StarTribune Doesn’t Get the Internet

Two weeks ago our print edition of the StarTribune wasn’t delivered to our house and I looked online to figure out the login info so I could use the StarTribune app on my iPad. We weren’t registered and couldn’t on their website, so was told to contact customer service.

It was 6:30am and customer service won’t open until 8am (really?) so I sent them an email. This was December 12th and I’ve had no response. That same morning I tweeted to @StarTribune and, after finally acknowledging the tweet that afternoon, asked if the situation had been resolved. I tweeted a reply that no, I’d heard nothing and their subsequent Twitter follow up was zero too.

I’m at a family member’s house Christmas eve morning and didn’t have time to read the paper so thought I’d use the app. I forgot that the StarTribune folks dropped the ball and I’m not going to chase them down on the telephone…

…and newspapers wonder why the digital generation could give a shit if they go out of business? I am in my 50′s and see them as their own worst enemy and increasingly don’t care if most of them fold either.


UPDATE 12/30/11: Just received an email from a StarTribune web developer — 18 days after connecting with them initially – and it’s resolved and I’m able to use the iPad app. While I am very appreciative of his assistance, I’m still stunned it took this long. 

About Steve Borsch

I'm CEO of Marketing Directions, Inc., a trend forecasting, consulting and publishing firm in Minnesota. Prior to that I was Vice President, Strategic Alliances at Lawson Software in St. Paul where I was responsible for all partnerships at this major vendor of enterprise resource planning software products and services. Read more about me here unless you're already weary of me telling you how incredible and awesome I am.

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