You can do just about anything about your subscription except one thing - cancel.
They have my credit card information and were automatically billing me $18.00 every month for a Monday through Saturday subscription. On Sunday evening I studied mynewspaperservice for about 1/2 hour trying to figure out how to cancel my subscription. I no longer wanted my credit card to be billed.
I am a reasonably smart guy when it comes to computer stuff even though I am 67 and have learned this computer stuff later in my life, but yes you can teach an old dog new tricks, but the trick of canceling my D & C subscription on mynewspaperservice.com had me stumped so I called the 1-800 support number on the web site screen and on Sunday evening, unfortunately, they are closed.
So I was stuck feeling a little claustrophobic and trapped. They have access to my credit card account and I can't stop them, don't know how to stop them, I have to sleep on it.
So, yesterday, Monday morning, 02/25/13, with fresh eyes and more energy I try again. I go over mynewspaperservice.com to see if there is anything I have missed. Since you can do everything else to manage your subscription on this site there must be a way to do such a fundamental and basic thing as cancel. I was damned if I could figure out how to do it, so I called the 1-800 support line again and got a recording that said something like "We are experiencing unusually high call volumes. We appreciate your patience. A representative will be with you as soon as one is available." This announcement looped continually with elevator music in the back ground.
I'm a patient guy and really wanted to stop the automatic billing of my credit card so I waited patiently for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, and then wondered with increasing panic whether I should hang up and call back later when they supposedly wouldn't be "experiencing unusually high call volumes", but I wondered if that would every be. I wondered why they were so under staffed? Having already waited 25 minutes, I wondered if there was a queue and if I hung up now, would I have to get back in line later and wait another 25 minutes?
So, I stayed on the line listening to "We are experiencing unusually high call volumes. We appreciate your patience. A representative will be with you as soon as one is available."
You might find this distasteful and if you do, I apologize in advance, but I decided to go take a dump while I was waiting. Nature called and I had to answer even though I was on the line with the Democrat & Chronicle and they weren't answering. I washed my breakfast dishes and put a load of wash in the washer and moved the clothes already in the washer into the dryer. I straightened up my office and did some other light housekeeping to the sound of "We are experiencing unusually high call volumes. We appreciate your patience. A representative will be with you as soon as one is available."
Now it has been 30 minutes and I wondered if I hung up could I call my bank and put a block on any charges from the Democrat & Chronicle? Was there any other way around this? They have my credit card information and authorization to bill it monthly and there seems to be no way to stop it.
I thought of calling the Attorney General, or sending the D & C a certified letter to cancel my subscription, or going down to the D & C offices on Exchange Street in Rochester, but I doubt they service mynewspaperservice from Rochester, it's probably in some call center some where on the planet, maybe not even in the United States.
I started to sweat and get tingly and berrated myself for ever allowing myself to get a subscription to the Democrat & Chronicle in the first place. They seemed so inviting, so welcoming, made it so easy for everything, but this simple action of canceling.
Finally at about 37 minutes of listening to "We are experiencing unusually high call volumes. We appreciate your patience. A representative will be with you as soon as one is available." a real human being answered the phone with a Southern drawl so thick I could hardly understand her. "How can I help you?" she asked, and I stayed calm. I imagined the grief she was getting and I didn't want to be one more person to unload their frustration on her which I couldn't begin to imagine if other Democrat and Chronicle customers had been going through the same thing I was going through. So I was nice. I was calm. "I would like to cancel my subscription," I said.
She asked for my name, address, the usual stuff, and then asked me to hold, and before I could respond, the phone went dead. I thought I was having a heart attack.
Then another woman with a bossy voice came on the line and asked what the problem was? I said, "Excuse me?" She said, "What is the problem with your subscription? I understand you want to cancel!"
I said, "Mame, I want to cancel because your customer service is terrible! I have been on this phone over 35 minutes trying to get someone to stop charging my credit card, an action I couldn't figure out how to perform on mynewspaperservice. com."
" You can't do that on the web site. Are there any other reasons," she asked huffy.
"Please cancel me." I said again evenly.
"All right, sir. I will cancel you as you request," she said sounding disgusted.
And the moral of the story? The Democrat and Chronicle has lousy customer service and don't ever, ever, ever give them your credit information for automatic bill pay. They will make your life hell if you ever want to cancel.
Trying to cancel my subscription to the Democat and Chronicle reminded me of going though my divorce, the difference being that I never loved the Democrat and Chronicle the way I loved my ex-wife.
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