[MGSA-L] Fw: The New York Times -- Billing Inquiry

Roland Moore rolandmo at pacbell.net
Thu Jul 23 08:35:23 PDT 2015


Dear MGSA-L subscribers,With his permission, I am sharing correspondence from Petros Haritatos to the largely automated responses from the NY Times subscriptions department.  Thanks to Greece's capital controls, his electronic payment to the NYT is no longer going through, resulting in a threatened subscription termination.  Any suggestions that would address, in Petros' words, the following issue?"The broader question is to find advocates who would (1) argue the case from a "public interest" viewpoint and (2) having won, set a precedent for other digital subscribers."Many thanks -Roland


      On Wednesday, July 22, 2015 1:21 PM, Petros Haritatos <petros.haritatos at gmail.com> wrote:
   

 Attn Lucas Burgstrum

Your reply shows that if you have read my message, you have not understood it.
It does CERTAINLY NOT address the issue I have raised.

Therefore I kindly ask you to refer my message to your manager with the following addendum:

Dear NYT Subscriptions Manager:
ALL SUBSCRIBERS to the digital NYT in Greece, using credit cards (mine has been paying $15 every 4 weeks for years) are or will be delinquent, because of the capital controls which have been widely reported in your newspaper. 

I have proposed two alternative solutions (see my attached message dated 21 July). 

Can you therefore kindly send me a response that shows that your department has UNDERSTOOD the issue and CARES about your subscribers? 

It goes without saying that a decent solution concerns ALL your subscribers in Greece who are facing the same problem.

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 10:01 PM, NYTimes.com Customer Service <help at nytimes.com> wrote:

Dear Petros Haritatos,Thank you for contacting NYTimes.com. We apologize for any inconvenience you are experiencing at this time.In response to your inquiry, our records indicate that your subscription is currently in Grace status. This means your subscription will automatically cancel on 8/17/15 unless payment is made with a valid financial instrument. To update your credit card information securely for any premium product purchase, please proceed through the following steps:1) Please login to www.nytimes.com by clicking ‘Sign In’ located in the top right-hand corner. Then, click on your Member ID in the top right-hand corner. Next, select ‘My Account’ from the drop-down box that appears.2) Once on the Member Center page, click on the ‘Edit billing information’ link located underneath your account information towards the top of the page. You may be asked for your password as a security precaution.3) You will now be able to update your credit card information. Please be sure to enter the information exactly as it is on your monthly credit card statement. This includes all necessary abbreviations. Be sure to click ‘Save’ when you are done.If your subscription does end before you are able to update the billing information associated with your account for the email address you have provided, please note that you are able to re-subscribe at any time by visiting www.nytimes.com/access, e-mailing us at the address below, or by contacting a customer service representative at the phone number provided below.If there is anything else we can do to help you, please e-mail us at help at nytimes.com or call us at 1-800-591-9233 from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday-Friday and 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday & Sunday (ET). Your satisfaction is very important to us and we thank you for your feedback.Sincerely,Lucas Burgstrum
The New York Times
Online Customer Care
www.nytimes.com/help

> From: Petros Haritatos <petros.haritatos at gmail.com>
> Date Sent: 07/21/2015 12:09
> To: help at nytimes.com
> Cc: 
> Subject: Re: The New York Times -- Billing Inquiry
> 
HELP! 
I need help from a HUMAN customer care representative! 

Your system (message appended) is blindly threatening to cut my subscription. 

However, anyone who reads the NYT should know that payments by credit card (Visa) from Greece, are temporarily blocked by the "bank holiday" caused by the financial crisis here. 

This is a special and temporary case. Right now, Visa cards issued by Greek banks are blocked from making payments outside Greece. They are currently working on how to restore normal payments flow. 

Until the blockage is resolved, I propose two solutions:

(a) I can ask a third party to send you the money, if you could kindly provide me with the relevant instructions on how to remit the amount. Until that is done, I would greatly appreciate if you did not suspend my subscription.  

OR (b) You can be patient and keep my subscription active, being assured that you can bill me for the unpaid weeks when the processing of Visa cards is restored in Greece. 


On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 4:03 PM, NYTimes.com <ordercs at nytimes.com> wrote:


| 
|   |
| Dear New York Times Digital Subscriber,

 We are unable to process your payment for your New York Times Digital Subscription associated
 with petros.haritatos at gmail.com.

 Please click here or call Customer Care at 1-800-591-9233 to provide us with updated paymentinformation within the next three days.

 Unfortunately, if you don’t update your payment information within the next three days you will lose
 access to your Digital Subscription and your account will be suspended.

 We appreciate you taking the time to address this matter.

 Should you have any questions regarding your account, please send an email to help at nytimes.com
 or call Customer Care at 1-800-591-9233 (Monday – Friday, 6 a.m. – midnight Eastern Time; Saturday – Sunday, 6 a.m. – 5 p.m. Eastern Time).

 Thanks for your prompt attention and loyalty.

 Sincerely,

 Customer Care
 The New York Times |
|   |
| This is a service-related message.

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