What a window into the soul of this once esteemed institution.
It's now 3PM, I've been trying since 7AM, to straighten out the pay to view lunacy with the NY Times. It's impossible. I give up.
Arthur Sulzberger can keep his paper for his coterie of rich friends in Manhattan, the rest of us will have to do without.
A word to the wise: be very careful if you plan on laying out $15.00 a month ($180.00 a year!!) for online access, after the pandemonium--dropped calls, untrained clerks, getting hung up on, endless waits then the line going dead--I'd be wary of entrusting them with a nickel.
If you've been following the rollout of the new pay to read policy at the New York Times you'll be especially interested in how this epic fail is crumbling at lightening speed.
Here's a brief summary of the new charges. If you get home delivery, then you get online access, if your account is properly linked. I dare you, try and get the account linked. I've been trying since 7AM. I've been on hold with customer service for hours. Once someone gets on the line they are they most poorly trained group of employees I've ever encountered. I've sent emails to the Times that go unanswered.
In fairness to the clearly beleaguered customer service people, they have told me to a person, that they were not trained to deal with the outrage the pay to view policy was certain to engender. They are operating without backup, instructions or proper guidance. Per the the call center operator, they are in "overdrive" with complaints--they have no idea of how to get the problems seen and addressed by the correct people in management. These low level employees have been left to fend for themselves.
Kind of brings to mind a decision to send American troops into Iraq without proper body armor and without a plan to get them out.
I was also selected to receive a free subscription from Lincoln--the car company, I assume. Yes, the New York Times disseminated around 200,000 email addresses to one of their corporate advertisers who is offering a certain number of "free" subscriptions to high volume users. I'm one of them. Maybe they think I'll buy a Town Car, I don't know. Trying to activate that subscription is another matter entirely.
So I called customer service. God help you, don't call NY Times customer service. Just give up and walk away. It's the best decision you'll ever make.
I was told by a chipper customer service agent in the NY Times call center in Pensacola Florida, after being on hold for at least 30 minutes, that her supervisor a man named Joshua says that the Lincoln offer is only for Canadians. I told her, this was not correct, she checked again. After another interminable hold she returned, she was so sorry, I was correct. She apologized profusely.
Then she told me she couldn't activate my Lincoln subscription because I was digitally connected to some other NY Times service and she didn't have anyone to contact about how to undo this. I told her, I have no other digital NY Times connections.
I've tried to link my mother's home delivery to her email, also impossible, also being checked into by another beleaguered customer service agent in Pensacola, who many hours ago promised me a call back. But nothing.
One would think, these customer service agents would be equipped with speedy overrides, to respond in a seamless fashion to the tsunami of complaints they are receiving. They have nothing.
In frustration, I sent an email to Mr. Sulzberger.
Dear Mr. Sulzberger:
You could not have picked a worse time to announce the outrageous fees you plan to charge to online readers of the New York Times.
If you scanned the comments your readership made yesterday, your plan was uniformly rejected. Many people said they would pay a modest fee, perhaps $5.00 a month, but certainly not $15.00.
What I find particularly troubling, is that the Times is a news organization, and you should understand better than most, about the dire economic circumstances most Americans are struggling with. Most Americans and this includes your online readers, couldn't afford $380 cents, much less $380 dollars. How is it possible you don't realize this sad American reality?
If you want the paper to be for the wealthy residents of Manhattan, then your plan makes sense. If you still think of yourself as the "paper of record", then you have fumbled very, very badly.
I do hope you will reconsider. This is a very sad day for the New York Times and what we would hope would be your mission, the dissemination of impartial information to as many people as possible.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Here's the response I received.
Dear Eve,
Thank you for contacting NYTimes.com.
We appreciate your feedback and have passed it along to the appropriate department. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance to you.
Regards,
Oneeka Lovely
NYTimes.com
Customer Service
www.nytimes.com/help
Here's a taste of the chaos and pandemonium at the paper of record.
Here's the "free" invitation from Lincoln. It comes from an email ordercs@nytimes.com
Dear NYTimes.com reader,
As a frequent reader of NYTimes.com, you’ve demonstrated an uncommon interest in a wide variety of today’s most important topics. This makes you anything but average. In fact, it can’t help but make you “smarter” — just the kind of person we at Lincoln want to engage.
Though NYTimes.com will soon begin charging for unlimited access*, Lincoln is offering you a free digital subscription for the remainder of 2011. Enjoy all that NYTimes.com has to offer every day — investigative news and special reports, videos, blogs and more. It’s all yours at no charge, compliments of Lincoln.
Take advantage of this limited-time offer** to receive free, unlimited access to NYTimes.com.
Click here for your free access.
The New York Times Lincoln
This is what you get when you try and activate the "free" Lincoln subscription.
Enjoy Complimentary Access
We cannot subscribe you due to an existing subscription.
Please call Customer Care at 800-591-9233 for help.
So I wrote to the senior VP of digital service at the Times. Did he answer? Of course not.
Dear Mr. Nisenholtz:
Evidently the NY TImes gave my email address to Lincoln, one of your advertisers.
I was offered a free NY Times subscription from Lincoln. I am a frequent user of the NY Times.
I clicked the email did what I was told and did not receive a validation code.
Would you kindly get me my validation code.
It is really bad for the Times, to be giving away email addresses to your corporate sponsors. If Lincoln is serious about extending a free subscription, then why are they playing with NY TImes readers like this?
Would you kindly get me my validation code from Lincoln. If this is a scam, then the New York Times looks awful having involved itself in this.
New York Times. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.
I give up Mr. Sulzberger. I'm out, you can't treat customers like this. I've been listening to music on your worst in the world customer service since 7AM.