Recently my subscription to The Athletic auto-renewed for another year. The next day I realized my wife’s New York Times subscription includes The Athletic, so that evening I went to their website to find out how to contact them and request a refund.
Whenever using online Chat for customer service, I have a bias that it’s likely AI or some FAQ auto-responder; thus, I start with: “Are you a real person?” Since the response was, ‘Yes’, I explained what happened in a few short sentences. The typist on the other end asked for my user name, confirmed we were covered by the NYT, and said they would issue a refund.
Whenever using an online Chat for refunds, I have a bias that it’s likely the credit won’t show up in our account for some time; thus I write: “When can we expect the funds?” Since the response was, ‘Might take up to five business days’, I made sure to check the statement a couple days later. Sure enough there was the refund.
Things don’t always go this easily, so I took the time to send an email explaining what happened and thanking them. Having been a small business owner, I learned 25 years ago that people are quick to point out what’s wrong… and seldom take the time to acknowledge a job well done. I try to remember to do that.
