New York Times Harassment

New York Times Harassment

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

About a year ago, I was required to buy a subscription to the New York Times in order to report current events. After the class, I canceled the subscription but continued to the receive notification e-mails to return as a home delivery subscriber. On the surface, you'd think that unsubscribing from an e-mail list would be as simple as clicking the link at the bottom of the e-mail. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case.

After clicking the unsubscribe link, every once in a while I'd receive another e-mail asking me to come back. This seems a bit odd to me since if a person clicks unsubscribe they shouldn't get e-mails any longer. I realized I still had a user account within the New York Times website, so I made sure to delete my account. This wasn't the problem, because I had another e-mail in my inbox soon after. I figured maybe there is a glitch in the system and that speaking with a customer service representative would remedy this problem. At this point, I've never had to go so far to be removed from a mailing list. I do know that the New York Times was in the middle of restructuring their web departments but a mailing subscription should be fairly automated and straight-forward.

After the call, I figured everything should be set. However, about a few weeks later I received another e-mail and then another some time after that. Knowing the power of social media and how effective making a post on Twitter has been for customer service, I figured tweeting about the problem may direct someone to solve it. I must admit that I didn't wait too long for a response before trying something else but I decided to make another call to customer service again. After explaining what I've done so far, the representative said that I was put on a "Do Not Email" list and if the problem continues that I should contact a "Problems Resolution Agent". To me, both of those things sound fishy but only time will tell.

In the meantime, I've done some research on steps that can be taken in the event the New York Times does not cooperate. One action is listed under a guide at the Federal Communications Commission website which unfortunately pushes the problem off to the FTC:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has adopted detailed rules that restrict sending unwanted commercial email messages to computers. To find out more about the FTC’s rules, visit www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/spam/rules.htm. To file a complaint with the FTC or to get free information on spam issues in general, visit www.ftc.gov/spam/ or call 1-877-382-4357 voice; 1-866-653-4261 TTY.

What is interesting here is that just above this message there is a bulletpoint which disassociates e-mail between a home computer and a mobile phone which is apparently covered in FCC jurisdiction. There are other governmental agencies that also handle spam e-mail using a complain filing system, such as the IC3. Oddly, a fairly comprehensive guide about "bad email" has been provided by the Spacecoast Hidden Mickeys List and OITC which mentions that a complaint can also be filed with local police or the government. I'll be sure to update if this continues. In the interim, New York Times it's your move.

EDIT 1 (November 27th, 2013)

Lo and behold, another New York Times e-mail arrived in my inbox today at 7:03 this morning. In searching for contact information, I've discovered a few e-mail addresses that may help me a bit: executive-editor@nytimes.com & nytnews@nytimes.com. So, I decided my next step is to send an e-mail to both these people before I file a local police report. Given the time of the year, I can assume these important people are ready for a vacation so I'll give some time before I take the next course of action.

EDIT 2 (November 27th, 2013)

After sending that e-mail out I received a response today from Stephanie S. at complaintcare@nytimes.com saying that she has "submitted your information to our Do Not Contact list." Knowing what I've gone through so far I cannot believe it is this easy. So I've replied to her asking what the next step would be in the event I receive another e-mail. I'm awaiting this reply as I'm curious to know what the response will be (if any).