Wall Street Journal: Delivery Problems Continually Ignored by Customer Service

I suppose it was only a matter of time that after the Wall Street Journal switched hands to Rupert Murdoch that the paper would forget the fundamental meaning of the word "service."

Here on Long Island, the delivery service of the Wall Street Journal in my experience has been horrible. The paper regularly goes missing (most recently, Aug. 16), and customer service does nothing substantive to correct the problem.

The reason I know the missed deliveries are the Journal's fault is because my apartment unit has outdoor video surveillance. No one can steal anything from the doorstep without that act showing up on video tape, and no one has done so.

Compounding the problem is the Wall Street Journal's woefully ineffective protocol for righting a delivery problem. Essentially, the Journal's procedure is to:

1. Answer the phone about a missed delivery
2. Apologize to the customer profusely
3. Promise the problem will be rectified
4. Answer phone the next time a delivery is missed
5. Apologize to the customer profusely, again
6. Repeat the ritual the next day, and each
additional day, as required
7. Communicate to the customer through these
repeated actions that the Journal really could
care less if its paper is actually delivered
to a paying subscriber

During the coming days (and I hope not weeks), I'm going to be chronicling the way the Wall Street Journal handles this ongoing delivery problem to determine if the Journal can resolve a simple delivery snafu. The paper itself will have knowledge of this blog, and daily entries will be sent to the Better Business Bureau Online, and various consumer watchdog agencies.

Ongoing Delivery Problems with Wall Street Journal On Long Island

I suppose it was only a matter of time that after the Wall Street Journal switched hands to Rupert Murdoch that the paper would forget the fundamental meaning of the word "service."

Here on Long Island, the delivery service of the Wall Street Journal in my experience has been horrible. The paper regularly goes missing, and customer service does nothing substantive to correct the problem.

The reason I know the missed deliveries are the Journal's fault is because my apartment unit has outdoor video surveillance. No one can steal anything from the doorstep without that act showing up on video tape, and no one has done so.

Compounding the problem is the Wall Street Journal's woefully ineffective protocol for righting a delivery problem. Essentially, the Journal's procedure is to:

1. Answer the phone about a missed delivery
2. Apologize to the customer profusely
3. Promise the problem will be rectified
4. Answer phone the next time a delivery is missed
5. Apologize to the customer profusely, again
6. Repeat the ritual the next day, and each
additional day, as required
7. Communicate to the customer through these
repeated actions that the Journal really could
care less if its paper is actually delivered
to a paying subscriber

During the coming days (and I hope not weeks), I'm going to be chronicling the way the Wall Street Journal handles this ongoing delivery problem to determine if the Journal can resolve a simple delivery snafu. The paper itself will have knowledge of this blog, and daily entries will be sent to the Better Business Bureau Online, and various consumer watchdog agencies.