The New York Times
Reviews and Complaints

It is real shame, I have been a subscriber of The Times for many, many years. I am moving out of the USA and wanted to cancel my home delivery subscription. They certainly go out of their way to make it difficult and frustrating. For two days, I have been calling. The first day, I waited on the phone with a very annoying music for 22 minutes and finally gave up, I called again pretending to want a new subscription this time and I got a representative in less than 3 minutes. I told them I wanted to cancel and how upset I was to be put on hold forever and she told me she will ask a rep from the cancellation department to call me. They never did. The second day the same story again. I waited for 18 minutes with the same annoying music. Finally somebody answered and I was very upset so she finally cancelled the service for me. On the other hand, when I called the Wall Street Journal, it took less than 5 minutes to cancel my service and the same with my local Palm Beach Post. Shame on you NY times. I had a good image of you for years but you erased that with your lousy customer service and your tactics to make it so difficult to cancel a subscription. Never again.

I want to cancel my digital subscription to the NY Times for a little while due to budget reasons. There is no online resource to do this, so I called their 800 number. The representative told me that their system was down and that she would need my address to submit the request manually. I said, no thanks, I don't want to provide my address--it's private. And anyway, I have a digital subscription and should be able to manage this online. The rep said to try back later. Frustrating! Fix it NY Times!

I live in Berkeley, CA. Since the NY Times subcontracted out its home delivery, the paper comes late constantly, and often it isn't delivered at all. It used to come before 6. Now it's 7:30 to 8:00, and often not at all. When you call the call center, if you just use the prompts nothing changes or is resolved. If you try really hard you can get a person, but they just promise they'll notify the district manager, and nothing happens. When you ask, they say they'll have the manager call. He or she never does. I must have called dozens of times. This is the worst delivery service I've ever seen. I want the paper delivered on time, and to get what I'm paying for. NY Times home delivery is a ripoff.

We have a daily subscription to the NYTimes. For the past ten plus years our paper M-F has arrived by 6:30 am Sa & Su by 7:30. Since the first of January we have virtually had no delivery. We called twice for redelivery - once it came, the Sunday paper never did. Five times the paper did arrive, each time after 1:30 pm twice at 2:30 pm, three times after 3:00 pm. I do not feel I should pay for any paper that does not arrive by 7:30 am. I am discouraged. I miss the paper. Reading the paper online is unsatisfactory. I understand the Times is having a difficult time making the transition to a new Boston area distribution system. It is hard to remain optimistic that a solution is in process with so little feedback. Today, 1/15/2016 our paper came after 4:)) pm. This is unacceptable. We have had no word as to when we might expect to have ontime delivery reestablished. Disappointed, discouraged customer

I am a new subscriber to this newspaper and paid for Friday-Sunday delivery. The first day, my paper never arrived and when I called, it was too late for delivery. The second day I had to call and did not receive a paper until noon that day. Yesterday and today, the same, no paper. I did call early enough today and was promised a paper by 2:30 PM- really, a morning paper in the afternoon? It never arrived. Twice the NY TImes messaged my local delivery person and their supervisor. Still no paper. When I called my local paper, the Contra Costa TImes, they stated that they were unable to help. Take about passing the buck.

Be aware when subscribing to the New York Times digital service:
I subscribed for the digital service for my IPAD and it was suppose to be $1 for 30 days, 20 days later they bill me $21 when I called to cancelled because I work and don't have time the read all the news before every update, the digital service is not like the paper replica which I wanted to switch to but I was told that I will not get a refund even though I was still in the $1 for 30 days, these companies want to make money at any cost and deceiving people is the best way they could.

Isn't it amazing: that the great, venerated, heralded, exalted new york times manages to deliver saturday/sunday editions to its 7-day-a-week subscribers — but not to it's weekenders only?

For weeks, my newspaper on saturday/sunday has not been delivered. I have had to call to get replacement delivery. Half of the time, the replacement is never delivered. But: my immediate neighbors who are 7-dayers get their papers like clockwork.

Each week that I call, I get one of the following recorded excuses:
A) the paper is delayed due to weather (always when it is dry and sunny).
B) the carrier is en route. They never are.
C) the carrier is delayed (duh...!)
D) the carrier is "experiencing car trouble".

