The Vancouver Sun and their amazing brain-dead customer support staff

Now, I know that newspapers are having a tough time of it in the information age.  And I will concede that, theoretically, it is important to have a free press in a democratic society, and that journalism is (again, theoretically) fulfilling an important function in society.

I'm not so sure that the Vancouver Sun (or the Province, for that matter) lives up to that lofty standard.  Part of the reason from my dissatisfaction is not their fault: Gloria used to read the paper, and I'd just read the funnies.  We'd discuss the news.  I read sources online.  We watched the TV news.  (Two versions.)  And discussed it.  I don't, anymore.

I didn't cancel the paper when Gloria died: we generally paid six months at a time.  But Friday was the end of the six months, and I figured six months is a good enough "trial period."  I read the paper every morning, but I hardly read anything in the paper.  Bad things are happening in the invasion of Ukraine.  Well, bad things have been happening for the past hundred days.  I don't need to pay $500 per year to be told that day after day, with no particularly insightful analysis of the situation, or fresh information about it.

I didn't want the carrier to be dinged for delivering extra papers that haven't been paid for (and aren't going to be) so I started, about a week ago, to try and call and tell them I wasn't continuing beyond the paid period.  Having had wretched customer service from the Sun in the past, I was not sanguine of success.

The first thing I learned is that they don't answer the phones, at all, outside of specified hours.

The second thing I learned is that there is no option to cancel outside of specified hours.

The third thing I learned is that they are allowed to call *you* outside of those hours and leave cryptic messages urging you to re-up.

The fourth thing I learned is that they are extremely short-staffed even during those specified hours.  There is a callback option: it is, of course, useless.

I finally got through to an actual person.  Who wanted to know why I wanted to cancel.

Me: Because your customer service is so terrible.

CSA: But why do you want to cancel?

Me: I'm paying $500 a year, and can never get service when I need it.

CSA: But why do you want to cancel?

Me: Because I can never get through your automated-phone-system-from-hell.

CSA: But why do you want to cancel?

Me: Because even when I get through to an actual person, they seem congenitally unable to understand simple English, and cannot deal with the simplest issue.

CSA: But why do you want to cancel?

So, I'm still getting the paper (even though I'm not paying for it), and still getting calls from customer service leaving cryptic messages on my answering machine.  I figure that's on them.