Rant #2,964: Please Don't Tell Me 'Bout the News

It is now two days after I haggled with a governmental agency and saw with my own eyes—and heard with my own ears—that no one is ready to take responsibility for complete and utter ineptitude,

I continue to shake my head about how I was treated by this agency, which is supposed to serve the population but is obviously only there to serve itself by picking up its weekly paycheck.

 
And I said that I had more to relate to you about ineptitude from somewhere else, and I will do that today.
 
I am doing it so that you are not part of a scam that is being perpetrated by of all things, your local newspaper.
 
Our local paper here on Long Island is Newsday, and I know that you have heard me many times talk about this publication as part of this site. I have even been in the newspaper several times, the last time about six months ago when I was spotlighted in a story about people who could not get hired as the pandemic raged on.
 
Most recently, I took them to task for not hiring me for a freelance job because of obvious ageism, although I cannot prove it.
 
But this time, it has nothing to do with any of those things related to employment, but I uncovered a scam that they are perpetrating that perhaps your local newspaper is also dumping on the public without telling them about it, and just going ahead and doing it without any permission whatsoever.
 
As you know, a few weeks ago, my family and I went on vacation, the first vacation we had had in three years, a point which might play into this scam.
 
As I always have when we go on vacation, I put a vacation hold on my newspaper delivery, so papers would not be delivered when I was away.
 
We went on vacation, we had the only break from the wretchedness of this summer during that week, and we returned home to face some new challenges.
 
All fine and good, I guess that is how this summer is going for us.
 
Earlier this week,, on that fateful Monday, while sorting through the mail, I came upon our Newsday bill, which we get every two months.
 
As I opened it, I said to my wife—and remember, this was the same day I was haggling with the Department of Social Services—“I hope they get this bill right. It should be less than normal because of the vacation hold, but with everything going on today, I will bet that there will be something wrong with this, too" ...
 
And my premonition was 1,000-percent correct—the bill was for the exact same price as if I had never put a vacation hold on my newspaper delivery.
 
I called Newsday right up on the phone, looking for an explanation, and within moments I was speaking to a customer service representative.
 
“I put a vacation hold on my newspaper and the bill does not reflect this, and is the same price as if I had not put the hold on,” I said.
 
The customer service representative took a moment to look up my account, and her reply was this:
 
“The reason that the vacation hold does not appear on your bill is that the vacation hold is only for delivery of the paper. Since you have online access to the newspaper, you still have to pay for it as per normal.”
 
My reply was swift and quick:
 
“I never agreed to this, never heard of this … why put a vacation hold on the newspaper if I am still going to have to pay for it? When was this new rule publicized, because I never heard of it.”
 
“You have online access, so you have to pay for that access when you are away.”
 
“Look, the last thing I want to do is to read Newsday while I am away on vacation. I never once even looked at anything related to Newsday during the week I was away.”
 
And then, with all that I was going through on this one particular Monday, I let the customer service representati9e have it but good:
 
“I have been a subscriber to this newspaper for decades, and when I put a vacation hold on the newspaper, not only don’t I want the newspaper delivered I don’t want to see the newspaper in any form when I am away.
 
“I want my bill adjusted and I want it done now because I know how the print news business is going right now, and I will stop my subscript[ton right now if you don’t readjust my bill to reflect my time away from home without the newspaper.”
 
She then told me that they have a plan that when one puts a hold on the newspaper delivery, it also can reflect that online access will also be taken away for that period of time, and she would put that on my account—
 
And thus, my bill lessened by more than $40.
 
Nonetheless, this is a scam to get you to pay for the newspaper even when you don’t want it or need it,
 
As a regular subscriber for seven-day delivery, I have never seen this new wrinkle ever discussed or mentioned.
 
Yes, I had not been on vacation for three years, so perhaps this was instituted during the pandemic, so no one would know about it, as we were all so buried by other things during that period--and who was taking a vacation anyway during this time?
 
This is something that was simply dumped on the unsuspecting customer without their knowledge or approval, and I bet that some people don’t even realize that they have been scammed … scammed by their own local newspaper, of all things.
 
Be aware of this, because it probably isn’t just Newsday alone which is dumping this on subscribers, and I will bet other newspapers are doing this …
 
And you wonder why dozens of print newspapers go out of business each year.
 
My own local newspaper trying to scam me … what’s next on the horizon?
 
What’s black and white and read all over?—or should that actually be “red,” the color they turned when I caught them red-handed trying to scam me?
 
I just don’t know anymore, I just don’t know.
 
All the scams … err … news that’s fit to print … indeed.