I guess sending the bill back –even though the man to whom it was addressed has been deceased for 2 1/2 years– just wasn’t the right thing to do.
Oh no, the dead man’s daughter should have paid a bill for newspapers she never received just so the Bend Bulletin wouldn’t screw up HER own subscription (mind you that subscription is in her own name and she has paid for that subscription with her very own debit card in her own name every single month since her father died 2 1/2 years ago!)
I sent the bill back on April 8, it wouldn’t have gone in the mail until April 9, the Bend Bulletin wouldn’t have received it until April 12.
And guess what, when it came time to pick up that Sunday paper off my porch on April 19 (paper would have been dated April 18th and would have been the first paper delivered after the return of the unopened bill) there was no paper to be found.
So I called the circulation department and they had no clue why I didn’t get a paper. They dispatched a courier to deliver one, called to make sure it got delivered, and told me that the carrier had been informed that I did not get a paper.
Now if I were the carrier, I would have ensured that the person complaining got their next paper, whether I thought that person was deceased or not. Obviously this carrier could care less, as it’s 11:09 am on Sunday April 25 and I have no Sunday paper yet again.
Do they think a dead person called to complain? No it was a live person who has been paying for the Sunday paper in her own name for 2 1/2 years now.
And it really added to the total joy of the situation when I reached the circulation department today at 10:00 am only to be told that I had reached them after normal business hours. Their own misleading answering machine message states that Sunday hours are until 12:30 pm, a full 2 1/2 hours after I called.
Yes I left a message, asking why I was not receiving papers that I’ve paid for. It’s been almost 1 1/2 hours and I haven’t heard a word (of course, I don’t have a newspaper either).
I just got a phone call from the Bulletin asking me if I had received my newspaper yet. The answer to that question is not only no but hell no.
They are calling the carrier again—and maybe I’ll get a paper and maybe I won’t.
Am I impressed with the Bend Bulletin? I DON’T THINK SO!!