N.Y. Times Cancels Its Own Home Subscribers

By musiclover - Wed Dec 28, 3:40 pm

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Subscribers to the New York Times print edition received a puzzling e-mail Wednesday morning.

They were asked to reconsider canceling their home-delivery subscriptions — even though no such cancellations were ever requested. Even more confusing, the email also was sent to those who don’t have a home subscription to the Times.

The problem is, the paper didn’t send the email.

The email came from “newyorktimes@email.newyorktimes.com,” which is not a real Times email address. The paper quickly posted a four-graph story on its website saying the email was false, and tweeted: “If you received an email today about canceling your NYT subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.”

The email arrived in readers’ inboxes around 1:30 p.m. ET, promising a 50 percent cut in their rate if they re-subscribed. It also reminded readers that losing the subscription would cost them unlimited digital access.

It read in part:

Our records indicate that you recently requested to cancel your home delivery subscription. Please keep in mind when your delivery service ends, you will no longer have unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps.

We do hope you’ll reconsider.

As a valued Times reader we invite you to continue your current subscription at an exclusive rate of 50% off for 16 weeks. This is a limited-time offer and will no longer be valid once your current subscription ends.*

It also gave a phone number to call, and a code to give, to continue subscriptions. Dialing the phone number brought an error sound.

The apparent flub by the Times caused an immediate stir on Twitter with the insular cabal of media reporters all wondering what happened — while also keeping a sense of humor.