Ask LA Times for a Discount
Our house gets the LA times daily and we are automatically billed our renewal each 8 weeks. The last billing, I noticed, was more than it typically is. We’ve been LA times subscribers since 1988 and for the last year our bill was running $48 but this last amount was $57.60. I went online to find out why and looked into other billing options. I found the following:
Los Angeles Times subscriptions:
everyday for 52 weeks was $155.48
Sunday only for 52 weeks was $52
Four days (Th-Sun) for 52 weeks was $78
When I called to ask why our amount was increased I was told that their costs were going up for publication services so all the costs were increasing. The told me I was getting the special discounted rate for long time subscribers of $7.20 a week for everyday service. I then asked why I saw different costs on the website and was put on hold for a moment then the agent said that he could offer me a special $2.99 a week. Now for you math-challenged that amount is $4.21 less each week which adds up to $218.92 a year!! I asked why I wasn’t offered this amount before since I was a “good long term customer” and is this lesser amount only for new customers? No I could qualify especially since I’m a good customer. I poked for other things not yet said like it is really seven days a week that I get the paper delivered? Is the special for only one week? etc… I couldn’t find anything. The only thing is this is a promotional rate good for six months although the 52 week price is listed as well. So if you want to lock in the lower price for 52 weeks (one year) then you have to pay it up front. Still the best deal around that I can find.
But I then went just a bit further down the “going green” path and asked about the four day a week price. They offered me at first $3.75 a week for 4 day (Thur-Sun) then when I spoke to the 4-Day a week specialist I was quoted $2.50 a week a discount off the regular $3.50. Funny how the prices are a bouncing ball huh?! I then brought up the web price of $1.50 a week and was then offered that. What?! This from a company I’ve been in business with since 1988!! I would have immediately hung up on another company believing they were a bunch of crooks with their changing prices!!
Bottom line, I switched to the 4 day a week delivery service and prepaid for a year in advance (I hope the company doesn’t go out of business) for the grand total of $78 for the entire year!! We will be reading the other three days newspapers online.
I SAVED OUR HOUSEHOLD OVER $295 DOLLARS A YEAR!!