I’m on a very tight budget and only support KUOW, the Seattle Times, and NYT on an el-cheapo offer. I do absolutely use/read all three and, especially as a writer myself, very much appreciate and want to support journalism. But see: tight budget.
Checking my credit card bill today, I saw that I’m being billed $7.80 weekly for digital access plus Sunday delivery. $78 every two month-ish. Yet ST website says weekly is $4.99 after trial period. With no asterisk, no further info, no fine print at the bottom. AI also says that’s the rate. So I call.
The help lady said akshually $10.99 weekly is the full rate, and my $7.80 is already discounted. (!?) I hollered a bit, and she offered a “further discount” to now $6-something weekly. I grumpily accepted that for now, but having revisited the subscription page and reconfirmed there is NO indication that your rate will creep up without warning, am pissed enough to consider calling back and flat-out cancelling, EVEN THOUGH I READ THEM REGULARLY. And very much value writing and journalism. And clearly, I’ve made this post to alert y’all.
So, subscribers. Check your credit card bill. Count the weeks between charges and work out your weekly rate. (Or just call them to find out.) If you’re not happy holler at them. And post here.
What is this nonsense? How is it even legal? It would be far more respectable to post clearly that rates will gradually increase over time, or to alert subscribers via email as it increases.
submitted by /u/finnerpeace
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