Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Smetimes It Pays To Complain

Well, I've been a loyal subscriber to my local newspaper for 30+ years.  My "local" newspaper is 'The Washington Post'.  Not the average "local" newspaper...

I got a notice of subscription increases.  Mostly because they have started sending out "special editions" on topics I don't care about.  I wasn't subscibing because it was "local", but because it is one of the top newspapers in the the US.  The "local" part was happenstance.

I got tired of paying $5 for subjects like "museums" or "the subway".  I don't actually go to Washington DC anymore, I just happen to live nearby.  So I emailed them (emails are great for keeping records) to cancel.  I would miss the editorials and comics (2 full pages and I love comics strips), but I objected the the $5 special editions (that arrived more frequently lately).

They replied with a 50% discount offer...  Well, that sure makes up for the $5 special issue nonsense!  I accepted.  I got a confirmation email today.

They didn't make it easy.  Their emails were all "no reply" addresses.  Even copying the discount offer wouldn't work.  And the emails even said "just reply to this email".  Businesses are entirely stupid internetly sometimes...

I had to do a copy to Word, "forward" the email and copy the relevant part (offering the discount), and then add text to say I was ACCEPTING their offer.  Sent it. 

They may STILL be wondering how I did that...  LOL!

1 comment:

Megan said...

Hey - well done. But isn't it annoying when (i) you have to threaten to cancel before they offer you a discount, even though you've been a loyal reader for many years and (ii) they frame the rules in such a way that it's almost impossible to accept the offer. Grrrrrrrr.

Let us know if you actually receive the discount, won't you?

Megan
Sydney, Australia

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