Where’s my copy of The New York Times?

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By Christopher Elliott

For years, Mary Jenison could count on her copy of the Sunday New York Times. Until now.

Question

I’ve been subscribing to the Sunday New York Times for years. No one can explain why I was able to get the paper delivered until recently (when I left the country) and can’t get them delivered now that I’ve returned.

My address has been the same since I’ve been subscribing. The city I live in has over 80,000 people. They couldn’t have taken all the subscribers off the route. Why me?

I’ve had endless phone calls and emails with “customer service,” to no avail. The representative has asked the supervisor, who also can do nothing. They have four different addresses for me in their system, my correct one and three others which are similar but not correct. No one can seem to fix this, either.

If it wasn’t such a fine paper, I’d give up, but I really would love to have my Sunday Times. Can you help me? — Mary Jenison, Merced, Calif.

Answer

If you’re paying for the paper, you should be getting it — not excuses. But in reviewing your lengthy correspondence with the Times, it appears that when you re-subscribed to the paper, they told you they couldn’t deliver it. So you weren’t, or at least shouldn’t have been, paying for something you didn’t receive.

When I moved to Manhattan after graduating, I also subscribed to the Times. It seemed like the thing to do. Someone kept stealing my paper from my front door. I called the paper to see if there was any way they could address the issue. They seemed uninterested, and eventually, I canceled.

When you think of bad customer service, a newspaper isn’t necessarily the first thing that comes to mind. But numbers don’t lie. As a group, newspapers scored a 65 out of a possible 100 on the latest American Customer Service Index scores. The Times did a little better, with a 70, but that’s hardly a passing grade for the “newspaper of record.” (Here’s how to contact the CEO directly.)

Resolution from The New York Times

As I examine the back-and-forth between you and the online “customer care” department, I’m confused. It looks as if the system allowed you to subscribe eventually and pay for your subscription, but then flagged your ZIP code as being a problem. Apparently, the Times no longer delivers to that area, at least according to its system. (Related: I didn’t get my quilting magazines. What can I do?)

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Appealing to someone who can get beyond these maddening form responses isn’t easy. Sure, the Times lists its executives on its site, but its email naming convention is all screwed up. I ought to know; I spent four years working for the paper in various roles. (Hey, I was young and I needed the money!)

Emails might follow a firstname.lastname@nytimes.com convention or firstnamelastinitial@nytimes.com simply lastname@nytimes.com. Why? Because they can. Use the email verifier to triangulate the correct address when you appeal.

I also publish the executive contacts for The New York Times Company on this site.

I contacted the Times on your behalf, which I admit was a little awkward, since I used to write a column for the Times many years ago. A representative called you and promised your ZIP code issues have been fixed. As a gesture of goodwill, the Times offered you a 50 percent discount for the next six months of your subscription.

That assumes, of course, that there is a Sunday Times six months from now.

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Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.

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