Here I am AGAIN

By here, I mean April 28, 2019: my blog post conundrum. Well, not EXACTLY the same, as you will agree (but only if you re-read the related post herein referenced).

Blah Blah Blah.  Here we go.

As of April 2019 I was a fully paid up Register Guard delivered paper subscriber. I once again had financial scruple consonance. This state continued until  March 2021 when I decided that the paper version of the local "rag" was too sad to continue. So I cancelled it and awaited the remaining balance of the year I had paid for.

I then experienced a local news blackout as I haven't sought television news for perhaps a decade. John suggested I go to online local news sites. I didn't. He showed me the online version of the Guard, and I decided to give it a try ($1 a month for six months). So I signed up, but decided that to avoid any confusion at the RG billing dept. (Now Gannett) I created this account under my secondary email address. I believed I had succeeded at this task, as I was charged for my first month: July 2021. I accessed RG on line and kept up on local news, local deaths, and Wed. through Saturday NYT crosswords*. And then, darkness once again descended. About two months later I was suddenly unable to log in. I even tried logging in under my prior email address. And there I was, with a fully paid up account. But I could not get online access. I procrastinated about a month and then called the only phone number I could find. It had a diabolical " customer service" phone tree which prioritized wanting a new subscription (paper or online). There MAY have been a chance to discuss a current account at the end of the Desperate Offers of Free Gifts From A Dying Product options tree, but I only lasted through 1.5 of them before saving myself and hanging up**. 

Somewhere I found a link to send an email inquiry. I bit. It warned it would be a delayed response, and it surely was. In addition it was completely unhelpful, except it gave me the phone number to call for assistance. As per above, I had been there, done that and remained help-free. But I decided to try one more desperate call, and this time I would immediately begin answering "No" to all desperate offers. This time, for unfathomable reasons, my THIRD choice was to connect to a PERSON🎆. He was patient, tried things, stayed on the line while I tried things, and then did something to activate my account. I was back with access! But billing is still not happening. I think I will just let the $5 I owe for 5 months, and whatever they may want after that just go the way of errant electrons. I believe that I have tried to assist their revenue flow to a reasonable, prudent, and sincere standard. I am OK will failing my strict financial honesty standard in this case. I have been beaten, but not broken.

* Mon and Tues not worth printing out and Sunday cannot be printed out.

** First desperate offer for anyone over 65 was a free emergency call button. Second desperate offer for anyone........I no longer recall. But it left me wondering if instead of extreme discounting the cost of a new subscription and offers of a gift they simply made it worth purchasing. They might survive a few more years as the value continues to devalue.