Finally A Bill For Zero Owed From The Dallas Morning News

A couple weeks ago I blogged the sad story of the demise of my longtime habit of reading a newspaper in the morning.

I had pre-paid for the Dallas Morning News for 3 months. When that 3 months was up I was not contacted by the Dallas Morning News to ask if I wanted to continue my subscription.

The paper continued to show up on my doorstep for 43 days after the 3 pre-paid months were up. On day 44 there was no paper on my doorstep. I had no idea the 3 months were up, since, like I said, there'd been no contact from the Dallas Morning News.

So, I called to complain about the missing paper. I was told the paper had been stopped due to me not paying the bill. I told the customer service person I had received no bill. At that point in time it had not occured to me that I had not authorized continued delivery after my 3 month pre-paid subscription was up. And that I owe them nothing.

And then I started getting daily phone calls from an unknown number. After a week or so of that I answered the phone to learn, via fractured English, that the calls were in regards to the un-paid bill that I had not received. The caller told me she'd inform the Dallas Morning News that they needed to send me a bill.

So, today I finally got a bill from the Dallas Morning News. That's part of the bill, at the top, that says I owe $0.00 for my subscription. And asking me to donate $2.00 to Newspapers in Education. And telling me that that $2.00 is due May 15, which is today.

And it's a mystery why the newspaper business is in trouble?

To make it even more ironic and funny. And incompetent. There was a letter enclosed with the "bill" from the Editor of the paper. I can't make out the name, it's in bad long hand. Maybe the last name is Morry. No clue about the first name, it looks like it might begin with a B.

The letter is addressed to "Dear Subscriber," It starts off with "I wanted to thank you again for reading the Dallas Morning News and for your loyalty."

Thank me again? This is the first thanks I've gotten. My loyalty? I no longer get the paper.

The letter continues on about how the paper wants to continue serving me and the community and their commitment to me and a whole lot of other nonsensical blather that is silly because I'm not a subscriber and no longer read their paper.

I liked it while I read it, though, even said nice things about that paper on this very blog. And then they went all screwy on me. And continue to be screwy. At least now I have a piece of paper from the Dallas Morning News that quite clearly says I owe them no money.