 26 weeks (didn’t ever ask for that, and you never told me. Gee, thanks!). All I had to do was go to latimes/activate, and I could activate the digital access part of the subscription.
Nope.
So, I had to call back, get another subscription department drone on the phone, and try again. This person “saw the error on my account” and told me I had to talk to the digital subscription department to get it fixed. That brought me to Erica.
I told her the whole story: how I wanted to give her money, and the website wouldn’t let me. How I wanted to be a subscriber.
I did what she told me while we were still on the phone together.
Fail.
She then tried to subscribe for me in parallel, and she got it to work, but not by doing what I asked. You see, I actually asked to stop the free delivery of the Sunday paper, and allow me to pay for it.
Nope.
Erica did do a paid subscription for digital access, which I was assured would work for both Velda and I after 4 days of processing time. Apparently, the whole computer subscription idea takes 4 days, so your servers must be really slow, but that’s another problem.
Back to my situation.
After two phone calls, conversations with 3 people in your circulation department, and a 23 minute conversation with Erica who at least took some of my money, here’s what I now have:
- A free subscription to the Sunday paper, which I offered to pay for several times … but, no. It’s free, and I better like it.
- A paid subscription for digital access, costing $0.99 per week for 4 weeks, and then $1.49 per week after that. And, when it’s magically processed on your end, I should be able to register Velda for no additional charge.
She said. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, dearest LA Times, please allow me to say that you have the worst circulation department I have ever dealt with. THE WORST. You should fire everyone with “Manager,” “Director” or, God forbid, “Vice President” in their title in that area and start over.
After all, I had to call to give you money today, and not one person was able to take that money and give me a paid subscription. Your bureaucracy could not get out of its own way.
Journalism, I mourn for thee.
Sincerely,
Henry Mowry
- Free Subscriber to the Sunday edition of the LA Times
- Paid Subscriber to Digital editions of the LA Times
PS: the piece by Christopher Goffard called “FRAMED” sold this subscription. I hope you give Christopher a raise.
More
LA Times: FRAMED, A Mystery In 6 Parts
(non-subscribers can read 5 articles on LATimes.com per month, and I highly recommend you read this one)
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