I have been a subscriber of the HT English newspaper for the past year or so thru a promotional scheme. Ever since I had opted for this Coupon based subscription(as opposed to monthly bill settlement with vendor), I have noticed that the local vendor doesn’t supply the paper regularly. Despite bringing this to the notice of the HT Customer Care / Area Manager etc. I continue to get the paper irregularly.
The Area Manager in Thane(Mumbai suburb) Mr. Ajit Awasthi even advised me to ask another vendor to supply the paper to me - being fully aware that these vendors operate territory-wise(i.e. each vendor has distinct territory / localities where they supply, and don’t cross each other’s path). Moreover, I noticed that my neighbour who gets the same newspaper thru the same vendor gets regular delivery, since he pays the bill monthly to the vendor.
As the HT Customer Care and Area Manager have generally turned a blind eye to such customer woes, it appears that they are hand-in-glove with the vendors who are indispensable to their business / circulation targets. However, since HT doesn’t have a Customer Grievance Cell / Dept., guess we are destined to suffer them as they refuse to reign in their vendors. In some cases, they don’t send the coupons to the subscriber, but send it directly to the local vendor. All this implies that business comes first for this popular media house.
I would strongly advise readers not to opt for the Annual Scheme or any other promotional scheme by this Group and buy their n’paper directly from the vendors. That’s what I propose to do once my Annual Scheme expires later this year.