My Frustrations with the San Francisco Chronicle
Getting the morning San Francisco Chronicle newspaper delivered every morning to my residence is completely frustrating! Especially when I'm a paying subscriber! As more and more print publications are going under due to online readership, you would think delivery subscriptions would do a better job. Call me old fashioned, but I still like to read the morning paper while I drink my cup of coffee.
I've been a subscriber since I got a random phone "cold call" about a promotion the San Francisco Chronicle where I can subscribe to the paper for six months on Wednesday through Sunday only. It was an inexpensive promotion for under $15. It was mentioned that the subscription was discounted because advertisers were subsidizing the subscription costs. Plus the added value was getting all the coupon savings from the Sunday paper. Blah blah blah. I'm sold. Send me the paper.
If I recall correctly, the phone sales rep mentioned that I would get the paper within approximately two weeks. Two weeks passed. No sign of the paper. Then they send me a bill. I think to myself, no newspaper; no payment. I call customer service. Inform them that they sent me a bill, but I have yet to see the paper delivered to my residence. The CS rep apologizes that the subscription wasn't delivered, offered me a credit, and said to please send the payment. I think to myself. No way! Send me the paper first and then I'll consider sending the payment.
The next following day the paper shows up and then after. So I feel more comfortable sending the payment in. Then all of a sudden the paper stops after I send the payment. WTF?! I gave the delivery person the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he/she forgot to deliver to my house. A few days pass and I notice the Chronicle cashed my check and delivery stopped. So I call customer service again to find out what's going on. I get the usual apologies and they offer me credit.
Paper arrives the next day and then it stops the following day. I'm fuming!
I call the customer service department again. They inform me that if I call within a specific time frame (6:30AM-9:30AM) to requested a re-delivery, the paper will be delivered. I can also request this online as well (which is great). I just so happen to call after the alloted time frame, so all they can do is offer me a credit. The next following day; no sign of the paper.
I call within the timeframe and the paper gets re-delivered. The paper comes sporadically now. Time passes and I give up.
What pisses me off the most. I know both the names of the delivery managers. They call to make sure I got the paper re-delivered, yet they still cannot be consistent with their delivery. As a customer, I should not have to request a re-delivery of the paper to my residence!
Honestly, I cannot recall how many times I called or requested a re-delivery of the paper online (at least over 50 times). I've wrote numerous letters to the feedback portion online to complain. At one point, I told the customer service department that I would call and bitch to them everyday until they can deliver the paper as promised on the days of my subscription. It still has not happened.
I guess when I want to read the paper; I have to ask for it to be delivered. It's just terrible that the San Francisco Chronicle can't deliver to a willing paying customer! Maybe I'll just resort to reading SFGate for free (their online version of certain headlines).
I've been a subscriber since I got a random phone "cold call" about a promotion the San Francisco Chronicle where I can subscribe to the paper for six months on Wednesday through Sunday only. It was an inexpensive promotion for under $15. It was mentioned that the subscription was discounted because advertisers were subsidizing the subscription costs. Plus the added value was getting all the coupon savings from the Sunday paper. Blah blah blah. I'm sold. Send me the paper.
If I recall correctly, the phone sales rep mentioned that I would get the paper within approximately two weeks. Two weeks passed. No sign of the paper. Then they send me a bill. I think to myself, no newspaper; no payment. I call customer service. Inform them that they sent me a bill, but I have yet to see the paper delivered to my residence. The CS rep apologizes that the subscription wasn't delivered, offered me a credit, and said to please send the payment. I think to myself. No way! Send me the paper first and then I'll consider sending the payment.
The next following day the paper shows up and then after. So I feel more comfortable sending the payment in. Then all of a sudden the paper stops after I send the payment. WTF?! I gave the delivery person the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he/she forgot to deliver to my house. A few days pass and I notice the Chronicle cashed my check and delivery stopped. So I call customer service again to find out what's going on. I get the usual apologies and they offer me credit.
Paper arrives the next day and then it stops the following day. I'm fuming!
I call the customer service department again. They inform me that if I call within a specific time frame (6:30AM-9:30AM) to requested a re-delivery, the paper will be delivered. I can also request this online as well (which is great). I just so happen to call after the alloted time frame, so all they can do is offer me a credit. The next following day; no sign of the paper.
I call within the timeframe and the paper gets re-delivered. The paper comes sporadically now. Time passes and I give up.
What pisses me off the most. I know both the names of the delivery managers. They call to make sure I got the paper re-delivered, yet they still cannot be consistent with their delivery. As a customer, I should not have to request a re-delivery of the paper to my residence!
Honestly, I cannot recall how many times I called or requested a re-delivery of the paper online (at least over 50 times). I've wrote numerous letters to the feedback portion online to complain. At one point, I told the customer service department that I would call and bitch to them everyday until they can deliver the paper as promised on the days of my subscription. It still has not happened.
I guess when I want to read the paper; I have to ask for it to be delivered. It's just terrible that the San Francisco Chronicle can't deliver to a willing paying customer! Maybe I'll just resort to reading SFGate for free (their online version of certain headlines).
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