But today's took the cake:

'you will not be receiving delivery of your newspaper due to production difficulties. Your complaint is noted "But: these same" production difficulties" did not bar my 7-dayer neighbors from getting their papers!

I wa spromised re-delivery by 12:30.

Of course, as usual, it did not happen.

I called for a credit after spending $2.00 to buy the paper. I was given $1.32 in credit.

When I call, I either get your usual illiterate, cookaracha/bongo type of phone monkeys, or someone articulate but both blatantly dishonest and nasty.

We need to put a stop to this.

I'm a long time subscriber, never had any problems, but for the past while the delivery service has been missing my apartment far too frequently. Also other errors like leaving papers at my door after I've notified that I'll be on vacation. I'm on the phone with the nytimes what seems like every few weeks reporting problems, chiefly missed papers.

A few weeks ago I was told that the distribution manager would call me back to try to fix this, never heard from him/her.

Yesterday we reached new lows. No delivery at all in the morning. I called and was assured of a replacement. Nothing arrived. So I called again and after apologies was promised the full replacement would arrive this morning. Of course not today either.

The impression created is that the nytimes has given up on its print version circulation, doesn't care about customer service anymore.

I called to have my subscription ended on the date that was the end of my billed period. They chose to put a new date on it, so that I was billed automatically to my credit card. They billed me for the full 2 months (even though the date they picked for stopping it would have involved three papers only). I called back and they said it would be refunded to my credit card within 30 days. Guess what? 30 days has long ago come and gone and no refund. I called and emailed and they said it was in processing. I finally filed a com;laint with the Better Business Bureau the other day. Isn't it interesting that they could find my credit card number to charge it - always in advance of the service - but can't seem to be able to refund it?

I used to think this was a reputable organization, but this experience has taught me that they are in the business to take your money, even for a service you neither want nor that they provided. Whatever you do, don't subscribe to the NYT if you think you might EVER want to stop!

I subscribed to their online crosswords in 2007 for $39.95 for a year. They automatically renewed and charged my credit card, with out my consent, for another year in June 2008. They do not attempt to contact you that they are going to be charging you for another year of service, they do do this without permission or consent. I signed on to the nytimes.com website and fortunately canceled the subscription within days of my card being charged. I was upset to find that nytimes.com keeps all your information such as credit card #s stored on their website, but there is no way to delete your own account to avoid having this personal information readily available for anyone to see. So I emailed customer service asking for my entire account to be deleted. The next day I received an e-mail reply saying my crossword subscription has been canceled, thank you. I go back to NYTimes.com and my account and personal information is all still there. I e-mailed again, frustrated that 1) this person Oneeka seems to be the only customer service person, 2) she/he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer 3) this person obviously did not read or comprehend my first email. I e-mailed again and repeated my request, and finally the person got it right. Now I am waiting for my refund for the unauthorized crossword renewal charge and again email an inquiry, and again Oneeka replies "we have no record of your account." So now they are going to get out of giving me a refund. I should be refunded for the full amount per NYTimes.com's own refund policy:

http://www.nytimes.com/membercenter/faq/crosswords.html#crosswqa4 (accessed 6/22/08)

What is the refund policy for Premium Crosswords? Because Premium Crosswords requires you to download and install software, we will refund 100% of the price if you have difficulties with the download of this product and cancel within seven days of purchase. If you request a refund after seven days of purchase, we will grant a partial refund for the time remaining on your subscription. To cancel your Premium Crosswords subscription, visit the Purchase History area of Member Center, look for "Your Active Premium Products" and click on the "cancel this product" link next to your Premium Crosswords subscription. Follow the instructions on the next page and you should receive a pro-rated refund.

Gift subscriptions of Premium Crosswords are non-refundable. If you have any questions or encounter any problems, please e-mail Customer Service at [protected]@nytimes.com.

I am going to file a complaint with BBB (NYTimes is a member). Take home lesson: DO NOT SIGN UP FOR NYTIMES.COM CROSSWORDS SUBSCRIPION. They will subsequently charge your card year after year without your consent (I check my credit card statements frequently and carefully, but most people don't, and they will just pay the charge without even noticing it). They will refuse to refund the unauthorized payment. STAY AWAY FROM NYTIMES.COM ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES.