(Poor) Customer Service: Newspaper Delivery

I’m not going to name any publications, but for the last year I’ve been receiving home weekend delivery of a newspaper—we’ll call it The Moon. One year ago, for $10, I subscribed via Groupon. Seemed like a good deal. And initially, I actually read The Moon on Saturday and Sunday.

Last year, prior to my vacation I called to have The Moon held. It was pretty no-nonsense, automated, went well. This year, not so much… For starters, I really wanted to do the hold online—I mean what can you NOT do online these days? Anyway, after numerous tries, it was clear that was an impossibility, so I called. Only to be informed that my subscription expired in MAY and that I now had a final bill of $3.40, no $4.20, no $5.00. Ummm…ok, is this the Price is Right? Should I just pick a number? And why have I still been getting the paper for the last THREE MONTHS if I haven’t paid you—because no one told me to!?!?! And why would I pay you $5.00 for the last 3 months of service when I only paid you $10 for a whole year?

Sadly, these questions totally threw my customer service rep. and all she could tell me was I really did owe $5.00. (Forgive me for not believing her.) She assured me that I would receive a final bill for the fictional number of $5.00 and thanked me for calling after, and this is the funny part, after asking me why I no longer wanted the paper and telling me they could offer me a discount on a subscription. (If Punk’d were still on I’d really wonder if there was a hidden camera in my home office.)

Now, the question of the hour—do I pay the $5.00? (Assuming I actually get a bill, and that’s a big assumption at this point.) Realizing, that it’s only $5.00–not the issue—it’s the poor customer service. I wasn’t offered a credit, no explanation, nothing, other than the opportunity to continue receiving a newspaper I don’t want anymore and the chance to pay some random amount of money that would be a surprise at some point in time. And just how long was delivery going to go on without my knowledge of the ever-increasing bill I was racking up for a subscription I didn’t know had run out?

Is it just me???