Some of you may think this is petty, but I believe in morals and upstanding business practices.
This all started back in August of this year. I tried to purchase a Sunday edition of the St. Pete Times from their vending machine located on the service road in front of the Home Depot in Spring Hill, FL. I deposited at least 10 dimes, perhaps an eleventh, but could not get the machine to open so I could take a newspaper. I tried to retrieve the dollar that I had deposited in the machine, but the coin return would not comply.
Frustrated and angered I traveled several miles down the highway to a bowling alley where I found another machine and tried again. This one work like a charm.
I had written down the phone number located on the first machine for customer service and called when I got home. All I got was an answering machine on which I left a message similar to the opening of this complaint.in a day or two, a man called and offered his apologies identifying himself as the machines owner. After explaining to him again what had happened, he indicated he would send me a dollar bill in the mail. Although this was a nice thought, I remember thinking his voice did not sound sincere.
Several weeks passed and around the first part of November I realized I had never received this refund. I emailed the St. Pete Times Customer Service center with my complaint concerning the refund and, now, the lack of professionalism shown by their employee. Within a couple days, I received a nice email, again very apologetic, indicating that the author had requested a refund and placed a repair order for the box in question. (I hope the box had been repaired well before now since it had been more than two months.)
Again, I waited. More time passed and around the middle of December, I emailed the woman from the November email again letting her and her colleages know that they were liars and crooked business people for giving me the run around. Had the roles been reversed, I would be getting monthly bills with interest and service charges added causing the original $1.00 to double, triple, or more. Petty? Yes, but a sure sign that a business is crooked if ever I saw one. If they can't even return a dollar, just think of the other ways they must screw their customers.
Although, I have always found the St. Pete Times to be the better of the Tampa area newspapers, I will never subscribe or buy one again. Further, I will try my best to spread the news and encourage others to follow suit.
Please do not support the Times if you live in the Tampa area. Try reading the Tampa Tribune instead!
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